October 9, 2007

The No.1 Way To Reduce Work Stress

In This Issue:

Feature Article: "The No.1 Way To Reduce Work Stress"

Quick Tips: "Are You Losing Business Because Of This?"

Fast Facts: "How To Alleviate Dry Skin"

* FEATURE ARTICLE *

“The No.1 Way To Reduce Work Stress”

Here's a little exercise.

Think of everyone you know who enjoys their work - whether they run their own business, work as corporate executives, or wait tables in a restaurant. Now think of everyone you know who *hates* their job. Include yourself in this little survey.

Okay, so now answer this question: what do the people who enjoy their work have in common? And what do the people who hate their work have in common?

If you've literally thought about everyone you know, then the common threads probably won't be where people work or what they do (unless everyone you know works at the same place, in the same job!)... the common threads will relate to whether or not they're doing things they enjoy, like the people they work with, and feel sufficiently rewarded for what they do (in terms of pay, recognition and other compensation).

Personally, I think these are the three (3) keys to enjoying your work. But there's something else that heavily impacts how much you enjoy your work, and specifically, your level of workplace stress.

You see, I reckon you can enjoy your work, like the people you work with, and be satisfied with your rewards... but still be overly stressed and unhappy at work. How is this possible? Because you excessively personalize your work.

If you invest too much of yourself in your job, it's very easy to get uptight and stressed over just about every aspect of your work... to find yourself thinking about work all the time... and to lose the ability to relax even when you're not working.

This is NOT good for you! And it's not even good for you professionally - by obsessing too much, you can lose valuable objectivity, which leads to poor decision making.

All this is bad enough for people who would otherwise enjoy their jobs. But what if you hate your job and still personalize it?

That's a recipe for chronic unhappiness! Yet the scary thing is that most of the people I know who dislike their work are in this very situation! Meanwhile, most of the people I know who enjoy their work are able to detach from it.

There's no question that you're best off being in a job you enjoy, with people you like, and where you're happy with the monetary and non monetary rewards. But it's your ability to detach yourself from your work that will also affect your workplace happiness.

And that's why I believe that detaching yourself from your job is the No.1 way to reduce your workplace stress. This may not be easy to do - not if you've always tended to personalize your work. However, just keep reminding yourself that:

• you are not your job;

• what you do is not who you are; and

• all you need to do is do your job to the best of your ability and no more.

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* HIGHLY RECOMMENDED *

“How an Ordinary Manager Transformed a Struggling Business On The Verge Of Collapse Into a $40 Million Company”

Here’s a shocking, yet true, story...

At the start of last year, a good friend of mine took the job of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at a small technology company.

The company was five years old, but hopelessly unprofitable.

It’s backers – a venture capital company – were growing impatient with the company’s abysmal performance and ordered the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to appoint someone who could commercialize the company’s technology – so they would finally have a product to sell.

Otherwise, the venture capital company would no longer fund the business.

My friend was excited about the job. He was a bit of a risk taker, and despite the pressure, looked forward to helping the company bring its product to market and build it into a profitable business.

But there was one problem.

A big problem.

The staff, the CEO warned him, were “incompetent and lazy.”

In fact, one of the reasons the CTO was being hired was to get rid of the “dead wood.”

“Frankly,” the CEO told my friend, “you’ll probably have to fire the lot of them.”

Discover what happened next...

* QUICK TIPS *

“Are You Losing Business Because Of This?”

All kinds of businesses lose customers simply because they fail to respond to enquiries within a reasonable time period.

Now, what is "reasonable" will vary according to the situation, but here are a few rules of thumb...

For enquiries from prospects and customers about products they're interested in buying or have bought:

• If the enquiry is received during working hours, the response should be within the same working day.

• If received outside of working hours, the response should be during the next working day.

• For enquiries from prospects about services they're interested in, the same rule of thumb applies.

For enquiries from customers who are currently using a service you offer:

• If received during working hours, the response should be within 3-4 hours.

• If received outside working hours, the next day. Where you're working closely with a client, I suggest responding within 1-2 hours of receiving any communications during working hours... or more quickly depending on the context.

Remember, none of this necessarily means that you have to respond to all the enquiries... you just need to ensure that someone does.

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* HIGHLY RECOMMENDED *

“Don't Apply - Don't Even Look For - a Job Until You Read This!”

"What a great book! Anna has given me ideas and strategies that I would never have thought of....EVER.

Which probably also means that no one else will have thought of them either. I know for certain that if I follow the principles of this book, I will have a distinct advantage and edge over everyone else.

There are some amazing strategies in this book, such as: changing how you think about what you "want", great resume writing ideas, interview strategies/techniques and how to target key decision makers in ANY company to get that job.

My personal favourite is the "Job Fulfillment Description" on a resume. I had never heard of this until I read this book and I think that most employers would be blown away when presented with this technique.

Thank you Anna for writing such a great book. I plan to keep this book for a very long time and keep it for my children to read when they are ready to enter the workforce.

I recommend this book to anyone who cringes at the thought of going to work or who has a dream job in mind."

-- Cathy Shier, Thornleigh, NSW, Australia

For a limited time, you can download a FREE chapter of Anna Johnson's unorthodox, yet highly effective, job hunting guide, Insider Job Secrets Revealed.

Click here and get the job you want!

* FAST FACTS *

“How To Alleviate Dry Skin”

Dry skin typically results from spending a lot of time in a dry- air environment.

Dry weather, exposure to sun or wind, working in an air-conditioned environment, and excessive washing (which doesn't just wash off dirt and germs, but also washes off essential oils that keep your skin hydrated) all contribute to dry skin, often causing it to become itchy, red and/or scaly.

To alleviate dry skin, moisturize often. In particular, after you wash, pat your skin dry, and apply moisturizer straight away.

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