Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

There are those who espouse the importance of following our dreams in business, those who encourage us to leave our job if we don't like it, those who say it's not about the money it's about the enjoyment, and those who suggest we give it all away and take the plunge to start our own company. 

Most of those who say these things are already comfortable - either financially or emotionally. But what about those of us who don't like being unsettled, who can find some pleasures in our work although it is not really what we want to do, who may have a job that we don't like but the money is good, or someone like me who has just started his business and had two large contracts cancelled? What should we do?

For us, sometimes it is more about security. Security in employment, security in knowing our work, security in the day-to-day schedule, security in being able to plan ahead without concern about where the next dollar will come from. For those of us who enjoy security it is about making the most of what we have. 

If you are in a job that you don't like but you feel secure in, I say don't leave your job. Instead make the most of a bad situation and find ways to make that job more enjoyable. If you have always had dreams of owning your own business, speak to others who have 'made it' in the business world but also to those who have struggled so that you gain a full perspective of how tough it can be. 

It's not always about the money but if you don't have money life can be hard. In his hierarchy of needs, Abraham Maslow identifies food, water and shelter as our basic needs to survive. Today you can add money to that list because without money you will find it very difficult to buy food, to pay for services and to have a home to live in.

Life can be exciting if you have your own business, but it can also be a struggle. If that means giving up on your dream of becoming a millionaire; of owning your own business; of having a job that will be enjoyable but pays much less than your current one, then you have may have to stay where you are or give up on your dream if you have already taking the plunge.

If you stay in your current job you may be left wondering "if only I had...". So what, you can change a thought as easy as it arrived. Would you rather be able to say that you have your own business but are always worried or would you rather be comfortable in your current job and emotionally well? I know which one I prefer. 

Where Will Baby-Boomers Be In 2020?

As a person from the baby-boomer era, it is frightening to think about how far we have come with technology over such a short period. I predicted 30 years ago that computers would be a passing fad, I'm an idiot. It was just 30 years ago that the first mobile phone went on sale at a modest cost of $4,000.00. And with that device all you could do was make a phone call provided you were near a cell-tower.

In 1983, Motorola (who?) marketed the first mass-produced phone. Ten years later Nokia (who?) came out with their GSM phone and Motorola released the first phone with a digital display screen. Six years on and mobile phones came with music players and predictive text. In 2002, Nokia released a series of phones with advanced technology and just four years later came the pocket PC. 

Move to today and phones with 3D technology are about to break the market. So it took ten years to go from a clunky phone that could only make calls to one with a digital display, six years to introduce basic features and two years further on to have a phone that does everything your computer can do and much more. 

Here are some predictions from others on where we will be in 2020;

• 5G phone network will be released.
• Your phone will read aloud text messages, news updates and FB postings.
• All homes will have ultra-high definition TVs.
• Holographic images will become commonplace.
• Cars will drive themselves.
• Robots will become household items.
• The internet will be humanised and have 5 billion subscribers.
• Healthcare will be data driven, 3D printers will be used to replace organs and diseases such as cancer and diabetes will be monitored in real-time.

So what is the point of my post? That we baby-boomers need to keep pace with technological advances or we will become living dinosaurs. Here's a fact that may encourage you to learn - the top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 never existed in 2004. Change is so rapid that 65 percent of today’s primary school children will end up with jobs that haven’t been invented yet.

So what should you do if you are a baby-boomer who is reluctant to embrace emerging technology? Start learning, now. You need to start learning how to use new technology as soon as it is released. You need to get your brain to start thinking differently about technology, no longer is it a gimmick, it is a necessity. You need to get excited about new technology rather than be afraid of it. Lastly you need to maximise the use of new technology, use them all.

By doing all of the above, your brain will become accustomed to new technology that same way millenials (Gen-Ys) do today. Give a millenial a new device and they will have it working in less than two minutes without instructions. They love it, they use it, they need it.

The sooner you get to start operating new things the less stressful the process will be. In fact, your brain will thank you for doing so. 

What Makes a Great Organisation?

We've all heard it before, they are a great company to work for. So what makes a great company?

Although I have only been working in the private sector for little over a year, I have been fortunate enough to have worked in many organisations.  Here's what I have found so far about the truly great companies;

1. They genuinely care for their people. They don't refer to them as employees, workers, or staff, they always refer to their 'people'.
2. An initial sign of a great culture is the interactions between Team Leaders and Managers with their people.  As an example, supervisory staff attend the same workshops as their people and the people have no concerns whatsoever about being honest in front of their supervisor. 
3. Often I watched as managers engaged with each of their team members regardless of how busy they were with their own work, genuinely wanting to know about the person they were talking with. 
4. The organisation targets the training to the genuine needs of their people. They identify weaknesses and look to strengthen these with a variety of training content.
5. They look to outside of the organisation for support. This avoids closed-thinking and the silo effect.
6. Their supervisors and managers are humble. By example, when I thanked a manager for promoting my work across the entire company she told me not to be silly.  In her words, I delivered a great program and the work enabled me to build my business while at the same time their organisation built the skills of their team to cope with tricky situations and as a result became stronger individuals.  
7. They take a holistic approach to everything. To make the workplace enjoyable;

• There are numerous breakout rooms for meetings and quiet time.
• Light refreshment areas are placed across the floors immediately adjacent to the workspace for tea and coffee.
• Healthy snack options are provided free of charge.
• They run sponsorship and fundraising events for team building.
• Photos and pictures from workplace interactions and competitions adorn the walls in an ordered fashion.
• They allow anonymous suggestions.
• Regular one-on-one meetings are held with every employee.
• They maintain a clean and tidy office.
• They have televisions located in some areas showing a news channel.

There is a wonderful saying that our Maori people have - "He aha te mea nui? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata." Translated this says "What is the most important thing?  It is people, it is people, it is people." Sometimes we all need to be reminded of this. 

Go With Your gut

You have heard it said many times "Go with your gut instinct." And there is truth to this adage. 

The human stomach is sometimes referred to as the second brain, it is the only organ have its own independent nervous system consisting of 100 million neurons embedded in the gut wall. We are born with sterile stomachs but over time, everyone's gut develops a brew of bacterial species. Some of this bacteria produces hundreds of neurochemicals that the brain uses to regulate basic physiological processes as well as mental processes such as learning, memory and mood.

But its not just your gut, it is also the limbic system of your brain which is coming into play. The limbic system is centered deep in the right side of your brain and is unaffected by communication but is where your feelings are also controlled. Both your brain and your gut are linked.  

So here are some ways to use your gut instinct;

1. If it doesn't 'feel' right, then it isn't. Go with your first impressions.
2. Similarly, if it feels right, it is. If you are doing something or have an idea and it just 'feels' right, go with it.
3. If you perceive danger, listen to it. This comes from early times when we sensed danger because there was nothing else to go on.
4. Go with your gut. If you struggling with a decision, what is your gut telling you?
5. If you have a nervous stomach, find out why. To do so start thinking about what has been worrying you over the last day or so, when you come across the thing that is upsetting your stomach, that feeling will become stronger when you think about the cause.

Lastly, never say the first thing that comes into your head when you are emotional because it will always be the wrong thing. Don't follow your head, follow you gut.

What's Your Problem?

Problems, they come in many forms. Some we can solve in our heads while others seem to drag us down. There has been plenty written about how to solve problems, here's what works for me that is a little bit different;

1. Write it down - We must write something down to engage our subconscious brain, that person inside our heads we talk to all of the time . This stems from early days when we painted drawings on the cave wall.
2. Look at the options - If you need to, write down the options and list the pros & cons of each solution. Again this supports our subconscious brain.
3. Concentrate - Really engage your brain by thinking hard about your problem. When we do this we are telling our brain that this problem is important and you need to start working on it.
4. Forget about it - This is the part of the exercise that most people don't tell you about. Several things happen when you take a break - Your brain relaxes, chemicals are released which assists with problem solving, you engage the creative part of your brain, and your subconscious keeps working on the problem while your conscious brain doesn't.
5. Do something else - To make sure that you don't keep using your 'master' brain which will interfere with your subconscious brain, go and mow the lawns, vacuum the house, wash the car, anything to stop your conscious brain from working on the problem.
6. Take a shower - Research tells us that the creative chemical I spoke of earlier is released when we have a shower. It is also the time that most of us relax, that's why we tend to sing in the shower. A lot of problems are also solved in the shower.
7. Go to sleep - If the shower didn't work, go to sleep. Our subconscious keeps working when we are asleep, particularly during REM sleep when our brain 'defrags' the days events.
8. It will come - The answer to your problem will come to you within 24 hours. If it doesn't, and it is rare that it doesn't work, go over the process again.

Happy problem solving!