Career Development, Personal branding, Personal development, Personal finance

I Hate my Job. I Love the Pay. What Should I do?

November 11, 2019 Chuks Nnabuenyi Jr 1 Comment

I hate my job what do I do? — Tired Worker

First, I want you to know that this answer is inside of you. You just need someone to trigger it with questions. Nothing less or more! And sure, that’s what I’ll help you do. Ready?!

1. Why did you take the job?

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A post titled Why are we so bad at choosing the right job by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, has it that according to research money and poor self awareness were some of the reasons we make bad job choices. So, for you, why did you take the job? And you’re the only one that knows if it’s a right reason or not.

2. Have you achieved what brought you there?

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This is linked with the first question. Someone might take a job for the money while another for the flexibility. If you can answer number one, then you can answer this too. If you have achieved it, great. If you have not, why?

3. What are the advantages of staying there?

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Be honest about this. Checkout this list on advantages of having a job and see if you’re getting any of these. Maybe you’re not yet ready to leave yet. What have you been enjoying in this job?

4. Why do you want to go?

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Hmmm… This is tough. Don’t just tell me I don’t feel fulfilled. Search deeply and know why. If it’s your behavior, you’re in for a big surprise. It’ll show up again.

When you become vision driven about your life, you don’t leave a job necessarily because of pay or a bad boss or some other reasons. You leave because you know deep inside you that it’s time… even when you’re offered promotion.

5. Where do you want to go to?

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I laugh. If you leave this job today, where is your next destination? I know you’re highly motivated and believe in yourself, but down the street, you need to know that it’s not as soft as the surface of the books you’ve read in your closet. So, where is your dream job? Where is your target?

6. What are you doing to prepare for that new place?

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Listen, Benjamin Franklin has a word for you: “By failing to prepare, you’re preparing to fail.” Most times we keep looking at the future but forget that she comes daily.

As a student of Architecture, I know that if you design nicer buildings than Frank Lloyd Wright, and the laborers look at the blueprint for the next 200 years without working, all you’ll have is your grandson and family looking at the death certificates of the entire crew and nothing else.

Have you discovered that even folks without a supposedly defined future end up creating a great one because they acted in certain manners over time.

The future you see and the future you will see will be differentiated by one major thing: what you do with the time you see.

7. What if you leave?

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This answers the question, what is my plan B? Randy Pausch quipped:

Another way to be prepared is to think negatively. Yes, I’m a great optimist. but, when trying to make a decision, I often think of the worst case scenario. I call it ‘the eaten by wolves factor.’ If I do something, what’s the most terrible thing that could happen? Would I be eaten by wolves?…

Now let me say this, after reading this, some persons will leave. And please do, so long as you know who bears the risk. You know the time clock. It’s in you. When it rings, leave. Staying one more day can be disastrous.

8. What if you stay?

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If you’re here, stay. You can’t be in 8 and 9. Just a little advice: you can stay and give yourself a time frame like 6 months or one year while you keep considering your options and listening to your heart.

9. What have you helped the organization achieve?

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We don’t like this part. But remember that what goes around comes around. If you’ve enjoyed the pay make sure you’ve given quality value back. The question will now be: Can my boss recommend me?

Having a job is good. So many are looking for what you have. But you’re not them. You’re you. Thus, take your time. Reminisce over it. And then act.

Personal branding

What is the First and Most Important Tool for Personal Branding?

Aside November 4, 2019 Chuks Nnabuenyi Jr Leave a comment

Self perception and personal branding

You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.

Frank McCourt

What’s personal branding? What do I do to begin my personal brand? At what point do I know I have a personal brand? These and many more are questions asked about personal branding.

I love the movie, Hannah Montana (I think season 1) because it paints a perfect picture of where personal branding begins. Thanks to Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus) who displayed what happens not just to teens but to adults.

Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus) had such a life that was centered on her celebrity personality. For a while, she enjoyed it with the glory and attention attached to it until her dad changed altered it by faulting her plan to go for a show.

Why? Grand ma was having her birthday. Yet, Hannah Montana thought Grandma’s birthday celebration was less important to her than her show. But for her dad, he wouldn’t take that. Never!

Finally, she got tricked to fly a private plane and instead of landing at her supposed airport for her show, she found herself in her country home. What?! The teen superstar was so furious.

She finally spent about two weeks there but in what I’d called self perception crisis – fighting between being Hannah Montana (her stage personality) and Miley Cyrus (the real girl). Her self perception was colored because of the attention she got from the public.

So the question for her and her dad was: Who is Hannah Montana? Who is Miley Cyrus? Can she live without the external attention of the public or does she need it to be who she is?

And this is where personal branding starts. The words of King Solomon expresses it this way:

As a man thinketh in his heart so is he…

When some folks hear personal branding they think of colors, business name, products, logo, Instagram page, Facebook page… While all of these are important, the first and most important thing is: What do you think about you? What’s your Self perception?

Virginia Bautista, a LinkedIn trainer, speaker and consultant says it this way:

Our journey to creating a strong personal brand requires a shift in our mindset. Unless we take that shift, we can’t truly build an authentic and powerful brand.

Your self perception, not your phone, is the first and most important tool for personal branding. Laura Montgomery, a contributor on the Economist wrote a most and titled it Personal brand is more than your digital presence. So, it starts from you, your thoughts of you. Whatsoever you think of you is your true personal brand.

If you think you’re not unique, then you can’t express a unique brand. Take note: I didn’t say create a unique brand. Why? You’re a brand already. There’s a thought pattern you already have about yourself. If you like it, build it. If you don’t, change it.

On a final note, what do you believe about you? What are your thoughts about you? Do you think you can become a global figure in your field? Do you think you are too small to be the brand you see for yourself?

What you think about you will control who and what you become. Your self perception – this is the first and most important tool for personal branding.

Career Development, Organizational Development, Personal development

7 Steps to Grow in an Organization that Does not Inspire Personal Growth.

October 28, 2019 Chuks Nnabuenyi Jr Leave a comment

Worker thinking of how to grow personally. — Worker Thinking

I love Robin Sharma’s words! Let’s look at this:

“The swiftest way to triple your success is to double your investment in personal development.”

I know how it feels when you graduate from highschool and then you’re fortunate enough to be part of the 25% who gain admission. You run through lectures like a mouse in the rat race.

Present you project. Graduate. Get to work in a firm, after looking for the kind of job you want that does not exist… And suddenly, your organization is not growing you. Awkward feel right? Correct?

Well, wrong. Real wrong! It’s you that’s not growing. That will be a talk for another day. “But what if my organization is not looking towards staff development, how can I still grow?” you might ask. That’s a better question.

Why?

It’s called Personal growth, not general growth. So, it’s in your hands. Right until graduation from college, everything or 80% of what we learn is controlled by the school curriculum. Well, outside that four corner room, you either learn how to learn or fade out!

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So, take a look at these 7 steps that can accelerate your personal growth even when HR would not budget for new trainings or new books or new tours. 😉
1. Have a personal why. Why would two young fellows start work as cleaners in an organization and after 5 years, one ends up as a regional manager while the other still a front desk officer? To understand this more, read this Purpose is Life-Changing. Find Your Why.
2. Read a book or take a course online. Ask yourself this simple question: what do I want to master? What do I want to be known for? What niche do I want to build?

If you’ve defined it, then, what books can you read on those subjects? What course can you take online? There are many sites to get free ebooks online and then for courses, I use edX. Check out this online courses for more.
3. Listen to the best guys. In a typical work environment, there are those who just want to talk and talk away their lives as well as yours. Hey, don’t allow them to. Notice I didn’t say, don’t relate. No!

Sometimes we confuse being able to have friends in the work place and being intentional about our lives. Remember this, you’re the average of the five persons you spend your time with. Think about it.

So, why not get YouTube videos or podcast of the leaders in your industry and listen to them.
4. Offer to do more than what you’re paid to do. Why do we hate more work but love more money? Well, I guess, I’m in same category! Yeah, I am. But then, I’ve learnt this first hand. There’s something you might not learn fast and better until you get into it, whether you’re ready or not.

What if you volunteer to work on a project? What if you join another department to do one or two things? Now see, some folks will laugh at you. And if you’re not focused, you’ll loose it.

Help your organization create a charity. Manage it. Maybe for free. However, make sure you’re kin on your primary assignment as well.
5. Always take out time to reflect on your progress. Yeah, this is where the LOBALOFOLINO principle comes in. Why? When you reflect from time to time, you’re able to know where you are, what you’ve done and what you need to do…

As we go on in life, we tend to loose guard of our direction. Sometimes, just stop and reflect. That might be all you need for clarity.
6. Set personal goals. Nothing fires you more than setting goals. What determines how your colleagues in the office work is most times driven by what they have set to achieve. So, dust those goals you have and look at them again. To learn how to set goals, see this: setting goals.
7. WDYT. I reserve this for you to think about another way, because you’re smart. So, it’s called #WDYT – #whatdoyouthink?

Remember, no one owes you personal growth. And this is the most important part of work just as Jim Rohn puts it:

Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. If you work hard on your job you can make a living, but if you work hard on yourself you’ll make a fortune.

The Nicheployee Blog

I Hate my Job. I Love the Pay. What Should I do?

What is the First and Most Important Tool for Personal Branding?

7 Steps to Grow in an Organization that Does not Inspire Personal Growth.

Helping African Employees Build a Niche in their Career.