Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom How to Get Over Stage Fright

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom How to Get Over Stage Fright According to WebMD, millions of people suffer from performance anxiety, commonly called stage fright. In fact, most people would rather get the flu than perform. Performance anxiety can prevent you from doing what you enjoy and can affect your career because people who cannot speak in public are not considered promotion material. The Symptoms of Presentation Stage Fright Being the center of attention and having all eyes on you can be stressful, especially if you are anintrovert. Your body reacts to this situation in much the same way as it would if you were being attacked. Your body’s “fight-or-flight” mechanism kicks in, which is why symptoms of stage fright are similar to symptoms that occur when you are in real danger. They include: Racing pulse and rapid breathing Dry mouth and tight throat Trembling hands, knees, lips, and voice Sweaty and cold hands Nausea and an uneasy feeling in your stomach Vision changes Although it may be impossible to totally overcome performance anxiety, there are things you can do to control your emotions and reduce anxiety. Some are more obvious, like breathing deeply and knowing your material cold. Here are a few you might not have thought about. The Cure for Presentation Stage Fright Give the Stage Fright a Deadline A mentor once suggested to me that I acknowledge my fear of giving presentations â€" to a point. I was allowed to be nervous in the hours leading up to each event, but at the moment I was being introduced, I was to say: “time’s up.” It was then that I allowed my confident side to take over. It took a few events of practice, but my mind eventually got the hang of it. Pack your Schedule When you’re very busy, you don’t have time to worry about how miserable you might feel. So on the day you’re due to give your remarks, schedule as many meetings as possible so you are running from one thing to another right up to the time you’re up to speak. Being frazzled can actually work in stage fright’s favor. For more tips, please see the full post at Intuits Fast Track blog.

7 Healthy Home Habits To Adopt When You Move Out For The First Time

7 Healthy Home Habits To Adopt When You Move Out For The First Time When you’re moving out of home for the very first time, your head and heart are full of promise, as you vow to make this the very best experience of your life, and as you dream of enjoying a sumptuous and healthy breakfast every day at home, and spending your weekend vacuuming for hours to keep your abode spotless. Fast forward a mere few weeks and the only number you’ve called all weekend is the pizza delivery guy, and the only vacuuming you’ve done is sucking up nachos like they were going out of style. Your breakfast routine consists of Cocoa Pops out of the box and you can’t remember the last time you cleaned under the couch. My, how the mighty do fall! But, rest assured, this tale of woe need not be yours, because there are some healthy home habits you can adopt before you set out into the world and move into your own place to ensure that you keep up a healthy lifestyle. Never fear, it’s no easy task keeping your home beautiful, but with the right kinds of habits in place, you’ll be set for success before you even get house movers in Melbourne to help you with the move. Make your bed every day When you wake up in the morning, you need to ensure that you make your bed. Not only do people who make their bed every day feel happier and more productive, they also enjoy coming home to a made bed and being able to slip into the covers of a made bed every day. How good is that? Put your clothes away When you have finished work and come home to get out of your work clothes, it can be tempting to leave your clothes on the floor where you have thrown them. Instead of doing this, its far better to actually pick your clothes up and put them away as you go, because this will ensure that its easier to keep clean in the long run. Putting your clothes away is just one more step to take in a very tidy home. Clean as you cook When you are cooking your dinner, there is a lot to think about and a lot to do. There are pans sizzling steak, and there are pots steaming your veggies. The last thing you probably want to think about is all the washing up that you are going to have to do, but if you think about it as you go, will have less to do when you finish, which means that youre more likely to keep your kitchen clean. Cleaning as you cook is a great habit to get into, and is one that is followed by the top chefs in commercial kitchens worldwide. Put away dishes In addition to cleaning as you cook, you need to make sure that after you have done the washing up that you put the dishes away in the cupboard. Yes, yes, this seems like a little bit of an overstatement, but then check with any share house around the world and youll find that one of the biggest concerns is the washing up! This is simply because people seem to have an aversion to putting away dishes. Don’t be one of those people. Put the dishes away. You’ll love yourself for it. Wipe surfaces regularly Again with the seemingly obvious tips, but then youd be surprised how many people dont wipe surfaces regularly.   All you need to do is at the end of the night is arm yourself with a Chux and a bottle of spray and get at the kitchen benches.   Youll be far less likely to suffer an invasion of ants or any other kind of creepy crawly. Don’t procrastinate One of the biggest problems facing people in keeping the house clean is the procrastination in doing so. If you live on your own, its good to make some kind of roster for yourself, so that you keep yourself honest. If you live in a sharehouse, make sure that you do your fair share of the chores lest you face the wrath of your housemates. Straighten up the house before bed Our final tip for keeping the house clean is to go around before bed and tidy up anything that may have been left lying around. Grab any dirty clothes or items that dont belong in the living room for example, and place them back in their rightful place. That way, when you wake up, you dont take any of yesterdays mess into today. Good luck with keeping your home clean!

Recapture Your Brand Focus With These Simple Techniques - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Recapture Your Brand Focus With These Simple Techniques - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career A lack of time and over scheduling are roadblocks to having more focus and moving forward for your personal brand. In order to grow your business it is important to recognize that the right mindset and discipline are two key factors to success. How can your brand have more focus for better results? By recharging your efforts and using a few key steps to re-balance your work day and schedule. As an entrepreneur it is is all about making time for yourself and creating standard by which you can follow in order to not become overwhelmed. There are several ways to get a handle on your work week and become more efficient. Steps to creating more focus for your brand Time time away for yourself It’s amazing how good you will feel by just taking a few minutes to just breath in between projects. This is especially important if your mind is in overdrive. Sometimes this can be during physical exercise whatever works for you and your schedule. Be sure to turn on your voice mail, turn off the devices and go to your quiet place to relax and rejuvenate. Make a to-do list Maintain personal accountability by making a list of what has been taking up your time the most. There may be some items you may need to trim in order to get back on track. Only include those things that you know you can accomplish. Dont throw in the towel Find a place of encouragement during any setbacks. This could be a friend, mentor, ect. Its okay to take a step back and remind yourself that you are growing a great business and that you are successful. Keep the creativity flowing Start up the dream again, and write it down or develop a vision board. Visit this each day and work with your brands team to come up with new and fresh ideas in order to break of the monotony of your work week. Once you recognize the obstacles in your business you are better able to address them. It is not always easy, but taking these steps can move you into a more positive direction if you are willing to do some personal adjustments.

How to Use LinkedIn to Send a Cold Email

How to Use LinkedIn to Send a Cold Email Expanding your professional network used to mean business cards and conferences. Now it means social media marketing and LinkedIn connections. In some ways, this has made things easier and in other ways, it’s made them harder. And yet, for better or for worse, this is the world we live in. Whether you love social media or you hate it, there’s no denying that it holds a prominent place in the business world. While you can use pretty much any platform to build your brand, LinkedIn was specifically designed to connect with professional peers and make career moves. Odds are that you have a LinkedIn and a few connections, but you probably aren’t using it as much as you could beâ€"because, well, there are more important things to do, right? While it’s hard to argue with that logic, LinkedIn is definitely a resource that you shouldn’t overlook, especially when it comes to business outreach, whatever your goal is (e.g., expanding your client base, finding potential collaborators or investors, getting a job, etc.). Meet the Cold Email With direct messaging, texting, and chat apps, email is no longer dominating the virtual realm of communication. However, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have its uses. After all, it isn’t very professional to DM someone about an open position at their company. Though it often falls victim to vilification, cold emailing is a valuable tool in any industry. It’s easy enough to execute, and it’s a quick way to start a relationship with another professional. That being said, there’s a lot of nuances to writing a successful cold email. What Is a Cold Email? A cold email is an email that you send to someone you don’t know. Does that make a cold email the same thing as spam? Noâ€"not if you do it right. While it’s certainly possible (and unfortunately, relatively common) to send a spammy cold email, cold emails aren’t spam, and you don’t have to feel guilty about sending them. The best way to prevent a cold email from sounding like spam? Don’t ask for anything! Using LinkedIn to Send Cold Emails Like we said before, LinkedIn digitalizes the process of networking, making it easier than ever to keep in touch with other professionals, establish new business relationships, and stay up-to-date on what’s happening in your field. Similar to the way Facebook suggests mutual friends as “People You May Know,” LinkedIn gives you suggestions for new connectionsâ€"including mutual connections you share and people who work at the same company or in a similar position. Before you start using LinkedIn to send cold emails, make sure your profile is as strong as possible. This means it has your most recent information, a comprehensive synopsis of you as a professional, and a PDF-attachment of your resume. Image courtesy of the Balance Careers. Because LinkedIn has a private messaging feature, you might be wondering, “Can’t I just send a cold LinkedIn message instead of an email?” Well, you could, but first, you need LinkedIn Premium to send messages to people you’re not already connected with. Second, because it’s still relatively new, LinkedIn doesn’t have the same credibility as email yet, andâ€"like any social media siteâ€"it’s crawling with fake profiles and scams. Finding Your Lead That’s why we suggest using LinkedIn as a tool to find contacts rather than the method by which you reach out to them. Keep in mind that this process does take some time and effort, as most people don’t include their email addresses in their LinkedIn profiles. They do, however, usually have their first and last names, the company that they work for, and the title that they have at that company. Most company websites have directories that you can search to find a person’s email address, which is how you’ll be able to find their actual contact information. Sending Your Email When it comes time to send the actual email, make sure you put your cyberstalkingâ€"we mean researchâ€"to good use. That means using the person’s name, focusing on industry-relevant information, and alluding to how you found them. Now, you don’t have to say outright that you tracked them down through LinkedIn, but you can mention that they came to your attention as a suggested connection, then say whom it is that you share a connection with or if you don’t share a connection, that you’ve been following their company. Be sure to keep your email brief and to-the-point, and remember: now’s not the time to ask for any favorsâ€"you just want to focus on building a back-and-forth with this person. Other best practices for cold emails include ending with a call to action, outlining a benefit or service that you have to offer them, and impeccable grammar and spelling. Take Full Advantage of Social Media While social media is definitely entertaining, that doesn’t mean you can’t use it to get a little work done, too. In the digital age, everything online is fair game. Why not take full advantage of what social media can do for you? LinkedIn is the perfect social media site to use in order to find new cold email leads because all of the information that you need is right there in front of you. So, stop scrolling, and start connectingâ€"after all, you never know who you might meet on the Internet!

Best Resume Tips For Job Seekers

Best Resume Tips For Job SeekersHow do you achieve the very best in your resume? There are many resume tips that you can use, but it is also important to be well-read and learn the ins and outs of a job search. Following some of these tips may take a lot of time, but it will give you the advantage in landing the job that you are seeking.It's important to include all school information when creating a resume. Include all the details about your school, such as the name of the college, when it was founded, the name of the campus, the year you graduated, the years you have been a student, and the course that you completed. This will help when applying for a job where you will need to provide references and be interviewed. Showing how prepared you are will help show you have the necessary work experience to be hired.You want to highlight your communication and language skills on your resume. Some jobs need someone who can communicate effectively. The information about your other skills th at can be translated into written English can help you land the job you are seeking.If you are applying for more than one job, put the job descriptions on separate pages. By separating them you will make it easier to find the right job. When you are applying for a job, make sure you write down the tasks that you need to complete before submitting the resume.There are many requirements to get to be a manager or supervisor on a job. While there may be specific things you have to be good at, be sure you are doing the proper job of being one. Following some of the resume tips listed above will help show your worthiness to be a supervisor or manager.If you are a recent graduate and can not find a job within a year, you are in trouble. While being out of school can be frustrating, it's even worse when you are starting a career and cannot find a job. Follow the tips from resume tips above and you will have a much better chance of landing a good job when you know what you are doing.Be prepa red with your resume when creating a professional looking cover letter. No matter what position you are looking for, you want to make sure that you have written the best cover letter possible. Learn from other people's mistakes and you will greatly improve your chances of landing the job you are seeking. Make sure you research the company before sending the resume and make sure you answer all the questions asked by the hiring manager.Follow these resume tips and you will find yourself having the best shot at a great job. Follow the advice and be prepared and you will land the job that you want. Remember to always be positive and be confident, this is what employers look for and you want to be the very best.