Tag: Job interview

TACOS. 🌮THE SECRET TO HAPPINESS?

Before we get to the title of this post, let me give you the backstory. Life for a motivational author/blog writer/pod cast host is a 24/7 job. I cannot even go to the movies without my brain looking for what I can use to teach and inspire. This post, is another one of those examples.

The other morning, Margie and I found ourselves with some unexpected, and rare, free time. We both agreed going out for breakfast with each other would be fun. It is an activity we love. Something about sitting across the table from that adorable face early in the morning really makes me happy. We chose one of our favorite places, First Watch, to go eat. If you have one in your town, I suggest giving it a try. The have amazing choices and leave a pot of coffee on your table. Good stuff.

As we walked in, we were greeted with the smell of breakfast. You know what I am talking about. The smell of eggs frying, bacon sizzling and toast…well…toasting. As we sat down they gave us a menu of the specials. Some sounded really delicious and just like something Margie would enjoy. She looked at me and said, “I am getting the breakfast tacos. They make me happy.” As long as she is happy, I am happy. I began to think about how much breakfast with her makes me happy. In addition, the smell of toast. Just fills my mind with thoughts of fun breakfasts we have shared. The place is decorated fun and reminds us a little of vacation.

Then I thought again what Margie had said about the tacos and it hit me! An inspirational thought, not a taco. People spend years searching high and low for the secret of happiness and all they had to do is order some tacos. I can hear a large percentage of you nodding and shouting in agreement. More than delicious flavor, the tacos gave me, and now you, a great secret to adding more joy to our lives. Margie loves those tacos, so she looks forward to ordering them. We go to this place perhaps once a month. She knows that she can look forward to this delicious breakfast that adds joy to her life.

The secret that came to me will work even for those rare and strange souls who do not like tacos. The secret is this – find those little things that add joy to your life. That could be the smell of toast, like it was for me. It can be a walk in nature like it is for my mother. It can be a plate of delicious breakfast tacos like it is for the love of my life. Then, schedule those things into your life. Not too often where they become mundane, but often enough you can look forward to them. They work even better if you include some friends. Margarita night with the girls? Fishing trip with the guys? Even a trip to your favorite local breakfast place for some breakfast tacos with the love of your life. Give yourself that little joy to look forward too. It will make the rest of your life a lot easier to take.

IT’S TIME TO GO TO WAR!

It’s time to go to war! That may not sound like something you would hear on a website dedicating to living an amazing life, but then again it is exactly the thing you should read on a site like that. Any site that provides a ton of sunshine and rainbows can only help you so much. Life does not normally find us riding a unicorn to our wonderful job as king or queen of the kingdom of Happyville. There are challenges that we face every single day. In short, sometimes life sucks. That is not being negative, it is just being honest.

If we were to stop there and whine or just say to ourselves (or everyone around us) “My life sucks.” and sit on our butt doing nothing about it, there is a 100% chance two things will happen. 1.) we will feel terrible and like we have no control over our lives. 2.) our lives will continue to suck. These are not a maybe, but a certainty. If we do a few small things every so often, there will be a small chance every so often that things will get better.

If we want our lives to change we must go to war with whatever is challenging us. We must face it head on and attack it with all we have. Words like ‘war’ and ‘attack’ may bring up violence and lots of other negative thoughts, but that is not what we are talking about here. We are talking about using every possible resource at our disposal to address and correct the issue. It may also involve gaining new resources that we can use to further attack the challenge. We cannot stop until we have won the war.

I am going to give you two quick examples to help better explain the concept. On Easter I injured my back. It was so bad I was unable to even walk the following day. This happened right after I recovered from the coronavirus. I could have sat there and said, “It is just one thing after another!” or asked, “Why me? Why do things keep going wrong?” I could have taken a few pain pills every so often and hoped for a miracle. No! I wanted my back better and wanted it better now. I contacted my doctor and asked a million different questions. He recommended rest and anti-inflammatories. As I followed those instructions I also read articles online about helping back pain. Advice about applying both ice and heat and when to do both. I also watched videos and stretches that might help and positions to sleep that may ease pain. In other words I did everything I could think of to tackle the problem.

Let us say you find yourself looking for a new job currently. You put your resume on a few job sites and wait. How likely will it be that you will get hired in a hurry to a job that you enjoy and are good at? I would say slim to none. While putting resumes on job sites is a very good idea to do, I would continually look at other means as well. Stopping in places you would like to work and inquire on employment opportunities. Learn different ways you could update your resume and make it more attractive to potential employers. How about brushing up on your skills and knowledge to make you more attractive to employers? Reading publications in the field in which you would like to be employed. Networking with professionals in that industry. Which one of these should you do while looking for a job? The answer is all of them if you really want a good job and want it soon. Don’t just whine about your unemployment, go to war with it! Do everything in your power to tackle the problem.

As you can see, going to war can be one of the most powerful and positive things you can do. Next time you have a challenge you’re facing, ask yourself, “Am I just whining about this problem, or am I going to war with it?” Your honest answer should tell you how to proceed. One last reminder. In war they are constantly inventing new and more lethal weapons. You should do the same in the war you are facing. Find new and inventive ways to tackle the problem. They might not all work, but there is 100% chance that sitting on your butt whining will not improve your situation at all.

NEVER FORGET YOUR WORTH…

“Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth”

-quote from the website ‘livelifehappy.com’

I have posted on this subject before. To often we let outside circumstances determine how we feel. The most obvious situation in which this manifests is relationships. Someone is with an abusive spouse and they find themselves doubting their own value. Perhaps they just have a string of bad relationships and ask “What is wrong with me?” I am not going to go into too much depth about that as the other post was dedicated to that. What I do want to talk about with you today is the other ways in which these feelings can come about. If you are a member of a certain race or culture and are the unfortunate victim of harassment for that you may even subconsciously start to believe some of those stereotypes. There is even another way in which people and circumstances can make you feel less than valued and that is in the job market. Perhaps you expected that raise or a good review and did not get it. Perhaps due to downsizing and office politics you find your position has been reduced or even eliminated. That actually happened to me last week. Now you can find yourself asking “Why me?” or feeling anger for your boss, supervisor or whoever was responsible for that decision. Most of all you can find yourself feeling under valued and under appreciated. So how can we prepare for any of these or the countless other situations that can leave us doubting our own value? Be proactive! If you find yourself in the middle of one of these situations this exercise will still work, but it would save a lot of heartache and self-doubt if you were to do it before one even comes up. The simple answer here, determine your own value. Grab your trusty pad and paper and begin to list all of the things that make you the amazing person you are. If you find yourself having a hard time accomplishing this list you could employ the help of a trusted friend. Another idea is to carry a pen and paper with you and note what people compliment you on. I’ll give you an example of what I had written in my case. 1.) I knew I provided great customer service skills in an organization that greatly needs them 2.) I genuinely care about my customers and have brought several great things to the communities I serve. 3.) I have great attendance and can be counted on to be there when I am needed 4.) I am an honest and loyal employee. Now when you do have your list of positive attributes down even if it is just a few, you have a great foundation for several things. One, you have great material for a job interview or to accent on a first date depending on what you may be using this for. You also have the beginnings of a great self-confidence booster. Once you do realize how much you bring to the equation you will be less willing to settle for less than you are worth be it in a job, relationship or any other circumstance. Then outside events fail to maintain their ugly grip on your emotions. If you find yourself struggling to come up with much of a list then you may consider developing a list of skills you would like to bring to the table…but that is a subject for tomorrow’s post!