Emotional support for unemployed – Career Planet

5 Happiness tips

Career Planet — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 13:22:15 +0000

“Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it” – Charles Swindoll

Unemployment is at critical levels in South Africa and job opportunities are not necessarily speeding to catch up. It’s not always easy to stay positive when you’re dealing with uncertainty, particularly if you fell out of a comfortable situation and now have to adapt.

But if you’re willing to see the experience as a challenge, and possibly even an opportunity, you can find a sense of peace and fulfillment—not just once you find work, but while you’re in the process of looking. It’s not just cliché advice that sounds good on paper. It’s actually possible. Here’s how.

If You Are Out of Work

1. Don’t isolate

Without work, some people become hermits. Most jobs involve some sort of social interaction, be it with co-workers or customers. For many people, the workday is also the most frequent opportunity for social interaction. Spending some time alone can be healthy; just make sure you don’t take overdo it.

A lot of people feel ashamed or embarrassed about being unemployed, and as a result, avoid social situations. As tempting as it may be to dodge friends and family, it can become a dangerous habit. You need support to make it through this transition with minimal stress and anxiety.

Aside from that, interactions allow you an opportunity to put your worries aside and have fun. You’re dealing with enough stress—don’t you deserve a break?

2. Remember that social connections are your biggest resource

Another reason to stay social and engaged is that it’s one of the best ways to find your next job. When you’re struggling, its easy to become secluded in searching job lists and sending out endless resumes. While there’s nothing wrong with responding to job ads, it’s not nearly as effective as using your social network to find opportunities. It’s like they say: sometimes it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.

3. Maintain a positive outlook

Negativity is an easy habit because it creates the illusion of relieving frustration, but it actually just breeds more negativity. And unfortunately, it doesn’t get you anywhere good.

Positivity, especially when things are tough, may not be your first reaction. No worries about the future with a smile. But if you try to maintain a positive outlook, you will keep yourself open to new things. If you’re convinced there aren’t any opportunities available, you won’t even try to find one—meaning you definitely won’t get one.

4. Stay open to possibilities

It’s ideal to think that life conforms to your plans. But it doesn’t. If it did, you wouldn’t be unemployed to begin with. Once you free yourself from a rigid path you think you should be on, you will open yourself to the new opportunities and roads that will present themselves. When this happens, be ready and willing to say yes.

It may mean taking a short-term contract job, or a lower level position in a new field. When your life path hits a roadblock you need consider the alternate routes available.

5. Take advantage of the extra time

It’s often said that looking for work is a full-time job. That certainly can be true, but it’s a full-time job with a lot of flexibility. When you take away things like a commute, business trips, conferences and everything else that comes with a nine to five job, there’s a lot of extra time in the day.

It’s a good idea to maintain as much of your normal routine as possible. If you exercise three days during the week, make sure you keep doing that. If you wanted to work out five days but never had the time, well, now you do!

This is your time to focus on yourself—what you enjoy, what makes you feel the most fulfilled.

You don’t need to spend every waking hour stressing about finding work. If you put too much emphasis on where you need to be, you may find it’s self-defeating. Just because looking for work can be a full-time job, that doesn’t mean you need to walk around with full-time pressure.

How stressed are you?

Career Planet — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 15:21:48 +0000

Do you have too much, too little or just the right amount of stress?

What is stress?

If you are alive, you experience stress. Stress is the natural reaction to something in our environment or in our selves. It helps us to cope. A certain level of stress is good. Too much can kill you.

When you become aware of danger, you either avoid it (which is not always possible) or find a way to cope with it. The primitive part of the brain functions FAST: You have a flight, fight or freeze reaction sometimes even before you become fully awake to the situation.

Threats come in many forms:

Physical safety – walking down a dark road at night, violence when you have to get to work during a bus strike, floods and mudslides, crime, drugs and intimidation by gangs, domestic abuse, service delivery protests, childbirth, drunken drivers, xenophobic attacks, extreme weather conditions such as drought or snow, difficult work conditions and long work hours.
Intellectual challenges – a new job, fear of change, writing exams, rapid developments in technology, education gaps or inadequate training in your job, lack of time to study.
Emotional strength – lack of sleep because of a sick child, noisy neighbours and worry reduce emotional stability. People that suffered cruelty or neglect as children are insecure in new situations. Modern life puts pressure on us to be independent and achieve material success, so we do not ask for help when we need it or are ashamed of poverty. The death of a loved one, illness in the family, a handicapped household member, old age, divorce and losing your job – all affect your state of mind.
Financial problems – debts, inability to pay school fees, transport, groceries, home repairs, suitable clothing. Big changes – like a new baby, a car crash, health problems, bond and rates payments on acquiring a house, funeral expenses, having a computer, cell phone or car stolen, losing a train ticket that has been paid in advance – all add up to stress.

What happens in your body?

You release chemicals, like adrenaline, that help you cope with the immediate “danger”:

Your heart rate increases
You breathe faster
Your blood pressure goes up

This, in turn, moves more oxygen-rich blood to your brain and muscles:

You think quickly (to defeat the danger)
Your muscles are stronger (to perfom better)
You have lots of energy (more glucose and fatty acids in the blood )

BUT

Everything else in your body shuts down. During an emergency, the brain releases other chemicals to stop unnecessary functions. And this is where the long-term damage of stress happens. Cortisol keeps blood pressure and blood sugar high if the danger does not last. This is fine, but what if the stress continues?

The hormone that brings down cortisol levels after a stressful time does not function if the threat is on-going. Some people see threat everywhere. Others cram their lives full of challenges.
For example, the so-called adrenaline junkies that do extreme sports or enthusiastically climb the corporate ladder. Some people choose to reduce certain normal functions (like reproductive health or cell growth. For example, some gymnasts, dancers, and jockeys do not want to gain weight or do not mind if they stop menstruating).

However, for most people it is not a matter of choice. Living circumstances are life-threatening (people that live in a war zone like Syria for years) or hard (the problems of clean water and child safety that a mother in a squatter camp solves daily) so that we are often on high alert.

Long-term damage

Constant heightened flight/fight/freeze eventually creates a lifetime of stress.

This has serious consequences:

Increased fatty acids in the blood can cause a heart-attack (This is known as the disease of people in high-powered job, especially when combined with lack of exercise and an unhealthy diet. However, ordinary people that suffer from on-going stress are also at risk.)
The immune system is compromised. The body cannot defend itself against germs. This means you get sick. (Research shows that refugees, prisoners, groups after natural disasters like earthquakes and tidal waves, are likely to get diseases. Diseases are often blamed on lack of hygiene, but are equally caused by stress.)
Brain functioning is damaged. The hippocampus (this is easy to remember – just picture a campus where hippos are playing) is the part of the brain where memories are stored. It also makes the hormone that stops cortisol. Too much cortisol damages this part of the brain and makes it less able to produce the hormone that reduces cortisol. Memory loss is the result!

An evil cycle in the hippocampus:

The good news

You CAN protect yourself against stress

Do not take on tasks that are not essential to your job or private life.
Think carefully about what really matters to you? Maybe you are trying to please people whose opinion you do not really value, or competing for a job you do not really want. Maybe you think it is important to buy a new car, not because you need it but because you want to impress somebody. Do you need the horror of debt?
Do things that bring you joy. Crafts and handwork, recreational sport, art, gardening etc are therapeutic and reduces the feeling of being overburdened.
Get enough sleep in a well-ventilated place. Do not sleep with earplugs while listening to music. Your body and your mind need “time-out.” Do not watch unpleasant movies until just before bedtime. It invades your subconscious and the flight-fight attitude continues.
Brain cells can be grown. YES! It is true. By learning something new regularly, your brain forms cells that store the new information. You do not have to accept that forgetfulness is permanent.

Emotional intelligence: What it is and why you need it

Career Planet — Fri, 05 Oct 2018 19:12:33 +0000

When emotional intelligence first appeared to the masses, it served as the missing link in a peculiar finding: people with average IQs outperform those with the highest IQs 70% of the time. This anomaly threw a massive wrench into what many people had always assumed was the sole source of success—IQ. Decades of research now point to emotional intelligence as the critical factor that sets star performers apart from the rest of the pack.

Emotional intelligence is the “something” in each of us that is a bit intangible. It affects how we manage behavior, navigate social complexities, and make personal decisions that achieve positive results. Emotional intelligence is made up of four core skills that pair up under two primary competencies: personal competence and social competence.

Image: Travis Bradberry

Personal competence comprises your self-awareness and self-management skills, which focus more on you individually than on your interactions with other people. Personal competence is your ability to stay aware of your emotions and manage your behavior and tendencies.

– Self-Awareness is your ability to accurately perceive your emotions and stay aware of them as they happen.

– Self-Management is your ability to use awareness of your emotions to stay flexible and positively direct your behavior.

Social competence is made up of your social awareness and relationship management skills; social competence is your ability to understand other people’s moods, behavior, and motives in order to respond effectively and improve the quality of your relationships.

– Social Awareness is your ability to accurately pick up on emotions in other people and understand what is really going on.

– Relationship Management is your ability to use awareness of your emotions and the others’ emotions to manage interactions successfully.

Emotional Intelligence, IQ, and Personality Are Different

Emotional intelligence taps into a fundamental element of human behavior that is distinct from your intellect. There is no known connection between IQ and emotional intelligence; you simply can’t predict emotional intelligence based on how smart someone is. Intelligence is your ability to learn, and it’s the same at age 15 as it is at age 50. Emotional intelligence, on the other hand, is a flexible set of skills that can be acquired and improved with practice. Although some people are naturally more emotionally intelligent than others, you can develop high emotional intelligence even if you aren’t born with it.

Image: Travis Bradberry

Personality is the final piece of the puzzle. It’s the stable “style” that defines each of us. Personality is the result of hard-wired preferences, such as the inclination toward introversion or extroversion. However, like IQ, personality can’t be used to predict emotional intelligence. Also like IQ, personality is stable over a lifetime and doesn’t change. IQ, emotional intelligence, and personality each cover unique ground and help to explain what makes a person tick.

Emotional Intelligence Predicts Performance

How much of an impact does emotional intelligence have on your professional success? The short answer is: a lot! It’s a powerful way to focus your energy in one direction with a tremendous result. TalentSmart tested emotional intelligence alongside 33 other important workplace skills, and found that emotional intelligence is the strongest predictor of performance, explaining a full 58% of success in all types of jobs.

Your emotional intelligence is the foundation for a host of critical skills—it impacts most everything you do and say each day.

Image: Travis Bradberry

Of all the people we’ve studied at work, we’ve found that 90% of top performers are also high in emotional intelligence. On the flip side, just 20% of bottom performers are high in emotional intelligence. You can be a top performer without emotional intelligence, but the chances are slim.

Naturally, people with a high degree of emotional intelligence make more money—an average of $29,000 more per year than people with a low degree of emotional intelligence. The link between emotional intelligence and earnings is so direct that every point increase in emotional intelligence adds $1,300 to an annual salary. These findings hold true for people in all industries, at all levels, in every region of the world. We haven’t yet been able to find a job in which performance and pay aren’t tied closely to emotional intelligence.

You Can Increase Your Emotional Intelligence

The communication between your emotional and rational “brains” is the physical source of emotional intelligence. The pathway for emotional intelligence starts in the brain, at the spinal cord. Your primary senses enter here and must travel to the front of your brain before you can think rationally about your experience. However, first they travel through the limbic system, the place where emotions are generated. So, we have an emotional reaction to events before our rational mind is able to engage. Emotional intelligence requires effective communication between the rational and emotional centers of the brain.

Source: WEF
Writer: Travis Bradberry, President, TalentSmart
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.