Construct Careers

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Productivity: Regulating Emotions (Anger)
Most articles focus on how to get organized and get the job done. When trying to focus on productivity, it is important to understand how your emotions can affect your productivity. We focus on deadlines or the when to get it done but do not train ourselves on how to get it done.
1. Anger: Anger is a strong negative emotion that can damage personal and professional relationships.
• Do you externalize anger by shouting at people only to realize that your outrage was not justified?
• Do you internalize anger and not say anything but end up avoiding the person or task or situation?
• Have you every felt that you could have got more things done if you had reacted differently or investigated the facts before coming to a decision?
You are not alone. Most people experience strong emotions of anger on daily basis or when triggered by a certain type of event or due to an unforeseen circumstance.
How to get out of this circling?
a. Accept that you might be unconsciously behaving in an inappropriate manner.
b. Write down the situation when you feel angry. The situation is your trigger.
c. Observe your language. Do you use words like always, nothing or not at all? This is an All or Nothing perspective that can come with Anger. This thinking can skew your perspective of events and people. If you feel that your employee always comes late or is not reliable, then ask yourself if this is 100% true. Always or not at all means 0% or 100%. If the person comes to work everyday but 20 minutes late, would you prefer that they come absolutely on time or not at all?
d. Does this thought affect your relationship with them? When they come late, do you feel the need to talk to them sternly or avoid them completely?
e. Are you able to talk to them and ask them to sit late or work from home the day before and complete their work instead of doing it in the morning? This will give you the time to send out deliverables at the designated time and not bother about the employee coming late.
f. Can you ask them if a morning chore like dropping their kids to school is coming in the way of reaching on time? Can you be flexible to accommodate this scenario?
g. Ask yourself what are the values you want to embrace? Is punctuality above work quality or a relationship? If so, you and your employee may not be a good match. This employee could probably be a great consultant to you instead of a full-time employee where they are paid when they produce the work.

Construct Careers is now offering counseling for students who want to take their career further. Visit the website at constructcareers.webflow.io

Statement of Purpose

If you are still scampering to write a Letter of Intent or Statement of Purpose for your masters application, here are a few tips.

1. Be true to yourself (Dil se)
Most of us do not realize that our professional and personal lives are quite interconnected. While our job is a means to earn a living or enhance our lifestyles, most of us do try to seek for a purpose in what we are doing. There are very few people who can completely disengage from their professional life and seek happiness and contentment from another source in their personal life. For e.g. volunteering for a cause, taking care of family and society, dance and music, the arts etc.
Rightfully, so because most of us will work from the age of 22 to 62. That is a span of 40 years. When you write your LOI (Letter of Intent) or Statement of Purpose,
- Think of your intent or purpose for a time span of 40 years
- How would you like to make an impact?
- What problems can you identify that require to be solved by your generation?
- Can you cite any personal instances that have created this burning desire in you?

2. Right skills (Dimaag se)
Being true to yourself, increases the longevity of your career. You are able to understand the bigger picture but is someone ready to hire you. Maybe you need to join a course.
In this part of your LOI,
- write about the skills you need to gather to able to solve the problems you have identified
- write about the nuances of the course that will help you gather the skills you require
- talk about the city and country where you are wanting to study. Does that place help you in any way to better your skills?

3. Position yourself (Apna matlab)
How can you confidently say that you are the right fit for the University that you are applying to?
Talk about your degree, skills, your journey, your work experience and all your personal achievements that make this a logical next step. Think if you were saying,
I have reached here and now I am ready to climb higher.

4. Financial Growth ( paise se matlab)
It is not a bad thing to want more money. You can always say that this degree will help you rise to a higher position, get a promotion, move to another city, help fund a non-profit organization or anything else. How do you do this?
- Mention instances of positions that alumnii of this University are currently working in. Say, I am so happy to know that John Smith, an alumnii of this University is a Director at xx. His current work includes the following and I would love to engage in such work on graduating from the University.

The 4 principles to be successful

1. Make your mind and body work for you
When Narayana Murthy was asked, what he would like to change about his life - he said, he would have liked to take care of his body when he was young. Now his feet and back are aching and he is not as productive as he used to be.
Think about it - your body and mind are the two primary assets you have to function in life. When you are young, you might be energetic but lack skills and resources. As you grow old, you realize that your body is not keeping up but you have a treasure trove of knowledge to share. Keep your body and mind working to full capacity at all times.

2. Invest in yourself
One you have a plan to keep your mind alert and your body healthy and flexible, invest in your skills. We talk about property and stock appreciation. Do we ever think about self-appreciation? Self appreciation does not mean applauding yourself. Self appreciation here is questioning if the value of your skills has appreciated in the last year or two or five? Do you know what kind of skills you need to be more successful than you are? Are you talking to your boss or a mentor on a regular basis about your growth? Are you correcting your mistakes and improving on yourself?
We generally think of certifications and courses as a way of investment in ourselves but even working towards keeping organized meeting minutes or reaching on time to meeting someone can be considered enhancing your skills and investing in yourself. Investing in yourself will give you the highest return on investment.

3. Do tasks willing
As Sadhguru says, happiness is all about doing tasks willingly. A person is unhappy when they have to do tasks that are not favorable or difficult or don't seem to align with their goals. Unwillingness makes them unhappy. Whenever you do a task, try to do it willingly. Focus your positive thoughts and emotions towards creating positive energies. Try to find the greater good in the task or the outcome of the task. How do you feel when you drop your children to school or cook a new dish for your family or help your boss with an urgent request? Evaluate the difference that willingness or unwillingness can have for any of these tasks.

4. Communicate to cooperate
If your aim is to solve problems of the world, empathize with people as a means to find solutions. Do not find solutions and apply them on people. By empathizing with someone, you will create for yourself a genuine interest in understanding their situation and then creating a solution for the problem they are facing. If you find a solution and try to apply it, the risk of failure is higher. You can explore solutions to test methods and understand problems better.