Success depends on a certain amount of luck, but smart people know not to leave success entirely up to chance. In the book Work Your Strengths, the authors identify discuss the 12 strengths that are essential to success. Do you have these skills?

Response inhibition–do you act first, think second? Do you have the ability to think *before* you act?

Working memory–are you good at emembering information? can you remember information while you are performing complex or detailed tasks?

Emotional control–do you or can you control counterproductive feelings such as anger, impatience?

Sustained attention–do you have the ability to focus on the immediate job? Oh look, a shiny thing (LOL)

Task initiation–do you sit and plan rather than just get started. When I was in my 20’s, I worked with a young woman who always said to our boss when asked if she had done a task, “Nooo, but, I’m just fixin to now.” In the words of Nike, Just Do It!

Planning and prioritizing–do you know what is important and what to do first?

Organization–do you have tools and resources available when you need them?

Time management–do you use time as efficiently as possible?

Goal-directed persistence—do you set goals and move steadily toward them?

Flexibility– do you have the ability to adapt to changing circumstances? Always have a back up plan.

Perspective—can you see the big picture and your role in that picture?

Stress tolerance—what is your stress tolerance? do you have the ability to deal with stress?

If you don’t have the about traits, I believe that some things can be learned. I had to learn emotion (Impatience) control. I was fortunate, I had a best friend to complain and b**ch to. However, instead of saying you poor thing, she told me, “Everyone is not like you.”

Check out the book Work Your Strengths: A Scientific Process to Identify Your Skills and Match Them to the Best Career for You.

How can you be sure you are hiring the right person for the job?

     I once had to select someone to work with me for a complicated and sensitive project. She was so good that my boss offered here a permanent job, stayed with us for 15 years. Nothing was ever said to me after the hire, but I was often asked to sit in on prospective employee interviews.

I share this list as an executive assistant. I found that my boss and I often had different ideas as to who would make a good employee. It’s not easy to determine whether a job candidate will fit into your company culture; however, there are some universal signs that indicate an applicant may not be right for your business. Here is the order of interview importance as I see it:

1. Improper dress.This may appear to be insignificant in the larger sense, but this tells me that the job applicant did not do his or her homework about the company or the job; or worse, did and chose to ignore the information.

2. Criticizes former bosses, co-workers, or competitors. Not only is this behavior in poor taste, it also shows that the candidate doesn’t take responsibility for creating positive relationships.

3. Focuses on the next job.Interest in career development is fine, but watch out for candidates who ignore the realities of the job you’re actually trying to fill right now. Employees who are constantly looking to move up may put their energy into pursuing a promotion instead of handling their current job.

4. Displays excessive interest in job perks.Vacation time, sick time, and other perks are important issues, but they shouldn’t be the first and only issues a candidate asks about.

5. Takes credit for team efforts.Candidates who do not share the credit for business accomplishments are less likely to be team players.

Those who remember Johnny Carson know that he loved odd one line jokes, he would have made a great court jester.
  I wonder what he could do with one liners about the bad economy?  Here are a few, all of the one liners start with “The economy is so bad that…”

. The economy is so bad that . . .

• I got a pre-declined for a credit card.

• I ordered a burger at a fast-food joint and the kid behind the counter asked, “Can you afford fries with that?”

• CEOs are now playing miniature golf.

• My ATM gave me an IOU.

• A picture is now worth only 200 words.

• I bought a toaster oven, and my free gift with purchase was a bank.

• The Treasure Island Casino in Las Vegas is now managed by We R Pirates, Inc.

The holidays will be here before you know it, here are a few simple ways to earn cash for little pleasures and goodies for yourself and your family. 

You won’t get rich with these money-generating ideas, but you can take the results to the bank (even if it’s only your piggy bank):
    • Sell photos to stock photo websites. Stock photography sites offer generic photos of landscapes, animals, and other nonspecific subjects to designers and publishers. Go through your travel photos or your pictures of Fluffy, Fido and great scenery, then check out sites like istockphoto.com and shutterstock.com.

• Sell your books. Go through your bookshelves. Are you hanging on to your old college textbooks? Be realistic when setting prices, are you really going to read A Tale of Two Cities ever again? You can sell books online or try a local second-hand bookshop. If you have enough books you can have a garage sale–get your bookaholic friends involved and set up your own book space in the yard.  

• Sign up for consumer focus groups. Corporations and nonprofits doing market research need opinions from regular people. Make yourself available for focus groups, and you could earn $50 to $100 or so for an hour or two of sharing your thoughts and reactions to ideas. And don’t forget those online survey’s,  MyPoints.com is one of the best, your points add up quickly and you are never added to odd lists.

Why fight over shadows?

There is a fable about a wealthy man who hired a peasant and his camel for a long trip across the desert. The rich man rode the camel while the peasant led it across the dry sands.

In the hot noonday sun, they stopped for a rest. Since there was no shade but the camel, they began arguing about who had more of a right to sit in the camel’s shadow: the peasant who owned the camel, or the rich man who had rented the camel to ride.

Their voices grew louder and louder as the argument and shouting went on. The camel began to get jittery and anxious because of the loud voices of the men. Finally, the camel became so frightened, he ran away –leaving both men stranded in the middle of the burning desert without any shade at all.

Moral of story: Don’t let yourself get so determined to be right that you lose what you’re fighting for.

Does your child have first day of school jittters? Do you?

Hopefully, you have been talking to your child about the first day of school and how exciting it will be. Well, maybe not so exciting for you as you dress your little one, holding back tears with a really big grin on your face. Not too big though, kids are smart. For most school starts in September, so you still have a couple of weeks to practice smiling and being cheerful about your baby taking that first step away from the nest.

    Here are some things you and your child can do to he lp make this transition smoother:

Two weeks before

.  Make a cute calendar with countdown days.  Any plain calendar page will do or make your own, show the daya/date and add small graphics; Smilies are fun to use. Try this site http://www.clicksmilies.com/ or check out one that is similar. When you find a site you like, print the page of smilies and let your child cut them out paste on a I’m a Big Girl/Boy calendar. Later you can keep the calendar as a keepsake.

• Start practicing with the alarm clock. Send your kids to bed at their regular school-night time, and start getting them up early. Explain that everyone needs to adjust to a new schedule.

• Practice the school bus run. Describe the bus route for your children, including where the bus goes and how long it takes to get to school. Talk about what they can do on the bus to occupy their time.

• Take a tour of the school. Make arrangements with the school, and show your children their classrooms, the cafeteria, and bathrooms.

The day before
• Lay your child’s school clothes out. With your child, select outfits for the first week so there’s no anxiety about clothes in the morning.

• Pack up the night before. Get your children’s books, lunch money, and school supplies ready to go before they go to bed.

• Send your child to school with a photo. A family photo or a reassuring note in a child’s lunch can help ease separation anxiety.

The first day
• Send a note to the teacher? This is a definate ‘maybe.’ This lets children introduce themselves to their new teacher. Talk about what they like to play and their favorite foods. Make this a short note. Remember, short note. You may want to include a picture. When your childs teacher calls him or her by name, there will be an instant bond.

• Get them on the bus. If your children will be taking the bus to school, don’t drive them the first day, wait with them for the school bus. Help them get used to the trip right away.

• Remember bus numbers. Calm children’s fears by going over the bus number and reminding them that their teachers will make sure they get on the right bus.

We all think we know what success is and how to achieve it. But sometimes we don’t know what success is until it bites us in the face and nips at our nose. Usually (because nothing is 100%) success is based on our personal goals and achievements that are uniquely our own and are shaped by our individual personalities.

   Where is your success? Examine your own ideas about success, then;

Learn to recognize your success. What will your success look like or feel like? Will you be able to recognize it when you reach it? (Trying to keep up with this one or that one is not the way to success.) When you do the best to your ability isn’t that success too? The truth is you can’t do more than you can do.

Define success in your own terms. Forget about other people and their vision of success. Think about what you value, not what others value or say you must or should do.

What do you need to do?  Identify specific things that must be achieved before you reach your own goal. Select one thing that you have already done, and two or three things you can do right now, that will bring you closer to your ultimate success. Then start working on them–today.

Are you close to success now? Take a look at what you’ve already accomplished, and compare your current situation with your position when you started working toward your goals. If you are not closer, maybe you are allowing excuses to get in the way of accomplishment.

After looking at your accomplishments are you closer to your success than you thought?

Kudos.

The origins of some figures of speech are obvious, putting the cart before the horse, putting all of your eggs in one basket, killing two birds with one stone. Others are a little more obscure. I wonder if Mr. Aesop wrote fables about some of the expresssions listed in Jeff Rovin’s book, The Unbelievable Truth! (Signet, 1994.)

   A former boyfriend who was a smart and interesting man, probably has a dog-eared copy of Jeff Rovin’s book. He was always the go-to person when bits of odd and often useless information was needed or desired. I have always had a soft spot and much affection for these over-load folks, even if I do scratch my head and wonder how and why they know these things. Take a look at the explanations behind three common expressions that we continue to use today:

Pulling the wool over their eyes. In the 17th and 18th centuries, thieves and robbers would yank their victims’ wool wigs down over their eyes so they couldn’t see who was attacking them.

Blackmail. In 16th-century England, mail meant “rent” or “tribute.” Debts that had to be paid in silver were called “whitemail.” A debt that could be paid in any other way from was called “blackmail.” Blackmail did not have a set value, and the person collecting the debt could collect (or extort) any amount or anything they wished from the debtor.

Red tape. For centuries, it was British custom to seal important documents with red wax and red tape. Cutting through it was the only way to get at the documents and read them.

Quote: Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge. — Kahlil Gibran

Which direction will you take? You have big goals, but do you have the passion to bring them to life?

     Success usually requires a road map, a strategy, but it also calls for serious drive and commitment toward your goals. Rosabeth Moss Kanter a professor at Harvard Business School suggests testing yourself with these questions:

• Do you feel strongly about the importance of your goal—why it’s necessary to achieve?

• Will you be able to reject criticism and negativity?

• Does your idea match your values and beliefs?

• Is this something you’ve dreamed about for a long time?

• Is your goal vital to the future of people you care about?

• Does your goal get you excited when you think about it and share it with others?

• Is it realistic? Are you sincerely convinced that your goal can be achieved?

• Are you willing to put your credibility on the line for it?

• Can you make your goal the primary focus of your activities?

• Are you willing to devote your personal time—evenings, weekends, vacations—to bring your goal to reality?

• Are you committed to the long term as you work toward your goal?　

Follow Prof. Kanter on Twitter Twitter.com/RosabethKanter

You can damage your career by saying the wrong thing to your boss. It is not the obvious, don‘t say what you are thinking things, like “You’re an idiot,” or, “Do I look like I care?”

The wrong things are often in the context of a sentence that can get you kicked out of the door.

Career adviser Karen Burns warns employees to avoid these statements:

That is not my job: Don’t limit yourself to what’s in your job description. Be willing to take on any role the boss asks you to (assuming it’s legal and ethical, of course). You can ask your boss why he or she is assigning the task to you, but you’ll improve your career prospects by accepting whatever assignment is thrown your way.

That is not my problem: Don’t let the boss think you don’t care what happens to the company you work for. Take responsibility for fixing things so your manager can rely on you no matter what.

It is not my fault: Ducking responsibility only makes you look and sound untrustworthy. Don’t waste your time, and your boss’s on placing blame for whatever the office or company problems are.  [If you watch television's The Closer, you will know this is similar to the classic SODDI (pronounced sah-dee) defense/excuse; Some other dude did it.] Focus on finding answers and solutions.

I can’t do that–It’s impossible Telling your boss that he or she is asking for the impossible will not endear you to the powers.  You want your boss to believe you can do whatever is required or at least give is a good try. Analyze the task and identify the real problem or goal; then concentrate on overcoming the obstacles.

Visit Karen’s useful and easy to read Working Girl  site and buy a copy of her book The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl: Real-Life Career Advice You Can Actually Use You will be glad you did.