Be all that you can be

Although this blog is mainly about career development and furthering your studies, I feel that it is also relevant to write on the subject of gap year voucher codes. A career break could be the best thing that you do if you feel stuck in a rut or want some time out to gain new experience or even further your career in another country.

Gap Year travel vouchers could be a great gift for anyone looking for a career break. There are many websites out there tailored towards gap year travel, or careers abroad, but there are also many dedicated discount code or voucher websites to consider. You could end up saving hundreds of pounds on your holiday. I recently booked my summer holiday and found a number of discount codes on the Internet. But make sure you are quick because people snap up such offers in next to no time. Discount codes or travel vouchers are on offer from most of the household names and websites tend to update daily with new offers.

So enjoy browsing the web as the opportunity is there to save massively on your next flight, holiday or city break. If you are doing a gap year it may also be cheaper to book flights throughout your trip rather than booking a package at the beginning. Booking a number of flights throughout your trip allows you to be flexible about when you travel, where you travel and gives you time to search for the best deals.

The classic shirt and tie combination is more difficult than many imagine. It’s not simply a case of wearing a clean shirt and pulling the first tie off the rail that you can find. It’s about style. Classic rules that have been stereotyped and rubber stamped into the business dress code hand book. Shirt and tie combos should be every man’s (and women’s) first thought when dressing for business. There are several rules to follow, but you can experiment with your own style as long as you stick within the general guidelines. Too eccentric may give the wrong image.

Classic Shirt & Tie Combo Rules

1. When you have a plain (white) shirt any tie should go.

2. Don’t wear a tie lighter than your shirt, i.e. a black shirt and yellow tie is wrong.

3. Striped shirts and striped ties don’t always go, but you can pull off the look if the stripes are not identical to the stripe pattern of the shirt. Vertically striped shirts with a broad diagonally striped tie make for a good look.

4. Checked shirts and striped ties are a big no no. Don’t subscribe to this look.

5. Colours - try to match your ties to your suit, shirt or even shoes or belt. The world is your oyster, but keep away from matching patterns for shirt, tie and suit.

Most of all, enjoy experimenting. Your shirt and tie combo is what projects your image. Think what image you are trying to portray.

Any finally - don’t let your ties hang lower than your waistband!!! It’s SO wrong!!!

Andy Murray, Britain’s greatest modern hope of a Grand Slam tennis victory walks into SW19 today with perhaps the best chance we have had of having a British champion since the last British gentleman’s singles champion Fred Perry in 1936.

The pundits all have their opinions on Murray, who has a tough opening two rounds against Robbie Kendrick, then either Riccardo Ghedin or Ernests Gulbis depending on who is successful in their opening match.

Murray has grown as a player; his temperament has improved, his fitness is far better than his fledgling performances in years gone by, and now is the time many feel he can stand up and be counted. He reached the final of the French open only to be beaten by one of the (if not the) greatest player in modern times Roger Federer, who will be competing for a record 15th Grand Slam title. Murray also took the Queen’s Club title last week to prove that he can perform on grass at the highest level despite not being a natural serve and volley expert.

The skill of serve and volley is something Federer has over most of the other top players, namely Novak Djokovic or Andy Roddick, who is an outside bet to claim the title after his success getting to the final stages of the tournament in recent years.

So can Andy Murray win Wimbledon? Certainly this is the best chance I think he will have, with defending champion Rafa Nadal out injured. With a few compulsory rain delays and the British crowd having now warmed to him after his ‘I hate the English’ outburst a few years ago, I think there is every chance.

My prediction is however a Federer win - the greatest since Sampras on grass and possibly the greatest of them all. Murray needs another final in order to rubber stamp a red hot season, but if he strolls out onto Centre Court in 2 weeks time, I think Federer will be the man staring at him over the net with the true look of a champion in his eyes.

You have found the job of your dreams and you are up against a dozen of other candidates, one rule: Make your CV stand out against the competition!

A CV or curriculum vitae is a marketing took and its you chance of promoting yourself.

Your employer to be will on average spend only 7 seconds to make a visual impression! Yikes! That is why YOUR CV will be the best!

Follow the below tips to make sure that your CV is pretty god damn amazing:

Quality paper – white = boring, think magnolia with a faint border.

Do not write to much – your CV has to be easy on the eye and the poor person reading it does not want to be yawning and bored.

Highlight the sections in your CV that relate to the job you are going for.

Put who you are now at the beginning of your CV (make it interesting! A few white lies do no harm!)  and leave qualifications and education for the end.

A short statement about what you are seeking.

All you need to do now is post your CV feeling positive knowing that this document rests your hopes and dreams for the future.

I have been glued to my seats most nights watching the Apprentice and I was overjoyed when Sir Alan Sugar pointed at Yasmina Siadatan and told her that she was hired!

15 contestants and 12 tasks later this girl deserved to win from day one, I loved Yasmina’s approach to business and that fierce look she gives, she means business and you would not mess with her. Everyone on the Apprentice inspires me and hundreds of other people as they all come from different backgrounds and work ethics and all have one goal to push them self to the highest limit and become Sir Alan’s next apprentice.

Yasmini, only 27 owns her own restaurant in Reading, Berks with her brother and still she has gone on to win this years Apprentice showing that she never gives up and always wants to better and challenge herself in life.

A quote she made recently sums her up and many people who think like this will go far:

“Business is about a simple formula. Make more than you spend. That’s what I do, I keep business simple and it works. I’m good at it.”

I also think that the Apprentice is flying the flag for female women to go into business. This year it was an all-female finalist proving that it is not just men who think business women are equally as talented and successful.

I know 4 people who have gone on to open small businesses in the past 2 years by watching the Apprentice and being inspired by the individuals who take part in the show.

Are you a fan of the Apprentice? If so has the programme inspired you to go in to business or become an entrepreneur?

Following on from our last article, once you have got yourself a clear list of all the things that you think have been holding you back you need to start tackling them so that you can finally move onward and upward!

Bear in mind that if these things are things that you can’t physically change, like the fact that you have some sort of physical disability (perhaps you have recently become bound to wheelchair use), then the point isn’t to rail against them or just wish for miracles. Aim to tackle those things that you CAN alter with a bit of motivation and courage.

For instance, if you need to clear the air with an old friend or a family member whom you haven’t spoken to for a while, just do it! If you ever meant to keep in touch with someone and then never got around to it and then felt that it would be weird to contact them after all this time even though you often wonder about them – again, just call or write to them. Explain what happened in an honest and light-hearted way, then tell them you’d like to keep in touch properly now.

Resolving, or at least letting go of all those if’s and maybe’s from your past will lighten you more than you might expect. Even if you don’t feel weighed down by them particularly be aware that you may well have just got used to the weight. Getting rid of them will still make you feel more free and lighter within.

Try it…!

Today!

If you are carrying around a lot of emotional baggage that you feel is holding you back from achieving your ambitions, you need to let them go if you want to forge inward with your life.

You are only young once and you only live once, so there’s little point allowing yourself to be stuck in a rut because of things that are fully within your capacity to change.

Carrying around disappointments or problems without dealing with them is ultimately destructive to our emotional wellbeing, and if our emotional wellbeing is shot to ribbons then there will invariably be negative knock on effects throughout the rest of our lives, even if it is just to our confidence and self esteem.

Take a long hard look at your life and you can start getting rid of this baggage by asking yourself a series of personal questions. In effect, what you need to do is identify those things that you feel have been holding you back, draw a line under them and then start moving on. You can even clear your mind by getting away from it all. Get away from your work, from society and get back to urban life. Perhaps one of the many camping holidays in Italy, or a backpacking tour of France?

Here follow a list of questions to get you started. You can either do them all at once or over a few days, but DO them! Also, write them out, don’t just leave them in your head along with the answers to them. You’d be surprised the difference putting problems onto paper can make, even if it is only to make things seem a bit clearer.

What do you feel you are ‘putting up’ with rather than living contentedly with?

- Make a list of ten things that you feel you are putting up with at home.
- Do the same with work.
- Do the same with any other area of your life that you feel might be relevant.

Once done, you need to start considering what sort of action plan you need to wrap up these issues and make them at least tolerable if not wholly rectified. Take them slowly. Don’t rush. The point here is to clear up for yourself exactly what is holding you back and why.

Ask yourself whether this is a good time for you to retrain.

If you have a particular course or scheme in mind, make certain that you have researched it thoroughly and that you have preferably discussed it with friends and colleagues whom you trust the opinion of.

Keep in mind the relevance of the course you have your eye on to sorts of jobs and careers that are available in your area. Also, you should consider that many employers prefer to take on people with a track record in a particular field over someone with only qualifications in it.

Also be aware that if your current or potential employer offers training it may not present you with a nationally recognised qualification (like an NVQ., B-Tech, A Level or whatever) upon completion of it and yet it may still cost you quite a lot of money Be sure to check for yourself what part time courses are being run by the local community centres, Job Centres, colleges and universities, as these are sometimes run at special rates.

Don’t overlook the development of your interpersonal skills, for example, office diplomacy, negotiation and assertiveness.

Also have a chat with local agencies or anyone you might know who is a freelance worker or who does contract work. Ask them what benefits and pitfalls you should look out for.

Retraining or returning to education to learn new skills is a positive step if you have lost your job. You may have been made redundant and the market place for your skills is limited, in which case you could see this as an opportunity to retrain. Maybe you know redundancy or dismissal is imminent and you want to proactively look for a way to get out of the industry you have been in.

Maybe you want to change the direction of your career and/or expand on your current skill base. Whatever the case, if change is in the air and you feel you want to move elsewhere professionally, perhaps you could start by asking yourself some basic questions:

1. What skills do you have?
2. What would you like to do every day?
3. How important is financial security?

Whatever your answers to these questions, they will help to prepare you to make important decisions when applying for retraining or education.

Once you have a better picture of what you might like from your future career you can embark on some in-depth research. A good place to start would be websites like DirectGov Education & Learning, which have pages dedicated to adult learning, how to find the right courses, as well as gratis advice on matching together courses with whatever your skills and interests may be.

If you have trouble visualising your current or future successes consider keeping a Success diary.

Simply put, if you keep a diary or journal of things that you feel are your achievements and things that you are happy about you will begin to visualise yourself in more successful and pleasing terms than you might otherwise.

Get yourself a notebook and once a week or month remind yourself of your achievements and anything that you are thankful for and/or pleased about in your life at that moment. Take the time to do it. It won’t take long and in time it really will make a difference to you.

Just take a few minutes once in a while (make it regular but not unrealistic like every evening) to jot down your thoughts on these sorts of topics:

What have I accomplished this week/month?

What am I looking forward to next week/month?

What is there in my life to feel grateful about right now?

What am I happy about in my life right now and why am I happy about them?

Who are my friends and who loves and appreciates for who I am ?

What am stimulated by right now and what excites me?

If you do keep this sort of diary then not only will you start to see the good things in your life more readily, which in turn will fight back depression and worry, it will also form the basis of making positive plans to improve your circumstances. Once you know where you are and what assets you hold it will become easier to plane where and how to move elsewhere in your life.