Introverted – and happy in your Job!
In many respects an introvert’s life
in today’s society is tough. In our western culture, the qualities
of the extrovert are at first glance much more valued than those of
the introvert: Quick, competitive, socially competent, action
orientated, assertive, sociable, active … the list is almost
endless. “Just do it!” the athletic company Nike’s slogan puts a
point to it: Get going, move, and act! And that with a healthy dose
of self-confidence, optimism, candor and a touch of the old elbow
action, if you please. Then you are successful, professionally as
well as privately. Then the world is your oyster, people admire you
and seek your company. You are the radiant center of the party and
no one has the chance to miss your professional achievements. You
don’t just take the initiative and strive for quick results but you
are also familiar with, and heed the old proverb: “You have to blow
your own trumpet.” You cultivate contacts and networks for all they
are worth and not merely in real life, in the virtual sphere of
social networks, as well. You are the master of the extraversion
claviature and work it with a fine ear for society’s demands and
rules. Continue reading
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40 Tips for a Happier Life
05/03/11 by Felicitas Heyne | Filed in:
Happiness
Since the end of the 90s a new branch
of the science, also known as Positive Psychology has been dealing
with the essentials for happiness. In order to help you find out
which happiness potentials are maybe lying idle with you, I have
summarized the 40 most important insights on the subject
“happiness” in an abbreviated format in the following “checklist”.
Continue reading
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Am I a burnout? What can I do about it?
04/02/11 by Felicitas Heyne | Filed in:
Career
The concept Burnout (syndrome) has
become a major element of our every day vocabulary. The Californian
psychologist Christina Maslach first examined it in 1976. She
identified the syndrome’s three components:
- Emotional exhaustion: The sense of being exhausted and depleted by professional contact with other people.
- Depersonalization: Apathy, insensitivity, disinterest in people, work processes and –performance.
- Reduced productivity: The feeling of no longer being capable to accomplish a task well and successfully.
Do what you enjoy doing!
The American psychologist Mihály
Csikszentmihályi did research on the subject of happiness in
the middle 70s and came to the conclusion that people experienced
the most happiness when they were in a state that he called „Flow“.
Flow means that we are totally immersed in an activity
while everything else becomes secondary. Time and space,
even our own needs recede and lose their significance. We are
totally concentrated, the task completely absorbs us, and we merge
with whatever we are doing, so to speak. This is indeed an
important character strength for the achievement of your happiness:
Enthusiasm! Enthusiasm represents the ability to meet the world
with excitement and energy, to be totally involved with what one
happens to be doing at the time. Continue
reading ...
How career profiling can improve your job satisfaction
03/16/11 by Felicitas Heyne | Filed in:
Career
As in all other areas of your life,
your personality plays a decisive role in the things you enjoy or
don’t enjoy. It plays a role in why you are more successful in a
particular area with less effort and why some areas might be more
difficult for you and require more effort. Your personality affects
how you affect others and how you see them. In addition to your
personal partnership, your profession should ideally be the second
sustaining mainstay in your life. Continue
reading ...
First impressions in a job interview: why they really matter
05/19/09 by Felicitas Heyne | Filed in:
Career
“You never get a second chance to make
a first impression.“ How true! Personnel directors and job coaches have
emphasized the importance of the first handshake and eye contact on
the occasion of the first job interview for years. It is obvious
that the first impression also plays a role when flirting. Indeed,
a study at Princeton University clearly demonstrates how quickly
the counterpart’s – at any rate temporary – judgment is reached. It
states that we only have one tenth of a second to catch the
interest of our opposite number. With a little bad luck we could
well have landed on the trash dump of history’s flirts after that.
Or have messed up the chance for a new job.
The study’s participants had to judge portrait pictures according to traits like “attractive”, “likeable”, “trustworthy”, “capable”, or “aggressive”. The photos initially appeared on the screen one tenth of a second, then half a second and finally for an entire second. Each time the test subjects had to give their evaluation and at the same time state how sure they were of their judgment. With one exception the test subjects did not change their assessment even after they had an opportunity to look at the picture for a longer period of time; then they were even more sure of their valuation. Social psychologists call this phenomenon the Halo-Effect that is actually based on an erroneous perception: A person’s individual characteristics create an overall impression that can be extremely persistent. For instance, classic examples are the assumptions “attractive” = „lovable, nice“, or “wearer of glasses” = “intelligent, wise”, “blond” = “dumb, ignorant” … etc. Continue reading ...
The study’s participants had to judge portrait pictures according to traits like “attractive”, “likeable”, “trustworthy”, “capable”, or “aggressive”. The photos initially appeared on the screen one tenth of a second, then half a second and finally for an entire second. Each time the test subjects had to give their evaluation and at the same time state how sure they were of their judgment. With one exception the test subjects did not change their assessment even after they had an opportunity to look at the picture for a longer period of time; then they were even more sure of their valuation. Social psychologists call this phenomenon the Halo-Effect that is actually based on an erroneous perception: A person’s individual characteristics create an overall impression that can be extremely persistent. For instance, classic examples are the assumptions “attractive” = „lovable, nice“, or “wearer of glasses” = “intelligent, wise”, “blond” = “dumb, ignorant” … etc. Continue reading ...
How to find a job that makes you happy
05/08/09 by Felicitas Heyne | Filed in:
Career
On iPersonic we do offer you important
resources for your dream job search with our career test and our iPersonic Career
Profile. An article I recently came across demonstrates the
desperate need for this. Its content with the heading “Every third
person dislikes his/her job” shocked me. The results of a
representative survey conducted on behalf of the German Labor Union
gives food for thought:
Of the 6168 questioned on average only 12% described their work as “good”, 54% as “mediocre” and for 34% it was just “bad”.
The numbers fluctuated somewhat depending on the professional branch; when asked the unskilled laborers – who is surprised – were especially dissatisfied. Not one of them liked his/her work and 61% responded to the question with “bad”. Temporary workers turned out to be above average unhappy, as well. One the other hand, engineers and members of professions involving natural sciences were satisfied with their work 23% above average while 21% were the most seldom dissatisfied. According to the study they have a “high measure of influence- and development opportunities, meaningful work, a minimum of physical and emotional stress, a commensurate income combined with a high degree of professional security and supportive, development- and learn conducive work organizations- and environments.” Continue reading ...
Of the 6168 questioned on average only 12% described their work as “good”, 54% as “mediocre” and for 34% it was just “bad”.
The numbers fluctuated somewhat depending on the professional branch; when asked the unskilled laborers – who is surprised – were especially dissatisfied. Not one of them liked his/her work and 61% responded to the question with “bad”. Temporary workers turned out to be above average unhappy, as well. One the other hand, engineers and members of professions involving natural sciences were satisfied with their work 23% above average while 21% were the most seldom dissatisfied. According to the study they have a “high measure of influence- and development opportunities, meaningful work, a minimum of physical and emotional stress, a commensurate income combined with a high degree of professional security and supportive, development- and learn conducive work organizations- and environments.” Continue reading ...