3 Things You Must Tell Yourself Today and Every Day

3 Things You Must Tell Yurself Today and Every Day 3 Things You Must Tell Yourself Today and Every Day Article by Daniel MilsteinAs the sole architect of your destiny, you need to make sure youre utilizing one of your greatest tools your own voice. That inner voice will help you formulate a plan and drown out the external voices of critics and naysayers. Your voice holds the power to boost your confidence and help you both navigate and learn from setbacks when they occur.Be very honest with yourself. Is your own voice joining the negative chorus of doubters? If the answer is yes, youll need to reprogram your thought process by telling yourself these three things today - and every day - for the rest of your life.1. Do It NowProcrastination is like quicksand. Left unchecked, it will pull you into a quagmire of crippling indecision. Youll make excuse after excuse, eventually foreclosing on your own dream. If youre continually telling yourself its okay to do nothing, then nothing wil l be what you achieve.Instead, allow your inner voice to motivate you from morning until night. Fiercely commit to your dream with a sense of urgency. Remember, the difference between could and did lies in planning and action. Become your own greatest coach and advocate for change. Dont take no for an answer, especially from yourself.2. I Deserve ThisWhenever I meet someone who has allowed their dream to derail, or who appears to be passing up opportunities for personal growth or improvement, I always ask why they dont deserve their absolute best.If youre among the folks who settle for anything less than the success you dream about, you must get out of your own way by escaping your dangerous comfort zone. Whether your dream is pursuing a career change youve always wanted or finishing your degree, begin by reminding yourself that you deserve a brighter future. Then, invest in yourself by giving your all. Never cut corners on whats most important your happiness.3. I Know I CanFear of failure, plus the attendant inability to reclaim your forward momentum after a setback, is one of the greatest obstacles to success. However, this obstacle can often be effectively addressed by empowering your inner voice.We all have fears, but if we habitually make fear-based decisions, well never reach our full potential. If we allow fear to paralyze our progress, well create blueprints for mediocrity and miss the priceless lessons only trial and error can reveal. Make sure your self-talk is stronger than your fear.I understand overcoming fear is not an overnight process. It might require that you take advantage of additional resources at your disposal, such as individual therapy. I know that it can be extremely uncomfortable to walk out onto your personal ledge, but the feeling of freedom is incomparable, and I assure you the view will be spectacular.- As I look back at the journey Ive traveled to success, I can attest to the power of my own self-talk. There have been fears and s etbacks to be sure, but I resolved the first time I met the wake-up call of ground-shaking disappointment to never consider myself a failure. I win or I learn. There are times when the road will be steep, challenging and tiring. It is during those especially trying days that you must be able to rely upon your inner voice to drive you on. It will mean the difference between giving up and persevering. The only time you run out of chances is when you stop taking them.Start listening to your voice today. What are you saying? Do you believe you can succeed? Its true that whether you think you can or whether you think you cant, youre right. When you do find yourself achieving success, make sure your self-talk remains positive and motivating. You dont want to become complacent. Success is never owned. It is rented, and the rent is due every day.A version of this article originally appeared on SUCCESS.com.Daniel Milstein is the CEO and founder of the Gold Star Family of Companies, operating in mora than 40 offices worldwide and specializing in financial services, sports management, publishing, and film production. Under Dans visionary leadership, Gold Star has been named among Inc. magazines 500 Fastest Growing Companies in America. He is a best-selling author and shares his other strategies for success in his new book, Rule 1 Dont Be 2 You Get What You Work For, Not What You Wish For. Learn more at DanMilstein.com.

Expert Tips on How to Create a Killer Digital Portfolio

Expert Tips on How to Create a Killer Digital PortfolioExpert Tips on How to Create a Killer Digital PortfolioOnline portfolios are of the utmost importance for creative professionals today. If youre in the process of developing a digital portfolio, you cant afford to view it as a mere collection of work samples you need to think of it as your preeminent marketing piece. Following are expert tips on strategically developing a digital portfolio that pops.Ram Castillo is an award-winning designer and art director, and author of How to Get a Job as a Designer, Guaranteed. Hes also the instructor of a CreativeLive course titled Create a Knockout Design Portfolio. Here, Castillo walks us through his top digital portfolio tips - what to include, what not to include, and how to put it all together to land that next creative job.TCG In your opinion, are there any hard-and-fast rules to follow when putting together a portfolio?Ram Castillo Absolutely, there are plenty. One of the most import ant is that it should be an angeschlossen portfolio rather than a printed portfolio. Employers are incredibly time-poor, and the first instance theyll be exposed to your work is usually on the Web. They can get a pretty good sense of your abilities and ideas from that touchpoint alone in one to two minutes.In addition, the selection of work must be relevant to the job youre applying for. This seems like a no-brainer, but its amazing how many people dont tailor their portfolio.Remember your portfolio should be a refined selection of your best work that is customized to speak to the creative role you are seeking.Some of my other rules for your digital portfolio includeIt must be mobile-responsive.It must have your name and/or logo clearly visible in the header.It must feature quality photos or renderings of your work. (See video tutorial below.)It must have adequately sized thumbnail images. Dont fall into the trap of making your thumbnails too small just so you can fit your entire co llection of work within the 600-pixel fold. Thumbnails are there to show a preview of a piece that can be clearly seen.It must integrate and encourage effortless social media shareability within each project. If your work is awesome, people are likely to share it. Make it easy for them to do so. Even if just one person shares one of your projects, lets say on Facebook, two powerful things happen. The first is that your work has now been exposed to that persons friends. The second is that youve won an advocate for your brand, which means youre increasing your potential for future work.It must feature captions for context. The five pieces of information I suggest including are Client, Agency (where applicable), Challenge (highlight the primary objective in two or three sentences), Role (specify your role and give leistungspunkt where its due), and Results (explain how the project welches received when it rolled out).TCG How many work samples should you include in an online portfolio?R C The first three projects that are revealed to the viewer must be your strongest creative projects. The more work you show, the more youre distracting the viewer from seeing the pieces that make your abilities shine. Its far better to have five quality projects showing five creative pieces for each than 20 projects with 10 or more creative pieces within them.TCG Whats the most common mistake people make when presenting portfolios during job interviews? RC Often, job candidates get into the habit of stating the obvious. Instead, talk deeply and intimately about each project. Discuss the details of the creative brief, the objectives, the challenges and the reason for reaching that solution. Through this storytelling, the employer will begin to gauge your level of idea generation, creative problem-solving abilities and enthusiasm. Speaking of enthusiasm, its really important to get excited about the work. It doesnt matter if its for a big client or small client. You must speak passio nately about what the problem or opportunity was - and how you solved it.Searching for a job or freelance work? We can help Contact our nearest office to speak to one of our recruiters.

5 Job Search Warning Signs

5 Job Search Warning Signs5 Job Search Warning Signs2Here are five job search warning signs to consider1. The hiring process takes way too long.After youve had a job interview, the wait to find out if youve been hired for the job can seem like an eternity. (Add to that the reality that some employers dont respond after job interviews can make the process even more frustrating.) But if it takes weeks- or even months- before your interviewer lets you know that youve been accepted for the position, you might want to think twice before signing that job offer.Unless theres a really, really good reason (such as restructuring or perhaps the acquisition and merger of another company), it shouldnt take that long to hire someone after their job interview.2.The boss might be a jerk.You can often tell right away if youre going to be an integral member of an organization during a job interview- or not. If the potential boss seems super rude, takes no interest in you or your skills, or is very ter se in her communications with you via email or on the phone, you might want to reconsider should you be offered the job.Typically, everyone puts their best foot forward during the job interview process (potential bosses included) and if yours is displaying signs of being a jerkfrom the get-go, it might be unlikely that she (or he) will change much if you do get hired.3. The job is really unclear.When you applied for the job, they said it was a marketing position. But when you get to the job interview, you find out that its a little marketing, a little PR, a little sales, and a smidgeon of social media. That shouldnt raise too many red flags by itself, since many of todays jobs are not just one set thing but often have a few responsibilities from various departments wrapped up into one job.But if your prospective bosscant clearly define the duties of your jobdefines the duties of the job so broadly that it sounds like two or three jobs in oneor if you feel that theyre a little vague on important details regarding the real scope of the job as it relates to the rest of the companyyou might want to lace up your sneakers and run for the hills.4. You feel like youre being interrogated.Sure, there is a natural exchange of information during a job interview. Questions are asked by both you and your interviewer to assess if youd be a good fit for the job. Thing is, if youre being asked too many questions, and theyre bordering on illegal interview questions, it might make you think twice about accepting this job.Ditto if you feel like youre being pumped for financial information about previous jobs, as unfortunately, your interviewer might just be collecting data during your interview without any real goal to hire you.5. Youre given too many tests.In applying for almost any job, you can expect to take a test of some sort. While taking tests can be groan-worthy, it actually benefits both you and your potential employer. Your potential boss can see if you have the necessa ry skills, education, and experience to perform the job, and you can get a glimpse into what you might potentially be doing should you be hired- and if youll like it or not.But if youre being given too many tests- and its starting to feel like youre doing some work for free for a company that you havent been hired for yet- its time to cut your losses and move on.Job searching is tough. We get it. So when you finally do get a job interview, you might be willing to overlook some things in an attempt to get hired. Its a good idea to keep these five job search warning signs in mind when you go out on job interviews. That way, you wont be taken advantage of, and youll find a position in which you are respected, valued- and above all, happy.Readers, have any of these job search warning signs happened to you? What did you do? Let us know in the comments below