Monthly Archives: February 2013

Is Your Attire Hurting Your Career?

By Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute (www.bluepencilinstitute.com)

Unprofessional DressHere are five signs that what you wear to work may be hurting your career:

  1. Your boss has told you explicitly that you need to wear more professional attire.
  2. Someone in your office feels compelled to remind you to “dress nicely” for important meetings and special events.
  3. A coworker with equal or lesser skills but a nicer wardrobe was promoted over you.
  4. On those odd days when you do take a little extra time with your professional attire, your coworkers want to know if you’re going on a job interview or if something else is happening to you.
  5. You keep asking to be considered for a more visible role in your organization but you are not offered those opportunities.

Does any of this sound familiar? If so, your attire may be having a negative effect on your career. Whether you like it or not, you may have to make some wardrobe changes in order to achieve your career goals.

Tip: Notice what the most successful people in your organization wear to work and emulate them. Dress for the job or level of position you want, not the one you have now.

What to Do If You’re Bad with Names

By Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

Do you have troushutterstock_130174040 (2)ble remembering people’s names? If so, I hope you don’t tell people that you’re “terrible with names”. No one likes to hear that. And some people will be offended by such a remark, assuming that you’re self-absorbed and don’t care much about others.

I also hope that you don’t tell yourself that remembering people’s names is beyond your control, that it’s your lot in life to be bad at it, or that it’s just the way you are. Unless you’re physically, psychologically, or emotionally unable to remember names, that’s a bunch of hooey.

The best thing you can do if you think you’re bad at remembering names is to get rid of that notion and get better at it. Here’s how:

1.  Focus. Pay close attention when you’re introduced to someone new or when you greet him or her for the first time. If you don’t hear the person’s name clearly, say so right away and ask to have it repeated. Repeat it yourself if the pronunciation is difficult and ask the person to let you know if you’re saying it properly, even if it takes several go-rounds.

 TIp: Get the name right, no matter what. You can’t remember what you don’t know.

2.  Be more observant. Concentrate during the introduction and don’t allow your mind to wander. Observe the person carefully. Get a distinct impression of him or her. Try to discover outstanding physical or other distinguishing characteristics of the person, especially of his or her face. For example, note whether the person is tall, short, overweight, thin, the length and color of his or her hair, the shape of his or her face, complexion, etc.

3.  Repeat the person’s name silently to yourself several times. Also say the person’s name out loud at least once when you meet him or her. For example, “It is so nice to meet you, Mr. Gonzalez.

4.  Associate. If possible, associate the person’s name with a rhyme, song, or some other mnemonic device. For example, my last name is Hills. It would be easy for you to remember that if you associate my name with Beverly Hills.

5.  Write the person’s name within 24 hours of meeting him or her. The end of each day is a great time to do this. Look at the written name and recall the person’s face and distinguishing characteristics.

Tip: When meeting someone at a seminar or other program where name tags are worn, make a conscious effort to say the person’s name and read his or her name tag at the same time. That way, you’ll both visualize and verbalize the name.

Life Lessons: What I Learned at Prostate School

My husband ishutterstock_40220995s going to undergo treatment for prostate cancer in 10 days and this morning, we took a class together at the hospital. They call it “prostate school”, I suppose, to make it sound more fun. Actually, we did enjoy the class and surprisingly, laughed more than once.

I’d like to share with you five life lessons I took away from prostate school today that I believe transcend this experience:

1. The human body is a miracle. We saw diagrams of the human body and discussed in some detail how everything works together. It’s so easy to forget what a miracle each of us is. It was nice to have that reminder.

2. Modern medicine is astounding. My husband is undergoing a treatment in which radioactive seeds will be implanted into his prostate, targeting his cancer with great precision. The cure rate is outstanding – better than 90%. Even Jules Verne did not predict something like that.

3. What we eat matters – a LOT. We met with a dietician who reviewed in detail what my husband can’t eat for the first 30 – 90 days after his procedure. I never considered before the little things that affect our digestion — like whether a fruit has a skin on it (like a blueberry) or that we react so differently to seemingly similar greens (such as spinach and kale).

4. A natural response to losing something is to want it badly. Men who undergo radioactive seed therapy for prostate cancer are placed on a special diet for a few months afterwards. Everyone in the class groaned and grumbled about the foods that aren’t allowed on the diet. We were all saddened that tomatoes are on the taboo list for 90 days. That’s understandable because so many delicious foods are tomato-based. But what surprised me is that my husband seemed especially sad that he couldn’t eat Brussels sprouts for 30 days. Brussels sprouts? For 30 days?

5. Being married to a loving spouse is the best thing in the world. We were three couples in the class together this morning and each wife took time away from work and other activities to sit beside her husband, to learn with him, and to support him. Our nurse trainer on more than one occasion said something specifically to the wives about what we would need to do – drive our husbands home from the hospital, bring their medication with us the day of the procedure, etc. I cannot imagine what it would be like for a man to have to go through this treatment without such support. I am so grateful that I am able to help my husband through this.

My husband and I are optimistic and thanks to prostate school, we feel even more prepared to go through this treatment now. That brings me to my final life lesson from prostate school: Knowing what to expect makes all the difference in the world. – Dr. Laura Hills, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com.

Lifelong Learning — In the Bathroom?

shutterstock_71092255I’ve never been what you would call low maintenance. It takes me about a half-hour or so at the bathroom vanity every morning to turn the head that I wake up with into the head that the world sees every day. To my credit, I think that’s darned impressive when you consider the gazillion steps and products that I go through to transform myself into the person most of the world has come to know.

Recently, a friend gave me some CDs to listen to with interesting interviews on them with great people like Seth Godin, Brian Tracy, and John Maxwell. I was excited to have them but wondered at first when I would have time to listen to them. I don’t drive long distances on a typical day (a good thing, I think), so listening to them in my car wasn’t a good option. Of course, I thought about just sitting down and listening to them, but I couldn’t figure out when I would do that.

The next day, I mulled this over while washing, toning, and moisturizing my face and it hit me; what if I listened to them while I was getting ready in the morning? I’ve listened to music in the bathroom and in fact have both an iHome and a CD player in there for just that purpose. But it never occurred to me that I could listen to an educational or inspiring audio program in there before.

I popped the first CD into my old player and within five minutes I was hooked. I’ve been listening to these programs for a week now and have to admit that I actually look forward to going into the bathroom and listening to them every morning. I’ve already learned so many good ideas and gained tremendous inspiration from these programs. But what I love most of all is that I’ve turned my necessary morning routine into something that’s good not only for my outsides, but for my insides, too. What a great start to my day!

Now, I’m craving more good audio programs that I can listen to each day – ones that will help me stretch and grow as a person and in my career. Readers – do you have any good ones to suggest to me? I welcome your recommendations. – Dr. Laura Hills, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com