Month: August 2008

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How To Keep Your Job And Survive A Job Loss

The job market is tough and a lot of people are out of work. The competition for a job opening is fierce. Many people are unable to to secure new jobs due to outdated skills and poor performance in their old jobs.

Outdated job skills and poor performance in jobs impact your financial situation greatly. Even if you already have a job, you need to take a serious look at your skills and job situation regularly to be on the top of your plan for any future mishap in the event of a job loss. Your financial health requires foresight and planning to avoid being laid off and to survive an income loss.

Write down all your job skills. It also helps you build a great resume. Now, evaluate each skill against emerging technology that can make your skills obsolete.

Find out if enrolling in a class will help you sharpen your skills in a technical, business, public speaking, marketing or any other field that is good for your career.

If so, check with your employer if you get reimbursed for continuing education. Many employers reward employees who are proactive on the job about continuing education.

If there is a certification course in your career field, get yourself certified. For example, if you’re involved in green building projects, a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification vastly improves your job opportunities.

If you’re currently employed, assess your performance honestly. Ask yourself the following questions:

Do you arrive at your job on time?
Do you complete all the tasks that are asked of you without constantly asking your supervisor for directions?
Do you meet all your deadlines?
Are you a team player?
Do you take initiatives and offer your help when your team is not able to meet deadlines?
Are you willing to work a few extra hours to meet deadlines?
Do you go out of your way to help or mentor new employees?

Good job performance is not just meeting the minimum. If you want your boss to keep you during the tough time, make yourself noticeable.

Keep your resume up-to-date in all online resume sites. You don’t have to make them public.

Maintain contacts with your colleagues and former bosses. They will often provide you inside information to open positions.

Use LinkedIn to main your contacts during the good time that you can leverage during the bad time.

Build your emergency savings when you’re in a job. When your regular income is eliminated due to a job loss, you should be able to draw from your emergency savings to survive the financial hardship for a few months. Most financial planners suggest to keep enough money in savings to cover eight months of basic living expenses.

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8 Steps To Perfect Diet For A Slimmer and Healthy Body

If you are looking to lose weight really fast, get more fit, and desire to find that perfect diet to help you lose a pound per week, you have to make sure you not only exercise, but also eat well. Your body must have the right nutrition.

Here are the top 8 easy to clean up diet which will help you eat less, so you can slim down and stay healthy and lose a pound a week.

1. Begin slowly. Instead of tossing all your food from your pantry at once, begin with getting rid of your soda and some unhealthily snacks from you diet. Also, you can unload your enriched pastas and replace with a whole grain version.

2. Get rid of high calorie foods. Each of us can take a close look at what we are eating which promotes poor health and unload it. For example, if you are a vegetarian, buy more organic products. If you are a meat eater, buy meat from grass fed cattle.

3. Have a supermarket plan. When you go food shopping, browse the outside aisles of the store where the most natural, whole foods tend to be. This can be in areas like the produce and dairy sections. Whole grain, non-processed foods will help you achieve your health and fitness goals.

4. Become a label reader. When dieting, you gotta learn to distinguish clean foods from processed ones. Processed foods are those with artificial flavors and coloring, preservatives, high sodium, fat, and sugar content, contain dyes, etc.

5. Keep nutrients in mind. It is best for your health and weight to focus on nutrients rather than just product price. Consider if the price of food is worth the nutrients if provides. Look at things such as protein, fiber, fat content, vitamins, minerals, sugar content, etc.

6. Eat home more. Did you know that eating at home and eating more wholesome food can be a big benefit to your weight loss efforts? It’s true! Don’t know how to cook? Then get a few cookbooks and have your mom or a friend help you out.

7. Retrain your taste buds. If can be a challenge to eat new foods that are best for your health and fitness goals. This is especially true if you are used to lots eating lots of sugar, salt, fat, additives, etc. Take it slow and begin to gradually to mix in the healthier alternatives such as whole wheat pasta mixed with enriched pasta or replacing your sugar cereal “Captain Crunch” with “Cheerios”.

8. Use the 80-20 approach. Eating clean food can provide a big body detox and be a huge component with your dieting efforts. Plan on eating 80% of natural, wholesome foods with 20% of cheat foods (yes, you can cheat some!) for events such as traveling, social outings, etc.

Yes, lose weight really fast, as you can see now, doesn’t really happen in a week. However, you can lose 1 pound a week. It takes a commitment of a lifestyle change and eating in ways that will enable you have a body that is healthy with a humming metabolism. If you take action and follow this 8 clean eating tips, you will see results!