Recent Articles From EvanCarmichael.com http://www.evancarmichael.com/ http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/What-To-Look-For-In-A-Mentor.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/What-To-Look-For-In-A-Mentor.html I always tell my executive coaching clients that surrounding yourself with positive people is a great way to build self confidence. I urge them to find a mentor, someone who can help them on their success journey. Typically, mentors are older than the people they help. However, in this new world of technology, that is not always the case. I have a mentor who is about 20 years younger than me, but he has some specialized knowledge that I lack. Whether you do it in person, or on line, find yourself a mentor to help you on your journey of career and life success. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/Career-Success-and-Problem-Solving.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/Career-Success-and-Problem-Solving.html Outstanding performance is very important to career and life success. It's at the heart of the five success elements. No one can be successful without being a highly competent, outstanding performer. The incompetents and poor performers get identified and asked to leave or are placed in marginal positions pretty quickly. You have to identify the problems and obstacles to becoming an outstanding performer that you face before you can take action and deal with them. Don't call your problems "opportunities" or your obstacles "challenges". Call them what they are, and then get on with fixing your problems and overcoming your obstacles. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/Interpersonal-Competence.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/Interpersonal-Competence.html Interpersonal competence is the fifth key of career and life success. No matter how self confident and how good at creating positive personal impact or how great a performer and dynamic a communicator you are, you will not achieve life success without interpersonal competence. By taking the time to understand yourself and others, build strong relationships and resolve conflict positively you are well on your way to achieving life success. The greatest life success is found by those who truly seek these things. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/Positive-Personal-Impact.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/Positive-Personal-Impact.html All successful people create positive personal impact. Positive personal impact is like charisma, only more so. People gravitate towards people with positive personal impact. When you create positive personal impact other people want to be around you. They want to work with you. They want to be your friend. People with positive personal impact develop and nurture their personal brand. They are impeccable in their presentation of self. They know and follow the basic rules of etiquette. If you master these three keys, you'll be able to create positive personal impact. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/Outstanding-Performance.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/Outstanding-Performance.html All successful people are outstanding performers. It's the price of admission to the business success club. However, don't make the mistake of thinking that performance alone will get you where you want to go. Performance is just one of the five characteristics of people who achieve business success. Outstanding performers are characterized by three things. They are lifelong learners; they set and achieve high goals and they are well organized. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/Self-Confidence.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/Self-Confidence.html There are a few common sense points associated with self confidence. Believe in yourself. Your career success will be built on your self confidence. First, be optimistic. As the Optimist Creed says, "Be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble." Second, take action. Face your fears and deal with them. Live your life in the career success arena, so you will know the "triumph of achievement." Third, find the positive people around you. Hold on to them. Identify the negative people around you. Jettison them. Find a career success mentor and learn everything you can from him or her. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/Assumptions-Are-Conversation-Killers.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/Assumptions-Are-Conversation-Killers.html Assumptions can really derail a conversation. Don't make assumptions about the other person when you are in conversation. If you find you are making assumptions, test them out. Ask, "Why do you thing that is so?" Remember, in many cases you really don't know what the other person is thinking or feeling. To quote Bernard Shaw, "You think you do; but you don't." http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/Dynamic-Communication.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/Dynamic-Communication.html Effective communication is vital to personal success and it is an up close and personal endeavor. All of the great communicators I know are great conversationalists. I have one great piece of common sense advice that will help you achieve personal success through effective communication: listen more than you speak. People like to talk about themselves and the best way to get to know them is to ask questions. When you meet people for the first time, ask "get to know you" questions like: "What do you do?" "Where do you live?" "Are you married?" "Do you have children?" Listen to the answers and file them away for future use. Understanding and using the keys to dynamic communication in this article can help catapult you towards achieving personal success. And they will make you a whole lot nicer to be around, too. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/15-Tips-for-Career-and-Life-Success.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/15-Tips-for-Career-and-Life-Success.html In my work as an executive coach, keynote speaker, leadership consultant and author I have spent the last five years studying what it takes to succeed in your life and career. I have found that successful people share five traits in common: 1. Successful people are self confident; 2. Successful people have positive personal impact; 3. Successful people are outstanding performers; 4. Successful people are excellent communicators; 5. Successful people are interpersonally competent. If you follow the 15 common sense pieces of advice I've presented in this checklist, you'll be able to build a successful life and career. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/Self-Awareness-and-Interpersonal-Competence.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2836/Self-Awareness-and-Interpersonal-Competence.html It is important to understand how to build solid relationships by taking the initiative, sharing information about yourself and being emotionally supportive. Also, it is important to share your feelings about behavior to which you have a negative reaction in order to resolve conflict positively. However, understanding yourself and how you are similar to, or different from others, is the foundation of interpersonal competence.