John Ploetz Bloggin

John Ploetz

22 Jan, 2014

John Ploetz Bloggin

Why do we need celebrations?  Well, they make us feel good about ourselves.  They give us time to forget about the constant business of life.  For a short time span they allow us to focus on dreaming, relaxing, and taking a moment to acknowledge “what we have” and “what we have done”.  They are the positive moments that glue the rest of life’s busy fabric pieces together.  In fact, if we want to, there is something to celebrate every day of the year –  http://www.daysoftheyear.com/.

For those, like me, who don’t have time to celebrate every day at the workplace, at least take time out of your busy work schedule for a few necessary celebrations.  Make sure to:

  1. Celebrate work anniversaries.
  2. Celebrate birthdays.
  3. Celebrate when difficult work projects are finished.
  4. Celebrate to show appreciation of specific staff accomplishments (completion of training, handling a difficult task, or a graduation event).
  5. Celebrate secretaries’ or administrative professionals’ day – the Wednesday of the last full week of April.

Without celebrations, there isn’t an outlet to take off the edge of the day to day stress the work place creates.  Simple celebrations help us focus on the fact that we shouldn’t take life too seriously and that there should be a balance of fun with work.

By acknowledging celebration events, managers show that they care and understand the importance of their employees.  Holding these events also help employees bond with one another, giving a work team one more common thread they have with one another.  Finally, celebrations add a personal touch to the work place.  Celebrations  give everyone pause to think about what is important and gives employees a moment to reenergize from the day to day business of the work at hand.   They help put people at ease in their surroundings.

As they say “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Add some excitement to your workplace and make sure to add a celebration schedule to your busy work schedule.

John Ploetz

14 Jan, 2014

John Ploetz Bloggin

Where did we ever come up with the idea that good things and bad things all happen in threes.  How do we really decide what’s good enough to count as “good” or bad enough to count as “bad”.  Those distant relatives that visited and decided to stay with you a week, is that good or bad.  If they decide to head home early is that good, especially if they are your spouse’s relatives?   Or, can we only count good or bad things that occur totally unexpectedly.  The origin that good or bad things happen in a set number goes back to ancient times.  Depending on the culture, the total number is different. (For more background on this go to – (http://articles.philly.com/1997-09-10/news/25550256_1_princess-diana-phillies-culture )

So getting back to my initial point, why do we want to set a limit on the number of good or bad things that happen to us in the foreseeable future?

It’s really all about setting a time frame for closure so that we can move on to the next segment of our life.  We don’t like the idea of uncertainty and we always crave a sense of control.  Even though we can’t control whether something good or bad will happen to us we want to feel that once something happens to us we can know with certainty what we can expect going forward; that there will be some finality to what type of events will happen to us in the near future.

What does this say about human nature?  It really says we are continually trying to define what types of things are within our control and what types are out of our control.  We are just trying to add one more item to the list of those things within our control.  What can we learn about this?

      1. Work to understand what pieces of your life are in your control and work at improving how you positively deal with those pieces.  Some of the things in your control:
          • How you dress.
          • Who you choose to interact with.
          • Your attitude.
          • The effort you put in at work.
          • The effort you put in communicating with others.
          • The time you spend worrying.
          • Time you spend exercising.
          • How you deal with daily stress.
      2. Work to reduce the extent to which you mentally and physically allow those pieces that you can’t control to impact your life.  Some examples are:
          • Concerns about how people interact with you.
          • Concerns about your future health.
          • Concerns about your future financial state.
          • Potential for unforeseen events to occur.
          • Your current boss at your current job.
      3. Don’t let unreasonable optimism or pessimism rule your life.  Stay grounded in the notion   that good and bad things will happen but they shouldn’t change your day to day outlook.

Remember there are big pieces to your life over which you direct the outcome and there are other areas that are outside your control.  It’s your responsibility to take time to understand which is which.  And while you’re at it, why not make it your goal to determine that good things will happen to you in threes and bad things will only happen in twos.  Darn it, I just spilled my coffee on the new tablecloth.  Well, one down one to go.

John Ploetz

8 Jan, 2014

John Ploetz Bloggin

LinkedIn is a great way to stay connected with your business network.  The nice thing about it is that it doesn’t take much time.  Just a half hour a week and you can stay connected.  Following are the basics on getting started:

  1. Setting up your account is easy.  Go to www.LinkedIn.com  and create an account.
  2. Next, over time you can create your profile.  You don’t need to do it all at once.  Look at a sample profile – http://www.linkedin.com/profile/sample.
  3. Once you’ve created your account and filled in your profile, you can add new connections a few different ways:
    1. Simply search for individual names using the search function (http://blog.linkedin.com/2013/03/25/linkedin-search-just-got-smarter/ ).
    2. Join one of the many groups.  Look for groups under the Interests tab.  One local state group worth joining is Linked Minnesota.
    3. Follow the college you attended by looking under Education in the Interests tab.  Then you can search for other Alumni you may know.
    4. Once you’ve started to build your connections work on staying noticed.  Depending on how you set your settings, updates will appear on your home page (Need help with settings and understanding updates, go to – http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/431).  These are updates from different connections you have added or groups or companies you follow.  Feel free to add comments or add a simple “Like” if you like the update.  Congratulate people on anniversaries or job changes.
    5. As you get more comfortable add your own updates.  Once a week is fine.  It keeps your name out there.

For a look at the statistics on how most people use LinkedIn go to –  http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/The_mostpopular_ways_people_use_LinkedIn_47070.aspx#

For more ideas on how to use LinkedIn go to –  http://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2013/10/27/five-linkedin-strategies-you-havent-thought-of-before/

You don’t need to overdo it.  Just set a specific amount of time per week to manage your LinkedIn account.  You can even access LinkedIn through your smart phone using free apps.  Go to http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1156 to get free apps from LinkedIn.