It’s impossible to overstate the importance of goals: learning how to set and pursue effective ones can leader to greater motivation, satisfaction, and achievement. In fact, it’s been said that the difference between the best and the rest comes down to this: those who are preeminent in their fields have a clear sense of direction, the perseverance required to overcome unexpected challenges, and a strong sense of how their present actions will get them where they want to be in the future.

It’s no surprise that Australians love the internet—but it may still shock you to learn just how central to our day-to-day lives it has become. Research completed in 2018 by We Are Social found that Australians now spend more time online than ever before, clocking an average of nearly six hours each day accessing the internet on tablets, phones and computers.

Choosing the right way to manage your time at work can supercharge your performance at work and help you accelerate towards the achievement of your goals. But it can also be difficult: peak productivity means managing your schedule, identifying your goals, and implementing organisation strategies, all while responding to a dynamic environment in which new tasks come thick and fast.

By some estimates, your career will take up around 80,000 hours of your adult life—and, whichever way you look at it, that’s an enormous amount of time. Little wonder then that most of us are preoccupied with figuring out the right career: how can we invest our own 80,000 hours in a way that feels meaningful, leads us toward our goals, and taps into our natural interests and talents?

Unfortunately, there’s no straightforward answer to these questions.

Just as, in life, we set goals to give focus and structure to our present activities, so, when running a business, is it considered wise to develop a clear sense of where you’d like to be and how you’re going to get there. The process of doing so falls within the realm of business strategy.

Congratulations on being offered an interview! That’s an encouraging step towards securing employment. However, for many candidates it’s an intimidating one too. After all, while some interview questions are more or less expected, other can seem, in the moment, like curveballs designed to catch you off guard.

The perils of workplace stress
Some degree of stress is natural and even beneficial: it keeps us on task, helps us determine what our priorities are, and contributes to a healthy sense of motivation. However, it’s all too easy for stress to get out of hand.

Should you take the job, or should you wait and see if something better comes along? Should you move house now, or maybe next year, when it could be more affordable? Should you spend your holidays in England, Australia, or Japan? Life is full of such conundrums, each of them requiring us to make decisions that will affect the things that are most important to us: our careers, our relationships, our finances, our creative pursuits, and more.

The concept of emotional intelligence (EQ) was popularized in a best-selling book by Daniel Goleman, who defines it as “the ability to identify, assess, and control one's own emotions, the emotions of others, and that of groups”. According to Goleman, emotional intelligence has five components: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.

Being able to openly communicate with your colleagues will create great working relationships that will be fun and in turn, lead to high productivity.

If there is one bad apple, it can hurt the enthusiasm of the entire office. So what is open communication? In a nutshell, open communication occurs when all parties are able to express ideas to one another, such as in a conversation or debate.