Being close-minded about things doesn’t mean you are negative either. Sometimes when we have a end goal in sight all laid out with steps on how to get there, we can get too rigid with that pathway. This rigid path we design may close us off from seeing that changing with the flow may actually get us there faster or more effectively – but we are too focussed on our set plan to see the opportunity that could potentially unfold. Perfectionist focus closes the door on opportunities that may change how we get where we want to go.

Sometimes being open-minded can be scary – can be seen as risky. If we are open to change and opportunity that may present itself then we must open ourselves up to the risk that comes with this. We find ourselves second guessing ourselves and our potential and in fear step back from what could have being wonderful because it seems like too much of a risk. In these scenarios it makes us feel like we are open-minded when really we are too scared to be that way.

How to be open-minded:

♥ SEE OPPORTUNITY: The first step is being open to the opportunity and acknowledging when it comes to you in the first place – this is the key to becoming open-minded. Know enough about what you want that when a different pathway presents itself to you, you will be able to see the benefits of the opportunity and acknowledge how it can change things.

♥ BE FLEXIBLE: An open mindset takes a great deal of flexibility. There is no longer a need for perfection on the exact path you have mapped out for every area of your life. There is room to grow, change and flex the foundation plans you have in place.

♥ OVERCOME FEAR: While it is impossible to banish fear altogether – whether you like it or not things that go against what you know, things that are different will always present that knot in your stomach, that inducement of self-doubt. However, looking fear in the face and doing something anyway can often bring great reward. If you see the opportunity as good and analyse the risk as worth it, then overcoming the fear is the last step to realising how it can change your life.

♥ STAY OPEN: Nothing in this life is absolute. Everyone is on a different path in life and no matter where you decide you want to go – there is potentially thousands of people who have done it before and each taken completely different paths to get there. If you stay open-minded you may just find that your life changes for the better. You will begin to see opportunities that may seem left of field but are exactly the thing that will be the difference between getting where you want to be and staying on a merry-go-round of never-changing circumstance.

If you are out of work, you know that it can be really tough to keep applying for job after job without the smile on your face fading with each rejection or no call back. It is hard to stay motivated and put 100% into each and every job application. You find yourself just sending through your generic resume and cover letter for all the different jobs.

I’ve got some news for you – this will not get you a job.

A relevant and often specialised resume and cover letter will however increase your chances of been seen as highly suitable for the job. All you need to do is tailor your resume and cover letter for every single job application that you send out.

You heard me. You must tailor your resume and cover letter for each and every job application you send out.

How will the hiring manager know that you meet all the exact criteria they are looking for if you haven’t inserted and highlighted it in your skills descriptions or in your job descriptions and achievements?

Some actionable things that you can do to improve your chances of making the cut:

♥ Read the job description carefully and highlight each separate skill or experience required. Ensure that these or equivalent are in your resume.

♥ Use the same terminology as the job ad for both job titles and skills. If they call it Director of First Impressions then change any job titles from Receptionist to ensure it reads Director of First Impressions. If they call it Interpersonal Skills then change it from Customer Service Skills.

♥If you have the skills that transfer from a different job altogether then highlight this in a skills summary. A functional resume will describe skills and examples of where these skills were utilised rather than a full chronological work history. This skills summary gives you a chance to highlight the transferable skills relevant to the job description in the advertisement.

♥ Don’t use the word BUT in your cover letter. Never state that you don’t have XYZ experience BUT you have…this will not get you forward. This only highlights that you don’t have a requested experience and it would be best to highlight you strengths instead.

♥Be specific with numbers. Don’t just write that you did accounts payable or processed invoices. Actually list the exact number that you would process in a week or a day. It is this kind of detail that will stand out and inform the hiring manager whether you have done high-volume as they requested or not.

When faced with a problem or a stepping stone or a new venture or opportunity in your career you can do one of two things. Do nothing, which in essence means that you do not grow and become nothing. That is nothing more than you currently are. If you are happy with this than continue your life this way, but don’t expect to live the extraordinary life of your dreams.

The second option is to take action.

Pretty basic concept that one isn’t it. If you see opportunity or seek to overcome and grow in your career you need to ask yourself three questions:

What should you do?

What could you do?

What will you do?

It is this third step that incites action. If you find that in answering these questions that there are actionable items at the end then it is time to take action and just do them. If you don’t then like discussed above nothing will come of nothing. But if you dare to take the opportunity and DO SOMETHING then that is what will make a difference in your career, in your life and possibly someone else’s life.

I had the very fortunate opportunity to be present at the Illawarra Women In Business Awards for 2013 and was blown away with the level of drive and determination by the winners in each category. It was great to see so many local woman truly making an individual difference. How are they making a difference you ask?

Well they saw that there was something that should be done, they realised that they could do it and so they did!

Sometimes in life there can be days when we find it hard to notice the little things, hard to smile at those around us, hard to even get out of bed for the day. It is these days that we can choose to wallow or choose to take a smile, slap it on our faces regardless and hold our heads high. Scientists have apparently proven that when you smile even if you are sad, your body will still produce the same endorphins/hormones as if you were really happy – so you can really fake it till you make it.

Just in case please take a smile from above

2. This one will get a cringe out of most people if their filing system involves piling all bills and paperwork on top of the filing cabinet like I do, BUT – file your bills and paperwork immediately. Feels weird to even think about being this organised but think about how good those times you actually filed it all felt? Was good wasn’t it? Now think about how good it will feel if you never have to take an hour and a half just to get through the pile. All it takes is a regular tiny commitment to open the mail and file immediately on a consistent basis.

3. Get rid of clutter! Just throw it all out…yes you heard me right. Chances are you are never going to need that old charger/uni assignments/school books/insert any bunch of crap lying around your office desk or house. It is an ingrained human habit to hoard objects however without going all minimalist on you I can assure you that when you clean out the clutter your mind will feel clearer and you will always be able to find what you are looking for.

4. Keep your daily beauty products separate from everything else. If like me you accumulate beauty products like an addiction then you know how annoying it can be when you can’t find the eyeliner that you usually use in amongst the draw of eye makeup that is really only suitable for after hours – not the workplace. When you keep your daily beauty products in their own section in the most easily accessible place you will never be scrounging through the drawers in amongst everything else. Effective and no longer frustrating!

5. Sometimes it is hard to sort through the influx of emails in the business world when it seems that everyone wants an answer that only you can provide. Left to build up this can cause fault lines in business relationships and frustration on your part as it then becomes an overwhelming task. Solution: Spend half hour dedicated time each day emailing back as many queries as you can. If you are a fast typist and the queries are information that isn’t too hard to provide then you could easily make it a self competition to see how many replies you can send back within a set timeframe. This gets your external business communication a little more organised and will also mean more happy clients.

6. While on the topic of emails – divide your inbox into a number of folders for relevant topic areas or regular contact and set the rule for outlook to automatically send those emails to that folder. For example I have separate emails for each staff member in my office, for each of the specialities I recruit for, others from payroll, another for skills testing results. The best part about this tip is once it is set up you won’t need to redo it and your inbox anxiety will be calmed somewhat as it is already all organised for you. Much easier to find past emailed information as well.

7. Be consistent. Sometimes being consistent is mistaken for routine but that is not what I mean. The more consistent we keep our regular daily tasks the more effective they become in our lives to assist us in keeping things running smoothly and effectively. If you can be consistent with cleaning out junk as you receive it rather than storing it away then chances are you won’t accumulate junk. If you are consistent with filing all paperwork right away – chances are that looming pile won’t build up. So if you are consistent you will stay organised!

So when The Blogcademy class one in New York came and went I was disappointed I couldn’t just up and jump at this opportunity. Then Blogcademy jetsetted across the seas to London – again a location I couldn’t just up and jump to.

Then I got Gala Darling’s blog update via email!

Blogcademy was going global and that included two stops at Melbourne and Brisbane!

Although initially disappointed that Sydney got skipped along the way I took a look at both destinations and thought – hmmm I haven’t been to Qld in a few years…Done!

Therefore I am excited to announce the countdown has begun for Brisbane Blogcademy where I will not only meet some star bloggers that I have followed online for years and years (Gala since her Melbourne days!) but I will get to learn tips and tricks from the best.

November? That’s 8 months away I hear you say. Yes. Yes it is.

But what this means is that I have 8 months to make my blog more fantastic so that when it gets scrutinised by these blogger babes that I get higher levels of advice not just basic tips. It means that I have 8 months to plan a wardrobe for the two days that is fitting of the online queens of sparkle and shimmer. It means I have 8 months to get used to the idea that I get to meet my blogging role model for the first time in the flesh so that I can make sure I don’t get star struck and say something dumb (like the multiple times I have met Wil Anderson). It means I have something to look forward to. And to me this is the kind of event and weekend that will be worth the wait.

It wasn’t until last year that I wanted to blog a bit more seriously and a bit more frequently while still giving myself permission to have it go a few weeks without a post if life gets in the way.

This weekend will not be about idolising some of my favourite bloggers. I don’t idolise anyone but God. But getting to learn and grow in such a promising environment. Giving myself a chance to expand my knowledge in an area that is for personal growth only – not for work or anyone else – is pretty cool.

For any Brisbane or fellow Aussie bloggers I look forward to seeing you there. For Gala, Shauna and Kat thanks in advance for the opportunity…I am already channelling the power of turquoise and deciding between sparkly bow or bunny ears.

And to my readers may I inspire you to step outside your comfort zone and normal routine and take a class or book an event that is for purely personal growth. Do something that is for you and you alone and not for your career or family or anything else.

The best investment you can make is the one you make in yourself.

This birthday I am feeling young and accomplished and busy and happy. I haven’t celebrated in the normal BIG ways that I normally do but I feel this year that it is the smaller things that are contributing to the bigger celebration – that I am a year older, have spent another year doing awesome things and some not so awesome things and being in my mid-twenties I feel it is time to get a bit wiser.

There are always areas that we could be improving and as the saying goes:

 Standing still is the same as going backwards.

 So I greet my twenty-thirteen birthday with this in mind. If I am to be deemed wiser by my own merits then what areas of my life do I need to improve. I could list of ten fantastic accomplishments right now but this is more about working on areas of my personality or life that sometimes work against the greater good for me.

Now this isn’t a chance to criticise myself, but instead to know myself and nurture myself into being the best version of myself – and who could want more than that!

With this is mind here is a list of areas that I commit to working on over the coming year:

♥ My health and fitness – I have begun a serious journey this year to lose weight and I want to remain committed to this journey. Working out with my partner has helped this immensely!

♥ Stop being sarcastic when people ask me questions when I think the answer is extremely obvious.

♥ Make an effort with my wardrobe. Some days I am fantastic at this and entirely put together with matching accessories and all but then other times I am flustered and running late or tired and don’t care and end up in outfits that are just not quite right. I am making a stand against this don’t care-ish attitude and will always care what I wear so that I can be fashion forward not ensemble-challenged.

♥ Never be late to work. Ever. Powerful women are never late. And the fact I am now only five minutes from work as opposed to 45mins should make this a lot easier.

♥ Read my bible and connect with God – and do this with no distractions around. So much of my connection with God is while driving or when I am in the middle of thinking a million other thoughts. Some quiet time would be nice.

♥ Contribute to the greater good. Whether this be money, time or knowledge I want to contribute to the greater good of society in some way.

Just before New Years I had a week and a half off work and it rejuvenated me and inspired me to make this year more about me and to do things I had been thinking about perhaps wanting to do but hadn’t made them happen yet.

The result of all this making things happen focus? I am the busiest and happiest I have been in a really, really long time and feeling like a successful and accomplished 20-something to boot!

The worst part? I haven’t had time to blog at all about all the fantastic things that have been happening in my life. There have been so many ideas and visions and excitement that has me frothing but blogging has gone to the way side for the past month.

So what has been keeping me buzzing?

♥ I have started studying a Graduate Diploma in Career Development at university via online learning. It is a fantastic learning curve that correlates with my employment but finding the balance can be difficult.

♥ I signed up for a 3 hours over 6 week sewing course and surprised myself by making a skirt and am on my way to expanding a dress pattern to fit my body shape. I am half way through the 6 weeks and have come a long way and am keen to continue sewing outfits and possibly designing some new ones from there!

♥ I bought a house! If any of you follow me on instagram you would have seen my excited house and key photos. It is a big step and an even bigger one to take on my own but I am super pumped and proud of this achievement.

♥ I’ve moved – kind of obvious given the above. Moving house is apparently one of the top ten most stressful life experiences and although I have moved previously with not too much issue this time seemed a thousand times more effort. Still not fully sorted out but I am getting there.

♥ It’s my birthday! Every year I am normally planning a few months in advance locking in dates with friends for big parties or dinners or something! But this year with everything else going on I decided to keep it low key and instead counteract lots of cake with lots of gym. I will be at work on my birthday for the first time that I can remember and have decided I will continue to be 25 as that is as old as I feel.

Have you ever felt so busy but super happy about it at the same time? Normally these two things don’t correlate with me but I am loving it at the moment. I promise I will be back to more regular blogging soon but as you can see there is are multiple reasons for it!

Sometimes in life we have to take something away for us to realise it wasn’t good for us in the first place. This is true for me of Facebook.

My facebook fast went fantastic up until about day 19 when someone was trying to get in touch with me for an event organisation and they didn’t have my mobile number so I took a quick peek at their message.

What I learned is that where Facebook is concerned – absence does not make the heart grow fonder.

My relationships with my friends improved for a number of reasons. For once I was no longer annoyed at whiny things they posted on Facebook but more so because I was forced to call them, to text them which is in fact much more personal than hitting like on a status as if I cared about the post for more than the second it took me to read it and hit the thumbs up.

I don’t feel like I missed out on their lives as I was forced to connect, to tell them what was happening in my life. It is this personal connection that is too often lost when we solely rely on Facebook as a sorry excuse for a catch up in our time poor lives.

Even now that I am back on the Facebook bandwagon I find myself less inclined to like or comment on status’ and I am impatient with myself with scrolling my newsfeed when for the past 21 days I was forced to spend my time in more interesting ways. Those moments when you are waiting in line or at the Laundromat or killing a few minutes because you are at the coffee store on your own – these are times when I would normally Facebook newsfeed scroll desperate for something tantalising to come across my path. Since performing my Facebook fast I have written the beginning of a short story, sorted out finances, called friends and thought about positive affirmations and prayed to my God – all in the moments when I would normally have checked Facebook.

It has freed my mind and allowed me to open up my channels of creativity and imagination. Like a kid without toys I was able to use my imagination to entertain myself and by golly did I enjoy it.

This whole experience has changed my perspective on social media and made me check myself and my thoughts before purging them out into the world, I feel more for my friends and more connected with humanity. While I have no urge to delete my Facebook or twitter accounts at this point in time I feel that I only want to put beautiful things out into the world so my focus is going to stay with my website and with Instagram. While Instragram is essentially a social media outlet I believe photography is a more creative and beautiful outlet. Photography is a more pure medium to express myself in and compliments my whole mantra of make Your Own Waves.

So what I’ve learned is: I would rather phone a friend than hit a like button any day. While there are people who seem to like stuff I post most of them I don’t really know. Scrolling through a newsfeed that is selected by algorithms designed by IT people who don’t know is pointless and stupid and a waste of time. Instagram is better because it is beautiful. Relationships are better offline and away from the public eye. We expose ourselves to so much unnecessary garbage that can be overwhelming. I have an amazing and fascinating imagination that I don’t give enough time to.

Back in high school I worked part time at the local Westco – a jeans clothing store that was really big in the 90’s – and when there were no customers in the mornings and I got bored I didn’t have the option of signing into social media on my phone or really of texting anybody. Why? Because I was the last generation that managed to make it almost completely through high school before mobile phones became the new accessory. Where kids get a phone at 12 or younger, me and my friends didn’t get phones until 15 or 16 years of age. Even then we were limited to Nokia 3315’s which could only save a finite number of messages before the memory was full. The only game was snake and there was no such thing as apps.

These were simpler times and I used to write all kinds of crazy notes to myself on receipt paper at Westco as that was my only option. I realised I missed that part of myself and I am going to focus more on staying on Facebook and letting my imagination and relationships run free!

So last Wednesday night I went to an after hours work function where upon leaving the event guests were rewarded with nothing more delightful then an empty container and a selection of sweet treats to fill it up with!

Among the chocolates, lollies and mini cupcakes was some decadent looking blue and white macaroons. For me, who was a macaroon virgin, an instant sweat of excitement broke out determined that I would score some to take home.

Let me tell you that I wasn’t disappointed with the macaroon magic.