Train Your Brain

Having a successful career takes a lot of brain power. But how do you develop this strength? Is it innate or learned? 

"You Can't Run A Marathon Without Proper Training."

We can train our brain to be as strong as our body, if not stronger. It sounds like something we should all be doing, training our brain for the workforce Olympics. But many of us don't do it. It's easy to forget to do. It's a common thing to forget. 

It all starts with your mind. Think about it like this, you can't run a marathon without proper training. Your occupational lifetime is a marathon, it lasts decades. Can you think of someone who can run a several decade long marathon without proper training? I highly doubt it. Training is part of the rat race. Mind over matter will ensure that you will last on the road to career success.

So how do you train your brain?

Have a Mantra: Write it down. To make sure your mantra will live through the sweat of the daily grind, use permanent marker. Read your mantra before work, during breaks, after lunch before you go back to work, after work and any other time that you need to read it.  

Have Positive Mental Images: Keep mental images of those you love and things that make you happy. When things get difficult at work, call upon your mental images to pull you through. Give your positive mental images the ability to rid your mind of negative thoughts, so you can keep your mind on the rat race. 

Visualize: Close your eyes. Complete your day at work in your mind, before your day has even started. This will allow you to have peace of mind and confidence while you are performing your duties during working hours, because you have already mentally completed them. 

Make Things More Manageable: Instead of thinking of your day as an 8 hour day, think of it as 8 lunch breaks. We all know that lunch breaks tend to go by VERY fast. Think about making it from your current task, to the next. Don't think any further ahead than that. Stay in the moment during working hours and don't think too far ahead. 

Learn: Push your mental limits and overcome them with constant training, so that when called upon, you can execute with confidence. You will have confidence and peace of mind knowing that you have been trained to do what needs to be done. 

During your career, everyday, won't be fun. Everyday  won't be perfect. But continuous mental training will keep you fit and well prepared for the decades long marathon. 

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Equal Pay Twitter Chat

Tomorrow, April 20, the Labor Department and National Equal Pay Task Force is hosting a Twitter Chat. Chances are, you'll be tweeting anyway, so why not join the conversation? Do you really want to miss an opportunity to talk with these VIP's about equal pay?

Writing A Resignation Letter

Thinking about resigning from your current position? To depart from your current position in a formal, formidable manner, make sure to effectively utilize a resignation letter. 

The Equal Pay App

Women make less on the dollar than men.  The Obama administration is working to crack down on equal pay violations.


Recently, the Department of Labor, in partnership with the National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force, launched an innovation initiative to eliminate the inequality in gender pay. On average, women make less on the dollar than men.

Overall, the Obama Administration is working to crack down on equal pay violations. This all started with the first bill President Obama signed into law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, with assists women in recovering lost wages as the result of pay discrimination.

So what does all pf this have to do with an Equal Pay App?

The previously mentioned innovation initiative calls on developers to create an easy-to-use app the not only educates app users about equal pay, but provides them tools and resources to combat equal pay discrimination  as well.

The winner for the innovation initiative, who creates the best Equal Pay App, will be announced next month, in April. We'll be sure to keep you in the loop and update you as we get more information. In the meantime, tell us, is the Equal Pay App an app you would use?

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2013 Department of Labor Budget & Your Career

The 2013 Department of Labor budget reflects fiscal responsibility, while demonstrating a willingness to invest in career training and much needed worker protection.