First impressions count How just one hundredth of one second can change everything

First impressions count How just one hundredth of one second can change everythingFirst impressions count How just one hundredth of one second can change everythingScientists have worked out that it takes one hundredth of one second for each of us to form that all important first impression. Whether its a job interview or first date - follow these simple steps to make sure you make the best impression possible.We know that in only a fraction of a second after meeting, people make anfangsbuchstabe judgments about others. But what exactly is it that people connect with in others? Although material possessions can play a part, our instincts determine believability, trust etc. in ways used by our ancestors long before bespoke suits, designer watches, expensive cars, luxury handbags, or even boob jobs, cosmetics, face-lifts, or liposuction ever came along.Here are some simple steps to make sure you make better first impressions.Face offOur faces say so much about us What were thinking, w hat were about to say, and even the type of life weve led (those laugh lines speak volumes). Sometimes, our faces tell others, things we wish they wouldnt. Thats because not everyone knows how to present their face in the best light.So, take a moment to look at yourself in the mirror. What does your face say about you?When it comes to getting a job, being too trendy is not often the best way. That makeup style might be great on Facebook, but in an interview for a management role?The eyes have itPay particular attention to what your eyes say about you. Although people look at faces to determine friend or foe, they look even more closely at the eyes.Women especially, find the eyes to be one of the most visually communicative aspects of another person.So, if eyes are so important, why do some people cover theirs up with sunglasses and tinted lenses? That might be forgivable in strong direct sunlight, but in a job interview? Puh-leaseThe hard fact is that humans, through hardwiring, loo k for eyes everywhere Even where they dont exist Thats why we tend to binnensee them in clouds, trees, woods, etc. When others look at us, they want to see our eyes. When we want to communicate effectively, we do so in person where we can show our eyes.So make your eyes look their best. It goes without saying that bloodshot eyes either from too little sleep or too good a night out are a no-no too.Its all in the smileOne of the most powerful nonverbal communication tools humans possess is their smile. And as research has shown, we have developed an advanced means of detecting what type of smile were looking at.So, when you first meet a potential employer, putting on an affected or staged smile to mask your fear or anxiety, will be a dead giveaway. Alternatively, if you exhibit a genuine smile, the interviewer will know that, as well, and feel as if theyre really connecting with you.Most of us have a lot to learn when it comes to looking our best to others. Understanding that can offe r you a very powerful advantage. Spend a little time and effort identifying and creating the ideal look for trust, dominance, or whatever message you want to put across to a potential employer.Youll gain a distinct advantage over other candidates with whom you may be competing.This post welches originally published on Your Coffee Break.Your Coffee Break is an online lifestyle magazine for the professional woman, delivering content onthe latest in fashion, beauty, career management, celebrity news, lifestyle and travel.

Top 10 Cities Where Employees Are Happiest

Top 10 Cities Where Employees Are HappiestTop 10 Cities Where Employees Are Happiest Its not enough to love your job, youve got to love where you work . The city that your company and job are in is just as important as the work you do every day. And interestingly enough, all cities are not created equal. In fact, quality of life is often dictated by job satisfaction and compensation.Glassdoor recently rolled out the 25 Best Cities for Jobs in the U.S. and took a look at three factors how easy it is to get a job, how affordable it is to live there and how satisfied employees are working there. We took it one step further to bring in the job satisfaction piece, and the results are very interesting. Here are the top 10 cities where employees are happiest.1. San Francisco, CA Job Satisfaction Rating 3.6/5 zentralwert cousine Salary $75,000 Number of Open Jobs 232,156 Companies Hiring Wells Fargo, Glassdoor, Pet Food Express, Chevron, Uber, Salesforce, Stitch Fi x, The Hanover Insurance Group & more.2. San Jose, CA Job Satisfaction Rating 3.5/5 Median Base Salary $100,000 Number of Open Jobs 106,809 Companies Hiring Samsung Research America, eBay, BDS Marketing LLC, Safelite, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Apple, Sunbelt Staffing, IBM, Specialtys Cafe & Bakery, Unique Shipping & more.3. Salt Lake City, UT Job Satisfaction Rating 3.5/5 Median Base Salary $47,500 Number of Open Jobs 44,991 Companies Hiring HireVue, AECOM, Marriott International, Silver Key Benefits, Pluralsight, WAXIE Sanitary Supply& more.4. San Diego, CA Job Satisfaction Rating 3.5/5 Median Base Salary $50,000 Number of Open Jobs 86,755 Companies Hiring Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hilton, Althea, Lockheed Martin, Argen, LINK Staffing, Burwood Group, Hunter Industries & more.5. Boston, MA Job Satisfaction Rating 3.5/5 Median Base Salary $60,000 Number of Open Jobs 219,873 Companies Hiring Brainshark, Black Diamond Networks, Bay State Community Services, PROCON, Apollo Security, Brookdale, Liberty Mutual, Access Information Management & more.6. Washington, DC Job Satisfaction Rating 3.5/5 Median Base Salary $62,000 Number of Open Jobs 293,481 Companies Hiring Veterans Administration, Metronome, Roto-Rooter, Sears Holding, The MASY Group, The Shade Store, McKinley Marketing Partners, Magnolia Companies, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory & more.7. Seattle, WA Job Satisfaction Rating 3.5/5 Median Base Salary $65,000 Number of Open Jobs 187,741 Companies Hiring Amazon, Microsoft, NTG Groups, Oslo Solutions, Nordstrom, Valant, Tableau Software, Bader Martin, Kindred Healthcare, OfferUp, Rational Interaction & more.8. New Orleans, LA Job Satisfaction Rating 3.4/5 Median Base Salary $40,000 Number of Open Jobs 34,600 Companies Hiring Brooke Staffing Companies, Community Health Center, CR England, Gilead Sciences, Jackson Therapy Partners, Teachers On Demand, Tulane Medical Center, Ver izon Wireless & more.9. Austin, TX Job Satisfaction Rating 3.4/5 Median Base Salary $48,000 Number of Open Jobs 79,947 Companies Hiring YMCA of Austin, 83bar, CoreMedical Group, PeopleAdmin, Amazon, OutboundEngine, Informatics, Seaton Healthcare Network, ASCO Equipment & more.10. Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL Job Satisfaction Rating 3.4/5 Median Base Salary $40,000 Number of Open Jobs 126,681 Companies Hiring LGI Homes, The Natures Bounty Co, Symbotic, InVentiv Health, National Signing Source, UPS, Assurant, TD Bank, Rehabcare & more.

What a mindfulness practice can teach you about leadership

What a mindfulness practice can teach you about leadershipWhat a mindfulness practice can teach you about leadershipThere are numerous studies that have shown that engaging in mindfulness practices offers psychologic, physiologic and cognitive benefits.More recentresearchproves there are tangible results of mindfulness that can lead to greater leadership effectiveness. Over the last decade, corporate mindfulness training has enjoyed greater acceptance as employees have derived benefits from a mindfulness practice that translate to greater productivity.If repeating mantras from the top of a mountain feels way out of your comfort zone, there are many other mindfulness practices in which you can engage, even if your organization doesnt offer specialized training.Meditation, tai chi, journaling and yoga are just a few options available to try, and a simple Google search will reveal a host of free resources and apps to help you get started. You can even practice mindfulness when walking, eating or listening to others.I recently worked with Patrick, a client whose experience confirmed the benefits of mindfulness. He had recently recommitted himself to a yoga practice, an earlyyear beschluss that fell by the wayside in favor of the demands of leading a growing tech company.The more stressful and fragmented my days became, he told me, the more I knew that I had to get back on the mat. I was not making clear decisions. I was overwhelmed with customer demands and how we were responding to them. Worse, I was losing sight of the fun of what we are trying to do with our geschftsleben and what we were learning, even from our mistakes.The average yoga mat is a 24-by-68 piece of real estate, but I learned from my client that its one of the most influential sources of leadership training you can experience. But, getting back to his practice wasnt easy. Patrick complained about how much ground hed lost after months of neglecting it.You spend most of a yoga class working on your breathing, while upside down or contorting your body into positions you didnt think possible, he said. Its tough at first, especially if youre naturally competitive, or a former jock like me. I was used to being a high achiever and in this class I wasnt. Worse, it seemed that the progress Id made when first starting out had been lost and I was back to the beginning.My first challenge was tamping down my habit of comparing myself to everyone in the class, and then beating myself up because I couldnt do what they could do, he confessed. Its funny, after a while I got used to being the worse student in the class and learned to work towards incremental improvements in my own abilities.Yoga mats, I learned, are the great leveler.Patricks recommitment to mindfulness allowed him to achieve the four major goals that science says are at the heart of benefitting from any practice. These were goals that had a direct impact on his leadership style and the outcomes he enjoyedDeveloping present m oment attentionThis is the capacity to stay centered in the current moment without letting your mind wander to worries about the past or to future events. In a leadership capacity, achieving this goal allowed Patrick to develop a sharper focus on what was important at the moment and helped him minimize his tendency to multi-task, which often led to subpar work outcomes, and more strategic objectives receiving less attention than they required.IntentionalityAn important goal for Patrick was setting his intention for his yoga practice, but that spilled over into how he behaved as a leader. Demonstrating intentionality required careful consideration of his practice goals, which aligned with the requirement he had as a leader to define goals for himself, the geschftliches miteinander and his team. Intentionality helped to build and refine Patricks goal-setting muscles.Self-compassionWe all have a natural tendency to engage in self-criticism, especially when we compare ourselves to a sta ndard that were not achieving. Patrick struggled most with this goal. Being overly self-critical was a tendency that compromised his mindfulness practice, for sure, but it also eroded his resilience when it came to leadership setbacks. Learning to grace himself and others with compassion contributed to Patrick building persistence and helping his team do the same. Thus, failures became opportunities to learn, grow and rebound.WitnessingThis goal, sometimes called awareness, relates to developing the capacity to observe what is happening without passing judgement. If youve ever tried meditation, youve no doubt struggled with this, as a myriad of thoughts raced through your mind when the objective was to clear it. Students of meditation are taught to observe those random thoughts and then to let them go, rather than obsess over them. Gaining mastery with witnessing allowed Patrick to minimize the instances in which he rushed to premature judgements and conclusions, especially when dea ling with difficult situations. More importantly, he used this newfound ability to create a safe space where his team felt free to share their ideas, feedback or concerns with him, rather than keeping them under wraps until a small issue became a crisis.True leadership is about more than leveraging a technical or business skill set. Its about more than charisma or ego. At the heart of true leadership is developing personal mastery and self-awareness. Committing to a mindfulness practice may make all the difference in your leadership success.Theres a lot to learn on a yoga mat.Alaina Love is chief operating officer and president ofPurpose Linked Consultingand co-author of The Purpose Linked Organization How Passionate Leaders Inspire Winning Teams and Great Results(McGraw-Hill). She is a recovering HR executive, a global speaker and leadership expert, and passionate about everything having to do with, well passion. Her passion archetypes are Builder, Transformer and Healer. You can learn more about how to grow leaders, build passionate teams and leverage passion to create great customer outcomeshere. Follow Love onTwitter,Facebook,YouTubeor herblog.Thisarticlefirst appeared on SmartBrief. If you enjoyed this article, sign up for SmartBriefs free e-mailon leadership and communication, among SmartBriefsmore than 200 industry-focused newsletters.