A job interview or employee review is not a test, it is an affirmation of competence or even better, excellence.

There is a difference between confidence and arrogance.

Of expectations and entitlements.

Before a job interview or review, write in one sentence why you have earned the opportunity for the job or pay raise and promotion.  If it can’t be compelling in one line, then you probably have no business applying or expecting much from a review.

Assess what you are worth by identifying your skills – things that you and your employer value or will value (i.e., ability to get along with others, to listen to new ideas, to complete projects on time or ahead of deadline, etc.).

Assign an annual salary value to your skills – not from the point of view of your employer or potential employer but based on other jobs similar to yours in related industries.

When applying for new positions, share a list of seven things that you can specifically do for your new employer (not a generic list of warm and fuzzy things) and – this is important – back it up with specific evidence that proves you’ve done these things before.

And, the day of the interview as you open the door to the office where it is taking place, say these words to yourself “I have earned the right to be here”.

Winging an interview or review is a waste of time but thoughtful preparation of the kind successful people do as described here is the best rehearsal for a good outcome.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my permission.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

There is a saying that reminds us “if you want to get something done, give it to a busy person to do”.

Busy people are less likely to be stressed out.

Overwhelmed people who have trouble managing work, home and themselves are most probably going to complain of stress.

Manage your work effectively, reduce stress.  The secret?  Only 20% of everything you need to do daily is responsible for 80% of productivity.  Good time managers know multi-tasking is an excuse for bad prioritizing.

Phones work both ways – texting/emailing and calling.  Believe it or not, a short call takes up less time than continual emails.  Email to confirm, phone to discuss.

Saying no is okay.  Busy people who get more things done with less stress also know how to say no, I can’t – sorry.  Adding tasks on to an infinite list of things to do spells a life of stress.

See digital devices as tools not a way of life.

Not everything needs to be a burden on your shoulders.

But when you accept a responsibility, own it and see it as an opportunity to prove once again that busy people put stress in its place by creating a life of order.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my permission.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Cut off their air.

Ignore everything they say and do so they are living in an alternate universe – alone and sequestered.

The worse thing to do is listen to them followed by respond to them or maybe even chiding them.  Repeating their comments to others just gives them more power to be evil.

Haters cannot exist without an eager audience.

The 2016 presidential race is particularly full of vitriol that is hard to escape so it makes no sense to keep listening to repeat offenders.  Even one person makes a difference when that one person is you and your happiness.

Haters at work are always feeding on victims, but to walk away and leave them talking to themselves and not repeating their comments is certain victory over their harsh feelings.

Even comments such as – “that person is fat” doesn’t deserve a response if you are comfortable in your belief that we don’t judge people on their looks and their weight.

There is no disputing that if you take away a hater’s audience as often as possible, you win and they lose.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my permission.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

108 years later, the Chicago Cubs finally ended their long drought and won the 2016 World Series.

Theo Epstein, the team’s architect, dealt with another drought when the Boston Red Sox broke their curse 12 years earlier, but since 2011 Epstein has been putting the right pieces in place for what happened last week.

When negative things get into the head, they have the effect of being predictive.

The foul ball incident in a playoff series a number of years ago.

The feeling that the Cubs were actually cursed and would never get it off their backs.

People like “cursed” baseball teams also allow their success narratives to be stolen.  In fact, by believing even for a minute that something bad will happen again, guarantees it.

The Cubs had the best record in baseball this year, but they had to go down to the last inning of game seven to win.

They could have lost the big game if they wanted to continue buying into the folly of a curse.

But when they were down in game seven, an 17-minute rain delay forced the team off the field and into the locker room where we have learned Cubs’ leaders became vocal about playing to overcome the odds.

People who feel bad things are going to happen to them could benefit from a similar strategy.

Take a time out.

Adjust the thinking to be all positive with no regard for what may have happened before or fears that persist in the present.

Curses are excuses that are institutionalized in the minds of people who are inclined to let doubts influence their chances of success.

There is no such thing as a curse.

Only people who allow negative thoughts to become more important than talent, chance, preparation, motivation and singularity of purpose are cursed.

For everyone else, a curse is called inspiration.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my permission.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

The sure formula for an unhappy person is one who tries to change another.

Think about it – when most people talk about change, they want to change something or someone else.

Their boss, their spouse, their kids, their friends, the system, the world.

The best way to guarantee positive change is to not try to change anyone or everyone and focus on changing yourself.

The way you relate to your boss, how you treat your spouse, new ways to deal with your children, being a better friend before asking someone else to be one, not changing the system just your part in the system.

That’s how you change your world – starting at home with you.

Then, those around you can either adapt or run.

Before you know it, someone else has been motivated to change in a positive way because you went first.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my advanced permission.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Don’t wait until your dream comes true to live them.

Waiting for dreams can be dangerous.

Obviously, dreamers can picture in their mind’s eye in palpable ways what it is they are after – a good thing.  The clearer the picture, the better the chance of attaining the goals.

But waiting for that exact right moment will guarantee that you miss many moments in between that could change what you’re after or at least alter it.

On the way to your ultimate dream are a lot of wonderful opportunities to be successful and happy.  You don’t want to pass them by.

Dreaming is often more rewarding than waiting – often in vain – for that one dream to come true.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my advanced permission.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Everyone fails.

Some build on that failure and some let it get into their psyche.

Study any successful or happy person and you are likely to see a life of ups and downs – some hurtful and significant — that they have to overcome.

Much has been said about how to overcome obstacles, but nothing works faster or better then this technique used by those who shake it off.

Deal with failure and move on.

We let failure stick around like a bad cologne when the first thing to do is move on.

A sports team in a slump lets failure get into their psyche.  They bear down harder and still can’t turn it around.  Waiting for luck can be a long wait.

To quote the old R&B song “One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show” means one setback should not prevent further progress.

If we’re going to let negative failure thoughts take valuable space up in our heads, we are not going to learn from our mistakes and are likely to get stuck in a bad place.

If we are willing to deal with our difficulties and then – and this is the important part – move on, then we have discovered the secret to overcoming failure faster.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my permission.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Picture this.

The past is a file that we can recall whenever we need it.

But, always remember to close that file and return to the present.

The future is about hopes and dreams.  We go there to plan our lives and next moves.

But, if we fail to return to today, those hopes and dreams rarely happen and if they do come to fruition then we’re not in the right place to enjoy them.

Open files and unfinished plans lead us to a life of distraction.

Waiting for a future event like paying off bills, meeting the right mate, or seeing your children off to college can cause us to miss out on all the joy that we experience in between.

Ever notice how anxious we get when we anticipate even wonderful things that could happen in the future.

It isn’t necessary to get everything out of your mind to live in the now.

Just the ability to focus on the one and only life we will ever have – the one that is happening in real time.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my advanced permission.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

I know a nurse who is the single mother of three children – a nice woman with a big heart and the brashness of being born and bred in New Jersey.

There was a teenage girl sitting in the waiting room of her office – with her feet up on a sofa, a sour puss and lots of whining going on while she was glued to her phone oblivious to those around her.

My friend said that when her kids abused their phones and used them for the wrong purposes or withdrew from social interaction, she would call Verizon and shut their phones off.

I was shocked.  I said, “You didn’t?”.  She said, “Yes I did”.

And the repercussions were crying and more crying until her teens decided that they were going to observe and keep their mother’s rules at which point their Verizon accounts were switched back on.  (Yes, this has happened on and off for many of their teen years).

It’s not kids alone who are abusing their phones but parents who refuse to parent and enforce some guidelines.

That’s great for kids, but what about adults who are far more abusive in digging their phones out of their pockets and handbags.

That’s when we must come up big.

Either give me the same 100% focus you give your cellphone or else, move on and leave them to the lonely world of their own devices.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my advanced permission.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Email is not just a presidential election issue.  It is strangling all of us.

Even where we still make phone calls, we then waste time memorializing them in a follow-up email.

Email is killing us and not necessarily making our lives better, richer or more productive.  That’s why those who study sociological trends are already talking about the decline of email.

Because email is consuming lives, what’s the way out?

You can do the math, but I spend hours personally and in my businesses with email.  I easily get 1,000 emails for every one call I get at my office.  So, you can see 30-60 minutes is a fair estimation of time I could get back if only I would – well, take my iPhone and make a call.

The biggest problem is work.

Email is so engrained into the daily operations of businesses that you will have a heck of a time weaning others off.

Some ideas to try starting this morning:

• Write one line emails that say “I will call you” or “Call me” and we can discuss.  Emails do not allow us to read the mood, intention, or personality of others whereas in phone calls we can.

• Avoid leaving long phone messages.  That’s bad and time consuming.  Just, “hey, it’s Jerry – need to talk” and phone number.

• Try not to answer certain emails at all if it is really not necessary.

• Be careful of collaborative sites Iike Slack that allow messaging in teams.  This is very often a time waster.  Email multiplied by X times.

• And for family, spouse, kids – make the call even if your teenage daughter isn’t likely to return it (or listen to it).

Changing time wasting behavior starts with whether we’re willing to try.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my advanced permission.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.