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Changing careers? Reflect on your values!

In my role I provide careers counselling on an almost daily basis. A question many people ask is “what do I want to do with my life?” To help answer this question, many people wish to learn more about their skills and strengths to help find out which jobs are the best “fit” for them.

I like to take a step back before I take a skills approach to look at possible job options, and start by thinking about what matters to the person – in other words, what do you value? What matters to you in the grand scheme of things?

I often find that our skills help us to get a job, but it’s our values that will often determine if we stay in that job long term. In order to stay in a job, our values need to be the right match to that job, otherwise we often lose motivation.

So what are your work values!? Have you asked yourself this question before?

Some examples of common work values include things like the following:

I value opportunities to develop or progress in my career
I value work where I can be creative
I value work that allows me to maintain work/life balance, and won’t impact on my personal time
I value work that pays well
I value job security
I value helping others
I value the challenge of making a sale
I value working autonomously
I value working in a team

Have a think about your values, and how they fit in with your current or previous roles. If you value job security, but work in a target based role, you may find yourself feeling stressed on a day to day basis!! If you value creativity, but work in a heavily bureaucratic role, you may feel a lack of motivation. If you place value on working autonomously, but are in a heavily micromanaged position, you may be unhappy.

In job interviews today, it’s common for employers to ask questions such as “how do your values fit in with the values of the company?” With this in mind, it’s important to know what your values are!!

So ask yourself, what do you ultimately value in your work? Is it money? Career progression? Freedom to live your life on the weekend? Such questions will help you to narrow down your list of possible careers and employers.

Boost your psychological capital

What is psychological capital? Psychological capital is made up of four unique characteristics – hope, optimism, resilience and self efficacy. Studies should that people who score high in measures of Psychological Capital have better psychological wellbeing, as well as increased on the job performance (Avery, Reichard, Luthans and Mhatre, 2011).

So how can you increase your psychological capital to capitalise (excuse the pun!) your wellbeing?

Here are a few strategies you can try:

Set yourself small and challenging goals to increase your sense of self efficacy. Try breaking down tasks into smaller components to make them less daunting.
Master a task!! Task mastery increases self efficacy. How can you do this? Try observing someone such as a mentor or colleague and modelling the task based on their example. Online tutorials such as You-Tube clips can be a great way to master a new skill if you don’t have a real life example.
Reflect on times you’ve overcome setbacks in the past to increase your resilience! How did you do it?
Ask others to discuss how they might overcome a setback if they were in a similar position to increase your repertoire of strategies.
Think about how you can view a current challenging or difficult situation through a different perspective. Are you working long hours at the moment? What are some benefits of the situation? Are you taking on more of a leadership role and expanding your skills?

Would you put any of these strategies to the test?

References

Avey, J.B., Reichard, R.J., Luthans, F. & Mhatre, K.H. (2011). Meta-analysis

of the impact of positive psychological capital on employee attitudes, behaviors, and performance, Human Resource Development Quarterly, 22(2), 127-152

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How to…make almond milk!!

Is anyone else on the almond milk bandwagon!? I’ve been drinking almond milk for two months now, because I’m following a dairy and soy free elimination diet.

I’ve found out which local cafes do almond milk coffees, and have really become used to the taste!! I’ve been buying almond milk for home, but sometimes even the unsweetened stuff still tastes sugary. (Just an aside – my pick of the best almond milk coffee in the inner west is a tie between the Marrick on Marrickville Rd, or Wolf and Stone in Dulwich Hill!!)

Sadly, you do pay big $$ for almond milk coffee!! $4.20 for a small coffee seems to be the going rate, arg!!! So I decided to give it a whirl and make my own!!

Step 1 – I needed to buy….a nut bag!!! Yes, a nut bag – it’s a thing – as I typed “buy a nut bag” into google with trepidation, I was relieved to see that you can buy these things (it’s basically a muslin cloth bag for draining the milk) for a few dollars. If you can’t be bothered buying a nutbag, some muslin cotton or even a stocking can be used.

So once I had my nutbag, I was all ready to prepare a delicious batch of almond milk!!!

Beaker - Freedom

This is how you do it…

Activate those almonds!! Pete Evans Style!! (For the lay person, this means soak some almonds in water, and BOOM, they activate into a superfood!!!) So for one cup of almonds, soak them in 3-4 cups of water depending on how creamy you would like the consistency. Soak them for at least 8 hours, or even longer!!!
Put the almonds and water, along with a generous pinch of salt into a high powered blender (I used my trusty Magic Bullet!!) and blitz the hell out of them under the water looks milky and frothy and the almonds have broken down to pulp.
Place your trusty nut bag over a glass jug or container and pour the milk through the bag to strain. Slowly raise the bag, and squeeze to strain the remaining milk from the bag.
If you want some extra flavour you can add a dash of vanilla, some cinnamon or whatever you would like. I added the tiniest bit of cinnamon to mine!!

Voila, delicious almond milk for all!!!

Broaden and build with positive emotions

Positive emotions do more than make us feel good – they in fact help to increase our intellectual, social and physical resources!

The Broaden and Build Theory (Fredrikson, 2001) states that positive emotions such as joy, interest, contentment, pride and love increase our repertoire of thoughts and behaviours. For example, the emotion of interest increases the urge to explore and take in new information, and the emotion of joy increases our urge to play and be creative. The emotion of love increases our urge to savour and share experiences with our loved ones.

Negative emotions on the other hand, narrow our range of potential strategies for action – for example, the negative emotion of fear may lead us to simply flee or escape danger, which serves for the purpose of survival. However, when imminent danger is not present, negative emotions may narrow our range of cognitive resources when we need them the most. For example, you’re about to give an important presentation at work and are feeling terrified – the emotion of fear may lead us to focus narrowly on the task at hand, where are positive emotions may in fact help us to deliver a potentially more creative or socially inclusive presentation.

What are the implications of the Broaden and Build Theory for you? By experiencing more positive emotions, you may find that you perform better at tasks, think more creatively and flexibly and build stronger social connections!! Can you think of some ways you can increase your experience of positive emotions? What makes you happy/excited/interested? How can you harness these experiences to help you excel?

References

Fredrickson, B. (2001). The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218-226

Dairy Free Lemon Friands

So I’m still on a dairy free elimination diet and have been looking for something lemon flavoured to bake (my love of delicious lemons is well documented here and here!!). Friands are a tasteful looking cake to serve for afternoon tea and were surprisingly easy to make.

I made two batches – one plain lemon, and one lemon and blueberry!! I actually think the plain lemon ones were my favourite, but the berries add an extra flavour if you like them.

I also made a lemon glaze to pour over for an extra lemon kick!!

Recipe

Ingredients

6 egg whites
1 ¼ cups icing sugar
1 cup almond meal
½ cup plain flour
100 ml coconut oil
1tsp vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries (if desired)
zest of 1 lemon
juice of half a lemon and 50grams caster sugar to make optional lemon syrup glaze

Instructions

Heat the oven to 180C/350F
Grease a friend or muffin tin with a little oil
Whisk the egg whites and vanilla extract until frothy
Sift over the icing sugar, almond meal and flour.
Add the oil and lemon zest and berries
Mix gently to combine
Divide the mixture among the friand holes
Bake for 25 minutes
Stand in the pan for 3-4 minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack.
To make lemon glaze, simmer lemon juice and caster sugar on low heat until thick and syrupy – drizzle over friands whilst still warm
Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Garden Makeover

When we moved into our new home in a slightly more suburban neighbourhood, we were delighted to finally have a courtyard….however, in the typical style of the neighbourhood, the courtyard was bare cement!! Not too baby friendly and no fun for entertaining.

We decided on an easy solution….astroturf!!! With our new low maintanance synthetic lawn and the addition of a herb garden and some impatiens, the courtyard is now a great place to relax with a glass of wine on a summer night.

Even better? Little Dash loves hanging out in the garden!!

So far we’ve planted strawberries, mint (hello mojitos), rosemary, chives, parsley, basil and chillies.

Can you tell I haven’t been sun baking??

Hat - Ace of Something - Cookies and Cream

Top - Country Road (similar here)

Shorts - One teaspoon - Brando Bandits

Yellow Chair - Ikea

Flamingos - Holy Kitsch

The Psychological Benefits of Playing Music

Many studies show that listening to music can enhance performance on cognitive tasks for a short period. This may be due to effect of music on mood and arousal….but what about playing music!? Does this have more long term effects on intellectual ability?

A study by Schellenberg (2005) showed that music lessons in childhood provide “small and general but long lasting intellectual benefits” and that these benefits could not be attributed to other factors like family income and the education level of parents.

With Shellenberg’s study in mind – playing a musical instrument may make it easier to perform well at other non-music related intellectual tasks.Thinking of taking up music lessons!? It’s never too late!!!After playing the guitar since the age of eight, there is no gift I am more grateful for having!! It’s fun, relaxing, and there is always something new to learn!!

Top – Country Road

Cushions – Country Road Home

Lipstick – Lancome Rouge 132

Guitar – Fender Telecaster, 1979 thinline

Photos by Lachy Doley

How to…increase your happiness!

The quest for happiness can be a lifelong journey for all of us. There are so many self help books out there telling us how to be happier (for only $39.99!) but do they really work?

I found a simple model of happiness, by Sheldon, Lyubomirsky & Schkade (2005), who argue that our happiness is related to three factors:

1) Our genes – our natural tendency to display positive emotions based on our personality and temperament accounts for a whopping 50% of our happiness.

2) Our circumstances, such as where we live, our age, gender, health, previous exposure to trauma, economic and social status etc. Surprisingly, circumstances account for only 10% of our happiness. Whilst we might assume being wealthy may increase our happiness, it may only do so to a certain level, then our happiness levels plateau!!

3) Our intentional actions – the activities we choose to do and maintain, which accounts for 40% of our happiness.

So we can’t change our genetics, and changing our current circumstance may not always be achievable short term (i.e, moving to Hawaii for a relaxing lifestyle!!), so what can we do to boost our happiness?

Seek out valued activities to become engaged in! It’s important to remember that the activities we choose must be the right fit for us. In order for activities and goals to increase our well-being, they have to be meaningful to us!! Do you value learning? Then starting a course may bring you increased happiness.
Make a habit of your new activity…..but shake it up!!! We get used to routine, and therefore don’t experience the same happiness from activities we do every day, as we do from new activities….have you taken up running? Instead of the treadmill, try running on the beach tomorrow, or in the park on Sunday.
Do a mental shake up of your current activities. Take time to reflect on the positives, and what you are grateful for – thinking about the positive in your current day to day routine can help you to reignite feelings of happiness in your existing routine! Work may be monotonous, but what are you learning or gaining from it at the present time?

References

Lyubomirsky , S., Sheldon, K.M. & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change,Review of General Psychology, 9(2), 111-131.

Dairy Free Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti

Recently I’ve gone on a dairy and soy elimination diet – never did I realise it would be so hard!! Diary and soy are in practically everything, even bread!! I’ve been on the hunt for some diary and soy free recipes to satisfy my chocolate cravings – these Hazelnut Chocolate Biscotti sure are a winner!!

They’re the perfect treat to have with a morning coffee and were fairly easy to make too. I think these will become part of my regular baking rotation!!

Because these babies are double baked, they can be stored in an airtight container for up to two weeks, and make a great gift. They’ll also be great to have on hand for when friends pop by for coffee!!

I modified the recipe based on this one , from taste.com. Based on the original recipe, I also added in some coffee (because everything is better with coffee!) and doubled the original amount of cocoa to make them extra chocolatey!!

Ingredients

1 cup raw hazelnuts
1 and 2/3 cup plain flower
4 tablespoons dutch cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 eggs, lightly beaten
Finely grated rind of 1 orange
1 tablespoon espresso coffee disolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water

Method

Preheat oven to 200C. Roast nuts on an oven tray for 10 minutes or until golden and skins are flaking. Rub well in a clean tea towel to remove skins. Chop coarsely.

Sift flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl. Combine eggs, orange rind, coffee and nuts in a separate bowl. Gradually add egg mixture to dry ingredients, stirring to form a dough. Turn out on to a lightly floured surface. Knead briefly then halve. Shape into two 25cm-long logs. Place logs on a baking paper-lined oven tray. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Stand for 5 minutes.

Slice logs diagonally into 5mm-thick slices. Place slices on oven trays and return to oven for 10 minutes or until dry. Cool on a wire rack.

I modified the recipe based on this one, from taste.com. Based on the original recipe, I also added in some coffee (because everything is better with coffee!) and doubled the original amount of cocoa to make them extra chocolatey!!

Ingredients

1 cup raw hazelnuts
1 and 2/3 cup plain flower
4 tablespoons dutch cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 eggs, lightly beaten
Finely grated rind of 1 orange
1 tablespoon espresso coffee disolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water

Method

Preheat oven to 200C. Roast nuts on an oven tray for 10 minutes or until golden and skins are flaking. Rub well in a clean tea towel to remove skins. Chop coarsely.

Slice logs diagonally into 5mm-thick slices. Place slices on oven trays and return to oven for 10 minutes or until dry. Cool on a wire rack.

Dairy Free Banana Bread

With my recent switch to diary and soy free, I’m struggling to find things I can eat that taste good!! With chocolate, cakes and pastries of the menu, I’ve now started making my own with a diary/soy free twist.

This banana bread recipe is a winner!! It’s so easy to make, I can have one ready to go in the oven in about 10 minutes. It’s a new favourite for me!!