"Respect Your Elders" - What Does That Mean?

What should be the most relaxing part of my day, actually turns out to be the most stressful - the bus ride to and from work!

Sometimes I'm lucky enough to get a window seat, in which case the rest of the journey is spent in idle bliss with my ipod on as I watch the world go by. If however the bus is already filling up and I have to get an aisle seat, well its an hour of stress!

You'd think I'd be grateful that I don't have to stand for the whole journey but oh no ... the intricacies of social etiquette sends my head into a spin.

You see, I've been brought up to Respect My Elders and when I see no one giving up their seats for the older passengers I start to get a little on edge. There are the dedicated seats for elderly or immobile people, yet no one moves or even offers a token gesture to move.

So who should move? Well firstly, those in the marked seats should - without a doubt! The quandary comes with who should move next - should the young people, or the older men? Both will argue they're paying the same fare. Should the men be chivalrous (well I think those days are gone) or should the young people respect their elders (I think those days may be gone too)!

The other day in my non-marked-special seat I offered an older lady my seat - and she politely declined, opting instead to stand for the next 40mins!?! Was she too surprised that someone would offer their seat, or did she really not want it? Maybe its insulting to offer your seat because it simply reminds people that they are getting older.

The end result - you can't win. I now wait for the emptier bus to make sure I get a window seat!

Gen Y - Are They Living In This World?

I never thought the day would come when I would say “where are the good old days of emails?” To yearn for a letter, well that’s just outdated … but an email???

Understandably as technology improves, the ways in which we communicate are constantly changing. First there was MySpace, then YouTube. The latest craze to hit our virtual world is Facebook, another social network. To the untrained eye (that is, me) it seems much like MySpace (though probably has better viral marketing).

So, as is the case with these fads, I joined – begrudgingly. Now I realise I’m at the more “mature” end of Gen Y and that this comment makes me feel old (as though already I’m not able to keep up with change) but I’m totally overloaded. Between a website, blogs, online newsletters, regular emails (all of which require immediate attention of course), I feel like I’m constantly glued to a computer.

My relationships with my friends and family are all screened and observed by my little black laptop!

So my way of dealing with all of this – total boycott for a whole week! (Well except for emails, living 17000kms away from home means you still crave some cyber love!)

So is this the right answer, probably not. Not only do you have an enormous amount of work to do when you come back online, but it also means you’ve missed out on important moments in your friends lives.

Nothing beats a good catch up over a coffee (or a hot chocolate if you’ve never been able to embrace caffeine like myself), but I’m afraid that unless you take it in your stride, you may miss out on your friends’ lives altogether…

Gen Y - In The Workplace

A recruiter told me the other day about a young girl (degree qualified) who had been at her job for three weeks, was asked to make tea for the boss, got the cranks and quit!

Sounds ridiculous, and just a little extreme, but would this occur in your workplace? If the answer is yes, then pay attention:

Gen Y in the workplace can be just a little cocky, impatient and often have short attention spans. Yet at the same time they can be very passionate about your cause, adapt easily to change and embrace new technologies.

So what do you do to make the most of your talent?

Encourage participation in decision making, coach (rather than dictate) in your management style, motivate with flexible conditions,and reward with recognition. However, most importantly, you still need to set specific boundaries and be clear in your expectations of them, you're still the boss after all.

Focus On Your Strengths

We've all heard many times before that we need to concentrate on our weaknesses in order to become successful. But how has that worked for you so far? If you've read my last blog you'll probably agree that its really hard to work on these weaknesses because you most likely don't enjoy them at all!

So how about reversing that theory - and focus on your strengths instead! You'll love doing what you're good at and the more you get to do it the better you'll become (think 'expert' status!).

And so what of those weaknesses - well get someone else to do them ...On one condition though - make sure that that someone considers your weakness their strength!