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Assertiveness can sometimes be misconstrued or at least thats what I think.  I maninly come from a customer service background and have always been brought up with the age old ‘customer is always right’ motto.

So having recently moved to a slightly different role where it is more about explaining rationale to a client or debating and resolving issues with them, there is a definite need for beeing more assertive in the approach to the ‘customer’.

I suppose in some ways I have found this very strange, as there are times when i listen to colleagues almost arguing with clients as they attempt to get their point across.

It leads me to ask the question; when does assertiveness become arrogance ??

What would you say is more important or do they both a have a significant role to play in the world of self improvement ?

Short term goals can be very much about attempting to achieve a task, gain new business or simply pass a probationary period.  These will all be crucial and when you sit back and look at them, what you will probably find is that short term goals actually contribute to long term goals.

It may be that your long term goal is to gain a promotion, or enough experience that will allow you to succeed in applying for what you see as a better job.

I would say what is really important about goal setting though is that you are realistic with the, whilst still challenging, as there is no point in setting goals that you will constantly fail at.

Jut have a good think next time you sit down and assess yourself, think about what you are actually planning for !!

How many times have you gone to work and started working through the daily churn of things to do and got to end of teh day and felt you hadn’t achieved anything ?

If you spend a little time each day, planning the day out, be it in the form of jobs lists or use of a diary on Outlook, then you should find your day get easier.

By breaking the day up into sectors and knowing what you have to get done, then you will find that getting tasks complete is achievable and you will function better either individually or as part of a team.

I think one of the biggest things when looking at yourself is knowing your strengths and weaknesses.  Many a business/marketing plan will involve what is known as a SWOT analysis which helps form the structure of the whole plan.  SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

But have you ever considered doing a SWOT analysis on yourself as a self improvement tool ?

By doing this it can allow you to identify what you are good at, but also areas that you need to improve on or may need extra guidance within the workplace.

I think its quite important that should feel confident to go and ask for help, should you ever feel you are in a position where you aren’t able to fulfill what is required of you at work.  It is better to aks for assistance than to end up in a situation that is worse.

OK, so its a new year and all that.  You have sat down and set yourself various goals, that deep down you know you would like to achieve but probably won’t.  Well maybe it’s worth thinking a little differently or ‘outside the box’, so to say.

We all have plans to improve aspects of our lives, be it weight loss, career, personal finance or relationships to name a few.  But how many times do you look back and see the same pattern of failure occurring ?

I have been reading various ‘management’ books that give different techniques that can be applied to both work and personal life.  The biggest one I have managed to use has been to change the way I think about things.  Too often we will approach different sorts of tasks with the same attitude and then wonder why we don’t achieve.  By assessing each task and employing a different method, then potentially we will lead ourselves to success.

Think about it next time you start something new !!