Procrastination is a well known phenomenon for most of us, defined as hesitating on doing a task until the last minute. This article will in short offer some ideas that could hopefully help us avoid procrastination, either be in our personal life, student life or as a professional.

1. Clarity and control

Before fire workers start to extinguish a fire in a burning building they first try to collect all the necessary information about the building like stairs, exits etc. That way they will find out how they can deal with the fire in the best possible way. To avoid procrastinating, we need to have full control and clarity of how many tasks we are dealing with at any given moment of our life, its importance and how we can execute them successfully.

2. Procrastinating is easy

Even if we have a detailed list and data of all our duties it’s still fairly easy to avoid doing it. How many times have we thought “we still have two more weeks” to finish the assignment or the work project? How many times have we thought the classical “tomorrow”? For some reasons we tend to think we will have more time next week, next month or in a not too distant time in the future.

3. We are always busy

I know how simple it’s to think next week or month, but the honest fact is – we are always busy. You will also be busy next week and next month. That’s the natural way of life. There is always something that occupies us in some way or other. That’s why it’s essential to integrate our tasks and duties into our day as first as last.

4. Difficult first — easy later

You have surely discovered this– a task is most of the time tough in its initial phase, when you are about to get started, but once you get going and gets through that first phase it suddenly becomes painless and you might even wonder what made you wait so long. The more daunting the task is — the more you feel anxious about it and that often results in a further delay. The best way out is to just start with it and you will get rid of that somewhat hapless feeling.

5. Discipline and time management

A good plan and a good ability to follow the plan is the most lethal weapon to defeat procrastination. Don’t make it complicated, just a simple monthly to-do list. Write down all important task you want to complete, deadlines, amount of time required on each task and etc. Analyze your situation from time to time and evaluate your progress. Make some adjustment to your plan if necessary. If you keep doing this each month, be sure you will be avoiding procrastination.

Think about this; you have a moving object with an unlimited power that can destroy whatever it come across. On the other hand you have another object in a firm position with also an unlimited power that no matter what force you hit with it, it doesn’t move. Now what happens if these two objects meet and collide?

If your head is spinning around now, let me assure you – there is no such a thing as an answer to this, at least a logical one. The scenario above is unimaginable or impossible – or Catch 22.

Catch 22 comes into the picture when you merge two different situations that together become unworkable.

Have you ever been in the situation where you apply for a job without experience? The recruiters tell you that you lack experience and as a result can’t offer you the post. You are asked to obtain experience first.

Without a job you can’t get the experience, and without experience you can’t get the job.
That is indeed a serious problem – or simply, Catch 22.

I have been asked numerous times how to deal with this “Catch 22” dilemma and although I cannot underestimate its complicatedness I’ll try in my next post or so, to explain how we can deal with Catch 22.

In the meantime let’s go back to the first question about the stones — did you believe me when I said impossible scenario or do you actually think it has a viable solution?

This is the forth post of the series “How to choose the right college major”.

I am not sure everyone have had time and energy to go through all of the parts in this topic, so I thought it would be a good thing to write a little summary or some sort of conclusion.

Conclusion

Ask yourself what you really like and enjoy, then select a study related to your interest. There is no big deal if you choose a wrong one; you can always change it after one year or even at the very first semester. I know students that experiment and try different studies before they land on the right one and many have found such experience highly beneficial.

If you have no plan to stay more time than necessary at the college/university then all you need to do is some handy research before you select your choice of study. Use your friends, family, elder students and ask them all sorts of questions. I don’t actually recommend asking high school advisers anything at all, as I am of the opinion of being in doubt of how well they know what is best for you or me. I believe that people that know you would give you the best of advice, not those that are paid to do that.

Something that I have found really helpful is the Internet and discussion boards. Look at different forums for information, which should be very useful and insightful as most study dilemmas have been overly discussed on the net. If not, ask the questions yourself and you will receive some answers rather quickly.

Other possibilities include visiting potential colleges and attend some lectures to see what it feels like.

After gathering as much information as possible you should be able to make an easier decision. In our previous post I mentioned that money should not hold much weight in your decision making. If you choose by the money, you will probably regret it. Money might seem like a tool of motivation at the beginning but as we get older other aspects of life starts to hold greater value.

That was all for this time on this topic fellas, but I hope you will leave a comment or two and tell us what you think! If you have some questions you can send me an E-mail or just leave a comment!

This is the forth post of this series, Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4

This is the third post of the series “How to choose the right college major”.

You can always change

If you have a few different courses that you are unsure about, don’t panic. Just go for one of them and see if you like it. Normally it shouldn’t take long time before you realize you have done a good or a bad choice, probably the first few weeks. If your choice of course is close related to another one that you find likeable, there shouldn’t be a problem to just change to that study immediately. A short example is this: If you start with an engineering study, let’s say mechanical engineering and then finds interest in computer science, all you probably need to do is to ask for a transfer to that course and it should be fine. Just remember that you should do it before the end of the first semester as most engineering courses have more or less the same subjects the first semester.

This way of direct change works best at engineering courses, but you should be able to make a transfer no matter study as long as you do it early in the semester at the same school you’re admitted into. If you even finish the year with an unsatisfying course, you can still change the study while transferring relevant subjects. In many cases you can transfer direct to the second year of another related study as long as you are willing to take required subjects you lack from the first year. A good example could be transferring business and marketing. The possibilities vary from study to study but in most cases there is hope, so don’t admonish yourself if you find your study unfulfillable– just change it.

The money aspect

I hope I do not shock you guys when I say this, but the question of money is highly exaggerated to say the least. In my experience plenty of students base a significant amount of decision making on the dollar sign, choosing where the money is. There are few problems with this approach. First there is a great diversity in money making in almost any field or industry. For example, in the IT– industry you will find both those who make millions and those who earn less than a shopkeeper (nothing wrong with a shopkeeper by the way). You have economists that make very good money, but you also have economist that make nothing more than what is considered an average payment. With such variations in payment it should be clear that few fields guarantee great payments (perhaps except medicine).

When you are choosing a study you should know that you are deciding your future. If you know you will be working for 40+ years, it’s crucial that you work with something that gives you value, something that you care about. It’s a well documented fact that big salaries doesn’t create good workers. However, there is no doubt that interest for a field will make you a better employee. If you have passion, you will be motivated, perform better, enjoy your daily work and have a better career experience overall.

If it happens that you loves your job and the payment is equally big– then great, lucky you! Let the money work for you and not the opposite! Funny enough, in most cases the money come by itself as long as you are happy with your job!

If you really don’t agree with my above statements, there is one thing I want you to do– find some people from different industries and ask what they think (except Hollywood). Anyhow, I would be more than happy to hear your view as I have always enjoyed discussing this matter.

For now, Au Revoir!

This is the sec­ond post of this series, Part 1, part 2, part 3

This is the second post of the series “How to choose the right col­lege major”.

Studies available

What kinds of studies are available at your campus? What about other schools outside your home town? How does this affect your interests?

It’s normal that schools prioritize some fields over others. If you have an interest in history and you know your local college have a well known history department it’s natural you choose it. However, if you know your preferred study is on the other side of the land you will have to consider if you should move.

Research

Examine all the university/colleges degrees in your area and find out if some of them are right for you. You should then research the rest of the colleges in your country (also other countries) and see if it fits you better. Look at college catalogues, college websites and Internet forums. Talk to academic advisers and other students. Familiarize yourself with all the opportunities.

Try especially to get as much information as possible about specific subject. Keep in mind that college websites tend to behave selling in the way they describe their studies. After all, they want to attract as many students as they can. Although we advice that you take advantage of all the resources available we encourage you especially to participate in college related forums and ask question as you will always find someone that are more than willing to offer you good advice and useful tips.

Job opportunities

Many people select study based on job opportunities. This strategy has both its good sides and flaws.

Let’s say there is great need for mathematicians for the foreseeable future in your area and you go on and pick a mathematics major. After you finish you will be guaranteed a job. If you have an interest for math this will only be good for you. However if you actually dislike the subject, then you will end up working 30–40 years with something you hate. It’s wise to consider the job opportunities for a potential degree, but don’t let it be deceive.

It’s also essential to note that job opportunities changes with time. There could be an urgent need for a specific industry in a given time but that could change a few years later. If you decide to study for a field that needs workers in the present moment keep in mind it could all change when you graduate. Although it doesn’t apply to all fields, it’s very common industries go up and down when it comes to job opportunities.

This is the second post of this series, Part 1, part 2

This is the first post of the series “How to choose the right college major”.

In this series we will comprehensively analyse and cover this topic in order to give a better and thorough understanding of how to choose the right college major. There are so many things to consider when choosing a college study that we have decided to divide this series into different articles thus we will hopefully be able to give a more comprehensive understanding of all the different choices, dilemmas and challenges one will encounter in the college-study choosing.

It will be a quite a bit of reading to get through all the articles in this topic, but if you have time and a bit of patience I believe you will find it useful. If you don’t have much of a time you could also download the articles and go through them whenever you find it appropriate.

The complexity of choices

We all know how difficult it could be to choose the right study course. Of course there are some people that know exactly what they will study from almost the day they where born, but the overwhelming majority of students don’t.

Most students have a great deal of diversity and interest, and therefore find many of the college studies interesting. When you have many interests it’s difficult to narrow the choice to a single one. If you open a university course-catalogue you will probably find the majority of the studies quite interesting, but the problem is you can only choose one (in some countries two e.g. USA). Other students have no particular interest and don’t find a field more interesting than another one. Another dilemma is learning what all the college courses are actually all about. It’s quite difficult to know if something is right for you if don’t even know what it is. That’s one of the reasons why many students change their studies several times before they land at one they are comfortable with. We will come back to how you can have a better understanding of the different studies.

Your interests, strengths and talent

Figuring out what you really like is without a doubt the most important factor that should decide your study choice. There are two reasons for this. First it’s always important to study something that you enjoy while you are student. If you find yourself unhappy with your college study you will probably lose motivation, get bad results and could be on the brink of quitting or changing to another study. It’s a well documented fact that good results and happiness with the study goes hand in hand. In other words it’s much easier to graduate with good results when you are motivated and enjoys your choice of major. If you study something that makes you happy you will be more enthusiastic, productive, better socially with co-students, learn faster and have a better experience overall.

Secondly if you even manage to finish an “unhappy” degree, there is still 30–40 years of work ahead of you. If you where unhappy at your study field you will also be unhappy when you start working in that same field.

Ask yourself a few questions. Of all the high school subjects, which ones excited you the most? Was there some particular subject that you really excelled at? Think careful about it and make sure you are clear with yourself what you are passionate about.

Advice from family and friends

It’s very useful to get advice from family, friends and other students (especially graduates). Your family and friends is those that know you best. Ex. your family sits on plenty of experience as they have probably been through the same dilemmas and thus should give you plenty of useful first-hand information on the matter. Information from graduates is also valuable because they have experienced all the up and downs in choosing the right/wrong study. Ask them about how they dealt with it, how they made their choice and what impact it made on their career later on.

This was the first post of this series, Part1

I am glad to announce the new section “Archives” is now available in the menu! In this section you will find all the articles available on this website. You will find them detailed with monthly order. Enjoy It!

Who invented the World Wide Web? It´s certainly not Bill Gates as some people might think. His name is Tim Berners-Lee, an Oxford graduate. On 25 December 1990 this British engineer and scientist implemented a successful communication between Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and a server, and the WWW we today know was born. All of thanks to you Mr. Lee!

If you are wondering what kind of outfit you should wear for an interview, despair not.

Here is Career-Place’s guide on how to dress for a job interview!

When planning for an interview the first thing you should consider is your interview outfit. It might seem a formality, but it really isn’t. If you get it wrong you have failed on the first hurdle.

Like anything else employers take notice of your outfit and they will make assumptions about you based on it. It will signal your personality and what kind of person you are before you have even said a word. Therefore pay close attention to your image and clothing.

There is only one simple rule that decides my clothes of choice, the company employees. Simple as that! I look at what they wear and I wear something equivalent to that. If you look around, most companies and employers have some kind of dress code they follow (not having one is also a dress code). So if you are unsure — wear what they wear!

Service field

Now there is a few places you can’t exactly wear the same as the staff, like the service field. They would normally wear company customized uniform, something that is not an option for you – just yet. In this field I would advice to wear something a little bit above the average casual clothing but nothing too fancy. A jeans and a nice shirt will always be a good choice.

Corporate Interview

If you’re heading towards an 80 store building with an interview at the 64^th floor there is only one solution for you. Go to the nearest tailor shop and get the finest Italian tailor made suit you can find because there is no way you’re going to attend a finance/lawyer interview with nothing less than that. A job in these environments is all about who wears the finest tie if you where ever in doubt about it.

School job

If you are preparing for a teacher interview you should wear a blazer-jacket, with a nice shirt and pants. Also keep them in different colors.

Customer service

Customer service is a service related field that usually doesn’t use uniforms. Because of the possible customer contact, this field is associated with nice and sharp look. We are not talking about suits but you should find a fine shirt and pants for the interview.

Industry

Industry/technicality/building workers etc. are arguably the fields with the least expectations when it comes to the outfit. These guys are used to little bit of dust in their hands, so anything too fancy here and you will be swiftly shown the exit door. However you are far from free to choose whatever you like to wear. Keyword here is safe and plain. Nothing suspicious, like a jeans and a nice sweater.

Your hair

Your hair is an essential part of your image. Fortunately it’s something we tend to let it look good on a regular basis and we don’t want to screw it up on the interview day, do we?

The shoes

The shoes are another highly essential ingredient of your image that you can’t afford to get it wrong. Your choice of footwear is basically decided by your other outfit. It should suit what you are already wearing. And also remember one more thing irrespectively of shoe choice; make sure the shoes are always clean.

Are we missing something here? Share your opinions