By Kevin Kennemer, SPHR

When B.B. King, the King of the Blues, wrote these lyrics, “When my heart starts beating like a hammer, and my eyes get full of tears,”  he wasn’t writing about his job but many hard working Americans feel this way on Sunday evening each week.  According to research, getting ready for Monday can be a real bummer.

Have you ever had that feeling of dread come over you on Sunday evening as your mind begins to prepare for the work week ahead? Does your heart start beating like a hammer? Do your eyes fill with tears? Is the thought of Monday – the start of a new work week – so daunting that you begin worrying about work on Sunday?

This type of worry and dread cuts into your weekend.  It feels like Monday starts on Sunday. This phenomenon has been termed the “Sunday Evening Blues.”

It is a real phenomenon. For some people there is much to worry about. In fact, more heart attacks occur on Monday mornings in the workplace than any other day of the week.  When the sun rises on Monday mornings so does the blood pressure of many hard working Americans.  What is the cause of the Sunday Evening Blues?  The cause could be related to your morning commute, sleep deprivation from the weekend, abuse of alcohol, poor family relationships, or the act of returning to a toxic work environment.

When surveying employees regarding their satisfaction with work, I think it is a good idea to ask this question: “Do you experience the Sunday Evening Blues when thinking about returning to work on Monday?”  The results will be a good indicator of the health of your workplace.

As business leaders we should do what we can to make the workplace a welcoming and inviting place.  The environment should help employees perform at their highest levels.  Below are a few ideas on how to create a warm and inviting workplace and beat down the Sunday Evening Blues:

• Drive Out Fear in the Workplace – Fear stifles creativity, productivity and quality. Fear seizes up the organization’s ability to freely produce results because employees are afraid of being reprimanded.  Drive out fear by ridding your organization of supervisors who are overbearing, micromanaging, nitpicking, fire-breathing Neanderthals.
• Model Servant Leadership – The most productive teams are motivated by servant leaders. When leaders realize their job is to help others succeed, work/life begins to make more sense.  When everything and everyone has to accommodate the leader, he/she is not a servant leader but a dictator.
• Throw Out Rigidity and Embrace Flexibility – Our personal and professional lives have never been more complicated.  Many times the competing demands of our family and work intersect and create enormous pressure.  When the company forces employees to choose between work and family, the company will always lose in the end. Even if the employee chooses company over family, the company will eventually lose when the employee’s family falls apart.  It is best to work things out through flexible leadership.  In other words, focus on results not face time.
• Provide Lessons on Etiquette and Civility – Our country severely lacks some basic lessons on etiquette and civility. If a driver does not speed off at a green light within one second, hoards of cars will start honking their horns, shouting obscenities and shoving crude finger gestures at you.  These ruthless, impatient, vulgar people are driving to work too and you likely work with many of them.  It is a good idea to provide mandatory etiquette and civility training to help smooth out the major and minor irritants that cause friction in the workplace. If there is friction in the workplace it is manifesting itself at the customer level as well.
• Leaders Should Be Nice - It is amazing what will happen in an organization if the top leader and his/her executive team are simply nice people.  You do not have to be mean and nasty to get work done. That is myth not reality.  Leaders who are nice, cordial, pleasant, focused, determined, objective and fair will lead their company to greatness.  When nice starts at the top it will cascade down the organization.

Display beautiful images is a potent element in web and graphic design, where there is less concern for readability and more potential for using images in an artistic manner. Photoshop is useful for both creating and editing images to be used in print or online. Not too easy to use, but full of high-quality features, Photoshop is the best choice for any image manipulation job.

This article showcases the Most beautiful and ready to use free Photoshop PSD files and resources which helps you to enhance your design work and features.

For those, who don’t know what is Photoshop? and what it can do? Then please follow the link below for detail introduction.

• About Photoshop | adobe.com
• Adobe Photoshop | From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The next generation, representing two decades of excellence. This application contains everything you need to create high-end images and graphics. For those artists whose work demands more than the basic application, There is a Photoshop to satisfy their every needs that utilizes photo manipulation.

You may be interested in the following related articles as well.

• 40+ Sources To Download High-Quality Royalty Free Stock Images
• 50+ Sources To Download High-Quality Free Vector Stuff
• The Ultimate List of Sources for Free Background Patterns
• 120 Best Free Blogger Templates Around
• 140+ Brilliant Free Wordpress Themes Around

Please feel free to join us and you are always welcome to share your thoughts even if you have more reference links related to more PSD files that our readers may like.

Finish checking out Free Photoshop PSD Files and Resources!  There’s a lot more!!

Articles

Here are some articles that can help WAHM get some ideas on how to manage their time and build their businesses.

1. Job Opening? Work-at-Home Moms Fill Bill: This article from USA today will help give you some background as to why working while staying at home with the kids has become such a popular option for moms.
2. Tips for Dealing with an Unsupportive Spouse: Starting your own business from home isn’t always the easiest thing, and can often be met with opposition from those closest to you for a variety of reasons. This article discusses how you can deal with a spouse that doesn’t share your enthusiasm about your home business.
3. Childproof Your Home Office: To avoid messy spills or dangerous situations with your children in your workspace, check out this article which gives working moms ideas on how to keep their home offices safe and functional.
4. Keeping Your Kids Busy While You Work at Home: It can be hard enough to concentrate on work in an office, but throwing a couple of attention seeking kids into the mix can make it near impossible. Here you’ll find advice on how to make time for work while keeping your kids happy and entertained.
5. WAHM and Loving It: Tips for the Work-at-Home Mom: This article from Parenthood.com gives WAHMs some tips on how to make their business integrate smoothly into their day-to-day lives.
6. Balancing Home and Work: The Challenge of the Home-Based Business: Keeping up with the demands of housework and children while tending to a business isn’t an easy task. This article discusses the battle between the two and how you can achieve a sense of balance in your home.
7. Brainstorming a Business Idea: Want to start a home based business but can’t think of an idea to get off the ground? This article will give you some pointers on how to come up with an idea that’s practical and profitable.
8. Remember to Take Care of Yourself: You can’t care for a family or a business if you become so run down that you get sick. This article discusses the importance of taking time to make sure you’re healthy.
9. Mom-preneurs: Moms Create Work Options that Work: If you’re a mom working at home and caring for a family you’re not alone. Here you can read about other moms who’ve built successful businesses without sacrificing their dedication to their families.
10. How Much Do You Need to Make as a WAHM?: This article discusses the financial realities of choosing to leave the workplace and opt for a home based job instead. It will help you factor in many costs associated with childcare and family needs to make sure you’ll be able to stay on your feet while staying at home.
11. Tax and Accounting Solutions for WAHMs: Managing your personal finances is complicated but can be made more so with the addition of a home based business. This article gives links to loads of resources women working from home can check out to help them get their finances under control.
12. Combating Work at Home Loneliness: When your kids are off at school, working at home can be a lonely experience. This article discusses how moms working from home can avoid feeling isolated by getting involved.
13. Avoiding the Work-at-Home Weight Gain: Easy access to your kitchen may cause you to put on a few pounds when you start working at home. This article gives times on how to combat the weight gain and keep you healthy while you stay at home. (Finish reading).

I recently attended a conference where Guy Kawasaki challenged the audience to create meaningful “Mantras” for their companies.

He explained how the standard corporate “Mission Statement” really wasn’t cutting it anymore. In describing the process of conducting a two-day offsite meeting with a highly paid consultant to facilitate the flip-chart discussion, he revealed that the Mission Statement Generator on the Dilbert web site actually comes up with some pretty good ones. So good in fact, that a global accounting firm nearly adopted one created on the Dilbert site which was submitted to the company’s internal contest — it won second place. So I tried it for myself and found it works for just about any industry.

For an alternative energy company:

“The customer can count on us to continually engineer world-class services such that we may continue to synergistically network ethical resources while maintaining the highest standards”

For a business services media company:

“It’s our mission to interactively supply scalable resources so that we may endeavor to competently disseminate business materials while maintaining the highest standards.”

How about for a consulting firm:

“We efficiently simplify low-risk high-yield paradigms to allow us to enthusiastically fashion market-driven deliverables to stay competitive in tomorrow’s world”

OK, these are silly and no one in their right mind would ever put out this kind of drivel, right?

Wrong.

Read this ACTUAL mission statement – you will be surprised where it comes from:

“The following six guiding principles will help us measure the appropriateness of our decisions:

Provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity.

Embrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business.

Apply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting and fresh delivery of our coffee.

Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time.

Contribute positively to our communities and our environment.

Recognize that profitability is essential to our future success.”

This is from Starbucks. Shouldn’t their mission statement be more like “We brew delicious coffee and build friendships”?

Bayer’s mission statement requires a 9-page PDF. I thought they were supposed to get rid of headaches, not give them!

If you want to create a mission statement that actually means something – think about what your company actually provides to the consumer and go from there. You really don’t need to write a manifesto or a behavioral guideline for employees. Just say what you do.

If you want to have some fun, try the Dilbert Mission Statement generator, or the B.S. generator which is really good for generating PowerPoint buzzwords.

In this economic climate, it’s easy to feel out of control. Profits are down, clients are disappearing, and right when you need the most help, your budget is cut. But instead of throwing your hands up and blaming the state of the nation, take responsibility for your future. Ignore the bad news and take action now to make the most of your business.

Yes, profits may be down. But do you know why? Does your product or service really meet your clients’ needs? Paul Zane Pilzer says too many business owners get set in a pattern and forget to adapt to changing markets or demographics. Other business owners are simply running the business that’s convenient or economical, without ever determining if it’s the right fit for their skill set and talents.

If you’re like most business leaders, you are inundated with e-mail, phone calls and scheduled meetings that usurp your valuable time. You have a tough time keeping your head above water, much less innovating to stay ahead of the competition. Before you get flooded by the details, Stephen R. Covey helps you take a look at what’s really important to you and your business.  (Finish reading here).

Self branding is becoming a relevant way to market yourself, “you” not just your company as we begin to emerge out of this recession. Recently I read an article that has changed the way that I conduct business. It is a full time job branding “you” but the rewards are endless. Clients will pay a little bit extra if they like “you” and will go the extra mile to convince their boss to purchase whatever it is “you” are selling. It is the year of change with all of the free Social Media outlets it is time for you to build your own brand. Our marketing efforts will have to change into 2010 to develop great relationships and keep our clients buying from us the professional, not just the company you work for.

How do I start?

The best way to start is with one of the larger Social Media networks. Such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Myspace. You may ask how do I decide which one to start with? My suggestion would be to search for your clients by employee or company name through each site and go with the medium that generated the largest return. Once you have decided on a specific network you will have to create a user name and password all very simple if you can do your banking online it is easier. Then start to populate your network start with your email contacts or searching that specific site for other clients and ask them to join your network. It is very important if you do not have a client base yet and you are just starting out connect with your colleagues and classmates first. No potential client will appreciate a random person asking to connect with them. (Finish reading)

Although it has been tough for most companies in this economic recession, a new study reports Great Workplaces have performed better, with revenue and stock prices to the avoidance of the dreaded layoff and its terrible consequences. Our good friend Asher Adelman, Founder of GreatPlaceJobs.com, said their recent study “shows that even though top-ranked employers have suffered through the current recession, their revenue levels and stock prices are still in better shape than their competitors.” He also stated “the general sample of companies laid off employees almost twice as often as the excellent employers.  A shocking 86% of the Fortune 100 largest companies have laid off workers since the recession started in early 2008,” stated Adelman.

Let’s revisit the proven reasons Great Workplaces survive in a rough economy, which I shared with you last September.

The people inside Great Workplaces make the difference because their company truly cares for them by creating a sustainable, flourishing culture.  As a result, a majority of their energized employees are engaged and running on all cylinders. The benefits of creating a Great Workplace are numerous.  As chairman of the board, CEO, business owner or start-up entrepreneur, the proven benefits of building a Great Workplace will likely make your company a powerful force even in the most difficult of times.  Why? The benefits of creating a Great Workplace have been researched and proven by the Great Place to Work Institute:

• Higher productivity
• Higher profitability
• Better customer satisfaction
• Lower staff turnover rates
• Greater number of applicants for open positions
• Attraction of the best and brightest talent
• Less resistance to change
• Lower health care costs
• Lower workers’ compensation costs
• Lower absenteeism rates
• Lower presenteeism rates
• Higher levels of cooperation
• Higher quality products and services
• Increased innovation and risk taking
• Higher returns to stockholders

When you build a winning team with a great work environment, employees will take care of business during both good and bad times. It is a winning formula for building a long-term, growing and profitable organization. Finish reading here:

Have you ever missed someone’s birthday? Lost the location of a cool website you found? Maybe you were driving, had an idea, didn’t stop to write it down, and now it’s gone?

Today, that all ends!

If you leverage my 3 online reminder services below, you will remember more than you do today.

1. Never forget another birthday (or other event) using Backpack Reminders. Did you know Backpack is also an online reminder service that will help you remember dates?

Here’s how you do it:

• Simply enter what you want to remember into Backpack
• Associate a date/time with it
• Tell Backpack to email you or send a txt message to your cellphone.

That’s it! Imagine this: the morning of your friend Ben’s birthday, you get a txt message on your cellphone that says “Ben’s Birthday is Today” so you can give him a call. Pretty cool, huh?

2. Never forget another idea and boost your memory using Jott

Jott is a fantastic, free tool that seriously enhances what you can remember and accomplish. Here’s how Jott works:

• You use your cell phone to call Jott, and the service asks you “Who you want to Jott?”
• 98% of the time, I say “myself”
• Then, I simply leave myself a Jott.

What the heck is a Jott? Well, it’s a voicemail that gets translated (via the Jott system) into an email and sent to me.

So, when I’m driving in the car, walking the dog, etc. and have a great idea, I just Jott myself. Bam! Idea is “saved” in my email, and I don’t have to think about it anymore. Later, when I check my email, I will see my voicemail as email text and I can act on it then.

Jott is also useful for sending an email to a person, or group of people by simply leaving a voice mail using your cell phone. Check out the Jott website for more examples on how to use their service.

3. Never forget another website using del.icio.us

Del.icio.us is a “social bookmarking website,” which is fancy tech-speak for: it remembers websites for you, and you can let other people see what you save in it. Del.icio.us is especially helpful because:

• It’s web-based, so as long as you have a web browser, you can save bookmarks to it
• It has an “Add-on” for the web browser Mozilla Firefox, so you can create and classify your bookmarks from within Firefox.
• It uses “tags” (labels you create) to classify your bookmarks so you can easily find them later

Give del.icio.us a try. Once you have your bookmarks centralized there, you’ll easily be able to find websites whenever, and wherever, you need them!

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to the RSS feed.

Regis has written many excellent articles on productivity.  See the following on his Blog.

5 Useful Blackberry Tips and Tricks to Boost Your Productivity

5 Ways to Recession Proof Your Small Business

13 Ways to Achieve Exceptional Client Service This Week

Creativity: 3 Ways to Seize the Opportunity to be Creative!

Top 12 Firefox Addons to Install Today

**Regis Hadiaris is an award-winning Internet marketer and experienced leader known for unconventional ideas and impressive results. He is the “Leader of Leaders and Pursuer of WOW!” at Quicken Loans, the nation’s largest online mortgage lender. His blog, Dot Connector, is a popular destination for personal development and leadership. If you enjoyed this post, you should subscribe to Dot Connector!

If you are like me—someone not so great in math—you became a little nervous at thinking this was going to be a math thing.  You can calm down.  I am not going there.  Instead, this little play on math formulas is an easy way to remember two common words that are incredibly useful for dissipating business place conflict.

How often does this happen to you?  Someone sends you an email or says something to you that seems offensive, rude, mis-placed, unfounded or simply just wrong in your opinion?  Once a week, once a month, once a year?  Whatever the frequency, you probably agree it makes you angry.

In fact, you’d probably like to respond by saying something in return like, ‘take a hike’, or, ‘kiss my grits’, or, ‘are you out of your mind?’ to the person coming at you.  You may also already know what most often happens if you do that….an explosion.  And in truth, not much survives an explosion.

So here’s another option for you.  Use the ‘C’ words.  Curious, Confused and Concerned.  They are neither offensive nor defensive.  You will not feel like you are retreating.  The  person you are speaking to will not feel like you are attacking them.  Perfect.  Why is this the case?  Because as I am going to show you in a moment, these are words of inquiry and curiosity and not accusation.  They suggest you are genuinely interested in learning more versus bashing.  Here are a couple of examples:

‘(name), I got your (message, email, text, whatever)  You said some things that confused me.  Could you say a little bit more about what you meant?’.

Or

‘(name), you know, I was curious about your comments you (said or sent in an email, blog, text, etc.).  Could you say a bit more about what you intended?

Or

‘(name), I did you get your (message, email, voicemail) and was really concerned to receive it.  You seem quite (upset, angry, unsettled) with (name the event the sender referred to) and I want to talk with you more about this.  Can you provide more detail?’

This is great.  This is going to get the sender to:
1.      Step back and relax.  In another words, ‘put down your weapon’.

2.      Reconsider what they first said or emailed to you.

3.      Figure out if what they said or emailed is what they really meant.

4.      Be open to your more measured response.

Basically, it gives you and the other person a new beginning of sorts. Take it.  Go with it.  Check your own frustration at the door.  Leave it behind.  You will most likely find:

1.      They mis-understood something you said.

2.      They mis-took something else you intended.

3.      They have a legitimate reason to be frustrated or angry with you.

In any of the above cases, using the C words will likely get you to the bottom of it.

Write me at CoachGaryD@aol.com and let me know how it goes for you.

* Gary Danoff is Chief Attitude Officer of his consulting company in Rocvkille, MD, Profit Improvement Enterprises, LLC. Gary helps business owners and salespeople attract and retain delighted customers and employees using R.I.S.E.

So much about the world we live and work in has changed. I suppose every generation feels that to some extent, but now it’s my turn to acknowledge it. I’ve owned my business for over twenty years and the changes in how we market, interact, collaborate, congregate, follow and lead have changed unalterably.

And with it, a new breed of leader has emerged – in part because the world is desperate for it. Seth covered this new kind of leader well in Tribes. I have the pleasure of addressing the network of Duct Tape Marketing coaches for the opening session of our conference in Boulder this morning – and I plan to challenge this group to embrace the traits of today’s leader.

1) Trust themselves

An authentic trust in one’s self allows a leader to make decisions for the right reason and not out a hidden agenda or attempt to prop up self-worth. This trait also comes shining through when risk and uncertainly knock at the door,

2) Make meaning

The greatest leaders I encounter are doing what they are doing for love of a higher purpose. This doesn’t mean a spiritual or religious purpose, although it can, but they are trying to guide people on a journey worth taking. Chris Brogan is making the world a better place by blogging about engagement. His “make meaning” why he’s found a way to turn it into make money.

Finish reading this great article here.