Mass Open Online Courses for continuous learning

MOOC’s --Mass Open Online Courses- represent a global classroom wherein people around the world can learn and get digital certification for courses taught by certified post- secondary instructors. Coursera.org, ed.x.org and Lynda.com have low-budget programs or free training. They have free online lectures and forums. They also offer free course readings. Lynda.com gives you training for upgrading your skills in Adobe Photoshop and HTML. edX have free classes taught by actual Harvard and MIT instructors. You can also study courses in European Union Law with professors in the EU or elsewhere through coursera.org Companies like Yahoo, NBC, and Microsoft recognize the value of these courses in their employee development programs.

What is that "one thing"

In the news this week I heard about a new book recently published called “The One Thing http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16256798-the-one-thing. One of its basic premises is each day you have to determine as the authors recommend what is the one thing you can do that will make the other things easier and/ or unnecessary. I have been practicing this technique the last few days ;and it has reduced a lot of stress and effort for me. This book is well worth reading for both your career and personal life.

Maintaining a professional online presence

As we observe every day in the news,the power of social media can never be underestimated. Therefore, maintaining a professional online presence is a critical part of a successful career path. 1- You never know what is on the Internet these days with your name on it... One way to maintain some scrutiny in this is to set up Google alerts using your name.. You will then get notified anytime your name appears on Google. However, if you have a common name, your alerts will be including these people. 2- Set your privacy settings on Facebook so that no one can tag you without your permission. Review your privacy settings on a regular basis... Do this with other sites that you may be registered with as well. Remember to only post items that provide a good image of yourself. Think before you post! Once it is on the Net, it is there forever. 3- Set up blogs or websites with your name to establish and maintain a professional persona. Remember to keep them up –to-date.

Goals for the New Year

In meeting your goals for the year...try breaking them down into mini-steps or baby steps as in the movie "What about Bob". Don't let fear of the unknown or failure stop you from doing something you have to in order move your life forward, especially when it comes to your life and career plan.

New Years' Resolutions

To continue with the theme of developing your own niche, we can try looking at this New Year by doing something different each day and getting out of our comfort zone. Complacency is the death of creativity.... So try a new approach to New Year's resolutions and check out this site... www.365thingsin365days.com. This is one way of breaking out of the norm of being mediocre. Wishing everyone all the best for 2013. Happy New Year !

Finding your niche....

Here is my version for a definition of NICHE.... N- a new growth trend I -Individually customized to a labour market need C-Continuous and steady growth predicted for this trend- both for the present and future H- a Heartfelt and committed interest on your part E- Excites you and others For those with their own business In your niche marketing, make sure your market and business plan incorporates social responsibility, and is ecologically and environmentally conscious—then you can plan for profit with these two important factors in mind.

Find your niche

For every successful career, you need to find your niche. Find your passion. Find what excites you. Do you labour market research to see if it is feasible and move forward. If it is not feasible, find a growing market similar to that field and pursue it. Good luck.