You’ve heard the slogan “gratitude is the attitude“.  Catchy right?  As a child you were taught to say Thank You, (at least I hope you were), when someone demonstrated a kindness or generosity to you.  What happened to that discipline, where is that muscle now?

We live in such an instant gratification society, and we are living our lives at such a rapid-fire pace that we sometimes are forgetting to acknowledge the people and experiences along the way.  

At the Skills Centre, we serve.  It’s what we do.  We help people looking for work, looking for compassion, looking for problem solvers, looking for information.  We solve problems daily for all types of people ~ accomplished business owners, workaday employees, down on my luck citizens, and even those that are stuck in a pattern of self sabotage.  We are thanked, tipped, and taken for granted equally.  We marshal on, we are grateful to serve.  Why?  Because when we give of ourselves, go the extra mile, help someone in need, we see their gratitude and we in turn experience our own gratitude for the blessings that we have.   “I cried because I had no shoes, till I met a man with no feet” (Helen Keller). See?

There are many benefits to exercising gratitude.

Gratitude makes us Happier, Healthier, Likable, Strengthens Us, Helps Our Career, Reduces Materialism, Reduces Narcissism, Improves our Spirituality, Improves our Sleep, Gives Us Energy, Relaxes Us, Helps us Bounce back from Struggles, and the list does go one.  There are so many reasons to exercise gratitude in all things. 

How do you exercise gratitude?.  Take a pause.  Evaluate all your daily experiences.  Look around, what do you see? We live in a beautiful setting, there is simply the physical world to express thanks for.  Thinks about the people you interact with daily, co workers, family, people on the street, shopkeepers.  Look intentionally for the kindness.  Its there I promise.  Then stop, reflect, and say “Thanks”.

Happy Thanksgiving Princeton & Area H!  We are grateful for you….Yes, ALL of you

PINSTERS!!

The picture above is an example of an extinct job due to automation.  WorkSafe may have a little something to say about the age of the worker, and the conditions as well 🙂  History has been a wonderful story teller for jobs of the past, that are no longer a part of the labour market.  Would the average worker be in a position to “hear” the death rattle of their beloved job or career?  Who was the last operator at a switchboard? Did they have a chuckle on their well played exit to retirement?  Lets hope that was the case!! 

The Princeton Skills Centre continues robust conversations about the shifts we see in the labour market.  These shifts are due to many factors such as retirees, technology, automation, immigration, industry shifts and demands for skilled workers. During our lifetime of work, we will also gain a perspective at one point, where we look back on jobs that once were, that are no more.  Consider that, Foxconn, the manufacturer who makes everything from iPhones to Xboxes, recently replaced 60,000 workers with robots. Deloitte estimates that 39% of jobs in the legal sector could be automated in the next 10 years. Separate research has concluded that accountants have a 95% chance of losing their jobs to automation in the future.    

As a workforce, we need to cultivate curiosity and skills that aid us to research, predict and plan a career that has the potential of being a part of a shift.  Information is available to the masses like no other time in the past via  news, blogs, industry papers, labour market reports, staff meetings, “chatter” at the workplace.  Paying attention to the conversations around us will aid in gaining some insight that will assist in predictions and preparations.

Perhaps now’s the time to sign up for training to keep sharp and stay ahead of the curve?  Today’s employee needs to be ready to skill up and “adapt” quickly to changing and challenging work constraints and industry shifts.  We can and should be stewards of our careers.  We must stay fierce are wildly curious.  It’s easier now more than ever to stay in the pipeline of information, with knowledge at our fingertips, and a googled approach to researching industry trends… why should any employee be left in the dust of a dying career? 

Let’s keep our heads from being comfy in the sand.  “Just go with it” may have worked out this far but reactionary living can only go so far, before you burn out or get blindsided.   

The role of the worker is to keep sharp, stay curious, develop and build as many skills as possible. It takes an intelligence and a drive to constantly own the role of Captain on your employment journey.  A good captain is aware of the environment constantly, using information, data, emotional grit, and experience to chart the best course for the ship to sail smoothly thru the challenging tides of “employment”.

Have you got your “SHIP” in order?

LW