RePower

# Art of Project Management #

Project Management - How to Break Down Projects How do you plan and setup web projects, branding projects, video projects, or motion design projects? What method do you use for project management? How do y...

in the workplace

Wellbeing in the workplace As part of our 'Equality, inclusion and wellbeing in the workplace' series, we conducted a nationally representative survey of working adults in the UK, to f...

In life not once we find ourselves in the conflict situations. Those situations might occur in many, if not all, spheres of our lives - work, relationships, daily life.
Depending on the situation and our personality we might try to win or withdraw.
All parts of life inevitably involve conflict. Why? Because people are either striving to achieve some goals or they have different views about how things should be done.
The conflict itself is not as important as the way how you resolve it.
Studies show that to do so we tend to use the strategies such as:

Competition: “I win — you lose.”
Compromise: “It’s a give-and-take proposition. Each of us gets a little of what we want even though we don’t get all of what we want.”
Accommodation: “Let's do it your way this time. It’s not worth fighting about.”
We have many opportunities to practice argumentation - political debates during election, university Oxford debates, essays - we learnt how to introduce arguments and how to defeat the other side arguments. But have those teach us when to finish an argument - not really - during political and Oxford debate there is no winner-loser until the public decides; in an essay the character limit finishes our argument.
However, in daily life there is no character/time limit nor an audience who will choose the winner.

How to master it then?
I believe that here the best is ‘small steps' way. You should start with practicing compromise in the situations which are pretty easy and the goal is rather not crucial, hence, you can ease a bit your expectations.

The more you practice the be there you will get ( it is true for everything in our lives). When you achieve the point of recognizing the situations in which the tension grows and compromise might be needed you will be able to take a conscious decision in the regard of how it should finish – whether to fight, withdraw or go for compromise.
Within the time, thanks to this ability, you will boost your emotional intelligence and would be able to reach much more even in the moments when you go for compromise.
Therefore, next time you are to choose the restaurant for business meeting or family dinner try to step back -> analyse it -> consciously choose your strategy and do observe the effect and the reactions of people.

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Most of us know how to say yes and no. We are being taught either to fight and be assertive or withdraw and do not cause quarrels. Have we been also taught how to argue and when to finish argument and decided for compromise? Do we, at all, know how to reach compromise both in private life and at work? Check out the video and get ready for upcoming article 😉

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The Big Bang Theory - Compromises S08E12 [HD] All Rights to Warner Bros. Television & CBS!

So here it is - most of you have heard at some point in life the story about Rock, Pebbles, and Sand ( if not find it below)

But what is the main point of the story?

So, the story says that in order to be successful in life you have to be able to identify the important things ahead of time and set aside the time you need to work on them.

Yet, can the family be compared to the exam at university or project at work?

I think we should not compare those - instead, we should look at the rocks in our lives as on jars - in fact each day of our lives can represent such a jar.

What is really important is to always remember that each jar is a part of the bigger jar - just like a Matryoshka doll. 🔁

Our tip - have multiple jars and identify rocks in each of them.

The biggest jar - entire life - can have following rocks:

1) family
2) health
3) work

Then 'family jar' can have rocks as follow
1) parents
2) life partner
3) children
4) further family

Remember - rocks are not better or worse - they point areas with the same level of priority. Hence, some of us in life jar will have only 2 rocks - others even 5.

The smaller jar we look at the more concrete representations rocks will have as it is much easier to identify goals for a month than for a decade.

Let us know what do you think about it and how do you plan things - do you use calendars, lists, planners, mind-maps?

We will share with you some thoughts on that too 🔜

Have a good weekend meanwhile and take a look a the story of you haven't heard it before.

"A philosophy professor once stood up before his class with a large empty jar. He filled the jar to the top with large rocks and asked his students if the jar was full.

The students said that yes, the jar was indeed full.

He then added small pebbles to the jar, and gave the jar a bit of a shake so the pebbles could disperse themselves among the larger rocks. Then he asked again, “Is the jar full now?"

The students agreed that the jar was still full.

The professor then poured sand into the jar to fill up any remaining empty space. The students then agreed that the jar was completely full.

The professor went on to explain that the jar represents everything that is in one's life. The rocks are equivalent to the most important projects and things you have going on, such as spending time with your family and maintaining proper health. This means that if the pebbles and the sand were lost, the jar would still be full and your life would still have meaning.

The pebbles represent the things in your life that matter, but that you could live without. The pebbles are certainly things that give your life meaning (such as your job, house, hobbies, and friendships), but they are not critical for you to have a meaningful life. These things often come and go, and are not permanent or essential to your overall well-being.

Finally, the sand represents the remaining filler things in your life, and material possessions. This could be small things such as watching television or running errands. These things don't mean much to your life as a whole, and are likely only done to waste time or get small tasks accomplished.

Hence, if you start with putting sand into the jar, you will not have room for rocks or pebbles. This holds true with the things you let into your life. If you spend all of your time on the small and insignificant things, you will run out of room for the things that are actually important.

In order to have a more effective and efficient life, pay attention to the "rocks," because they are critical to your long-term well-being.

Pay close attention to your health
Spend time with your family
Exercise
Keep in touch with relatives that live far away

While you can always find time to work or do chores, it is important to manage the things that really matter first. The rocks are your priorities, while the other things in your life are represented by pebbles and sand."

Tell us how do you prioritise things in life and later today we will share with you some nice tips how we do it ( let the photo be a tip 😉)

It's a high time for boosting assertiveness- the art of saying no!
🙅‍♀️🙅‍♂️
Benefits?
1️⃣ it helps you to become more self-confident
2️⃣ it helps you to reach better understanding of who you are and the value that you offer
3️⃣ it helps you both in your workplace and in other areas of your life

🥇 Assertiveness makes people great managers. They get things done by treating people with fairness and respect, and are treated by others the same way in return. This means that they are often well-liked and seen as leaders that people want to work with.
🥇Assertive people negotiate successful "win-win" solutions. They are able to recognize the value of their opponent's position and can quickly find common ground with him.
🥇Assertive people are also better doers and problem solvers. They feel empowered to do whatever it takes to find the best solution to the problems that they encounter.
🥇Thanks to assertiveness you can be less anxious and stressed as you will be more self-assured and don't feel threatened or victimized when things don't go as planned or as expected.

🤷‍♀️🤷‍♂️ How to learn assertiveness?

📈 value yourself and your rights
🕯 trust yourself
👨‍🏫 understand yourself
📣 voice your needs and concerns
✔ acknowledge your weaknesses
🛂 remember that you cannot control others
🌺 accept complements and constructive feedback
😉 enjoy and be yourself

More at: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/Assertiveness.htm

One of the best ways to leverage your spare time is to learn a new skill.

Think about the most successful people in the world. Those who consistently succeed are those who are best at learning new skills. 💪

Successful people make the commitment to dedicate their spare time in the pursuit of learning 📚

Which skill have you learnt up till now in 2018 or what skill do you want to learn within last 3 months of the year?

Statistics say you need 10,000 hours to become an expert

So within 3 months, you can reach pre intermediate level ⭐

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.

Do you know that there are alot of platforms that provide free online courses!