B Minus Show

 

How to kill it in the office (alliances, trying too hard) part 4 of 5

#1 Don’t try too hard

Smiling too much, kissing too much ass. Trying to joke too much. You have to watch how other people act towards you. Are you getting good reactions? Are you getting positive or negative feedback?

There are subtle indicators that you need to learn how to read. The flip side is sometimes you can read into things too much or misread people. I think you can get better at reading people with time.

The end result of reading people well is not trying too hard, or knowing when to exert energy. It is a cultivated art form. It takes practice.

The solution would be to know where you are going. Meditate on that faith and trust yourself. You won’t have to “try” when you “know” you will get there.

Here are some pointers: write your goals down at work. I.E. master my current job, get along with my closest co workers, get a promotion within a year.

Make the goals realistic and seek feedback from your managers and bosses. Their job is to groom you and guide you. Sometimes the opportunity isn’t there. If that is the case, maybe you are in the wrong company or industry.

#2 Alliances

Get people on your side. I heard somewhere that 33% of people will like you no matter what. 33% will not like you no matter what, and the last 33% will be neutral towards you.

A lot of your job will be to get the 33% of neutral people to like you more than they don’t like you.

One thing you can do is be pleasant and considerate towards others. I mention etiquette, smiling and stuff like that will normally win people over; and it’s pretty easy to incorporate that shit into your daily routine/practices.

Of course you need to keep in touch with the people who like you and keep peace with enemies.

If you don’t deal with someone well, maybe you can find out why or ignore that person if possible. Feedback can be crucial from co workers or directly from the source, but take all that with a grain of salt and focus on improving yourself.

Chances are with self improvement, you will learn to focus on the positive and ignore the negative stuff that goes on with people or the work environment.

You can win people over by being self confident and handling your business. Most of the time if someone has a problem, you are not the reason for their discontentment. Try to steer away from negative drama and shitty situations.

Conclusion

Learn how to get into a daily flow of goodness and make friends. Don’t be the “try too hard” person and don’t focus on your enemies.

Focus on yourself and make plenty of alliances.

If you listen to and read my other articles on the office domination, these things will kind of just happen if you apply those tactics and tips.

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Check out the B Minus Show website, it is a podcast and blog all about: self help, brewing beer, making and playing music, etc.

Also subscribe or follow for $0.00 (free) on youtube or itunes, facebook, 

How to kill it in the office (body language, vocal inflections, vocab) part 3 of 5

This is the next part of office domination. Do you want to excel in the office environment? Do you want to keep your job? Work on the shit that I post and talk about.

But you don’t have to listen to me, you should though. I have based my conclusions on life experience and research.

Most of this stuff seems common sense, yet I see many people lacking these skills.

Apply something simple and measure your results.

Moving on.

#1 Body language

Your body language is going to be perceived as negative or positive by most of your office folks (or people in general).

You body language usually starts inside and projects out. So you may have to practice shit like gratitude and happiness if you have a horrible slouch or a resting bitch face.

Sometimes you can do external shit like keep your posture upright or workout and it will fix some of your issues.

Anyways, some things you want to consider with your body language are maintaining or improving your smile, hygiene, eye contact and the like.

Improving those things will get you more positive responses from people.

If you saw a new or existing co worker coming in to work smelling nasty, frowning, untied shoes and dirty clothes, what would you think? Probably that he got dumped and gave up on life.

On the flip side, what if that co worker came in the next day smelling pleasant, smiling, with nice shoes and clean matching clothes? You would think he got laid, won the lottery or something similar.

Aim for the latter. Body language and appearance matter.

#2 Vocal inflections

How you say shit and write stuff means something to people.

What do you think when someone answering the phone in a deep, cracked, tired and angry voice saying, “How can I help you?”

I would think this person is close to being pissed off at me directly or doesn’t want to help me. He wants to start shit or hates his job.

What if you called someone who answered the phone with a crisp, pleasant and cheerful voice saying, “Hello, thank you for calling, How can I help you??”

You would likely feel more warm and fuzzy.

Aim for the latter, it matters.

The same thing with email, make sure you edit and check your emails before they get sent; especially if it is important and going to important people. You can’t take back a misspelled word, bad joke or sexist statement.

If you have issues with any writing, have someone review the email before you send it.

#3 Vocabulary is important.

You want to be perceived as articulate, smart and educated (even if you aren’t). Perceived is the key word. That doesn’t mean you have to use long ass words all the time, or at all.

Just work on speaking simply, clearly and pleasantly. You need people to understand you, like you and respect you.

You can’t control their reactions, but you can handle your own shit and will be able to move the masses by starting with yourself.

So when you speak, focus on what you say, how you say it and speak with confidence.

Here’s a contrast example.

Guy #1, “Hey yo, I was hopin’ to help you with yo’ claim. Can I get your digits?”

vs.

Guy #2, “Hello sir/maam, I would love to assist you today. Can I please get your best contact information?”

I’m not bagging on slang or ebonics, but you need to know your audience and be very fucking conservative in the workplace. That is, if you want to kill it.

Learn to speak like a news announcer and you will be safer than safe.

Summary

Body language is your total physical look. Get on the positive side of that, chip away slowly at it if you need to, but try to look and act good and positive.

How to kill it in the office (bridges, work ethics) part 2 of 5

This is the first podcast (after the intro) and article about killing it in the office.

There are silent rules that you must abide by in order to get ahead in the office. Whether you want to just keep your job, or climb the ladder to a promotion, I think it is important to follow these silent rules.

Yes, there are always exceptions to rules and loopholes, but that is not what this article / podcast is about.

Therefore, I will lay them out simply with a few examples and let the chips fall where they may. Without further due, here they are.

#1 Do your job well.

Doing your job well is a very simple concept. However, you may think you are doing your job well, but in reality you are just doing the bare minimum or picking up someone else’s slack (with no reward).

The most important thing is to meet or exceed your expectations from your manager and know your job description.

You manager “should” lay out expectations in written format. These are usually in the form of KPI’s (key performance indicators) or other metrics. They will measure how well you do at the end of the year based on their evaluation of your performance.

I will tell you, 80% of the people get the same rating and same raise. Anyways, you should at least be in that 80%. You have to be superior and do almost everything above and beyond to be in the top tier.

On the flip side, you almost have to not show up to get in the bottom tier. Just make sure you are doing well.

You can also ask your manager how you are doing and how you can improve.

Knowing your job description will give you a good default for handling your shit. Sometimes this doesn’t match what you actually do, but that’s ok.

Just make sure you know your job description, it’s kind of like referring to a syllabus in school. It’s there, it’s written and it’s what you were hired to do.

So bottom line is do your job according to your managers expectations and job description.

All the other stuff you do will fall into the gaining experience category or helping others. It’s not black and white like I am describing, but it’s kinda accurate.

The bottom line: do you job well and to the best of your ability. If you do things right, you will eventually promote or not get fired.

There’s always something to learn, no matter what your skill level is, was or will be. Therefore, do your job to your best of your ability.

There’s obviously a lot more I can write on this, but I will keep it simple here.

 

#2 Don’t overpromise

The biggest mistake you could make with a customer is not meeting their expectations. On the flip side, the way you could keep customers happy is to meet or exceed those expectations.

If you know a job or project is going to take a week or two, don’t tell the customer it will be done in a week. Tell them it will take at least two weeks. If you finish the project or job in a week, you are ahead of the game. If you don’t, you will get an upset / concerned customer.

It’s a little game to play, but it works and it’s the truth.

I don’t know how many customers called bitching about me or complaining to me about not meeting their expectations. If you fuck up two times with the same person, they start making shit up to make you look bad.

An example is someone wanting to get their car inspected by my company at the time. When I was new, I would tell them the inspection took between 2 days to a week.

Guess what happened on the second day? The fucking customer would call and complain on how it was supposed to take two days. They would usually flip a lid and move up the chain if I told them it could be a few more days.

Therefore I learned to tell them it takes 5 days.

I brewed a tripel and almost hit target gravity

Here’s the podcast about me brewing a tripel:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/bminusshow/i_brewed_a_tripel_and_almost_hit_gravity.mp3

So I am progressing as a home brewer, on my road to being a pro. I had a few times where I was wasn’t hitting my target mash gravity (all grain), and it was pissing me off.

I hit up the internet, YouTube and a couple homebrew buddies to help me diagnose the cause.

I gathered all the basic shit from them (grist milling, mashing too hot or cold, not mashing long enough) and decided to try something different.

This was a 10 gallon batch which used a bunch of sugar, so there wasn’t too many grains to mess with.

So I tried the brew in a bag method (BIAB). Actually more like brew in a curtain method, because there isn’t a large enough bag for me to do BIAB.

So I do my thing; grind grains with my janky ass grain mill, dough in then mash for about an hour.

I then lifted the grains up, squeezed/twisted the bag (curtain) and put it in a bin. I then put a couple gallons of 170 degree water and poured it over the grains in the bin.

I then re-squeezed the bag and put the rest of the juice back in the boil kettle. I think I got most of the residual sugars out.

Now, some may argue that I will get more husky grain flavors from doing this. And I suspected that I may have been milling my grains improperly.

But I have to say, it felt good brewing a tripel, using the set amount of ingredients and hitting that very near target original gravity.

So in sum, I will stick with brew in a curtain method when I am doing lower gravity beers or smaller (5 -7 gallon) batches!

*Update* The beer turned out decent. It was a little harsh and stringent. I think it was because I used the wrong yeast (safale 05). Don’t judge! Next time I will keep the same recipe and use a belgian strain of yeast. It’s still drinkable. Cheers!

Thank you for being a loyal listener!

 

Check out the B Minus Show website, it is a podcast and blog all about: self help, brewing beer, making and playing music, etc.

Also, subscribe or follow for $0.00 (free) on youtube or itunes, facebook and/or twitter 

More podcasts and articles:

Hazy / New England Style / Murky / Juicy IPA’s

Podcast: Yeast starters for beginner homebrewers

Podcast: How to start a brewery (or nearly any type of business

Podcast: My first batch of making wine

PODCAST: Beer rants on the beer industry

PODCAST: the process of making beer for newbs

To beer or not to beer

Whats next!? – The B Minus Report – beer brewing thoughts

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This podcast focuses more on ex friends. It reflects on some of my experiences on a couple of my past relationships with some former bros.

That’s not it! Besides me getting a little serious here, I also emphasize how important it is to embrace the good things about former experiences, latter experiences, and future things to embrace as you experience this wonderful thing called life with friends.

Yes, you read that right. It’s my fav. I love the Victory Brewing Golden Ale. I also just love the North Coast one…

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I am going to make an epic golden ale that I hope to love. If I love it, maybe you will. If you love it and I love it, then I can call it successful. If just I love it, then it is partial success. If you love it only and I don’t, then I am probably just being hard on myself.

If you love beer or golden belgian ales, listen!

My band is going to change their name. This is the unofficial mixtape of a new band name change release party. Jump on the wagon.

I also am continuing my legacy of garage music from 22 years ago. Hear more about it below in the podcast. Free of charge as usual!

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OFFICE DOMINATION SERIES: HOW TO KILL IT IN THE OFFICE

(Skip this writing and scroll to the bottom of this post if you want to just hear the podcast)

Hey all! I have been on hiatus for the past few weeks; mostly just getting used to “office life” again and brushing up on my fitness.

Cubicles can be a daunting place; and can feel lonely and negative if you don’t know what you are doing. That is what I am here for.

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This is an intro to a potential ebook / series / course on How to KILL IT in the office.

Whether you are an aspiring office god, mid career cubicle caresser or a seasoned corporate veteran; I think this podcast may be something you want to get into.

I have over 10 years of time, effort and energy slaying the corporate cubicle and am now using my experiences to benefit the human race.

Podcast: IMPROVE YOUR LIFE with Joseph Rodrigues

 

I am excited to host and post this podcast. I had the honor of hosting guest JOSEPH RODRIGUES on the B Minus Show.

Joe is an accomplished entrepreneur, IT fanatic, YouTube star, self help junkie and just an overall interesting guy.

The funny thing is, I never met Joseph before we did this podcast together.

HERES HOW WE MET:

I was recommended from a friend to listen or read “The Power of the Subconscious Mind” by Joseph Murphy.

I searched in YouTube and came across Joseph’s video and hit the play button.

I was very engaged in his thorough study notes on the book. He used actual excerpts from the book and his own experiences and observations.

In addition, he mind mapped the shit out of the thing on the whole video.

I immediately subscribed to his YouTube channel and found he had tons of books and videos on there.

After listening and watching  a few more of his videos, I felt compelled to invite him on the B Minus Show.

Luckily, he got back to me with positive news, and this podcast is the fruition of that action.

______________

http://traffic.libsyn.com/bminusshow/Self_help_stuff_with_Joseph_Rodrigues_clean.mp3

In this podcast episode, Joseph and I discuss things in life that have made us successful and some methods we use on a daily basis.

We also discuss a few other things as well and our conversation lasts around an hour.

Please show your show your support Joseph by subscribing to his YouTube channel and check out his website (he is also a consultant) here:

www.josephrodrigues.com

https://www.youtube.com/user/JoeRodriguesTV

Don’t forgot to also subscribe to my podcast for free on itunes, as well as subscribe and encourage my YouTube channel as well!:

B Minus on you tube

B Minus on itunes

 

Thank you again for all your support!!! Please share this website and podcast.

And please remember to always keep it above average.

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Book Reading: “It Works” By RHJ

I am starting yet another segment, or chapter in the B Minus Show and going to see where it takes us.

I am doing my first “book reading” on the show. It is a great little book called “It Works” by RHJ.

It focuses on self improvement. I read this or listen to this when I need a little motivation boost.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/bminusshow/It_works_by_RHJ.mp3

It is a quick read with potent and condensed content.

Yes, I chose to read a short book first. I will also post this and other readings on youtube.

But here is the link to this episode on you tube

https://youtu.be/s0vyjaOSmhU

You can buy the book here for around $5 on amazon (or click the book image) and I will get a dinky commission if you buy it.

Or you can just listen to it over and over. It is word for word (despite a couple of pronunciation errors on my part).

I hope you enjoy and gain something from this podcast.

Don’t forget to share and like my content, find me on social media or simply at www.bminusshow.com

Like B- on Facebook

Subscribe to B- on Itunes for Free

B- Show is now on Google Play! 

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