JobDrive

This drive is all about the importance of choosing the right job that you enjoy.

A job or career that gives you options in the future. When we say career, it doesn’t mean a professional suited and booted role - it could be any job that suits your skills that you make money at. It could be a builder, nurse, electrician, financial advisor, software developer, social media influencer etc.

JobDrive looks at not only making the right choices of job but considers jobs that are flexible that may suit your lifestyle as you progress in life. We also look at changing careers at various intervals as your life expectations change. Looking at self-employment versus employed and turning hobbies into careers.

Parents and family and social situation play a part in choosing a career. Many young adults often follow parents/family into similar lines of work is that because they know more about the industry, background and longer-term effects or is it laziness or the safest option as making that first leap into work life is scary and fearful of the unknown.

Being in the wrong job can be one of the biggest frustrations in life. It can cause stress and anxiety. Especially in later life you need options, choices and the ability to change career direction. Often lack of education and life experience can reduce the option a person has. This can lead to frustration and a feeling of being trapped.

Financial or family commitments also play a role in career choices. We could at a young age be lucky and get a great job paying great money and we progress through stages - buy a house, get into debt, loans, credit cards, improved lifestyle, babies etc. The worry is that one day something happens and the income that supports all the trappings of life stops.

Click on a heading below and see a summary, and if you're interested you can GO and read more about it!

Here are some initial thoughts about jobs. GO!

Here are some facts and stats  about jobs. GO!

Try and choose a job, career, vocation which fits with who you are.  GO!

Your first job can be a nervous time – see some tips. GO!

There is a wide range of opportunities to look at.. GO!

How you feel about what you do affects how you see your working life.  GO!

Should you follow your passion or take a more opportunistic approach?  GO!

What are the key steps you should take to find the right job?  GO!

How can you find out what sort of job suits you?  GO!

Which would suit you better??  GO!

See the process suggested by Indeed. GO!

Where do you turn when things go wrong at work?  GO!

What are the signs that you should consider changing your job?  GO!

What steps should you take when it’s time for a change  GO!

If you’re a visitor to our site you can join and download information, assess your own health and create your own action plans, and even contribute to our site.  GO!

We have a video and a testimonial. GO!

There are some ideas on next steps you can take.  GO!

We have some additional information and stuff on this subject. GO!

Some Initial Thoughts

worlds biggest employers

The World's Biggest Employers

The biggest company in the world is Walmart (2.3 million) - it employs even more people than Amazon.

However, there is one sector that employs more people than retail. It's defence. The world's biggest employer is India's Ministry of Defence with 2.99 million people - slightly more than the US equivalent with 2.91 million. Although the Chinese equivalent (Central Military Commission may have 6.8 million people - the figure wasn't regarded as reliable enough to include here. Source Statista

Interesting that the NHS for the UK is in the list - it is clear that despite the huge scale of its employees, there aren't enough people to meet demand. About half the staff are professionally qualified clinical staff. You can see a report from the Nuffield Trust here.

Right education, right choice, right career

Having the right education and life skills helps get the right career.

Lots of our time is spent either at work, traveling to and from work, or thinking about work so, it inevitably plays a huge part in our lives. If you are bored or unsatisfied with your job, it can take a serious toll on your physical and mental health. You may feel anxious and frustrated, depressed, or unable to enjoy time at home knowing that another day at work lies ahead.

Facts About Jobs

average salary
£ 500

in the UK – Public sector £27,389. Private £30,973 (Indeed).

Growth in freelance sector
25%

25% is the amount the UK freelance economy has grown by since 2009 – people are choosing to be their own boss and decide how they want to live their lives. (IPSE)

career changes
1 times

7 TIMES The average person will change careers 5-7 times during their working life according to Career Change Statistics.

Public sector
Union members 52%

Public sector are union members in comparison to 12.9 private ONS

private sector sick rate
0.1 %

Private sector sick rate is 1.8% and 2.8% for the public sector

Union membership
23%

In 2020 union membership was 23% this has dropped each year since 1995 32%

NHS sick rate
0.1 %

Typical sick rate in the NHS is 4.1% – this is 56,000 people each week

Change career
people surveyed 47%

47% of the 1,000 individuals surveyed by London Business School wanted to change their careers. (London Business School)

choose career

Choose a vocation or career that suits not just your academic skills but your personality, character and desires

When we are choosing a career, most people never think about what the job will be like when they are half way through their lives. Many do not consider their personality and character as part if the career. Many young adults chose a job or career without thinking about; the money, the hours, the career progression, how high can I go, flexible working etc. They enter the workplace and after 2 years hate going to work, working shifts taking orders from someone they perceive as a dickhead and having to bite your tongue and accept it. If that person had sat down with their parents and said let’s look at all of the above things and see If I am likely to love this job for a long time.

I want to be a lawyer she says. Sounds so sexy, but is it. Extreme deadlines, locked in a room for days with 0000s of pages of documents to study, not set hours and total focus required. Stressful deadlines and counter deadlines, working unsociable hours and accuracy to detail is critical. Therefore, the role sounds amazing but she has a very short attention span, gets nervous with deadlines and hates working under pressure. It’s not a job she will enjoy. These types of decisions need parents and young adults to discuss to make sure she makes the right choice. 20,000 students pass a law degree every year but there are only 1500 openings across the UK, so what does she do as a backup?

When thinking of a career we often do not think of our own preferences. We can sometimes look at our family tree and parents to gauge what type of character are they. Do I want to spend my whole life working 9-5 in this job with 30 days holiday a year? I need a career that I like but if I decide to change careers or move country all is not lost my skills are transferable.

I hate taking orders from people and I want to be self-employed. If a person makes a successful career on a market stall selling bric a brac it’s a success if they are happy and its rewarding, as opposed to being a zombie standing on the platform of the train station going to the same job you’ve hated for 10 years.

first workplace

Your first workplace

Being an adult is harder than you think and your parents often made it look easy. People often say when they get to 40 ‘I look back and thought my parents had an easy life, they just made it look easy, when in actual fact working fulltime in a career and bringing up a family is tough. Just leaving home and doing everything for yourself and in some instances living with another person can be overwhelming.

Your first work placement can be very stressful for many young adults get overwhelmed with the whole thing and get anxious and depressed. The workplace can be as cruel as the school playground so be warned.

Wrapped in cotton wool

This is the crunch time when parent find out how well they did bring their child into this world and how they schooled them for the future. Society has also a role to play here and If schools also fostered the cotton wool protection philosophy, then even bigger problems occur. The hard school of knocks where children learn to stand up for themselves and learn that sticks and stones may will break my bones but calling names won’t hurt me.

Many young adults who have never experienced work life before get a shock and those sensitive characters go into meltdown unable to cope with the harsh reality of adult hood.

Many turn to their doctor for help. Many doctors will give you medication rather than truly find out why you feel the way you do. There are many internet-based support organisation you can talk to instead of taking additive medication. The reality is medication does not solve the problem it just subdues your real feelings. There is such a thing as CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) courses which you can attend. But as a first step talk to your family and friends about how you feel. You will find for sure you are not the first or only one. Everyone has experienced it as some stage in their lives.

As a new adult you may have never been prepared for life as an adult or as we discussed previously you may not have a high level of emotional intelligence. Some teenagers are ready emotionally to enter the work place and leave home and become independent but many are not. There is nothing negative about this, as people mature at different stages and rates. It could be said many parents neglect this part of the training and think their children just grow into an adult and can cope. Many parents have positively prepared their teenagers with adult training and support and helped them to deal with the often-hard world of adulthood and work / life.

But many parents haven’t done their kids any favours and have negatively shielded their teenagers (sometimes inadvertently and not deliberately) from the rigours of adult life. There is an increasing group of pre- and post-millennial young adults who have gone to the doctors suffering from depression and anxiety. Statistics show that the number of pre and post Millennials young adults visiting the doctor for anxiety and stress has gone up by 30% in the last five years.

Parents need to recognise that they may have brought their children up to want for nothing and promised them the earth, not realising that many teenagers retain that desire as adults and find out that life can be pretty tough standing on their own two feet.

varied careers

Fantasy land or real-life - careers today are even more varied

In this new world of work and celebrity, get rich culture, the opportunities are immense. Who would have thought 15 years ago someone could earn half a million pounds by sitting in their bedroom influencing others on the internet?

No matter what career a person chooses, parents need to always be around to chat through someone’ career moves and options; harnessing the power of more brains especially ones that don’t share your vision or come from a different generation.

man having success

Is it a job, a career or a calling?

This is aimed at everyone considering looking for a job or career in the UK, whether still at school, a student or people already working.Why do we talk about jobs and careers? Are they different? What if you REALLY feel you need to be a ......?

How can you look at these? If it’s a job you probably can’t wait to pack up each day, get paid at the end of the week and get on with the joy of living your life. If it’s a career then you’ll be aiming to climb the ladders of opportunity, promotion and power to be seen as important.. But if it’s a calling then it will bring you a sense of fulfillment because you believe your efforts are helping to make the world a little better.

follow your passion chart

Should you follow your passion or be more opportunistic??

You might hear: “Follow your passion, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

It's said: When you follow your passion in life, you're happier overall. You're more sated with yourself and the decisions that you make, and not weighed down by the common stressors that come along with not doing what you love. Overall, you feel more uplifted and have a far greater piece of mind.

The opposing view is: It gives the false impression that passions are simply side hobbies. Something you can't bring to a work place if you want to succeed. That going with “the flow” is the best chance at a sustainable life. Don't follow your passion, follow your opportunity.

See more on both points of view by clicking the tabs below.

key steps

What are the key steps you need to take?

There are some fundamental things you need to consider when thinking about a career or changing a career. Over the years your views, emotions, expectations and life experience can change your views as you journey through life.

It takes Time; When considering a career or job it takes time and lots of thought and consultation with others. You don’t need to take other people’s advice but you do need to consult to get a broader view or understanding of options. So, consult with family, friends, colleagues and specialists. Gather all the facts before narrowing down your options. You then need to think of plan B which is; what if you don’t like your choice of work after 12 -24 months what do you do then.

What am I looking for?

In order to make an informed decision on your direction, you need to do some thinking first. You need to:

What’s your personality or character like and is there a career to suit?

Your personality is the way you think, feel and behave. You should consider several aspects of your personality.

• Are you typically a leader or follower?
• Do you prefer to work alone or in a group?
• Do you naturally cooperate or compete with others?
• Do you naturally help others or do you prefer to empower them to do things themselves?
• Are you a thinker (focuses on ideas) or are you a doer (takes action first)?
• Are you a creative and artistic person or do you prefer structure and routine?

These are generic traits. You can analyse your personality further using tests.

  1. What’s your personality type?

    People tend to believe that each individual is different and unique in their own way. While that may be true to an extent, it’s not entirely accurate.  You can find out much more about your personality in PersonalityDrive.

    It’s certainly not helpful when firms are trying to recruit people ‘of a certain type’.

    When it comes to personality types, there are tests that categorise people into one of a few groups that describe their characteristics.

    The best known is the Myers-Briggs test (MBTI), which scores people on four different axes, giving 16 different types of person. 

    You can do a personality test based on Meyers Briggs  here.

    These axes and their characteristics are :

    extroversion (E) / introversion (I)

    sensing (S) /  intuition (N)

    thinking (T) /  feeling(F)

    judging (J) /perceiving (P)

    So each person has a 4 letter type.  You can find out what type of person you are by taking a free test here.

    Then note your score and you can see what types of job best fit that type by looking at a careerblog or Indeed.

employed or self-employed

Self-employed or employed

When you’re self-employed you’re your own boss and don’t have to take orders from anyone. You can be self employed as a sole trader or you can set up a limited company. See 3. below for a description of both. However, there are some things to think about if you’re thinking of going self-employed. .

It takes time; When considering a career or job it takes time and lots of thought and consultation with others. You don’t need to take other people’s advice but you do need to consult to get a broader view or understanding of options. So, consult with family, friends, colleagues and specialists. Gather all the facts before narrowing down your options. You then need to think of plan B which is; what if you don’t like your choice of work after 12 -24 months what do you do then.

What am I looking for?

In order to make an informed decision on your direction, you need to do some thinking first. You need to:

public or private sector

Employed - Corporate or Public Sector

Is there a difference between the two areas, 30 years ago very much so but today it’s beginning to merge a little but the attitudes and mentality haven’t changed. .

Investopedia describe the types of company as: 'The private sector is the part of the economy that is run by individuals and companies for profit and is not state controlled. Therefore, it encompasses all for-profit businesses that are not owned or operated by the government. Companies and corporations that are government run are part of what is known as the public sector, while charities and other nonprofit organizations are part of the voluntary sector.'

Is there a process I can follow to help me decide?

The job site indeed.com have a process they suggest you can follow to make your decision.

How To Choose a Career

This process comprises 7 steps, which need to be done in order. To see each step, click on the heading in the accordion below.

Before making any important decision, it’s a good idea to take time for self-reflection. Choosing a career is no different. In this step, you’ll reflect on what kind of work environment you want to be in, what type of work you enjoy, who you want to work with, and more.

As you’re reflecting, you may want to write down your notes. These can be helpful references as you’re evaluating job descriptions later on.

Here are a few questions to get you started. Try not to dwell on the questions but rather, write down the first thoughts that come to mind. If you’re not sure of some answers, trusted friends or family may be able to give guidance.

Self-assessment questions to consider:

What are your key values?
Example answers: Financial stability, helping others, independence
What soft skills do you possess?
Example answers: Time management, communication, confidence, problem-solving
What technical skills do you possess?
Example answers: Data analytics, planning, research, multilingual, photography
What natural aptitudes do you have?
Example answers: Writing, leadership, selling, project management, communicating, planning, technical problem-solving
What’s your personality like?
Example answers: Myers-Briggs (MBTI) personality type, quiet, outgoing, confident, aggressive, loyal
What are you interested in?
Example answers: Technology, writing, medicine, design

2. Identify your must-haves
Next, take some time to identify your must-haves in a job. These can range from anything like salary or travel to benefits and location. It might be helpful to return to the question-answer activity when recording what you can’t be flexible with when it comes to your career:

  • Do you need to earn a certain salary?
  • Do you require certain benefits like specific healthcare coverage or certain amount of time off?
  • Could you take a job that involved travel?
  • Do you need to work in a certain location?
  • Do you require any sort of flexibility to work from home?
  • Do you need to adhere to a specific job title or level?
  • Are there certain tasks you need to or do not want to perform?
  • Is there a certain work environment you cannot operate well in?

It is important to know what you need from a job ahead of time. For example, if you need to earn a consistent salary, you may want to avoid freelance work. Once you’ve determined your must-haves, you can use the research phase to determine jobs that might not work for you.

After understanding a bit more about yourself and your needs in a job, start looking for jobs that sound interesting or desirable to you. If there’s a job you don’t know much about, write it down and research it later. You may end up finding an interesting career path. Additionally, remember that job titles don’t always represent the actual job perfectly. While a title might not seem desirable, the job description might be a good fit for you. To start your list of jobs, here are some considerations:

Use your network. Do you know friends or colleagues with jobs that seem interesting? Tap into your network to explore jobs both they might hold, and jobs they think you may be interested in and/or good at.
Find interesting industries. Is there a particular industry that seems appealing? Are you naturally drawn to a particular category of work like design, fashion, business or education? Think about friends, family members or acquaintances who have compelling or attractive jobs.
Identify things you enjoy doing. Are there any activities or tasks that make time pass quickly? This can be anything from designing presentations to organizing information to working as part of a group. If you do enjoy designing presentations, for example, write down careers that might involve doing this work.
List your goals and values. Consider where you want to be in two, five and 10 years. Is there a particular title or level you want to achieve? Is there a location you want to be in or a certain lifestyle you want to have? Taking time to think about the future can help you identify jobs that will be a long-term fit.
Evaluate your strengths and talents. What are you good at? Whether you identify soft or hard skills, determining your strengths paired with things you enjoy can help you find a career that sets you up for success. If you’re good at organizing and interpreting data, you might write down jobs like data analyst, computer scientist or data scientist.

After you’ve explored jobs that seem interesting, start researching each one to create a short-list of serious career possibilities. The goal is to arrive at one or two career paths that you’re excited about. You can use the following steps as a guide for your research:

“Day in the life.” To get a better idea about whether a certain career might be a good fit for you, look into what the day-to-day of each job looks like. One way to get a bit more detailed information on jobs is by browsing career paths. Get example job descriptions and common tasks and responsibilities. You might also consider asking to shadow people in your network with jobs on your list.
Salary. Whether you have a specific salary requirement or not, it might be helpful to learn about average compensation for the jobs you’ve identified. Salary trends is a tool that let you see the trends in compensation for specific jobs in different locations. Enter a job title and you’ll see the salary range in various cities and with different employers.
Job requirements. Before choosing a career, you will need to know what certifications, degree, training or other credentials are required. You might decide that fulfilling certain requirements aren’t a good fit for you, thus narrowing down your list to careers that are more suitable.
Growth opportunities. It’s important to know if there is opportunity for growth in your chosen career. This means the availability you’ll have in the career to advance, gain skills and take on more responsibility. Read job descriptions carefully to learn about job requirements.
Job outlook. Another key piece of information is how your selected job stands in the labor market. This includes data like hiring trends and job growth. Search for news stories about the industry or job title that interests you. You will want to give favor to jobs that have steady hiring and growth.
Related: The Complete Guide to Researching a Company

Once you’ve narrowed your list down to one or possibly two career paths, you’ll need to assess whether you need additional training or credentials. While some employers are willing to provide on-the-job training, others will look for candidates who already possess their requirements. For details on a specific job, carefully review the job posting. Pay attention to sections labeled “Requirements” and “Education and Experience.”

Once you’ve determined that you are qualified for this career path, update your resume to reflect your relevant strengths and skills. It can be helpful to explore job postings to understand what employers in your industry and position.

You can begin looking for opportunities on Indeed, on desktop or on mobile. To add filters, select the “Filter” button. From there, you can set your search distance, job type (full-time, part-time, contract etc.), and experience level.

For detailed information on searching for jobs, visit The Essential Job Search Guide.

If you’ve successfully accepted a new job, we’d love to hear about it. Share your story on gotajob.indeed.com.

As with any change, it can take time to adjust to your new career. During this transition time, pay attention to the parts of your job that you’re enjoying. You’ll continue growing, learning and changing as you understand more about yourself, your industry and what works best for you.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you step into a new career:

Make the most out of your first year. In a new job, it can be overwhelming to take in new information, learn the industry and become an established member of the team. You might research how to succeed in your new role.

Keep track of your goals. If you are feeling uneasy or unsatisfied in your career, it can be helpful to go back to your future goals. If your career no longer aligns with what you want in your future, consider shifting your tasks or looking for other roles that might be a better fit.

Pursue your interests. If there is a certain task, activity or role you particularly enjoy, spend time developing and exploring those interests. Following what you enjoy and are good at can help you advance in your career and get the most out of your day to day role.

work not good man

Work doesn’t always turn out the way you thought it would

When starting a new job its new and exciting and there is an expectation of how life will be based upon the selection and contract process. But often what looks glossy and corporate on the outside [the veneer] isn’t always the case inside the organisation. This can lead to anxiety and stress and disillusionment. People never work at their best when this happens. How do you deal with this situation? .

You can break down the issues into 3 areas;

1. Things you can affect change in.
2. Things you can influence others to change
3. There is nothing you can do about it - it's set-in stone

This way you focus on things you can affect rather than wasting time on things that will not change.

If you’re having a tough time then this might be for a number of reasons. We have some advice in certain situations listed below – to see the advice click on the heading that applies. If your issue isn’t covered in the topics below, then feel free to ask a question of either the YouDriveHealth principals or our members.

What does bullying look like?

Bullying isn’t just people being rude or aggressive to you.  It can be:

  • being critical without foundation
  • ignoring you in conversations
  • setting unachievable targets
  • giving you too much work
  • disregarding your contributions
  • abuse of position or privilege
  • threats about your job security

What to do if you’re being bullied

There are some steps you should take before resigning.

  • talk to a colleague – you might not be the only one!
  • talk to the person bullying informally – or get someone else to – it might be unintended
  • keep a diary and list events – this will be useful later
  • official complaint – this is a ‘grievance’ and you need to follow the company’s grievance procedure (from the staff handbook or employment contract – if there isn’t one write a simple letter setting out the facts)
  • set out the proof that you can’t continue working in this situation, and then you can take the next step and resign if it isn’t dealt with….
  • resign – this is a last resort – you can then claim constructive dismissal (difficult to prove – you need to claim quickly after resigning and submit proof)

You can always contact employment law solicitors who will often advise you free of charge and then operate on a no win / no fee basis.

What is harassment?

Harassment, as defined in the Equality Act 2010 is unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual.

The relevant protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Some of these are clear – a common grey area relates to unwelcome sexual advances, which can take many forms, including standing too close, touching, making suggestive remarks and even making decisions based on sexual demands.

Excuses include:

“It’s only a bit of banter”

Banter is ‘normal’ in certain professions and jobs – it goes wrong when it gets personal and causes distress – if this happens you need to make it clear that it isn’t acceptable and has gone too far.

“It’s only constructive criticism”

Managers often say this is part of management and is aimed at improving performance, which can be true, but this never should include personal insults, aggressive behaviour or unfair blaming.

There are lots of reasons you might need to have a difficult conversation with your boss.  It could be because you’re unhappy about your last review, or you’re fed up with the way they’re managing you, or you have a serious issue with another worker. 

No matter what the reason, you need to have the conversation, but you need to be careful as it could affect your job totally and in the wrong way!

Follow these guidelines  (which are our version of the Handel Method developed by the Handel Group in New York) for difficult work conversations with your boss,

1. Get permission

Don’t send an emotional email or get in their face – you want their full attention and for them to allocate the right amount of time. Don’t go into too much detail – just give the subject and make sure you specify the time you’ll need.

2. Explain the situation and context

 State your intention and be clear without being aggressive, and ideally include them in what should happen next.

3. Frame the conversation gracefully

Don’t jump into your list of issues. You want them to listen and they’ll tune out if you make them feel uncomfortable.  There’s always a chance you’re wrong even if it’s that you haven’t let anyone know your feelings so admit your shortcomings first.

4. State your issue

Hopefully they are at ease and you have their attention, so say clearly what your issue is, without attacking or complaining – be factual.

5. Ask for their perspective

Prove you’re not being selfish and ask them what they think of your concerns – did they see it differently?

6. Arrive at a mutual understanding

Listen to their view and ask for clarification if needed – don’t make excuses if you don’t like what they say and don’t get defensive.

7. Arrive at a resolution

Note where there are differences and negotiate an agreement that suits you both.

There are a number of reasons you might be having a conversation with HR.  It could be to discuss workplace challenges, or possibly bullying or harassment. . 

If you go down this road there are some things you can do that will help.

1. Take ownership of the issue

Don’t just blame someone else and expect HR to fix it! It’s YOUR issue so own it, and use them as part of a partnership to fix it.

2. Ask how they can help

Contact them and ask as a preliminary matter how they help.  Tell them what your issue is and ask them how they deal with these situations generally, and ask if you can meet them.

3. State your facts objectively

Provide facts to support your statements, rather than emotions.  Be objective and say if you’ve done something less than perfect – be objective.

4. Know what you want (and don’t want)

Understand the solution you want, but don’t expect formal processes every time – they will work with you to sort out the options for you and possibly mediate or provide training or support.

5. Be realistic

They won’t simply take your side without looking at the other point of view, so they’ll have to intervene (if that’s what you want).

6. Stay positive

This won’t sort itself immediately, so you have to remain positive as the issue is worked through – and it may be uncomfortable.

If you hear that your company is restructuring, either officially or via company gossip, then clearly you’ll worry, as your job could be at risk.  What should you do?

Here are some steps suggested by Muse which make sense to us.

1. Gather information

If there’s official information, get it! If not try asking your boss, and you need to understand these things:

  • Will there be redundancies?
  • How are the company deciding – what are the key criteria?
  • Who is making the decision?

2. Know your worth

Understand what your worth is to the company, and gather old appraisals and write down your accomplishments; talk to as many key people as possible.

3. Get on the decision-maker’s radar

This isn’t easy, but if you can get some time with the key decision maker then try to schedule a meeting and go through why you’re important to the company.  Most people won’t!

4. Start looking outside anyway!

Even if you’ve done all you can you should be realistic – you could still lose your job.  Contact people you know, update your CV and start updating your profile on LinkedIn. You never know – you could end up with a better job!

Stress is difficult to spot, as it manifests in different ways and people experience it differently. If you’re worried you might be suffering from stress, it’s important to do something about it quickly before it becomes more serious and you become ill.

Signs you might be suffering from stress

We all have bad days – if you’re feeling down how do you know if it’s just a bad day or if you’re suffering from stress? It’s a good idea to look at how you feel over a number of days – say 5 – and if you’re still feeling bad it could well be stress.

Stress typically affects the weakest part of us – e.g. if you get headaches or eczema this could flare up, or if you’re naturally impatient this will get worse. Prolonged stress can lead to serious issues such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.

You will experience changes, so you need to look out for:

Mental
• memory problems
• feeling negative, nervous or anxious
• can’t concentrate
• indecision
• never finishing anything
• doubting yourself
• panic attacks
• feeling frustrated

Physical
• Frequent colds
• Indigestion
• Aches / pains
• Skin problems
• Rapid heartbeat or chest pains
• You might also notice you’re behaving differently, e.g. sleeping worse or longer, losing your sense of humour or increasing your alcohol or cigarettes.

What can you do about it?

If the stress is work related, you need to understand the reasons and what you can do about it, and you may feel you need to talk to someone about it. This could be:
• your manager
• employee or trade union representative
• HR or personnel
• a counselling service
• your GP

Your employer has a legal obligation to do something about this – see below. You can suggest to your employer that they see what they have to do here and what they can do here.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has set out a Management Standards approach to stress which helps companies identify and manage stress at work – you download this from below.

If you have been made redundant, sacked or fired, or your contract hasn’t been renewed, or if you’ve been stopped from coming back to work after maternity leave, the official term is ‘dismissal’.

If you’ve been suspended that isn’t dismissal, and similarly if you’ve resigned, UNLESS you were pressured to resign or your employer breached their contract and you didn’t accept it, in which case that could be ‘constructive dismissal’.

  1. Check your status

You can only claim unfair dismissal if you were employed – whether part time or full time.  You can check this on the government website here.

 

  1. Is your dismissal unfair?

You can only claim unfair dismissal if you’ve been working with your present employer for no less than 23 months and 3 weeks (and not already been served with notice expiring before 2 years employment).

That doesn’t include cases where the dismissal is for discrimination or an automatically unfair reason.

Every employee who has the qualifying period of service has the right not to be subject to an unfair dismissal. If there is to be a dismissal, an employer must show that the reason (or if more than one, then the principal reason), falls into one of the categories set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996.

These 5 categories are as follows:

The employee lacked capability or qualification (in relation to the work you were employed to do);

The dismissal was a result of the conduct of the employee (such as dishonesty, poor attendance, failure to follow instructions, and which can amount to gross misconduct);

There was a genuine redundancy;

The continuation of employment would contravene a statute, for example you need to drive in your employment, but you have been banned due to speeding;

Some other substantial reason (“SOSR”). This would be a dismissal which does not fall within any of the above reasons. Some examples are where you have a personality clash with your employer, or where there is a non-renewal of your fixed-term contract as a maternity leave cover. There could also be a dismissal where you have unreasonably refused to accept new changes to your terms and conditions. Each case will be determined on its own facts.

Unless your employer can prove one (or more) of the above 5 fair reasons for dismissal, then your termination of employment will be deemed to have been unfair.

If you’ve worked for the qualifying period, your employer has to give you a written explanation saying why you were dismissed. If they don’t give you one, write to them asap and they have to send you this within two weeks – if they don’t, it’s incomplete or if you don’t understand it then contact Citizen’s Advice here.

Is the reason ‘automatically unfair?

It’s always ‘automatically unfair’ if you’re dismissed because you:

are pregnant or on maternity leave

have asked for your legal rights at work, e.g., to be paid minimum wage

took action about a health and safety issue

work in a shop or a betting shop and refused to work on a Sunday

are a trade union member and took part in trade union activities including official industrial action or you were acting as an employee representative

have reported your employer for wrongdoing, which is called whistleblowing.

You also need to check whether you’ve been discriminated against – check here to see whether this is the case.

Was the dismissal process fair?

Even if there is a justified reason to dismiss you, the dismissal will still be unfair if your employer has not followed a correct process. This could be, for instance, where your employer has not followed a proper consultation or selection process in a redundancy situation. For dismissals based on misconduct, or performance, the process that your employer should follow is largely governed by the ACAS Code of Practice. The code provides that there should be sufficient investigations, evidence, warnings (in most cases) and the right to be accompanied at meetings.

Should I Change What I Do?

Statistics say you’ll have 7 careers in your lifetime, but in these days that’s looking like old hat! You should plan your overall working life on a regular basis, looking at whether what you’re doing is making you happy and allowing you to progress.

There are several reasons to change job and several not to, and these are discussed below. First, there’s a simple test we’ve seen on LifeHack that can give you a start.

Consider this: “There’s more to life than ______”

The end is left deliberately blank so that you can fill in whatever is relevant to you. Everyone has their own life and working life, and people are at different stages and positions.

Start by looking back over the last couple of years – how much of your time has been spent doing things you enjoy – that give you a sense of fulfilment and meaning?

Now you’ve got to earn money – it’s harder to enjoy yourself without enough. However, money isn’t everything – there are plenty of people with more than enough who aren’t happy. Sadly, many people live to work. Is there more?

You need to find your purpose in life, and seeking happiness isn’t the answer. Viktor Frankl, a famous Austrian Neurologist and Holocaust survivor said “It is the very pursuit of happiness, that thwarts happiness”.

You need to focus on your purpose, and that can be attained by using these skills in a positive way:

Focus – stay on track
Motivation – you need to want it!
Creativity – thinking ‘outside the box’ helps and also releases everyday stresses
Learning – you need to WANT to learn and you’ll expand your mind
Memory – practise remembering things – it will make everything easier
Time management – find the time to do the important things – don’t let time manage you
Habits – push yourself to develop good habits – it takes time – see ChangeDrive for more details on how to do this.

Reasons to change your job

Changing jobs and or retraining

Find another career if you find yourself in a career that you don’t like or perhaps the company, industry or market has seriously changed.. It’s nobody’s fault so don’t spend the next five years moaning and whingeing about it with your colleagues - find another career.

Imagine every day turning ip for work knowing you are going to be miserable. Often people end up hating their jobs because of other people, usually colleagues or management who do things to you that you don’t like. Stubbornly we think I will complain or raise a grievance but it's only a short end to a means because if the company has changed as a result of management and you don’t like it anymore you won’t force the company to change so you seize the moment and change your own path.

For visitors

Why don't you join us?

You can register to join us as a member, when you’ll be able to download our stuff and comment, or as a YouDriver when you’ll also be able to check your health and set up your own action plans to make some improvements.  If you’ve already registered, sign in below. Or let us know what you think.

Career choices summarised

Career choices summarised

This video from jobs.ac.uk gives a summary of things to consider when choosing a career.

“We're here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else would we be here?”
Steve Jobs picture
Steve Jobs
CEO and Founder Apple

Next Steps

It doesn’t matter what stage  you’re at – it’s important to be the best you can be.  At the end of the day it’s about taking personal responsibility – You Drive!

It’s really your choice. You can find out more information about the subject, or see other institutions that can help by going to Support. There you will find organisations, training, coaching, self-help courses and other items to support your personal change. We have also started developing a panel of experts to provide info, advice, help and support. 

Get Support

There are times when you need some help to meet your aims –  a helping hand. That might be  an organisation that can provide you with some help,  some specialised information, a particular book or tool to help, or just getting some background reading material.

We have a lot of items which appear on our Drives and other pages, which you can go to by clicking on the picture or link.  Some contain affiliate links and we may receive a tiny commission for purchases made through these links.

If you know of anything which could help you or our other visitors then please click the button on the right, which will take you to a Contacts page where you contact us.

Experts

We are compiling a list of experts who can provide advice, help or specialised services.  You will be able to access these experts from anywhere on our site you see our ‘Experts’ symbol.  Click the green E to see what our Experts list will look like, with a couple of imaginary ‘experts’ added!

More Information

Scroll down to see more information on this Drive. 

If you register you can also download reports, white papers, quizzes and other collaterals.  We will never ask you for any financial information, and we’ll only send you the information you want. You can register for our site either above or in the footer below.  You can provide your own questions and experiences in order to help other members.  We only moderate for spam and inflammatory language – see our moderation policy.

If you’ve found this interesting, then please share it on social media.  Choose your network!

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More information

Conflict at Work

A toolkit for managing your emotions for successful results.

Are you tired of pushing a rock uphill? When you don’t resolve conflict effectively, that is exactly what you are doing.


Go to Amazon

Why Weren’t We Taught This at School?

The surprisingly simple secret to transforming life’s challenges

A beautifully simple guide to the relationship skills we all so deeply need, but most of us don’t know how to access. This book belongs firmly on the curriculum for creating a more peaceful world.


Go to Amazon

How to Choose a Career

A Proven Method for Finding a Job You Will Love

A recent study has shown that 60 percent of workers say they are unhappy with their job and would like to pick a different career. Unfortunately, picking an engaging career that makes the greatest use of our talents is a difficult thing to do. Even worse, much of the conventional wisdom we hear on this subject is flawed and should not be followed at all!


Go to Amazon

How to Find Work You Love

Choose Your Career Path, Master Your Career in 30 Days: Find a Job with Passion & Purpose in Your Life

Stop going back to bullshit jobs!

Are you ready to find a job you love? Do you want to love what you do, but it feels out of reach?


Go to Amazon

1001 Business Ideas

Finding the Right Business to Fuel Your Passion and Create Your Perfect Lifestyle

Whether you just want to make some extra money or start a business that may end up replacing your full time day job completely, 1001 Business Ideas is the book that can help you find a business to get passionate about.


Go to Amazon

The Career Within You

How to Find the Perfect Job for Your Personality

Employing the Enneagram Personality Assessment System, Elizabeth Wagele, author of The Enneagram Made Easy, and career workshop and events organizer Ingrid Stabb can help you discover The Career Within You.


Go to Amazon

How to leave your job and go freelance

Your step-by-step guide to becoming a successful, profitable freelancer

This book will teach you step-by-step how to go from being an employee to running a profitable freelance business in the most effective, stress-free way possible using a system that’s been proven to work.

 

 


Go to Amazon

Road Map to Your Job

Navigating to Each Pit Stop on the Road to Employment

Catalyze your job search or internship search! Prepare for a job interview… You are just 1 click and 5 Pit Stops away from finding your dream job!


Go to Amazon

Citizens Advice offer information on employees’ rights

Acas offer independent advice for employees (and employers), offer a helpline and instructions on what to do to call it and also have online help and employment FAQs

The Stress Management Society have an individual stress test which you can take online, and you’ll get a score.  For 99p (paid via PayPal) you can get a personalised report with recommendations.

The Stress Management Society have a 2018 stress guide which describes stress – its impacts and descriptions of its presence at home and in the workplace. You can click here to download it from their website – you will need to enter your email address.

Focussed primarily on students, Prospects has an interesting quiz that matches skills and personality to different career choices

Download the Health and Safety Executive workbook setting out how an employer can tackle work related stress using the Management Standards

The Stress Management Society have a 2021 stress guide with a great title – “Taking you from Distress to De-stress”, which describes stress – its impacts and descriptions of its presence at home and in the workplace. You can click here to download it.

ACAS have Guidance on what to do if discrimination happens – download it here.

ACAS have a guide on home working – for employers and employees – download it here

ACAS have a guide on flexible working and work / life balance – download

In case you want to start selling stuff on eBay, here’s a list of stuff that people have sold.

Rubbish sales on eBay

 

AVG PRICE PER ITEM (1)

MAX PRICE WE FOUND

NO. OF BUNDLES SOLD IN LAST THREE MONTHS

Football programmes

£3.65

£26.95

168,930

Coat hangers

88p

£6.39

2,931

Jam jars

92p

£5

431

Empty perfume bottles

£3.77

£10.50

3,366

Shirt buttons

44p

£5.13

39

Wine corks

9p

20p

383

Pine cones

23p

£2.50

188

Champagne corks

10p

50p

163

Glass coffee jars

£10.34

£39.04

247

Toilet roll tubes

6p

12p

139

Newspaper supplements

£8.35

£26

282

Glass ramekins

40p

£1.17

166

Can ring pulls

2p

4p

107

Plastic milk bottle tops

4p

11p

88

Wool odds and ends

£1.98 (per 100g)

£5.50 (per 100g)

26

Kitchen roll tubes

12p

28p

32

(1) Based on MSE analysis of last 25 sales, in June 2021.

Stuff you might want regarding jobs

Now you’ve read about jobs (or careers, or…) you might want to make a bit of a statement.  Have a look at some stuff below we think has some humour value!  We may make pennies on commission, but that’s not the point really.  Click on the image to see more details.

2-Hour Job Search

Using Technology to Get the Right Job Faster

Use the latest technology to target potential employers and secure the first interview–no matter your experience, education, or network–with these revised and updated tools and recommendations.


Go to Amazon

Looking Beyond the Car in Front

A Guide to Making the Right Career Choices at the Right Time

Looking Beyond the Car in Front, written by leading recruitment expert Grant Duncan, guides both senior and mid-career business executives in taking a more assertive and strategic longer-term approach to career choices.

Go to Amazon

Your Right Career

How to Make the Right Choice for Your Education and Career Path

Choosing a life-path isn’t easy. And like most things in life, you may be off-course. But if you go into your job thinking, “this is it, is this what I’m going to be doing for the rest of my life?” you may feel trapped, some might even feel a little depressed.

Go to Amazon

I Use Sarcasm at Work  Mug

Go to Amazon

I Hate My Job Work Shirt Gift Tee-Shirt

 

Go to Amazon

I’m Not Bossy I am The Boss Men’s  Tee-Shirt

Go to Amazon

Funny Leaving Mug

Go to Amazon

All areas of health are interlinked

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

Find your initial focus

You might think that physical, financial and mental health are quite separate, and for some people they are. However, often a problem in one area has a knock-on effect on others. Losing your job can lead to anxiety and depression, which can turn you to drink and impact your health.

You might have a severe issue in one area but that can lead to problems in other areas, and the people treating you for the first problem won’t be equipped to deal with these linked issues.

For example, doctors and nurses can treat you for a physical problem but can’t advise you about your job or finances.  Nor for the anxiety that comes with it, apart from prescribing some drugs, which might or might not be the best solution.

We encourage you to take a holistic view – we look at all areas and offer support across the whole spectrum.

health areas interlinked

Even this view of health is simplistic, as you’ll discover later if you go down that route.  You might want to consider overall health, or wellness or wellbeing, which include additional types of health, such as occupational health (how you are in your job).   Then there’s happiness and quality of life – how do these fit?

If you’re interested in that, click the link here to see more information.

To close this box and go back click the X at the top or just click outside the box

Stuff sold

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

Rubbish sales on eBay

 

AVG PRICE PER ITEM (1)

MAX PRICE WE FOUND

NO. OF BUNDLES SOLD IN LAST THREE MONTHS

Football programmes

£3.65

£26.95

168,930

Coat hangers

88p

£6.39

2,931

Jam jars

92p

£5

431

Empty perfume bottles

£3.77

£10.50

3,366

Shirt buttons

44p

£5.13

39

Wine corks

9p

20p

383

Pine cones

23p

£2.50

188

Champagne corks

10p

50p

163

Glass coffee jars

£10.34

£39.04

247

Toilet roll tubes

6p

12p

139

Newspaper supplements

£8.35

£26

282

Glass ramekins

40p

£1.17

166

Can ring pulls

2p

4p

107

Plastic milk bottle tops

4p

11p

88

Wool odds and ends

£1.98 (per 100g)

£5.50 (per 100g)

26

Kitchen roll tubes

12p

28p

32

(1) Based on MSE analysis of last 25 sales, in June 2021.

To close this box and go back click the X at the top or just click outside the box

How to leave your job and go freelance

Your step-by-step guide to becoming a successful, profitable freelancer

This book will teach you step-by-step how to go from being an employee to running a profitable freelance business in the most effective, stress-free way possible using a system that’s been proven to work.


Go to Amazon

Conflict at Work

A toolkit for managing your emotions for successful results.

Are you tired of pushing a rock uphill? When you don’t resolve conflict effectively, that is exactly what you are doing.


Go to Amazon

Why Weren’t We Taught This at School?

The surprisingly simple secret to transforming life’s challenges

A beautifully simple guide to the relationship skills we all so deeply need, but most of us don’t know how to access. This book belongs firmly on the curriculum for creating a more peaceful world.


Go to Amazon

How to Choose a Career

A Proven Method for Finding a Job You Will Love

A recent study has shown that 60 percent of workers say they are unhappy with their job and would like to pick a different career. Unfortunately, picking an engaging career that makes the greatest use of our talents is a difficult thing to do. Even worse, much of the conventional wisdom we hear on this subject is flawed and should not be followed at all!


Go to Amazon

How to Find Work You Love

Choose Your Career Path, Master Your Career in 30 Days: Find a Job with Passion & Purpose in Your Life

Stop going back to bullshit jobs!

Are you ready to find a job you love? Do you want to love what you do, but it feels out of reach?


Go to Amazon

1001 Business Ideas

Finding the Right Business to Fuel Your Passion and Create Your Perfect Lifestyle

Whether you just want to make some extra money or start a business that may end up replacing your full time day job completely, 1001 Business Ideas is the book that can help you find a business to get passionate about.


Go to Amazon

The Career Within You

How to Find the Perfect Job for Your Personality

Employing the Enneagram Personality Assessment System, Elizabeth Wagele, author of The Enneagram Made Easy, and career workshop and events organizer Ingrid Stabb can help you discover The Career Within You.


Go to Amazon

Health Areas in Domains

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

Domains

We break down the overall concept of health or wellness into ‘bite-sized chunks’ that we can actually do something about.  The first level we call health domains. 

We like the Life of Wellness site and we have chosen the following domains.

1. Emotional Wellness: Awareness and acceptance of feelings
2. Spiritual Wellness: A search for meaning and purpose
3. Intellectual Wellness: Recognition of your creativity, knowledge and skills
4. Physical Wellness: Need for physical activity and balanced nutrition
5. Environmental Wellness: Positive awareness and impact on your environment
6. Financial Wellness: Debt reduction, cash flow balance or financial future planning
7. Occupational Wellness: Personal achievement and enrichment from your career
8. Social Wellness: Contribution to your community

Health Areas

Within each domain, we have included a number of health areas. These are specific issues that you can tackle.  Within each health area, e.g. Depression, we have built additional information and exercises which you can do to help in the area. You can create your own Action Plan to address this area, and see

Emotional: Anxiety, Compassion Fatigue, Depression, Gambling, Laughter, Narcissistic, Personality Disorder, Sleep, Stress

Environmental: Environmental Issues, Greenness

Financial: Debt, Family Finance, Financial Planning, Financial Wellness

Intellectual: IQ, Personality, Procrastination

Occupational: Jobs for Different Personality Types, Retirement Income, Work Life Balance

Physical: Alcohol, Disabilities, Dizziness, Drugs, Fitness, Food Preferences, General Health, Healthy Ageing, Illness, Nutrition, Sleep Apnea, Smoking

Social: Communication Skills, Communication Styles, Domestic Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Love Partnerships, Mental Abuse, Parenting Styles, Sexual Addiction

Spiritual: Are You Sensitive, Mystical Guidance, Spirituality

Each health area has supporting information and its own questionnaire.

To close this box and go back click the X at the top or just click outside the box

Understand Health

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

Physical, financial and mental health

One definition of health is:

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. 

The NHS define health as: ‘We use a broad definition of health that encompasses both physical and mental health, as well as wellbeing. This means we are not only interested in whether or not people are ill or have a health condition, but also in how healthy and well they are.’

We believe we also have to consider financial health, as this can easily impact physical and mental health. Click the button to see an example of how these are connected.

 It gets more complicated…

What is Health? How about Wellness, Wellbeing or Happiness?

The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS) define Health as a state of the overall mental and physical state of a person; the absence of disease. They define Wellbeing or wellness as a way of life that aims to enhance well-being and refers to a more holistic whole-of-life experience which also includes emotional and spiritual aspects of life.  We expand on this definition of health to include financial health and mental health, to make it synonymous with wellbeing or wellness.  

To close this box and go back click the X at the top or just click outside the box

Values, Attitudes and Beliefs

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

We all have our beliefs, attitudes and values – these have developed throughout our life based on who we are and what we have done. Let’s look at what these are.

The University of Reading explain: “People’s values, beliefs and attitudes are formed and bonded over time through the influences of family, friends, society and life experiences. So, by the time you’re an adult, you can hold very definite views on just about everything with a sense of “no one is going to change my mind”.

The combination of your personal values, beliefs and attitudes are your moral principles that guide you in life and affect your behaviour. However, your views can wildly differ to others and in an institution such as a school, these beliefs may be counter to the values of the school, child development or indeed the law.” 

Let’s look more closely at the differences between beliefs, attitudes and values.

Beliefs

These come from real experiences – we think our beliefs are based on reality, but in fact our beliefs colour our experiences; also, an original experience e.g. when we were a child is not the same as what’s happening now. Beliefs can be moral, religious or cultural and reflect who we are. They can be rational (‘it gets colder in winter’) or irrational (‘I am never going to make something of myself’).

Attitudes

This is an immediate belief or disposition about something specific. It is a recurring group of beliefs and behaviours aimed at specific groups, people, ideas or objects. They will normally be positive or negative and we will always behave that way to the target group. Examples of attitudes include confidence (I can or can’t do something), grateful (I an entitled to / grateful for XXX) and cheerful (I am generally happy / miserable).

Values

These are things (principles or qualities) that we hold in high regard or consider to be worthwhile or right / wrong. They are formed by a belief related to the worth of something – an idea or behaviour. Some values are common (e.g. family comes first, the value of friendship) or cultural (which the whole community have – see video at Study.com here)

The theory

Links to Wikipedia

Expectancy Value Theory suggests you balance your beliefs about something with the value you attach to it. The Theory of Reasoned Action suggests that beliefs and evaluation about behavioural outcomes determine attitudes, and intentions lead directly to behaviour.

Beliefs

Expressions of confidence – can change over time

Attitudes

Learned predispositions to something – are subject to change

Values

Ideals that guide our behaviour – Generally long lasting and often need life changing experience to change

Iceberg demonstrating implicit and explicit bias – from Owlcation

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Assess your overall health using a health questionnaire

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

At YouDrive we try and help people improve their health. We use ‘health’ but we understand there are other terms such as wellbeing or even happiness that reflect how we are doing in our lives – if you’re interested in the different definitions and ideas see our page on the subject.

We want to help whether you have a particular problem – physical, financial or mental – or if you just want to improve some specific part of your life or just make some improvements overall.

You’d be surprised, but there has been a serious amount of scientific work done in this area over the last twenty years.

So first we allow you to assess your current health (or wellbeing, or happiness).  We do this by questionnaire.  Which one is determined by the type of person you are:

  1. You understand yourself well and want a quick overview of your health and wellness, and will drill down in any areas needing work
  2. You want to do a more detailed assessment and then focus on areas you’re already aware of
  3. You want to look at the whole situation in more detail across all the health domains.

By the way, we take your privacy seriously – we collect information that you choose to provide but we de-identify it as much as possible and will never share it with anyone without your explicit consent.

You can then drill down into some specific areas and there are more questionnaires to see your situation in these particular areas.  We provide you with specific information and refer you to other potential aspects of help. Our next step is to build a personalised action plan – for now we will make a suggestion for you to develop your own plan and then after a time you can see whether this has had a positive impact by retaking the test.

In future we will be engaging with medical and behavioural specialists to devise action plans for individual people with specific situations.

We have an overall questionnaire which you can complete which will assess your current state.

To close this box and go back click the X at the top or just click outside the box

Add your attitude to change - see how you view changes in your life

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Do you need to change?

No matter how healthy you are at the moment, the chances are that there are some areas you could improve. It may be that you have a real problem in one or more areas, and you would like to make some improvements.

At YouDrive we accept that there are many different degrees of ‘not wellness’ in a large number of different health areas, ranging from physical illness such as covid-19 through mental illness such as anxiety through to financial problems like debt.  We try and help where the problem ranges from ‘slight’ to quite bad’ – after this expert help and intervention may be needed.

However, especially in these times, we have to try and make these changes ourselves, possibly with some help from others, whether remotely or face to face.

The thing is, to make an improvement we have to change some things.

This involves changing our behaviour in some respects, and that’s not always easy.

Henry Ford, the creator of the assembly line, is quoted as saying “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”.  

henry ford

Another way of looking at this: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” – attributed to Albert Einstein.

Consequently we need to make some changes.  The problem is that we have already developed a lot of habits, some of which we need to break and replace by better ones.  Some of our bad habits have become entrenched, and the bad results they create in turn engender further bad habits to develop – in effect the bad habits can feed on themselves.

We need to understand how we can make changes and stick to them, and that’s what this part of your health profile is about.

It will involve some learning, through reading, some videos and some additional information and also seeing how you react to change currently.

It will also ask you to consider whether you feel you are in charge of your future, or whether you feel it’s all fate.

To close this box and go back click the X at the top or just click outside the box

Locus of Control

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  • We want to help people in all aspects of their health  – physical, financial and mental. We also provide detailed explanations of how overall health (or well-being) is measured.
  • We believe these things are often linked, so we try and address health holistically. We are building templates, questionnaires and exercises to help you identify what’s important to you.
  • We think people should try and take responsibility for  of their own health as much as they can.  See below for what that means.

People look at things differently.  Some people believe things happen to them, while others believe they can influence what happens to them. Technically this is called the ‘locus of control’.  People can have an Internal or external Locus of Control

So how do you see things?

Psychology Today have a 15 minute test which gives you a summary of your position you can buy the detailed results if you want to.

My Personality Test have a 10 minute test which gives you a summary.

People tend to take more responsibility (locus gets more internal) as they get older.  However, external isn’t always bad – for example if you are physically unable to do some things you can accept it and focus on the things you can do.  This American video explains the concept and gives examples of how this can affect relationships.

locus of control

Internal

  • More likely to take responsibility for actions
  • Tend to be less influenced by others

External

  • Blame outside forces for what happens
  • Don’t believe they can change their situation themselves

To close this box and go back click the X at the top or just click outside the box

See which domains you should address

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

Having established that we use 8 domains, you need to understand which you should concentrate on.

The 8 are:

  • Emotional
  • Environmental
  • Financial
  • Intellectual
  • Occupational
  • Physical
  • Social
  • Spiritual

 

You can take a questionnaire, which scores you in each domain.  You can decide which domains you are strong in, and which you need to improve.

Another analysis shows which domains you should look at, but also which domains you want to look at.

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Health domains

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

We break down the overall concept of health or wellness into ‘bite-sized chunks’ that we can actually do something about.  The first level we call health domains.

We like the Life of Wellness site and we have chosen the following domains.

1. Emotional Wellness: Awareness and acceptance of feelings
2. Spiritual Wellness: A search for meaning and purpose
3. Intellectual Wellness: Recognition of your creativity, knowledge and skills
4. Physical Wellness: Need for physical activity and balanced nutrition
5. Environmental Wellness: Positive awareness and impact on your environment
6. Financial Wellness: Debt reduction, cash flow balance or financial future planning
7. Occupational Wellness: Personal achievement and enrichment from your career
8. Social Wellness: Contribution to your community

wellness wheel

Health Areas

Within each domain, we have included a number of health areas. These are specific issues that you can tackle.  Within each health area, e.g. Depression, once you have subscribed we have built additional information and exercises which you can do to help in the area.

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A Butterfly Life: 4 Keys to More Happiness, Better Health and Letting Your True Self Shine

Times of change can be a challenge, no doubt! Whether it’s a relationship breakup, job loss, or being diagnosed with a serious health issue. Or you may WANT things to be different, but it feels a little scary or overwhelming. The butterfly reminds us change can be beautiful, even necessary, in order to realize our full potential and live our best life.