David J Salmon

Mind The Generation Gap

There have always been several generations in the work force, but this is the first time in history that the generations have been so very different in outlook and characteristics. The different generations are also far less likely to be segregated in a strict hierarchy than they used to be. Working with the generations effectively requires some understanding of their different perspectives, but can be very rewarding if we can embrace the ideas that each generation contributes.

Any time you find yourself working with a blend of the generations you have to be flexible and open to new ways of communicating your message. You can’t expect to communicate in exactly the same way with someone from an older or younger generation from yours. People often feel that their own generation is the best. That clichéed picture of a middle aged person despairing of the younger generation is all too true. But each generation brings value of its own.

The four current generations in the work force have been named and pigeon holed: The Matures born before 1946, are said to be dedicated to their work once they take a job; the Baby Boomers, 1946 to 1964, live to work; Generation X, born 1965 to 1980 are supposed to work to live; and the Millennials, 1981 to 1994, live in the moment. They all have different ideas and perspectives to bring to their work and benefit the organization they work for in different ways. The trick is to recognize that the other generations’ way of working and thinking has value, as well as ours.

It is important to take the time to understand the viewpoint of those from a different generation. Avoid stereotyping them and appreciate the contributions that each makes to society and to your workplace. Take time to talk to people from different generations, listen to what they say.

 Learn about the Wake Up Silver Membership (it’s Free) http://www.davidjsalmon.co.uk/blog/?page_id=1521

In order for the UK to meet its target of an 80 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by the year 2050, the country’s housing stock will need to be retrofitted, one expert has advised.

Gordon Miller, founder of whatgreenhome.com, says that approximately 75 per cent of the existing properties in Britain will still be around in 2050.

“Clearly retrofitting and bringing the existing homes up to speed is absolutely critical if we are going to meet our own emissions targets and reduce CO2 emissions,” he states.

Mr Miller’s comments come in response to a recent announcement by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, which revealed a series of government measures to make British homes greener.

The new strategy hopes to encourage UK homeowners to use energy in their properties in a smarter way in the hope of cutting carbon emissions by 29 per cent.

As part of the measures, some six million homes will be insulated by the end of 2011.

The Existing Homes Alliance recently advised that all homes in the UK should be retrofitted by 2010 at a cost to the government of £6 billion per year.

Don’t Quote Me On That

Anyone famous knows how important it is to be quoted, or not to be quoted in some cases. They only have to open their mouths with a thoughtless comment for a reporter to pounce and ask “Can I quote you on that?” Being quoted can often be a good thing. It shows that your opinion is worth repeating and that others are interested in what you say. But being quoted can often work against you too.

This is especially the case with gossip. If you are not prepared to say a thing to a person’s face, then it is better not to say it behind their back either. This is one case in which you are bound to get quoted and then you will have to deal with the situation when that person eventually hears what you said about them. The best way to avoid your words being quoted is not to say them in the first place. Say nothing that you wouldn’t want to be repeated.

This is hard advice to follow when you get angry and lose your temper. Words said in anger can often come back to haunt you years later. Once those words are said you can’t take them back and people can use them against you for years to come, or the hurt that they caused can be flung in your face again and again. Try to avoid that situation. If you are boiling over and feel that you are about to say something that you’ll later regret, walk away. Put some space between you and the person you are angry with. Give yourself time to cool down before you say any more. The other person may be upset by you leaving them mid discussion, but that is far better than uttering hurtful words that can be quoted back at you for as long as your relationship lasts.

Words are hardly ever a one-off event. There is every chance your words will be quoted, often the less you want them to be, the greater the chance it seems. If you don’t want your words misconstrued, quoted out of context and used against you, then don’t say them in the first place. Follow the golden rule – if your words wouldn’t look good on the front page headlines of a national newspaper, don’t say them. People can’t quote you when you say nothing.

Landlords who have bought properties in the buy-to-let market may find they see a good return on their purchases, as new research has revealed that residential housing has been a “better investment than cash, shares or bonds” over the last ten years.

The figures from Halifax showed that buy-to-let landlords could have made a profit of up to 187 per cent in the ten years up until December 2009, reports the Financial Times.

Martin Ellis, group economist for the bank, said: “Property has still delivered good long-term gains despite recent turbulence.”

Notwithstanding the fall in house prices that were seen in the UK between 2007 and 2009, the research found that property values rose by 105 per cent during the last decade.

And it would appear that people are feeling confident about property continuing to be a good investment - a recent study by Paragon Mortgages revealed that ten per cent of landlords are looking to expand their property portfolio during the first three months of 2010.

Don’t Become A Rich and Famous Jail Bird

It never ceases to amaze me how many of the rich and famous manage to end up behind bars, because they start to think that they are above the rules that most people live by. It seems to me that the air gets thinner up there in the higher echelons of wealth and power and that they can no longer think clearly. Success and money shouldn’t really stop you thinking clearly though and there are three steps to keep yourself on the straight and narrow, when you yourself are rich and successful

First of all you have to remain true to your values. Being rich and successful doesn’t mean you have to break the law or lose sight of your morals. It is not just the rich and famous who lie, steal and cheat of course, but it is more likely to hit the headlines when they do. Keep your values in focus and you will be less tempted to bend the rules and do something illegal or immoral when you are rich and famous too. Staying true to your values will keep you out of sticky situations and make your life simpler.

Avoid the tendency to justify your actions. The minute you start justifying things you should see it as a warning sign. Nobody needs to justify things that are right. When a CEO of a major company was prosecuted for wire-tapping the phone lines of top executives in her company, she found several reasons to justify her actions. But two wrongs don’t make a right and those justifications didn’t keep her out of jail.

The third thing to do to keep yourself on the straight and narrow is to ask a close friend or confidant to tell you things straight. The trouble with becoming rich and famous is that you often find yourself surrounded by yes-men and there is no-one to tell you the truth and give you an objective opinion. Martha Stewart might have avoided her jail sentence if someone close to her had told her that she was being stupid to try and cover up her actions.

So when you join the ranks of the rich and famous keep these three things in mind so that your name doesn’t end up on the roll call of famous jail birds: stick to your values, don’t take actions that you need to justify, have a close friend who will tell you things straight.

Mastermind to success with the “PropertyCompanionsClub” http://www.propertycompanionsclub.co.uk/

Capital gains tax (CGT) is likely to rise to 25 per cent in the forthcoming Budget, according to one investment expert.

Richard Bowser, editor at Property Investment News, states that it is important for homeowners to remember that it wasn’t so long ago that CGT for investment properties stood at 40 per cent.

“It is just a fact of life that we are all going to have to accept that we are going to have to pay more tax,” he says.

But Mr Bowser adds that he thinks this tax hike is unlikely to have an effect on the housing market as selling property is not an instant process.

His comments come in response to a recent report from Cluttons, which found that the potential rise in CGT has led to an increasing number of people placing their second home on the market in a bid to sell the property before the legislation takes hold.

According to HM Revenue and Customs, the current CGT rate stands at 18 per cent.

Slow Down and Take Stock

Getting behind with things seems to be just part of modern life. We are all rushing to catch up a lot of the time. Rushing seems to be the logical answer to getting more done, but it often has the opposite effect. The faster you go, the more mistakes you make and the more behind you get. When you feel yourself getting behind, slow down and take a long look at the situation. Perhaps going faster isn’t what you need to do. Perhaps what you really need is to figure out a new strategy.

First of all ask yourself what you can delegate. Not everything needs to be done by you. It is tempting to think that you are the only person who can do all these things right, but this is not true. Other people might be happy to help if you only ask them. There is an art to delegating but if you learn it you will save yourself a lot of time.

Next have a look at your schedule and see if there are things that you can drop completely. You may be doing things in your business that are no longer really necessary. I dropped several things from mine and found that nobody even noticed, then I had more free time to things that really did make a difference.

Last of all, ask yourself just why you are rushing so much. Why do you need to be so busy all the time? This question could bring up the real reason, if you think about it for a while. Perhaps you are trying to avoid dealing with other issues in your life. Perhaps there is someone or something that you don’t want to deal with and busyness is your excuse for not dealing with it.

Life is busy for everyone. Take time to assess your busy life and see if there is something you can do to slow down. Perhaps you love being busy and thrive on it. If so don’t worry about it, but in that case don’t complain about it either.

If being busy doesn’t make you happy, then slow down now. Assess the situation and find ways to deal with all the rushing and figure out a new approach.

Learn more coaching strategies as a gold member of the “Wake Up Club http://www.davidjsalmon.co.uk/blog/?page_id=1521

Although it has been officially announced that the UK is out of the recession, one property expert still believes that the British housing market is set to see a “second credit crunch”.

Graham Norwood, writing for the Independent, states: “Last year saw a surprise ‘boomlet’ in the market - but now a second credit crunch that could send property values into a new tailspin is looming.”

He says that a number of factors have led him to this conclusion - the first being that according to the British Bankers Association, mortgage lending in January dropped to an eight-and-a-half year low.

Mr Norwood adds that he thinks the majority of home loan demand that was seen towards the latter part of 2009 came from first-time buyers who were hoping to take advantage of the government’s stamp duty holiday, suggesting that the housing market had not recovered to the extent that many analysts thought it had.

Furthermore, he explains that the recent rise in house prices has been seen in relatively wealthy areas with the rest of the country not following suit and he expects the post-election climate to further weaken the UK property market.

Timothy Lambert, head of consulting at Ducalian, recently advised that mortgage lending is likely to decline over the coming months as confidence in the housing sector will take some time to recover.

Divide Your Day Into Compartments

‘Compartmentalize’ means separating things into distinct parts. I love the fact that it contains the word ‘mental’ within it. I’ve realized that it is important to separate out what we are doing. Dividing up our mental tasks and doing them one at a time makes a big difference in both quality and time efficiency. When we are used to multi-tasking it isn’t easy to start doing just one thing at a time but it is worth the effort.

It is supposed to be impossible to do two cognitive things at the same time. Any conscious intellectual activity is a cognitive thing. I’ve always thought that I was skilled at doing two things at once, but what I’ve realized is that multi-tasking divides my attention, so that none of the things are being done to the level of quality that I need. With my attention divided it also takes longer to do everything, because time is wasted flicking from one thing to the other. To get things done and done well, the secret is to compartmentalize and do one thing at a time with your full focus engaged on it.

One way to do this is to divide up your day into separate tasks. Plan what you will do hour by hour. Instead of flitting around your to do list and doing a bit here and a bit there, allocate time to each task. This project needs one full hour. Fifteen minutes spent here making phone calls. Another one hour block on another project. Half an hour allocated to answering e-mails. By compartmentalizing the day, each thing gets done more efficiently and in the end you get more done. You can focus fully on each thing without distractions.

Before I learned this technique I’d find myself with several unfinished projects on my desk at the end of the day. I’d have been distracted by answering just one e-mail, would start on one thing without finishing the first. Life doesn’t always fit neatly into compartments but by creating this structure you give yourself a better chance of getting things done well and even have time left over to deal with the unexpected things that crop up.

To compartmentalize effectively you have to think about what works best for you and your work situation. For me dividing the day into hour segments works well. One project might require two segments, another might not take a whole one and will leave free time to fit in some extra phone calls and write an e-mail. I build in extra time to allow for the unexpected. This structure actually creates a lot of freedom. I no longer try to do everything at one and I achieve more by the end of the day. It is also far less stressful.

Learn about the Mastermind of Property at the “PropertyCompanionsClub

http://www.propertycompanionsclub.co.uk/

Buy-to-let landlords in the UK should ensure that they carefully read estate agents’ contracts before signing anything, one expert has advised.

Tom Entwistle, director at LandlordZONE, said that the onus is on the landlords to make sure that they are aware of what they are agreeing to.

His comments come in response to a recent Office of Fair Trading (OFT) ruling against Foxtons estate agents, which found that the company’s renewal commission terms were “not transparent” and “unfair”.

The OFT has said that this ruling should act as a warning to other agents who may be charging incorrect fees to landlords.

Mr Entwistle commented that such a move is a “welcome development” for landlords.

“It is patently unfair to hide onerous conditions and charges in the small print of contracts,” he added.

David Salusbury, chairman of the National Landlords Association, responded to the ruling by calling for letting agent renewal fees to be scrapped altogether.