Smile for What it’s Worth

Don’t underestimate the value of a smile. Literally.

A study of recent MBA graduates found that optimistic people get hired more quickly than their less-optimistic peers. Plus happy workers were more likely to get promoted.

Whether at work or in your personal life, wouldn’t you rather deal with happy people than unhappy people? The notion is quite universal. Even pessimists prefer optimists.

Vicky Oliver’s latest book, “The Millionaire’s Handbook”

“Being happy on the job improves your reputation,” says author Vicky Oliver. “Optimism also makes you more resilient, able to adapt to new situations, and solve problems faster. Happy employees get better feedback from bosses and peers. And they enjoy more job satisfaction because work doesn’t feel boring, difficult, or unpleasant.”

Oliver, an image consultant in Manhattan, is the author of five bestselling books on personal branding, etiquette, and career development, including her latest, “The Millionaire’s Handbook: How to Look and Act Like a Millionaire Even If You’re Not.”

In this video, another happiness professional, Gretchen Rubin, gives advice on how she, and you, can find contentment in everyday life.

Here are four tips from Oliver on how to put on a happy face at work and smile all the way to the bank:

1. Wear your “rose colored glasses” to work. For every disappointment, find a lesson. Try to see a positive aspect in situations that don’t turn out the way you intend. For example, maybe you didn’t get the job, but you got your foot in the door at the company, making it easier to go back next time. Maybe you didn’t talk to the most important person at the cocktail party, but you talked to the second most important person.

2. Pepper your language with upbeat words and phrases. Words have a powerful, subliminal effect on others’ moods and impressions. Bosses and coworkers love dealing with pleasant, positive people. It’s easy to jazz up routine exchanges by adding words that convey a happy mood and upbeat energy. So, “I’d be delighted to” is much better than “Sure.”

3. Give yourself a daily pep talk. Write down 10 statements you’d tell your best friend if she suffered a career setback. For example, “You did the best you could,” or “Mistakes are great ways to learn.” When you don’t get the praise you deserve from an irascible boss, tell yourself, “That’s his problem, not mine.”

4. If you feel a complaint coming on, zip it. Complaining makes you feel worse, and it makes others around you feel worse too. Just as happiness is contagious, so is negativity. If you can’t figure out a way to say something constructive about a problem or challenge, then keep quiet. People who act positive are perceived as being positive.

Despite what you’re feeling, in the end just acting cheerful in the face of challenges will do great things for your career and professional reputation.

 

Passion in the Public Sector

The last few years have proven difficult for the public sector. Falling public employment has been among the largest contributors to lingering unemployment in the United States since the end of the 2008 recession.

Tight budgets have forced a number of difficult decisions on policymakers and nonprofit leaders who have been forced to lay off public service workers in order to meet their monetary constraints. Although salaries often trailed the private sector, in the past the public service sector was able to attract talented employees with the promises of job stability, great benefits, and opportunities for advancement.

Recently, a study titled, the “Inspiring Excellence in the Future of Public Service” from The Centre for Organization Effectiveness, was conducted in alliance with UC San Diego Extension to uncover what brought people into the public sector in the first place and what’s changed in the landscape of serving the public.

This is the sector broadly defined as government (all levels), nonprofits, non-government organizations (NGOs), international development and education. More than 200 individual interviews and focus groups were conducted within more than 30 organizations representing state, county, and city agencies as well as municipalities and universities throughout California. Participants in the study ranged from graduate students to seasoned and retired public sector employees at all levels.

The Centre for Organization Effectiveness study reports that despite the economic challenges, workers are still attracted to public service. But, because job security and stability are not the draw they once were, study participants believe future public service employees will choose the field for other reasons.

For years, employees joined public service to make a difference and improve communities and in turn received job stability and benefits. A new generation of recent and mid-level college graduates are still choosing careers in public service because of a desire to do public good even though much of that job stability is diminishing.

The report noted there is a sense of idealism and a strong desire to contribute something significant and make an impact. Many public sector employees work in fields where they provide health care, maintain state and local infrastructure, provide protective services, and help educate the next generation of workers.

The majority of participants chose the public service career path because they felt compelled to serve people, their communities, and those in need of representation. Those drawn to public service were motivated by an overwhelming need to give back, to work for the greater good, and to make a difference with the work they do.

For a recap of the research, visit http://tcfoe.com/pdf/ResearchSummaryFinal.pdf

Health Care Needs Lawyers

In recent years, federal and state legislators have focused on public health care policy. As a result, health care providers, pharmaceutical companies, health-insurance companies, and private public-interest firms need health law professionals to advocate on their behalf.

Legal and medical experts agree that health law is one of the fastest-growing areas of legal practice. Health care reform is just one of several reasons for growth in this sector. Additional reasons include more government regulation of health care, the rise of bioethical and biotechnology issues, tort reform related to malpractice, aging of the baby boomer generation, and the consequent growth of Medicare.

Government agencies at both the state and federal levels need health law professionals to develop program policies and to promulgate regulations. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the leading federal agency that formulates health care policy and regulations.

Primary settings for practicing health care law are nonprofit advocacy and public-interest organizations, hospitals, health services corporations, health administration and regulatory government agencies, and public-interest firms. For example, one nonprofit advocacy organization is the National Health Law Project (NHLP), which works to improve health care for the impoverished, uninsured, unemployed, minorities, elderly, and disabled. Nonprofit corporations are mostly comprised of hospitals and community clinics.

Specialization in health law is facilitated by a master’s degree, abbreviated LL.M., awarded to lawyers after receiving their law degree. LL.M. Health Law programs usually require an additional year of study. Integration of medical-legal issues spans a wide range of career interests, such as health-care administration, program and policy development, public health, biomedical and biotechnical research, and the pharmaceutical industry.

California Western School of Law and UC San Diego have joined forces to create a health law master’s degree program, as part of the Institute of Health Law Studies. According to their website, “We encourage our students to take courses in law at California Western School of Law, other graduate courses such as those in the Department of Political Science and the School of Medicine at UCSD, and public health courses at San Diego State University.”

For more information visit ihls.org

Employment of all lawyers, not just those in health care, is expected to grow about 14 percent in the coming decade, primarily as a result of growth in the population and in the general level of business activities. Job growth among lawyers will also result from increasing demand for legal services in not just health care, but in such areas as intellectual property, venture capital, energy, elder, antitrust, and environmental law.

Going Green is the New Gold

Green is the gold standard in modern business, as industry leaders look for new and improved ways to implement sustainable strategies into their day-to-day operations.

The green economy is growing and includes 3.1 million jobs in America, according to a recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. California had the highest amount with 338,400, followed by New York (248,500) and Texas (229,700). The report noted that manufacturing hires in the green economy account for nearly 500,000 jobs, “the most among any private sector industry,” according to BLS.

So what exactly does it mean to go green? For business, going green means changing the way you provide products and services to reduce the negative impact to the earth. It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the concepts of climate change, environmentally sustainable (renewable) resources and being held accountable for the human resource aspects of your activities.

For many companies, green is a journey, not a destination. To help with the decisions along the way, UC San Diego Extension offers a Sustainable Business Practices certificate that focuses on the new three Rs of green jobs: reduce, reuse and recycle.

“No matter what your industry or area of expertise, there are various steps you can take to reduce the negative impact of your business on the environment,” says Vicki Krantz, assistant dean at UC San Diego Extension. “We see sustainability as the marriage of wanting to be good stewards of the planet and making a profit.”

San Diego State University’s College of Extended Studies continues to create job training and education for the green workforce with its four green-related online certificate programs. They include Green Building Construction, Green Energy Management, Residential and Commercial Sustainable Practices, and Water Management and Landscape Sustainability.

For more information on the green programs offered through SDSU, visit www.NeverStopLearning.net/green or email wevers@mail.sdsu.edu.

OSHA Training Institute Celebrates 20 Years of Preventing Workplace Tragedies

By Scott MacKay

The majority of Americans heading to work in the morning look forward to their return home at the end of the day. Yet as recently as the 1970s, as many as thirty-eight people that went to work each day never came home. The significant number of workers being killed and injured on the job in America in 1970 was a little known national tragedy.

But here is a more encouraging statistic: Since 1970, workplace fatalities have been reduced by more than 65 percent and occupational injury and illness rates have declined by 67 percent. More impressive yet, U.S. employment almost doubled during this same period.

What changed? Thankfully, the nation rallied to the defense of its workers. The creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), passed with bipartisan support in 1970, represented an historic moment in national reform. Since then, OSHA and its state partners— teamed with the efforts of employers, safety and health professionals, unions and advocates—have had a dramatic effect on workplace safety.

Fatality and injury rates have dropped markedly. By 1992, the number was down to seventeen a day, but that was still seventeen too many. Another milestone occurred that year when the U.S. Department of Labor established the OSHA Training Institute at UC San Diego Extension, one of the four original Occupational Training and Education Centers in the United States.

The further reduction of workplace death and injuries over the past twenty years coincides with the development of the prototype OSHA training programs that began on the UC San Diego campus and expanded nationally. The aim was to provide both experienced and newer safety professionals important workplace knowledge and practical experience regarding safety and safety standards.

At UC San Diego Extension, we continue to offer high quality, standards-based OSHA training in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii. In the past two decades we trained many thousands of safety and health professionals who attended our courses and earned our Professional Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health.

Extension’s programs address the big safety issues. For example, the four leading causes of worker deaths on construction sites are falls, followed by electrocution, struck by object, and caught in-between. These “Fatal Four” were responsible for nearly three out of five (57 percent) construction worker deaths in 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The American workforce now includes over 130 million workers at more than 7.2 million worksites. Since the passage of the OSH Act of 1970, the rate of reported serious workplace injuries and illnesses has declined from 11 per 100 workers to 3.6 per 100 workers.

“Every day in America, thirteen people go to work and never come home. Every year in America, nearly four million people suffer a workplace injury from which some may never recover,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis in an April 2012 speech. “These are preventable tragedies that disable our workers, devastate our families, and damage our economy.”

Safety in the workplace has improved since the 1970s but there is more to be done. Training the safety trainers is a proven strategy for getting more workers home safely. UC San Diego Extension continues to make helping workers and their families avoid workplace tragedy its number one job.

—Scott MacKay is the director of the OSHA Training Institute Education Center and Resuscitation Science at UC San Diego Extension.

Pros Needed to Manage Drugs and Device Approvals

Seventy five years ago, a newly enacted U.S. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act subjected new drugs to pre-market safety evaluation for the first time. This ushered in the need for professionals to manage the regulatory approval process for drugs, medical devices and diagnostics industries.

This industry has only continued to grow, and to help provide a talent pool of trained professionals, SDSU is offering a Master of Science in Regulatory Affairs degree. This program provides a comprehensive background in regulatory science with the additional training and experience required of regulatory affairs professionals to address federal and state regulatory statutes and laws with emphasis on the FDA.

The degree offering focuses on laws and regulations put into effect by the Federal government, especially the FDA, related to drug discovery, development, testing, and manufacture of products for commercial distribution. Also included are requirements for ongoing post-marketing surveillance. The M.S. in Regulatory Affairs is offered by SDSU’s College of Extended Studies and The Center for Bio/Pharmaceutical and Biodevice Development (CBBD).

As another option for a related post baccalaureate credential, UCSD Extension offers a Regulatory Affairs Essentials Certificate. Provided as an introduction to the field, this program was developed from increasing demand in the local biotech community. The program, which has been in place for many years, has helped a number of research scientists find new thriving careers in the drug development arena.

SDSU also offers an Advanced Certificate in Regulatory Affairs that involves the completion of four required online courses. This program focuses on good manufacturing processes, laws, and regulations mandated by major governmental regulatory agencies, specifically the FDA and European Medicines Agency.

Henry DeVries, assistant dean for external affairs at UC San Diego Extension, is co-author of the books “Closing America’s Job Gap” and “How to Close a Deal Like Warren Buffett,” provides career tips on CW6 television morning news and can be contacted at hdevries@ucsd.edu or followed on Twitter @goodjobs_forall.

Improving the New Clinical Trials Frontier

Over the last decade rising global public health issues such as diabetes and obesity have had pharmaceutical and biotech companies, as well as physicians, racing to improve drugs and devices for patients. This healthy competition has given the globalization of clinical trials a big boost, and is fueling aggressive initiative in regions around the world. Recognition of stringent international guidelines is helping the global clinical trials industry surge forward, particularly in Latin America.

Latin America is a magnet in the world of international clinical trials.  Qualified professionals and clinical research personnel from this region are constantly recruiting patients for clinical trials for new medication and devices working to reduce the prevalence of diabetes, obesity, cancer and cardiovascular disease rates.  And, there continues to be challenges for clinical trials in Latin America, such as coordination between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), International Code of Harmonization (ICH) and local regulatory-harmonization guidelines, issues of transparency and accountability, adoption of electronic data capture, ethical review board surveillance, and the need for continuous professional education.

“In terms of regulatory issues it’s important that Latin America understand the need to have harmonizing practices from the two biggest regulatory agencies in the industry — the FDA and the ICH, which say how clinical trials are performed,” said Dr. Leonel Villa-Caballero, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, Director, Clinical Trials in Latin America program for UC San Diego Extension.

The information and knowledge collected from studies performed in the Latin American region could also benefit some of the patient recruitment strategies on U.S. soil.  For example, there is a strong need for cultural competence among all researchers and clinicians who interact with Latino patients, according to Dr. Villa-Caballero. “Clinical and research professionals throughout the Spanish-speaking, and English-speaking world should be cognizant of cultural nuances in order to be sensitive to all patient needs during clinical trial recruitment as well as during and after trial completion.” “This will ensure a practical and appropriate adaptation to a particular region’s health as well as a culturally competent approach to research and honors the rights of individual patients”, Villa-Caballero further notes.

A clinical trials workforce in Latin America that respects the principles of cultural competence and ethical integrity, scientific innovation, biotech-pharmaceutical collaboration and academic excellence is the ideal situation.  Advanced professional education is a foundation of that goal: “There is a need for adequate education and scientific knowledge among health professionals trying to participate in clinical trials in Latin America,” Villa-Caballero said. “Both highly experienced and novice investigators would benefit from a program that reviews essential topics such as good clinical practices, ethics, monitoring and regulatory aspects in clinical trials that is tailored for the Latin American audience and offers hands-on experience that can be put to use in the workplace immediately.”

In addition, networking among private, public and academic healthcare institutions throughout Latin America, and if appropriate in collaboration with academic healthcare institutions in the United States, would enhance clinical trials in the region.

“We all can learn from one another, and approaches and results from trials world-wide, particularly in Latin America, need to be shared,” according to Villa-Caballero.  Building a “virtuous” cycle of clinical trials design, management and administration in Latin America is important.  This cycle includes trained and qualified personnel-sites which in turn encourage fast turnaround for new drug applications based on clear FDA inspections and audits, which constantly improve quality for a higher number of clinical trials revenues and productivity, which then offer the need for a more highly trained workforce…and the cycle continues.

Rigorous, academically-based professional education is the underpinning of this workforce.  Whether that education is in person, online, or a hybrid, it should offer practical, case-based learning from seasoned clinical and research professionals who have had experience in international clinical trials and can clearly explain all issues related to the drug development process, Good Clinical Practices (GCP), working with Contract Research Organizations (CRO’s), monitoring clinical trials, Institutional Review Boards (IRB’s), ethics, patient recruitment, starting a new clinical site, and regulatory practices appropriate for each country in Latin America.

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 Dr. Leonel Villa-Caballero, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, is the Director of the Clinical Trials in Latin America certificate program at UC San Diego Extension – a program focused on the Latin American region and presented entirely in Spanish. He is a physician and clinical researcher with a background in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology-Metabolism and Public Health. He has worked as Investigator and Co-Investigator in clinical research studies in the United States and Mexico and is currently a researcher in Family and Preventive Medicine at the UCSD School of Medicine. His interests are in diabetes, obesity and cancer prevention, particularly in using culturally-appropriate interventions for English and Spanish-speaking Latinos living in the United States. Dr Villa–Caballero has also served as advisor for private pharmaceutical companies in the areas of diabetes, obesity and cultural competency.

Becoming a Stronger Medical School Applicant

Getting into medical school is very difficult – and only getting more so.

Yet, people with a passion for medicine will leave no stone unturned in their effort to get accepted.  Savvy college grads are turning to Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Medical programs, better known as Post-Bac programs to help them become the most attractive medical school candidates they can be.

Post-Bac programs are generally of two types:  the most prevalent type is for career changers, i.e., for those who’ve majored in something other than pre-med.  These grads typically have little or none of the essential biology classes that would demonstrate their ability to succeed in medical school. Thus, Post-Bacs that target career-changers provide a rigorous pre-med program to help participants do just that.  Bryn Mawr, Goucher College, Columbia University and USC are just a few universities that offer career changer programs.  Students who have already taken the MCAT, a pre-medical undergraduate program or have already applied to medical school are frequently ineligible for these programs.

The other type of Post-Bac program targets record enhancers.  These are students who did take a full pre-med program in college or who graduated with a degree in a science-related discipline but whose grades are not strong enough to make them a competitive medical school applicant.  Thus, record enhancer programs offer rigorous science curricula, giving students a second chance to show admissions committees that they can succeed in medical school.  UC San Diego and UC Berkeley offer record enhancement programs.

Both kinds of programs have admission standards for applicants and application processes.  Both offer MCAT preparation, the entrance test for medical school, as well as medical school application support.

Some programs accept a lot of students, using rolling admissions while others offer a tight, cohort-based learning community. Potential students should frankly assess the kind of learner they are: self-starters who prefer to go it alone or those who appreciate the esprit de corps and structure of a cohort.  This becomes especially important when considering the intensity of the program.  One-year programs are full-time and intensive.  Some programs are part-time and can take up to four years to complete yet enable students to work concurrently with their studies.

The success of either kind of Post-Bac program depends entirely on the success of their students, i.e., their acceptance rate into medical school.  Goucher College in Baltimore cites a 99.7% acceptance rate while Columbia in New York City publishes a 90% acceptance rate.  Some programs have formal “linkages” where Post-Bac students who maintain a certain grade average and MCAT score are accepted to a given medical school immediately after completion of the program.  Students accepted through these linkages are obligated to attend the medical school that has accepted them in advance.  Other programs encourage a “glide year” wherein students continue to enhance their portfolios through relevant employment, community service and/or research before starting medical school the year after completing the Post-Bac.

People with the commitment, motivation, and desire to become a doctor but who need additional preparation to demonstrate their worthiness for the limited number of seats available can learn more about Post-Bac programs at the American Association of Medical Colleges website at services.aamc.org/postbac.

The UC San Diego Post-bac program application deadline is January 15, 2013. Further information about the program and an application can be found at PostBacPreMed.ucsd.edu.

Author Leslie K. Bruce, JD  currently serves as Director of Healthcare Leadership and Community Outreach for UC San Diego Extension where, in addition to teaching advocacy and healthcare leadership courses, she manages the Healthcare Information Technology Certificate program and was instrumental in creating the UCSD Post Baccalaureate Premedical Program through a partnership with the UC San Diego School of Medicine and in collaboration with the UC San Diego Division of Biological Sciences.

Prior to working at UC San Diego Extension, Bruce served as Director of Government and Community Relations for the Health Sciences at UC San Diego and at Sharp HealthCare. She began her career working for a member of the California Legislature. A compulsive activist, she serves as Chair of the Development Board for Family Health Centers of San Diego, the region’s largest family of community clinics and as Communications Chair for the Citizens Oversight Committee for Proposition S and N Funds for the San Diego Community College District.

The Quiet Revolution: Local, Organic, Sustainable Food in San Diego

By Erin Rempala

America is undergoing a quiet revolution in the way we think of food-production and land use. It’s a revolution called urban farming. From tiny backyard garden plots, to community gardens on former vacant lots, to rooftops on Manhattan high-rises, to the lawn of the White House, Americans are reconsidering the idea of growing healthy, chemical-free, tasty organic food right in their own neighborhoods.

Some people come to this revolution because there is no convenient source of quality, organic food in their urban area (such areas, which are especially common in economically distressed neighborhoods, are called food deserts). Others come to it because they realize that the mass-produced food they find in their local supermarkets simply lacks flavor. Others become interested because of the social implications of locally-produced, healthy food—they ask how should we plan our cities so that healthy food can be available to everyone (a concept known as food justice)—how disadvantaged social groups can be made into cohesive social units through shared community gardens, what role farmer’s markets can play in giving a neighborhood a sense of identity, and what environmental benefits come from local food production and distribution.

Purchasing local food helps the local economy, helps the farmer, and reduces the environmental damage incurred in industrial agriculture and in transporting food long distances—the average distance that that “fresh” tomato you see on the grocery store shelf has traveled from farm to store is 1500 miles!  Food that is produced locally is fresher—most likely having been picked within a day or two—and as a result of being allowed to fully ripen before being picked, actually contains more nutrients.  Today, one of the most well known sources of local food is farmer’s markets. More than 4000 formal farmer’s markets—and many more thousands of informal neighborhood co-ops and community supported agriculture drop-off locations—now exist in the US.  These markets and collectives supply local produce from approximately 50,000 farmers.

I like good food, and at some point in the early 2000s, because I already was interested in conservation and eating healthy, I discovered organic food.  Last year, I lived in an integrated neighborhood in Boston, a big East Coast city that is, surprisingly, a food desert. Many of the people in my neighborhood had to take buses to get to the nearest grocery store, miles away. Tired after a long day’s work and family responsibilities, they found themselves eating convenient foods—fast foods and processed foods. San Diego is less of a food desert than Boston, but still in many areas access to good food is limited.

Over the years, as grocery stores have followed people to the suburbs, food stores in many cities, such as a Detroit and New Haven, started closing down in droves. Even cities such as San Diego, which has a wealth of grocery stores and food options, have neighborhoods—such as City Heights and southeast San Diego—where fast food and liquor stores greatly outnumber grocery stores. Improving access for everyone to healthy food is one of many reasons why locally grown, sustainable food is increasingly important. We urgently need more sustainable outlets for organically and locally grown food to serve populations that typically don’t have access to them.

Another mechanism to increase the availability of good food in a community—and to increase community cohesiveness—is to develop community gardens, such as the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) New Roots Community Farm and Aqua Farm, where members of the community can rent a plot for a nominal fee and grow their own food.  Community gardens are particularly useful if you live in an apartment or rent a house where you are unable to grow food in your yard.  Novice urban farmers can learn from others at the community garden. Here in San Diego, there are sustainable urban agriculture workshops, and a few universities and colleges are offering courses and training programs to educate young and old alike on how to grow fresh, organic produce at home.

This is why locally grown, sustainable food and urban gardening has gained so much momentum as a social movement. With improved access comes improved nutrition, which translates to better health. The challenge is to bring us back to the land, get our hands in the soil, and reconnect with our creative selves to imagine what is possible within a city setting.

Spend your summer learning more about urban farming from local expert Erin Rempala in her Summer 2012 course, Paradise Found: Local, Organic, Sustainable Food in San Diego County starting July 7.

Quiz: Is My Career Right For Me?

By Will Marre

Research confirms that your career is the cornerstone of your personal well-being. Yet sadly less than two in ten people are fully engaged with their work.

Take this short, 10-question quiz to see if your career is right for you. This spring’s new course, “How Your Unique Design Will Help You Reboot Your Career,”  course could transform your life.

Discover where to invest your time and energy to attain your best future.

Quiz:

1. Do you find yourself looking forward to going to work?
   Yes, frequently
   No or very rarely

2. Do you consistently engage yourself in new activities that make your work more fulfilling and enjoyable?
   Yes, every week or every other week
   No or very rarely

3. Do you work with good friends that you trust and encourage you?
   Yes
   No, not really

4. Are you actively developing your strengths and talents to get more out of work and life?
   Yes, consistently
   No

5. Do you have a low stress work style that is enjoyable in terms of its pace, variety, and growth?
   Yes, usually
   No, rarely

6. Do you usually have high energy and feel fit and healthy?
   Yes, usually
   No, not as often as I’d like

7. Are you in a highly satisfying relationship with your boss that makes you feel valued and affirmed?
   Yes
   No

8. Are you frequently coming up with and taking action on new, creative ideas to make both your work and your life better?
   Yes, frequently
   No, rarely

9. Are you clear that the career you’re investing yourself in is the right one for you?
   Yes, I am clear and happy
   No, I often wonder about it

10. Do you have an excellent coach or expert friend that helps you make great decisions about your work and your life?
    Yes, I talk to him/her every week
    No, I try to figure it out on my own

Score:
# No
# Yes

This quiz is based on the forces of the new science of Life Harmony, which studies human thriving when our careers, relationships, and lifestyle are aligned.

Understanding Your Score

• If your Yes score is 9 or above: Congratulations.  You are in the top 10% of people who are thriving in their work and consistently taking action to keep their life progressing in a fulfilling and rewarding direction. Why you should take the class: As a hungry learner your thirst for development will be maximized by the quick and efficient tips, techniques, and insights you will receive over three fast paced sessions.  And you will likely enjoy encouraging and inspiring others to achieve what you’re achieving.
• If your Yes score is 7 or 8: Be encouraged.  You are very close to having self-inspiring career.  Your score means you have a lot of things right and just a series of small, consistent changes may add up to a big change in how you feel about your career.  Your score may reveal a certain area you can focus on that the new skills and science based know-how that you will learn from the course will help you conquer.  You are close.  Join us.
• If your Yes score is 6 or below: You are a member of a very big club of the vast majority of people who are suffering every day with stress and uncertainty wondering what to do.  Our “Reboot” course is designed to free you from the little, invisible mistakes you are likely making and give you the power to change your work, improve your performance, and remodel your career into a more fulfilling, and enjoyable one virtually every day.  Our Career Center is a growing community of people just like you that are making positive, life-fulfilling changes every day.  There will never be a better time to free yourself from whatever is in your way.

Will Marre’s next class, “How Your Unique Design Will Help You Reboot Your Career,” begins Thursday, April 12th from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at UCSD Extension University City Center, 6256 Greenwich Dr., San Diego.  The class meets three times (4/12, 4/23 and 5/7).  Fee is $95, and includes eight assessments. Parking is free.

Will Marré is the co-founder and former president of the Covey Leadership Center where he translated the concepts of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People into powerful leadership courses taught to millions of executives worldwide.   Today Will is an evangelist of socially strategic enterprise that transforms Corporate Social Responsibility into Corporate Social Opportunity. Will is founder and CEO of ThoughtRocket, a learning community systematically designed to center your life around your personal purpose so that you have enriching work, fulfilling relationships, and a lifestyle of full engagement. Read more about Will

UC San Diego Extension’s Center for Life/Work Strategies is a nexus of resources to help professionals manage their short and long-term career paths. As the job market has fundamentally changed, so must the way in which people approach their employment—it’s up to individuals to understand and build upon their strengths and develop a plan to meet their career goals.  Workshops, assessments, coaching and online careers resources are available at extension.ucsd.edu/careers.