The Hierarchy of Habits

The Hierarchy of Job Hunting Habits

            Rarely are there exceptions, however, the following represent critical job-searching issues for which there should be zero exceptions. Break them at your peril.

            The single most important factor in job hunting is your eating habits. What you consume directly affects your mental processing ability, including the ability to concentrate and remain focused, attitude and outlook, mental energy level, physical appearance and health status.

            When you walk in to be interviewed, sure employers want to know about your skill level and qualifications, but what they visually discern shouts volumes. Yes it is possible to conceal a few pounds, but hit that plus scale, and an interview could turn south. There are no excuses you can offer to explain away a poor impression.

            Have you ever observed someone driving a piece of junk down the road? What is the first thing that pops into your mind? “Poor soul probably doesn’t have two nickels to rub together.” In span of a split second, an opinion was formed. It would not matter if the individual had $20 million in the bank. 

            Job recruiters are no exception. Just like you, they make snap judgments based upon your appearance. Yes, you can slap on a fresh coat of paint and clean the windows, but if your chasse appears out of shape, it will be mentally noted. Just because they don’t make comment should not be construed that it is not important.

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            The next issue on the hierarchy of bad habits is lack of cardiovascular and strength exercise. The reason for placing this second is because all the exercise in the world will not offset poor eating habits. Exercise will, however, increase your physical stamina and appearance. Interviewing is a high-stress producing activity. 

You may very well be able to endure a 20 or 30 minute interview. Should that activity stretch into an hour-long examination, large segments of the population begin falling apart. Successful interviewing demands physical stamina. 

You do not have to enroll in the iron-man competition, but you do need to blend strenuous cardiovascular (primary) and strength (secondary) exercises for a minimum of 20 minutes per day. If you cannot sandwich a seven-day routine into a hectic work schedule, than you need to bump it up to 30 minutes five days a week. Increase the time duration as you reduce the days. Exercising less than 20 minutes and less than three days per week is not recommended.

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Finally, the third important issue is establishing and maintaining a job hunting routine. Merely flipping open the help wanted section or cruise the internet will not cut it. Every employment-seeking hostage on the planet uses that job-hunting strategy.

When we address a job-hunting routine, we are talking about maintaining a nine-to- five routine that involves a strategic action plan. On the front page of this blog, you will note near the top of the screen a Checklist option. You should print it for each interview and check-off each item as you go. 

If you are unemployed, invest a few hours each day reviewing potential job interviewing questions. Seven common interviewing questions appear in the Job Interviewing Tips article. But don’t stop there. Serious recruiters have endless thought-provoking questions designed to reveal your hidden talents—or, benign shortfalls.

Mindlessly walking into a job interview unprepared to respond to basic questions is like walking aimlessly through a minefield. When the landmine detonates, you will be cut of at the knees. On the other hand, relate your knowledge, skills and abilities to an employer’s specific needs quickly shift an interview into high gear. Plan to invest a few hours each day planning, rehearsing and researching.

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The culmination of your ability to implement these critically important elements (eating habits, exercise and game plan) will determine your results. Unless you were born into old money wealth and inherited a cash-rich company, there are no exceptions. For those in need of securing new employment, how you begin will determine how you will end.

Eating for Success

Eating for employment success

 by Robert James

Being smarter and healthier is a formidable challenge. The key to achieving job-hunting success can often amount to changing your eating habits. (This advice is far easier to give than to achieve.) You will need to remind yourself, “You are what you eat,” and whatever the food came in contact. When a food product has been exposed to harmful chemicals, deadly pesticides (i.e. Roundup), unnatural additives or addictive preservatives, those items are consumed when the food is eaten.

Most people consume vast amounts of fake food. Fake food may look like real food, but it is not. As a rule, fake food is highly processed. When overly processed, the natural nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and fiber are removed or destroyed. Artificially adding these items to a product rarely improves its nutritional value. Do not be fooled when a label tells you vitamin C or other minerals have been added. That is mass-marketing propaganda.

Because fake food tends to be convenient to eat, many people think it is just as safe to eat as real food. – Wrong! Fake food does not come with a warning label. We know, for example, that chemical additives and preservatives are the primary cause of attention deficit hyper-tension disorder (ADHD). We also know that high fructose corn syrup (made from genetically engineered corn) directly leads to a long list of serious health issues, or result in premature aging resulting in a shorter life expectancy.

The most common argument for not buying real food is that it is too expensive. When that argument is juxtaposed against the high cost of poorer health, shorter life expectancy and employment failure, the argument falls apart. Missing work for doctor visits, excessive illnesses, costly medications or taking time off due to not feeling well easily exceed the cost of real food.

Fast food—traditionally overloaded with high fructose corn syrup, coloring and preservatives—is not inexpensive, merely convenient. When convenience trumps interviewing and employment success you have a serious problem. The earlier you start changing poor eating habits, the better your odds in achieving success. The longer you delay the more serious and more difficult the process becomes.

If you are concerned about your health and chances for success, then try to observe the following seven-step eating strategy. The order of these suggestions on the following page is important. If you cannot observe every suggestion, then try to follow the first four. That way you will have at least made a positive step in the right direction.

Seven Eating Suggestions to observe	Reason(s) why
#1 Avoid all high fructose corn syrup products and genetically engineered soybean products.	Scientific studies show that consuming high fructose corn syrup leads to endless health issues. The short list includes: high blood pressure, lever failure, fatty liver disease, liver cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, overweight, hypertension and diabetes.
#2 Eat only real food – preferably organic if possible.	Real food spoils quickly—fake food does not. Fake food is easy to spot: The label contains a list of artificial chemicals, preservatives, coloring and additive you may have difficulty pronouncing.
#3 Avoid all advertised food products.	Supermarkets are cluttered with fake foods. If its advertised on television, it is not real. Usually, it is a blend of additives and chemical preservatives. There is no need to advertise real food.
#4 Buy certified organic or buy from Amish and local farmers markets.	What you need to do is avoid the nasty residue of Roundup, the worst insecticide on the planet. This chemical will kill anything except genetically modified corn and soybeans. Organic farmers do not use Roundup. Reminder, you are what you eat!
#5 If you cannot find a chemical-free product, then make it yourself.	Salad dressings, breads, and desserts are classic examples. You can make far superior foods than anything chemically mass-produced and over processed. Discover or learn about the benefits of making Green Smoothies. You’ll live healthier.
#6 Purify your drinking water twice using separate filtered containers. (Change filers regularly.)	Ohio drinking water is seriously contaminated. Years of endless dumping chemicals, insecticides and pesticides into the soil have seeped their way into ground water. Double filter your water to remove most of the harmful chemical and metals.
#7 Follow eating these foods from most to least: 1. Organic vegetables (5-8 servings daily) 2. Organic fruit (3-6 servings daily) 3. Organic whole grain products (2 servings daily) 4. Organic dairy and egg products (1 daily) 5. Wild ocean fish only (2-3 weekly) 6. Free-range poultry only (1-2 serving weekly) 7. Grass-fed meat only (1-2 serving week)	Forget dieting. Most diets don’t work. Those that do, only work for a few. Follow an eating strategy that works, and exercise regularly. Avoid inverting the order. Red meat should be consumed the least, while organic vegetables and fruit the most. Many fruits and vegetables can be blended into high energy Green Smoothies. Green Smoothies also boost the ability to concentrate, and reduce mid-morning lag.

A final word of caution: If you have significant health issues, you may need to consult a progressive-minded physician—preferably one who possesses a background in nutrition and holistic medicine. A progressive-minded physician is defined as a medical doctor who understands that not all medical issues are successfully treated or cured solely with synthetic drugs. 

Watch What You Eat

You Are What You Eat

Entertainer, Bill Cosby, once wrote, “I am what I ate, and I am frightened!” He should have used horrified instead.

What you mindlessly eat directly affects your mental state, which in turn, affects your job-hunting performance. Job hunting and effectively interviewing is challenging, even for experienced job hunters. Eating the wrong things complicates your task.

Throughout most of my postings, an effort is made to remain politically neutral. Should the following contain a political overtone, it was not intended. The focus of this is to provide usable information in a straightforward manner.

Providing unvarnished reality necessitates treading on sensitive issues. The food one stuffs in one’s mouth is one of them. At this juncture, you may be asking yourself, how can the food one eats be a significant job- interviewing issue?

Next to oil and gas, the agro-chemical industry maintains an aggressive and powerful lobby inside the DC beltway. There is a wealth of information available on the hidden dangers surrounding the dismal state of our nation’s food supply. That information, however, rarely seems to reach the humble masses.

One of the realities regarding food—particularly mindlessly eaten food, is that most of it is not real, but rather food-like. Food-like products are often confused with real food. Real food, however, spoils quickly, and does not contain additives, chemicals and preservatives to keep it edible. Those added ingredients can slow you down mentally and physically, as well as present a gradual life-threatening hazard.

How and why did this happen?

A quick history lesson: Back when Fidel Castro came to power, Cuba was our main supplier of cheap cane sugar. We declared him an enemy, and our supply of cheap sugar abruptly dried up. Corporate America decided we needed a cheap replacement, and invented sugar substitutes like Aspartame and Saccharin. In less than 10 years, the FDA realized these substitute chemical sweeteners caused cancer.

The agro-chemical industry went back to their research labs. They discovered that corn was in abundant supply. The problem with real corn, however, is that it cannot withstand harsh chemical pesticides. The decision was made to see if corn and soybeans could be genetically modified to withstand such chemicals. These modify foods are better known as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).

Once genetically modified, the corn is processed into high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)—concentrated sugar! The nation’s sugar problem was solved—sort of. The agro-chemical companies promote this as: Hey folks, it’s only sugar.

What they conveniently fail to inform you is that once HFCS chemically combines with saturated fat, it transforms itself into a mentally addictive substance that rivals heroine. It also contains ever-so-slight amounts of the deadly pesticides Roundup.

The good news is that GMO corn can withstand Roundup. The not so good news is that Roundup, while it is genetically engineered not to kill GMO corn, it will kill everything else. Corn is a food with many crevasses. Roundup cannot be easily rinsed away. Ever-so-slight amounts of dangerous pesticide residue get left behind. When it is consumed, it does not automatically pass through your system.

Minuscule traces of Roundup in your diet will not kill you immediately. Your demise will come gradually in the form of liver cancer, fatty liver disease, liver failure, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity or Metabolic syndrome, which is a combination of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood sugar. 


It literally boils down to picking your HFCS poison. Best advice from knowledgeable doctors is to avoid all high concentrated sugar products entirely.

FDA officials know this. They also know that if they sound the alarm whistle too loudly, their career days are over. The agro-chemical industry will bankroll whatever it takes to separate whistleblowers from their employment.

Within nine months of switching to real food, which means avoiding high fructose corn syrup products, my weight dropped 30 pounds, triglycerides plummeted to an insignificant level, blood pressure dropped to 117/80, the bad cholesterol dropped, my BMI fell to 22.5, and arthritis disappeared. The only things that skyrocketed were my mental energy and good cholesterol levels.

Best advice: Be very mindful of what you eat. You may have only a few shots for the positions you desire. If you experience an inability to remain lazar focused—especially during a job interview, look to the foods you are consuming.