Negotiation skills apply to almost all elements of your personal and professional life. From career and salary to health and relationships, the science of negotiation is a powerful asset when it comes to investing in yourself.
Undergoing training in negotiation can set you up for success by endowing you with the tools you need to make the life changes you want to see. Negotiations.com teaches practical techniques to navigate real-life situations. These techniques come in handy across many life situations. Just as it’s useful to set goals regularly, you’ll get more out of your training by thinking about your aims beforehand.
Here are some tips for negotiating a new you:
Negotiate Your Next Promotion
If your career has become stagnant, use negotiation training skills to leverage that long-overdue promotion. With increased responsibilities and duties, and perhaps a paycheck to match, a promotion can give you a new lease of life.
Business Insider suggests that key elements to negotiating a promotion are data-driven requests that showcase your value. Sticking with the facts and leaving emotions aside is the path advocated by most negotiation training facilitators.
Negotiation Practices to Consider:
- Prepare as much as you can before the meeting.
- Conduct research and prepare to present hard facts.
- Take context and the state of your company into consideration.
- Leave emotions aside.
- Be bold and highlight your value to the company.
- Be professional and focus on the win-win.
“The most difficult thing in any negotiation, almost, is making sure that you strip it of the emotion and deal with the facts,” said Howard Baker, former White House Chief of Staff and U.S. Senator.
Secure More Vacation Time
Free time and downtime are precious commodities when it comes to self-development, so it’s important to receive enough paid vacation time.
“One HR person I spoke to says she’s seen one and even two additional weeks of vacation time given to people her company really wants,” says Joe Robinson of The Huffington Post.
Negotiating more vacation time when starting a new job is a smart practice. However, what if you like where you work and are staying put?
Find the time you need to unplug from the daily grind and reboot with these fantastic vacation-netting ideas to present to your boss:
- Begin a mentorship program in your department. This not only works to increase office morale but also allows you to slip away for longer and not leave your work unattended.
- Accumulate vacation time. Working the occasional extra hour in the evenings and on weekends can add up, allowing you to take leave as time off in lieu.
- Show your boss the value of a vacation. Requesting an extra week could be beneficial for productivity upon your return. Highlighting this fact to your boss may get you that extra vacation time.
- Take unpaid leave. Unpaid leave may hurt your vacation budget a bit, but planning for it all year long can make it manageable.
Health and Fitness Negotiation
Negotiation trainers teach that not all negotiations happen in the boardroom. In fact, there are many instances in life when you are simply negotiating with yourself against your own doubts and fears.
Self-negotiation is certainly true when it comes to your health and fitness. Want to shed that spare tire, or run a marathon? It’s important to train yourself mentally as much as physically by listing your goals. Setting goals is a key part of securing a successful outcome.
Here are four powerful steps you can employ for the new healthier and happier you:
Define Goals and Objectives
From nutrition to the treadmill, it’s crucial to define your health and fitness goals clearly. It’s important to set goals that stretch you beyond your comfort zone but that are still realistic. Setting realistic goals incrementally can assist you in reaching an overarching goal without being deterred by thoughts of failure along the way.
Research and Educate Yourself
If you were investing your money in something, you would likely conduct a fair amount of research. When it comes to health and fitness, you are investing time and effort in your overall happiness and wellbeing. So, it’s important to research what your best options are when it comes to these aspects to maximize your outcomes.
Depending on your particular health and fitness goals, some aspects you might consider include:
- Which is the best gym near you?
- Which weight loss program has the best reputation for having great results?
- Which alternative therapies might you explore for boosting your health?
Define Your Strategies
Having a strategy is vital. When it comes to negotiating your health and fitness goals, define a strategy for aspects such as how you’ll achieve a weight goal and how you might improve a health issue, such as eating better or days at the gym.
Define Your Tactics
Strategies will get you to the table, but your tactics will get you across that finish line. What will you eat? How will you control portions? What exercises will you do? These are all essential questions to consider.
Focus on the win-win, and don’t forget to reward yourself. “If you are going to exercise, lose weight, look more fit, get toned, and become stronger then you may as well reward yourself with a massage, a cheat day, or a day of total rest to create a great balance as well as more motivation to work out and eat right,” says Dr. Sherrie Campbell of The Huffington Post.
Build and Repair Personal Relationships
Let the new you be someone who creates and maintains more meaningful relationships. Key skills such as active listening and finding common ground are valuable to the process.
The building and repairing of personal relationships are very important in life. Taking a careful approach to listening is a powerful way to move forward in personal relationships.
Active listening is an essential negotiation skill that allows you to take in and examine the full set of circumstances in a discussion. With this skill, you can also demonstrate that you understand fully what the other participant is saying.
Active listening involves these three key elements:
Paraphrase
Repeat or summarize what the other person has explained, asked, or commented on. Whether you’re talking with a family member, friend, or you’re forming a new friendship, active listening allows the discussion to move forward in a powerful way.
Inquire
Ask direct questions. For example, if your friend disagrees with a decision you’ve made, inquire about which part of your decision they disagree with.
Acknowledge
Understand what the other person is saying by acknowledging them during the discussion. Repeat back what the other person has said to express your understanding and to seek clarification on some points.
