10 Ways to Develop A Free Agent Attitude

Whether you are self employed or you work for someone else, it is useful to have a free agent attitude. The past few years have shown us that working for someone else is temporary at best. No one has a job for life. Free agents recognize that they are responsible for their own career. They don't wait for others to help them plan their career. They manage it themselves

1. Develop a vision of your ideal life. Include all parts of your life including your work/career, family, friends, lifestyle, spiritual endeavors, personal growth, leisure etc. As you move toward being a free agent let your vision draw you forward.

2. Know what your strengths, talents and skills are. These will be the basis of the offer you make to your clients/customers or employer. Develop a use for your talents that is unique and exciting to you. Be able to articulate the value of your offer clearly to others.

3. Have a learning plan to fill in the gaps and broaden your offer. Watch the trends to ensure your skills remain relevant.

4. Volunteer to do projects that showcase your talents. Volunteering is a great way to use new skills and get some experience behind you. Choose projects that put you in touch with new contact who can help you.

5. Find a mentor or coach to help you. It is helpful to have someone to talk to as you move forward. A mentor can show you the ropes in your workplace or incustry. A coach can help you manage the rough spots and address any fears you have.

6. Make a list of EVERYONE you know and put his or her information into a contact management program. A network is very important to your career. You will draw on it to find employment and/or customers. Make it easy to access it and find people. Keep it updated with current information.

7. Make the effort to meet new people and add them to your contact management program.

8. Stay in touch with your network of contacts continuously. Keep them informed of what you are doing.

9. Begin by finding ways to create opportunities to do some work that you see there is a need for at home or part time. If you work for someone else this may mean moonlighting or freelancing.

10. Develop a "How can I help you?" attitude. Act as a referral agent for other free agents and then ask them to do the same for you.

Alvah Parker is a Business and Career Coach as well as publisher of Parker's Points, an email tip list and Road to Success, an ezine. Parker's Value Program� enables her clients to find their own way to work that is more fulfilling and profitable. Her clients are attorneys, business owners, managers, and people in transition. Alvah is found on the web at www.asparker.com">http://www.asparker.com She may also be reached at 781-598-0388.

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Anger as rifts scupper hopes of breakthrough at UN climate talks

Governments including the US, Brazil, Australia and China accused of frustrating COP25 negotiations in Madrid

Global climate talks have continued past midnight on Saturday after a marathon final negotiating session in Madrid that has lasted since Friday without clear resolutions on how to implement the Paris agreement.

Campaigners from around the world expressed their frustration at the lack of progress, with one group of activists dumping horse manure and staging a mock hanging outside the venue.

EU looks at extending Brexit transition period beyond 2020

Move is being considered by EU officials in face of Johnson not seeking extension beyond 11 months

EU leaders would take the initiative and request an extension to the transition period, keeping the UK under Brussels regulations beyond 2020, under a plan mooted for getting around Boris Johnson’s stated refusal to seek a delay.

The move is being considered by EU officials as a way out of the problem posed by the short time available to negotiate a new relationship and the prime minister’s insistence that he will not seek an extension beyond 11 months.

Rohingya fury at Aung San Suu Kyi’s genocide denial to world court

Muslim victims of Myanmar ‘clearances’ voice outrage as peace prize winner dismisses atrocity charges

When Aung San Suu Kyi rose to denounce genocide charges against her country at the “world court” last week, three victims of Myanmar’s ethnic violence were sitting close behind the Nobel peace prize winner – disbelieving and seething with anger.

Hamida Khatun, Yousuf Ali and Hasina Begum had travelled from the sprawling Kutupalong refugee camp outside Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh to sit on the legal delegation attending the International Court of Justice’s emergency hearing in The Hague, in the Netherlands.

Thousands join biggest protest in Bangkok since 2014 coup

Thai anti-government rally held in response to ban on Future Forward opposition party

Thousands of people joined the biggest protest in Bangkok since a 2014 coup on Saturday, after Thai authorities moved to ban a party that has rallied opposition to the government of the former military ruler Prayuth Chan-ocha.

The demonstration, called a day earlier by the Future Forward party leader, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, a 41-year-old billionaire, was reminiscent of the street protests that have roiled Bangkok over the past two decades of turbulent politics.

Harry Dunn's mother 'distraught' after suspect filmed driving in US

Footage of Anne Sacoolas, who returned to the US after the crash that killed British teenager, angers parents

Harry Dunn’s mother has said she is “distraught” after the American suspect in the crash that killed the teenager was filmed back behind the wheel.

Dunn, 19, died after his motorbike was involved in a head-on collision with a car outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August.

Afghanistan papers detail US dysfunction: 'We did not know what we were doing'

A key theme of the trove of documents published this week was the lack of coherence in Washington’s approach to Afghanistan from the outset

In the midst of Barack Obama’s much-vaunted military surge against the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2010, Hayam Mohammed, an elder from Panjwai near the Pakistani border confronted an officer from the US 101st Airborne who had come into his village.

“You walk here during the day,” the elder told the soldier bitterly as the Observer listened. “But at night [the Taliban] come bringing night letters” – threats targeting those collaborating with foreign forces.

Military police remove climate protesters from Schiphol airport

Hundreds of demonstrators call for international hub in Amsterdam to curb emissions

Dutch military police have begun forcibly removing a group of climate protesters at Schiphol airport, in Amsterdam, after they refused to leave during a demonstration organised by Greenpeace.

Hundreds of protesters attended the demonstration on Saturday calling on the international air hub to adopt a plan to curb greenhouse emissions. The group had been allowed to protest outside the building only, but they broke that restriction, arguing that citizens’ rights to peaceful protest should not be restricted.

Ex-Sudan leader Omar al-Bashir sentenced to two years for corruption

Deposed president convicted of corruption, receiving illegal gifts and possessing foreign currency

Omar al-Bashir, the former president of Sudan, has been sentenced to two years in detention after being found guilty of corruption, receiving illegal gifts and possessing foreign currency.

Bashir has been in prison in Khartoum since being forced from power in April when security forces withdrew their support for his repressive regime after months of protests.

Man who slapped female reporter's bottom on live TV arrested

Incident was broadcast during Savannah running event
Reporter Alex Bozarjian felt ‘violated, objectified’ by slap

A Georgia man who was videotaped slapping a female reporter’s bottom on live TV was arrested on Friday on a misdemeanor charge of sexual battery.

'Let's do this!': Megan Rapinoe endorses Elizabeth Warren for president

Soccer star praises Warren for being ‘bold and real’
SI Sportsperson of the Year posts video of call with candidate

Two-time World Cup champion Megan Rapinoe has announced her support for the Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren.

“I truly believe the best things in life are a result of being bold and being real,” wrote the soccer star, whom Sports Illustrated this week named Sportsperson of the Year.

Around the world in a day, without leaving Shenzhen – a photo essay

For Chinese tourists who cannot travel, the Window of the World theme park offers versions of 130 global attractions. Photojournalist Anthony Micallef took a whistlestop tour

More than 3 million visitors a year flock to the Window of the World theme park in the megacity of Shenzhen to see 130 copies of the world’s largest tourist sites gathered in a single place.

For Chinese tourists who may not be able to travel out of the country this is their only chance of seeing the New York skyline, the pyramids of Giza or the Taj Mahal – or smaller replicas of them, at least.

'Bhopal’s tragedy has not stopped': the urban disaster still claiming lives 35 years on

The Union Carbide factory explosion remains the world’s worst industrial accident – but as its dreadful legacy becomes increasingly apparent, victims are still waiting for justice

The residents of JP Nagar have no way to escape their ghosts. This ramshackle neighbourhood, on the outskirts of the Indian city of Bhopal, stands just metres away from the chemical factory which exploded just after midnight on 2 December 1984 and seeped poison into their lives forever. The blackened ruins of the Union Carbide plant still loom untouched behind the factory walls.

The Bhopal disaster victims still waiting for justice 35 years on – in pictures

Photographer Judah Passow has documented those were affected by the Bhopal disaster 35 years ago, which killed an estimated 25,000 people ad has left more than 150,000 suffering from chronic medical conditions

Judah Passow has waived his fee for this work. Contributions to the Bhopal Medical Appeal can be made at www.bhopal.org

Killer heat: US cities' plans for coming heatwaves fail to protect vulnerable

Exclusive: With heatwaves predicted to worsen dramatically over the next 30 years, many big US cities are failing to fully plan to protect those most vulnerable to extreme heat

When heatwaves hammered US cities this summer, one of the hottest in recorded history, some city governments had plans in place to protect their most at-risk residents.

Philadelphia’s plan sent homeless outreach teams to distribute water and bring people to cooling centers. Austin’s plan suspended electricity shutoffs for low-income or fixed-income customers. Chicago’s plan dispatched building inspectors to monitor shelters and other buildings without air conditioning.

'She shouldn’t be taken for granted': White Island after the volcano blew

Many Māori say it is wrong for anyone to set foot on Whakaari, which is considered a living ancestor

As dawn broke on Saturday, the small coastal community of Whakatāne was keeping its fingers collectively crossed. About 50km away, across the slate-grey water, naval divers were deploying in rubber boats to retrieve the bodies of two victims still missing after the White Island volcano disaster.

The first of the six recovered bodies to be identified was that of Krystal Browitt, a 21-year-old Melbourne woman who was on holiday with her family, police said on Saturday.

Feminism comes of age in Finland as female coalition takes the reins

For more than a century, the Nordic country has blazed a trail for women in politics. But even there, the battle for equality isn’t over, writes Emma Graham-Harrison

Just off Helsinki’s main shopping drag, toddlers in glitter paint whirl round their mothers, who are somehow managing to listen intently to a lecture on how to boost their careers with LinkedIn. No one bats an eye at the intermittent shrieks.

It’s business as usual at this Christmas networking meeting in the country that has come closer than perhaps anywhere else to making “having it all” a feminist reality, rather than an impossible goal to torment exhausted, overstretched women.

Trump impeachment: Lindsey Graham will 'not pretend to be a fair juror'

Trump ally: ‘This thing will come to the Senate and die quickly’
Pompeo stokes Kansas Senate rumours with Twitter launch

Lindsey Graham will not try to “pretend to be a fair juror” should Donald Trump face an impeachment trial in the US Senate.

British tourist fatally shot in robbery outside Buenos Aires hotel

Mateus Zonegibbar was killed and his son Estefan injured in Argentina after being targeted by robbers

A British tourist was killed and his son seriously wounded when they were shot outside a luxury hotel in Buenos Aires during a robbery.

Mateus Zonegibbar, aged 50 and his son Estefan, 28, were targeted on Saturday by robbers on a motorcycle, supported by accomplices in a car, according to local reports.

New Zealand volcano disaster: recovery team unable to find last two bodies on White Island

Defence force operatives fail to locate missing pair as death toll from tragedy rises to 15 after a patient dies from injuries

A follow-up mission to New Zealand’s White Island in a bid to retrieve the remains of those still missing after Monday’s volcanic eruption has been unsuccessful.

Defence force operatives returned to Whakaari on Sunday, two days after their successful high-stakes trip to the active volcano brought back six bodies.

Western Australia bushfire emergency continues as Sydney braces for a smoky Sunday

Towns north of Perth threatened by out-of-control blazes as mercury set to hit 40C for third day, and 111 fires continue to burn in NSW

Thousands of properties have been saved from a bushfire burning out-of-control north of Perth in Western Australia but lives and homes remain under threat.

The fire near Yanchep has destroyed nearly 12,000 hectares, with about 400 firefighters battling to bring it under control ahead of another day of scorching temperatures.

Spike in Ebola cases alarms health officials in DRC

Many cases blamed on a single individual who appears to have caught virus for second time

Health officials are investigating an alarming spike in Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with many blamed on a single individual who appears to have contracted the disease for a second time this year.

Amid the struggle to bring the 16-month outbreak under control, the World Health Organization noted an almost 300% increase in cases in the last three weeks, with 17 of 27 linked to a single chain of transmission.

Sierra Leone ordered to revoke ban on pregnant schoolgirls

Regional court ruling hailed as ‘landmark moment for thousands of girls’ who will no longer be forced to miss lessons and exams

Pregnant schoolgirls in Sierra Leone will no longer be banned from attending class or sitting exams, after a regional court ordered the immediate overturn of a “discriminatory” policy that has denied tens of thousands the right to finish their education.

In a ruling handed down in Nigeria on Thursday, a top regional court found that a 2015 directive barring pregnant girls from attending school amounted to discrimination and a violation of human rights.

'I hate Isis': uprooted survivors of Marawi siege long to return home

Two years after their city on the Philippine island of Mindanao was liberated, tens of thousands of people driven from their homes remain in limbo

Thousands of survivors of an Islamic State siege in the Philippines are stuck in makeshift dwellings more than two years after their city was liberated, with many forced to drink contaminated water despite the presence of EU-funded aid agencies.

They were among an estimated 350,000 people driven from their homes when Islamist fighters seized control of the city of Marawi, on the island of Mindanao, in May 2017.

Sudan will never prosper while it is on the US terrorism blacklist

If Washington wants to be on the right side of history, it must open the way for Sudan to receive economic support

Over the past year, the Sudanese people have staged a near miraculous revolution, overthrowing the 30-year dictatorship of President Omar al-Bashir.

Following mediation led by the African Union and Ethiopia, a transitional government consisting of civilians and military generals is headed by Abdalla Hamdok, a veteran economist untainted by the decades of corruption and misrule. It is the best compromise: the army, and especially the paramilitary Rapid Support Force, are simply too powerful to be removed from politics in one fell swoop.

Microfinance lenders in Sierra Leone accused of 'payday loan' interest rates

Borrowers have accused NGOs of charging unfairly high interest, demanding rapid payback, and reporting debts to the police

The world’s largest NGO has been forced to conduct an internal review of a money-lending scheme it runs for the poor in Sierra Leone after some borrowers amassed significant debts and were reported to police when they couldn’t repay loans.

A Guardian investigation into a microfinance programme run by Brac found that the NGO’s staff were failing to fully explain the conditions of the loan to borrowers, or ensure they could afford the high interest rates associated with such loans.

Clint Eastwood reminds us women don't have to do much to be branded a 'slut'

The film Richard Jewell promotes the trope that women sleep their way to the top. It’s sexist, insulting – and nonsensical

Sign up for The week in patriarchy, a newsletter on feminism and sexism sent every Saturday.

For America’s black politicians, winning an election can lead to jail | Cliff Albright

The motivations behind today’s efforts to overturn elections and remove black elected officials are not very different than Reconstruction-era motivations

On 5 November, Hester Jackson-McCray, a black woman, narrowly defeated Republican incumbent Ashley Henley by 14 votes in a heated race for a seat in the Mississippi house of representatives.

Shortly after, Henley asked the Republican-dominated Mississippi house to overturn the election results, based on claims including that one precinct didn’t collect voter signatures (a technicality required to process ballots in the state) and that her campaign had found three uncounted paper ballots. Jackson-McCray, meanwhile, pointed out that the election had been run by the Republicans – Henley’s party – making it unlikely that she had manipulated the race in her favor. This turn of events was particularly surprising because the Republican party tends to cast doubts on the existence of voter suppression, the idea that political parties find ways to prevent Americans from voting, calling it a Democratic myth.

White Island volcano victims cannot bring civil lawsuits for negligence

New Zealand’s accident compensation scheme covers cost of treatment for all injuries and bars victims from taking legal action against operators

In New Zealand, where bodies still lie on a volcano after Monday’s eruption and survivors fill hospital burns units across the country to capacity, questions are mounting about who exactly was responsible for the safety of tourists on Whakaari or White Island, and, if failings are found, who will be held accountable.

Questions are also being asked about the wisdom of allowing tourists on to the island while it was assigned a volcanic alert level of two out of five, signalling volcanic unrest – a practice that has happened for years.

Factchecking Aung San Suu Kyi's claims over genocide allegations

Myanmar leader tells court in The Hague that civilian deaths were not genocide but part of a civil war

She might have been saving her best defence for the highest stage of all. But the arguments advanced by Aung San Suu Kyi at The Hague in response to allegations including genocide were much the same as the Burmese leader has been making for years. Most had been discredited long before she delivered her 20-minute address at the international court of justice on Wednesday morning.

There had undoubtedly been violence in the country’s restive northern Rakhine state, Aung San Suu Kyi told the judges. Armed groups had attacked the Burmese army, which had responded with force, sending more than 700,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh. But she challenged the idea that the military’s actions were carried out with genocidal intent – “to destroy the Rohingya as a group, in whole or in part”.

House announces advancement of Trump impeachment – video

The US House judiciary committee chairman, Jerry Nadler, said the vote to approve two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump marked 'a solemn and sad day'.

The vote was swift with 23 for, 17 against. The ranking Republican Doug Collins displayed anger on 12 December when Nadler suddenly gaveled the marathon hearing closed after 11pm without the crucial vote

House committee votes to advance Trump articles of impeachment – live

Algeria: protesters boycott election chanting ‘No vote! We want freedom!’ – video

Thousands of people took to the streets in central Algiers, as the authorities held a presidential election that the mass protest movement views as a charade intended to keep the ruling elite in power. Local media showed videos of demonstrators throwing ballot papers to the ground. Only 33% of Algerians turned out to vote

Thousands march in Algeria after controversial election result

Donald Trump hosts Paraguay president Mario Abdo Benítez at White House – watch live

Man saves dog after leash gets caught in elevator door – video

A Houston man, Johnny Mathis, saves the day – and the dog – by leaping into action when the leash of a neighbour's pet gets caught in an elevator door. A security camera at their apartment complex captures the entire dramatic rescue. Mathis is thankful he was on hand to help: 'It could happen to anyone. A second is all it takes'

• Florida dog drives doughnuts in unmanned car before police rescue

Octopus captures eagle that tried to attack it – video

Fishermen on Canada’s Vancouver Island have filmed the moment they rescued a bald eagle from the grips of an octopus’s tentacles after the bird of prey tried to attack it. The footage shows the fisherman removing the bird from the octopus's tight hold, before they release it back to safety

Jersey City shooting at Jewish store was 'targeted attack' – video

A four-hour long gun battle which left six people dead started as a targeted attack by two suspects on a Jewish kosher market in New Jersey, say officials.

Police in the New York metropolitan area were put on high alert to protect Jewish neighbourhoods after the attack

Trump supporters: what they wear – in pictures

Donald Trump addressed a boisterous crowd in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday night. While the president wore a sober navy suit, his supporters chose more partisan attire

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