At this time of year my mailbox is filled with resumes from college seniors looking for their first real job and begin their career. The sad truth is that all of those resumes go directly into the garbage, for two reasons: This is not an efficient way for me to hire employees, and I believe people who simply send out unsolicited resumes are not really serious about their career.
It’s not that I’m a stickler for proper job-hunting protocol. In fact, over the years I’ve hired four people who simply showed up at my office without an appointment, requesting to tell me how and why they would make a good member of my team. These are the type of prospective employees whose resumes I do read.
If how I’m approached by most college seniors provides any insight, then most colleges are failing to prepare students for serious job hunting and career building. Schools often will maintain a placement office to serve as a job clearinghouse for employers and students, and some may even provide tactical guidance on resume writing or networking with alumni, but very few schools address the most critical aspects of finding a serious job, which include dealing with a hyper-competitive marketplace and employer indifference, and managing personal rejection over a sustained period of time.
Here are 10 career tips that I offer, both to newly minted college graduates, and more recently to older folks looking for re-entry into the workforce:
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Be Aggressive.
Don’t send out resumes and expect people to call you. No one will. Get off your butt, make phone calls, knock on doors, get your nosed bruised. Nothing good will happen unless you put yourself “in play.”
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Be Persistent.
Within the boundaries of good manners, keep badgering people who you think might be helpful. Be politely determined to get the information you need. Business people often make it extremely difficult to gain access to their time (largely because they’re busy trying to keep their own jobs), but they will respect persistence. Don’t interpret a lack of response as a “no”; make them actually tell you to leave them alone. Prospective employers may even be smart enough to understand that tenacity is a positive attribute in an employee.
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Don’t Get Discouraged.
Without a doubt, your job search (particularly your first one) is the toughest, most discouraging assignment you will ever have. The good news is that any position you land will likely be easy in comparison. The bad news is that if you take rejection personally, it will be impossible for you to exhibit the positive, upbeat outlook that most employers are looking for. This is the Catch 22 that ends most job searches.
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Be Flexible.
Don’t be so determined to land a specific job, or to work for a particular company, or to start at a certain salary level that you eliminate some attractive career opportunities. Life has a way of opening up doors that can lead to end-results that are better than well-laid plans.
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Be Willing to Start at the Bottom.
A college degree does not entitle you to any special consideration; it’s simply a general admission ticket. Be willing to shovel some turds for a while, and to do it with a smile, regardless of the odor. Getting a foot in the door is a job seeker’s most important task.
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Package Yourself Well.
Consider the needs of prospective employers and present your strengths accordingly. One-size-fits-all resumes are deadly. Employers do not really care about your personal career agenda. They are looking for people who can take direction, work hard, be accountable, show enthusiasm, play nice with others and add value to their organization.
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Avoid Prolonged Pain.
Don’t take or keep a job that makes you miserable. Sometimes a job won’t turn out to be what you expected, and some jobs may change drastically for the worse. Don’t be afraid to cut your losses and run. Life is too short to be unhappy for a long period of time.
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Take Risks.
As a new or recent college grad, you will never be in a better position to follow your dreams without substantial downside risk. Pursue your artistic or entrepreneurial yearnings. What you lack in experience, you will make up for with spirit and determination. The added incentive is that employers seldom handicap job seekers who are unsuccessful in a personal venture. They are more likely to respect your courage and creativity.
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Manage Your Career.
In any job, know where you want to go at all times and take the necessary steps to reach those goals. Start planning for your next career-related goal (whether it be a job with another company or advancement within your current company) on the same day you start your new position. Career management is a fundamental factor in determining your personal level of happiness and self-satisfaction.
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Be a Street-Fighter.
The past decade has confirmed that job security is a fantasy. Don’t expect your job to remain the same, and always be prepared for bad (and good) things to happen. Look for opportunities, create personal options. Learn to fly by the seat of your pants. It will make your life more exciting, a job more rewarding and you more valuable to your employer.
Got any career search insights you can share with us?
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Photo by Anna Gay
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I showed up at a meeting one year ago and realized that I had four Internet-connected devices. Yes, two laptops, an iPad and an iPhone were at the ready, all beeping and buzzing in synchronization with meeting reminders and new email notifications. The craziest part was that this felt normal to me.
With all of these devices constantly beeping and vibrating, it’s no wonder I was unable to get anything done without constant interruptions. I needed a new way of working. Luckily, I found the Pomodoro Technique.
While having ubiquitous access to information can be powerful, but here’s the rub. According to research, it can take between 5 and 20 minutes to re-focus after an interruption. Now multiply that by the number of times you get interrupted each day (think: email notifications, text messages, twitter messages). You don’t need to have an MBA to understand that this will have an impact on your own bottom line, whether in dollars, happiness, or time.
Brain Damage
According to a recent New York Times article, all of this multitasking has a physical effect on our brains. The type of constant interruptions we receive from our smart phones can actually re-wire the developing brain to be less able to sustain attention. Permanently.
But what about you? Maybe you don’t even have a smart phone. But you’re still getting distracted by email notifications, instant messages, or your web browser laying open and ready to take you anywhere on the vast Internet.
The Pomodoro Technique
Rather than focusing on getting something done, why not focus on focusing? That’s the aim of the Pomodoro technique, a very simple and effective time management system that keeps you working on the things that matter most and nothing else.
The 10-second summary: Humans are only able to focus on a task for about 25 minutes before they need a break. Rather than trying to change this, the Pomodoro technique works with your limitations. Here’s the basic recipe:
- Pick a task you need to accomplish.
- Set a timer for 25 minutes and start working
- When the time rings, take a 5 minute break
- Repeat steps 1-3
- Ever four cycles, take a 25 minute break.
It seems too simple to be effective, but I decided to give it a try for just one morning at work. That was eight months ago and I haven’t turned back. Upon discovering that its simplicity is its strength, I’ve even adopted the Pomodoro technique at home for practicing guitar and writing songs..
Notice that the Pomodoro technique is easy to remember, and doesn’t require any special charts, lists, or iPhone apps. It can be practiced wherever you’re getting work done.
Negotiating Interruptions
Once you’re up and running with the Pomodoro technique, you’ll begin to wage war with your new enemy: distractions. Negotiating these distractions becomes an important way to complete more Pomodoro cycles per day.
Distraction 1: For technology interruptions, turn off new email alerts. Turn off new tweet alerts. Mute the ringer on your phone unless you are required to respond immediately when someone calls.
For me, this wasn’t enough. I actually had to turn off my iPhone because simply muting it and putting it in my pocket wasn’t a strong enough deterrent against taking a quick glance at my email inbox.
Distraction 2: Now on to the more difficult, walking and talking interruptions: your coworkers. Sometimes they’re unavoidable, but there are some things you can do to minimize the inevitable distractions of the office.
In order to successfully implement the Pomodoro technique, I started listening to music (usually classical) on headphones so that I didn’t get distracted by the near constant stream of cross-cube conversations in my work area.
Another big one is negotiating your privacy. At a team meeting, I politely explained that the office was distracting for me, and would appreciate it if people would knock on my cubicle before they walked in and started talking to me. I was really nervous about doing this, but it went really well. My coworkers have respected my request and have even begun extending the same courtesy to others in the office.
When all else fails and you’re faced with a live interruption, politely explain that you’re in the middle of something. Keep a polite “Can I call you back in 25 minutes?” handy.
Beyond the Pomodoro Technique
This basic formula gets much more refined in the (free) Pomodoro Technique book, which the author generously gives away. You can get great results by applying it in its simplest form, but I’d highly recommend reading further. The record keeping system is equally elegant. You’ll find yourself interested in geeking out on stats because you’ll be showing a noticeable improvement in how much you can accomplish and how quickly.
At its core, the Pomodoro Technique forces you to tune out distractions and start focusing on focusing. Pick one project or task your working on and decide to only work on it for a set amount of time. Maybe even turn off your phone while you’re doing it and see how that feels.
Whatever you do, living and working in a constant state of distraction will not get you the results you’re looking for. The Pomodoro Technique can help get you out of that rut, 25 minutes at a time.
What ways have you found to cut down on distractions at work? How have you applied the Pomodoro Techniqe? Share them in the comments.
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Photo by Karrah Kobus (use with permission from artist)
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You know about the push to go green, get outside into nature, and hug your fellow trees. But is it really worth it? Does too much time spent within four walls really lead to a disorder?
Experts have defined it—there is such a thing as Nature Deficit Disorder. Though Nature Deficit Disorder, the result of a cultural trend towards everything indoors, has been cited as a possible explanation for hyperactivity disorders in children, common sense would suggest that if kids are bearing the negative brunt of too much walled-in screen time, you could be too.
As the numbers of adults who suffer from anxiety and depression is consistently on the rise, we have to wonder if our environment, or lack thereof, might not be partly to blame. A sedentary, largely-indoor lifestyle is not only hard on your body; it’s hard on your mind.
Exercise Alone Isn’t Enough
Though many of us have committed to regular exercise to keep from becoming a desk potato, we’re mostly getting our sweat on indoors. When I took up martial arts training, I was on the mat five to six days a week, kicking, wrestling, and lifting kettlebells for all I was worth—but all indoors. Even though I was getting adequate exercise, I noticed anxiety and tension creeping in.
Let’s face it, we all need the green and to get outside every once in a while.
Smart Ways to Go Green and Get Your Daily Nature Fix
Even the most skyscraper-surrounded city dweller can find ways to go green and incorporate their daily nature boost. Getting the most out of your life means finding creative solutions that buck the status quo. Here are a few ways to incorporate the green you need:
1. Switch Your Workout Venue
Even if you’re paying megabucks for your gym membership, consider incorporating some green-rich workouts into your weekly regimen. Adding a quick 20 or 30-minute morning walk or jog gets your head cleared and your body relaxed to tackle the day.
2. Lunch in the Park
Though your coworkers are heading off to the restaurant, consider packing your lunch and picnicking in a nearby park or even your office courtyard. Get outside, eat slowly, focus on the plants, animals, and people around you, breathe fresh air—you’re guaranteed to return to work more relaxed and refreshed than if you’d gobbled that greasy food at a crowded, noisy restaurant.
3. Refocus
Even when we do get outdoors, we’re often rushing into a building or to the car. We’re looking at a text message or thinking so intently on the rest of the day’s to-do list that we don’t even see the nature built into our surroundings. You don’t have to take a day-long hike to experience the outdoors; just try letting your eyes linger on the trees and flowers that pop up naturally in your day.
4. Alter Your Social Time
When we make the time to meet with friends, we often default to the no-brainer movie, coffee, or drinks venues. Consider bringing some green to your social time—grab the coffee to go and then head for a stroll around a lake or through a park.
5. Find a Group
If you want more variety and have a little more time, consider joining an outdoor enthusiast group in your area. It’s a great way to get exposure to new areas and activities you might not have discovered on your own. You’ll also meet other young professionals—could be a great networking opportunity!
Making the Most of Your Green Time
Even if you are able to get yourself into the outdoors, make sure you aren’t diminishing the effects with needless distractions. The goal is a relaxed mind and uplifted spirits. Here’s how to make the most of your time in the great outdoors, even if it’s limited.
- Ditch Your iPod. Allowing the outdoor sounds (even if they include buses and taxis) to be your only soundtrack cuts anxiety. Just allow yourself to soak in your surroundings.
- Turn off the phone. You don’t need a friend to talk you through your walk. If you feel safer having your phone with you just put the ringer and texts on silent.
- Look around you. Intentionally focus on the living, growing things. As spring stakes its claim watch trees put forth sprouts and blossoms, observe the perennials popping up. Seriously, it’s like free therapy.
- Find the sweet spots. Not all outdoor locales are relaxing and beautiful. Bad architecture and unkempt lawns are depressing. Explore different neighborhoods to find the locations where you can unwind by just being there.
Too Busy to Get Outside?
If your complaint is: “I don’t have the time to do nature!” then honestly, it’s probably time for a priority check. Remember, getting out into the great outdoors isn’t meant to sap your time, but to help you restore the peace, serenity and focus that is hard to achieve in an all-indoors life.
Do a little experiment. Give yourself that much-needed green time and see what happens to your stress and anxiety levels. Sometimes the simplest solution to tension, depression and restlessness is right outside your front door.
What can you do to go green and add a little wilderness to your life today?
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Photo by Louis Lander-Deacon (Used with permission. Find Louis on facebook)
The top management has just assigned a very important project to your department. You eagerly gather your team and show them what the management wants. Your teammates share their opinions, brainstorm on ideas, laugh a little, and tell stories on their personal lives.
After two hours, you adjourn the meeting, anticipating what the team can and will do on this project. A week later, you ask your staff for updates and no one gives a good enough answer. You ask yourself, “Where are the accomplishments?”
It’s a common dilemma of managers. Many hours are spent on team meetings only to realize that nobody is clear on what they must do and nothing is accomplished.
But there are ways to make sure that a team meeting is productive, effective and efficient.
7 Ways for an Effective Team Meeting
1. Make an Agenda
During a team meeting, begin by stating the agenda. An agenda is an outline of all the points or topics that need to be discussed in the given amount of time. Agenda can be plain solicitation of ideas to resolution of conflicts to presentation of updates to brainstorming.
Managers should keep in mind what the agenda is to ensure efficient use of time. Discussions that don’t fall under the agreed agenda should be parked for another meeting or maybe, just a one-on-one huddle with the employees. At the end of the meeting, the team should be able to address the complete agenda.
2. Be Time Sensitive
Some managers use meetings to grandstand or show off. Remember that time spent on meetings is limited and time is better spent on implementing projects.
Managers must have a sense of time. This means, starting and adjourning the meeting on time. As convenor and facilitator, managers should also make sure that discussions do not veer away. When the staff starts to talk on topics that shouldn’t be covered, the manager must step in and redirect the discussion.
3. Assign Someone to Take Notes
A common mistake committed during meetings is that no one takes note of the discussions and agreements. When this happens, no one remembers what he or she is supposed to do and nothing is accomplished.
A manager must assign someone from the team to take minutes of the meeting and these should be sent to all members to remind them of their tasks and responsibilities.
4. Listen to the Team
A team meeting is a time to hear the thoughts and insights of the individual members. Managers should never hog the limelight and do a monologue. To have effective meetings, managers should encourage their team members to speak up their thoughts.
5. Assign Tasks and Responsibilities
Meetings are nothing if members don’t know their tasks and responsibilities. Before a manager closes a meeting, he must assign all the tasks required for the project and each member should have a role to play. Every member must have a clear understanding of what he or she must do.
A timeline should also be discussed during the meeting so that everyone knows the time they have to work on the projects.
Managers should conduct periodic checks with his staff to see where the project is and how it is progressing. This ensures that the team stays on track and if there are delays, these can be addressed immediately.
6. Solicit Feedback
Feedback is important in any team and managers must regularly get feedback not only with the status of the projects but also in how meetings are conducted.
Many managers make the mistake of assuming that the way they conduct team meetings is effective but it never hurts to ask his staff if they perceive it the same way.
7. Determine Frequency of Meeting
It may be an overkill to have daily meetings for just one project. Managers must make efficient use of their time and make sure that their team spends more time working on projects.
Managers don’t need to organize team meetings to get updates from their team. Sometimes, a one-on-one interaction or email updates can be enough. Reserve meetings to discuss bigger issues.
Team meetings are critical in the implementation of projects but without proper management, it can also be detrimental. Proper use of time, effective facilitation and a clear vision will guarantee that team meetings and project implementation are successful.
How do you effectively manage a team meeting?
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Photo by Linh Ngan
A good friend of mine recently shared a secret with me. When I asked her how she managed to stay so calm, cool and collected, she told me it was something she learned years ago that has helped her both professionally and personally.
She learned to say “NO”.
Personal Observations
After listening to her share how this has changed her life, I tried to do this myself. While I’m still learning and caving once in awhile, I can now clearly see the benefits of using this little two-lettered word when need be.
You can do it too. It’s an easy way to change your life without spending any of your money or time. Try to say no more often and enjoy these benefits:
1. You spend more time doing things you want to do.
This is obvious, but it’s also true. Don’t feel guilty for saying no to something if you just can’t bear the thought of it. Evaluate each situation separately.
For example, my friend explained that if a coworker she’s not close to invites her to a baby shower, she says no immediately without guilt because she is better off with doing things she really wants to do.
Yet, she was candid enough to add that when her boss asks her to do something she takes a minute to think about how it will help her career before writing it off.
There are always things in life that you will have to do, but there should be some incentive for doing it, even if the act itself isn’t exactly what you want to be doing in that moment. Don’t place yourself second by catering to the things that are not in line with your future goals and overall happiness.
2. You weed out people who aren’t important in your life.
By accepting invites and responsibilities only from people you truly care about, the less important ones tend to fade away.
Most people quickly realize that you don’t have time for them and stop asking. Don’t feel guilty; you simply can’t spend quality time with the people you really care about if you divide your time among everyone that asks.
Don’t be mean or rude; you don’t want to create enemies, you just want to devote more time to people and activities you truly care about.
3. You get more out of your professional life.
When you say no to jobs and projects that don’t fit in your professional goals, you are spending much more of your time on things that will get you where you want to be.
Choose colleagues and projects that offer you something, whether it is a fun environment or a topic that really interests you. You’ll be much happier for it, and your career will soar because of it.
4. You are excited about your work.
By only doing work that you love, you can be excited about going to work. Being happy in your job increases productivity, which translates to a higher level of satisfaction. It is also a pathway to climb up the salary-ladder.
Money shouldn’t be the only motivator of course, but unmotivated and unhappy employees don’t get raises and promotions.
5. People respect you more when you say no.
We all know someone who we call a “sucker”. You know who I’m talking about: The guy who does anything for anyone all the time. Everyone likes him because they can get what they want out of him, but no one has any respect for the guy or his time.
Don’t be that guy. Do what is important to you. Let someone else be a sucker.
6. You get more out of your time.
If you’re not at meetings you don’t want to attend or at parties you feel pressured into going to, you can spend more time on a hobby you lost track of, or catch up with old friends who really mean a lot to you.
7. You are less stressed.
You know how you feel before you have to go to an event you really don’t want to go to? The nervousness, the hurriedness, the overall feeling of stress? That goes away when you start saying “no” to these kinds of invites.
When stress is reduced, your overall health will get better. What can possibly be better than that?
8. People you care about thank you.
You will be a better spouse, parent, friend and colleague. People will appreciate you much more once you can give them your undivided attention. Your home life will be better, and your career will soar now that you can focus on doing things you love instead of always focusing on obligations.
Conclusions
I was always a people-pleaser because agreeing was always easier than saying no and feeling guilty. The reality, however, is that it’s always easy to be a “yes” person until the time you can take it. That’s when all the stress misery starts and it only continues the more time you waste on things that just don’t matter.
Stop it right now by saying “NO” then next time someone asks you to do something that just doesn’t fit in with your life goals. It will get easier, and the guilt will gradually go away.
An honest “no” will take you further than a superficial “yes”.
Do you say “no” when you want to? How has it helped you?
–
Photo by Taylor Dawn Fortune
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A good friend of mine recently shared a secret with me. When I asked her how she managed to stay so calm, cool and collected, she told me it was something she learned years ago that has helped her both professionally and personally.
She learned to say “NO”.
Personal Observations
After listening to her share how this has changed her life, I tried to do this myself. While I’m still learning and caving once in awhile, I can now clearly see the benefits of using this little two-lettered word when need be.
You can do it too. It’s an easy way to change your life without spending any of your money or time. Try to say no more often and enjoy these benefits:
1. You spend more time doing things you want to do.
This is obvious, but it’s also true. Don’t feel guilty for saying no to something if you just can’t bear the thought of it. Evaluate each situation separately.
For example, my friend explained that if a coworker she’s not close to invites her to a baby shower, she says no immediately without guilt because she is better off with doing things she really wants to do.
Yet, she was candid enough to add that when her boss asks her to do something she takes a minute to think about how it will help her career before writing it off.
There are always things in life that you will have to do, but there should be some incentive for doing it, even if the act itself isn’t exactly what you want to be doing in that moment. Don’t place yourself second by catering to the things that are not in line with your future goals and overall happiness.
2. You weed out people who aren’t important in your life.
By accepting invites and responsibilities only from people you truly care about, the less important ones tend to fade away.
Most people quickly realize that you don’t have time for them and stop asking. Don’t feel guilty; you simply can’t spend quality time with the people you really care about if you divide your time among everyone that asks.
Don’t be mean or rude; you don’t want to create enemies, you just want to devote more time to people and activities you truly care about.
3. You get more out of your professional life.
When you say no to jobs and projects that don’t fit in your professional goals, you are spending much more of your time on things that will get you where you want to be.
Choose colleagues and projects that offer you something, whether it is a fun environment or a topic that really interests you. You’ll be much happier for it, and your career will soar because of it.
4. You are excited about your work.
By only doing work that you love, you can be excited about going to work. Being happy in your job increases productivity, which translates to a higher level of satisfaction. It is also a pathway to climb up the salary-ladder.
Money shouldn’t be the only motivator of course, but unmotivated and unhappy employees don’t get raises and promotions.
5. People respect you more when you say no.
We all know someone who we call a “sucker”. You know who I’m talking about: The guy who does anything for anyone all the time. Everyone likes him because they can get what they want out of him, but no one has any respect for the guy or his time.
Don’t be that guy. Do what is important to you. Let someone else be a sucker.
6. You get more out of your time.
If you’re not at meetings you don’t want to attend or at parties you feel pressured into going to, you can spend more time on a hobby you lost track of, or catch up with old friends who really mean a lot to you.
7. You are less stressed.
You know how you feel before you have to go to an event you really don’t want to go to? The nervousness, the hurriedness, the overall feeling of stress? That goes away when you start saying “no” to these kinds of invites.
When stress is reduced, your overall health will get better. What can possibly be better than that?
8. People you care about thank you.
You will be a better spouse, parent, friend and colleague. People will appreciate you much more once you can give them your undivided attention. Your home life will be better, and your career will soar now that you can focus on doing things you love instead of always focusing on obligations.
Conclusions
I was always a people-pleaser because agreeing was always easier than saying no and feeling guilty. The reality, however, is that it’s always easy to be a “yes” person until the time you can take it. That’s when all the stress misery starts and it only continues the more time you waste on things that just don’t matter.
Stop it right now by saying “NO” then next time someone asks you to do something that just doesn’t fit in with your life goals. It will get easier, and the guilt will gradually go away.
An honest “no” will take you further than a superficial “yes”.
Do you say “no” when you want to? How has it helped you?
–
Photo by Taylor Dawn Fortune
On this week’s episode of the Work Awesome podcast (the first under new ownership, I might add), we start a new era. A new theme will greet listeners as they tune in, but a familiar voice can still be heard as host.
I continue my journey with this site in my new role as Podcast Prodigy, and every other week the Work Awesome podcast will bring tips, tricks, interviews and more. This week, I had the opportunity to speak with Jason Womack, noted productivity expert and author. Jason is one of the principals at The Womack Company, a company that aims to help those in all walks of business (and in life) “level up” their productivity.
Jason recently inked a book deal with Wiley Publishing, and his first book under its banner, Your Best Just Got Better, will hit bookshelves later in 2011.
Jason and I discussed his latest book, The Promise Doctrine, which he co-wrote with his father Craig Womack, as well as some of the advice he has for those seeking to level up their own work, life and passions. Through such tactics as sending clear and actionable emails to what aspect of The Promise Doctrine that he feels is the most crucial, our discussion covers a wide spectrum that offers both practical and inspirational insights from a man who has many years of experience in the productivity and self-development realm.
Jason has offered one lucky WorkAwesome podcast follower an opportunity to win each item from The Womack Company library. This includes:
- DVD: 15 Tips for Time Management
- Audio CD: 20 Time Saving Tips
- Book: The Promise Doctrine
In order to win, just leave a comment below telling us what well-known productivity expert (and past podcast guest) Jason worked with before forging out on his own. We’ll select the winner at random by May 5th, 2011 at 12 noon PDT and announce the winner here when we post our next podcast episode. You can find out more about Jason
‘s products at: http://astore.amazon.com/jwc-20
If you enjoy the podcast, please let us know. Leave us a rating and review in iTunes; it’ll help people find us and build up our listenership. We’re working hard to bring some great guests on — and we’ve already had some great ones — so if you have any suggestions on guests or what you’d like to hear, let us know in the comments.
Subscribe to the podcast
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(Image courtesy of Womack Company)
Are you spending longer at work these days, putting in extra hours just to get everything done? And, when you finally clock out and leave, do you bring your job — and workplace worries — through the front door with you?
It can be a constant struggle protecting your precious personal life from the pressures of work. And it’s a battle many people are losing.
The temptation is to do the extra hours tonight in the weak hope you’ll get caught up and be able to relax a little in the morning. But, the ‘to do’ list keeps on growing — and you end up waiting behind again tomorrow.
Eventually, the strain of working late causes your health to suffer. The tiredness affects your ability to work productively and think clearly. Outside relationships go downhill too as your family and friends post you ‘missing-in-action’ from their lives.
For as long as you’re employed, finding the ideal balance between your work and personal life is always going to be a challenge. Demands on you from both sides will change and you’ll need to constantly adjust the way you cope with these on a regular basis.
But, I’m going to suggest a few helpful steps you can take to prevent your job from completely taking over your personal life.
The Myths of Working Late
In these tough economic times, most people are fearful of what the future holds.
You imagine the boss’s cost-cutting eyes are burning into you as you slave away. It looks impressive that you’re clocking up the extra hours to do the best job possible, doesn’t it? It’s more likely, however, that your boss sees someone who’s barely coping with a workload they’ve allowed to spiral out of control. The reality is that, if you always work extra hours, it becomes expected of you and you’ll be given even more tasks to do.
Or, maybe you’re so desperate to win a promotion that staying late and neglecting your personal life must be the best way to get noticed, surely? Truth is, you’ll become known as an employee who doesn’t value their family and friends enough to spend quality time with them. And, don’t forget, there will always be another one of your colleagues — with a worse home life — more desperate and willing to burn the candle even later than you.
Under these kinds of pressures to work late, it’s easy to let the dividing line between work and non-work get so hazy that your job seeps into the rest of your life. If you’re spending most of your time working, though, enjoying a decent home life will inevitably become impossible.
A Briefcase and Long Hours: My Story of a 4-Hour Commute
A few years ago, after a promotion, I used to have a daily 4-hour commute to work. Crazy, I know, but I really wanted the job and, at first, it involved travelling to another city. The demands of the work meant that I rarely got out of the office before 7pm each night. Leaving my home at 6am, I’d eventually return at 10 in the evening. As I’m sure you can imagine a social life outside the office was non-existent. My personal life was crammed into the weekend.
This tiring routine went on for six months, until my employer and I decided that it was time to relocate. So, I rented an apartment less than 15 minutes walk away from my office. I had great plans to make new friends, explore the new city, and generally get back a life after work again.
But guess what happened? Gradually, I found myself staying behind for another 30 minutes here, an extra hour there. Pretty soon, that additional hour became my new stop time. After all, I lived so much closer to the office. I could still be back home much earlier than was possible before I relocated.
The slow creep of the ‘working late’ syndrome had started again for me. . .
How to Protect Your Home Life
Recognizing that you’ve allowed work to overspill into your home time is the first important issue to be aware of. Like I did, it’s easy to add an extra few minutes to the end of the day. Then, you fall into the bad habit of working late every night. Once you’ve acknowledged the potential damage, you can take action to prevent the steady destruction of your home life:
- Ask yourself what you value most in life
Consider what goals you want to achieve at work and in the rest of your life. How do these goals overlap and in what ways are they incompatible? You might realize that you can’t have it all, and you need to re-prioritize your time and attention on what really matters.
When I thought this through, connecting with family and friends was much more valuable to me than clearing my desk at the end of the day. So, I began to leave earlier. After all, the paperwork was still waiting for me in the morning – when I was rested, refreshed and better able to tackle it.
- Manage your work time effectively
Ah, time management: that age-old skill we’re all keen to develop! It’s a true fact, though, that the better organised you are at work, the more you’ll get done. By managing your workload effectively, there will usually be less need to put in extra hours.
If you find that you’re consistently working late, it’s worthwhile checking whether your company offers time management training. Otherwise, you can research the techniques online.
- Say no — and mean it
Be cautious of taking on extra work in order to help out a colleague. You’ve already got enough work on your own plate without taking on someone else’s. I’m not suggesting that you don’t support your team; rather, you need to be sure you can deal with your own duties first before doing more. Do the crucial stuff expected from you first, before doing stuff for others.
Of course, your manager might ask you to carry out additional responsibilities as part of your current job. If you’re already struggling under the weight of your existing pile of work, the stress will only intensify unless you discuss the situation with him or her.
By all means, do the extra work if you can – but, if you’re going to have difficulties, you need to think seriously about speaking out. It’s always best to raise an issue of overwork way before it gets out of control.
- Leave work where it belongs
The boundary between work and home is blurred with today’s technology able to plug you into your workplace at anytime, from anywhere. Unless you deliberately choose to be disconnected, you can access your job from the comfort of your living room.
Resist the urge to connect with the office when you’re in ‘home’ mode. That means switching off the cell phone and keeping the laptop powered down. Unless you’re paid to work from home, leave it alone. Unless you’re forced to be in contact with the office, when you go on vacation, don’t even think about mixing business with pleasure.
It’s essential that you keep work and home time strictly separate when it’s possible to do so.
- Resist the ‘culture of working late’
In my office, it was expected that we’d work late. On my first day, I knew late nights were normal, and didn’t think twice about it. However, even when our workloads meant we could have finished early, most of us would continue laboring away. No one asked us to remain later than we had to; we did it because our colleagues did it.
In some workplaces, it can become part of the unspoken rules of employment that folk put in overtime — even though the actual level of activity doesn’t require it. If you’ve completed your assigned tasks for the day and the rest can reasonably be put off until tomorrow, why not go home? You’ll return the next day raring to go again (hopefully!).
- Ask for help
When you’re finding it difficult to manage the balance between work and home, don’t worry about it in silence. Have a chat with your supervisor or manager to explain that your workload is difficult to handle. Rather than allowing the stress to get worse, you can both explore the range of options available to ease the problems.
If talking things over with your manager doesn’t help, try chatting with someone from the HR department, an Occupational Health worker, or an Employee Assistance counsellor.
After six months of working 16 hours a day (with four hours of travel thrown in), I began to feel exhausted. I probably could have gone on for a while longer, but this wouldn’t have been good for either my health or my ability to do a good job. After a discussion with my line manager, it was decided that I get assistance to relocate.
I’d been understandably nervous about raising the matter as I thought my employer would view me as not up to the job. Instead, they totally understood my position and supported me. They were only able to do this because I told them in the first place.
There are always solutions to workload issues — you just have to admit that you need help. It’s in no one’s best interests to have a stressed out member of staff when there are options available.
- Find alternative working arrangements
Check whether your employer offers flexible working arrangements, such as telecommuting, job sharing, flexi-time or part-time working. You might think it’s a sign of weakness to admit you find the traditional 9 – 5 set up difficult. But, it’s better to work in a way that helps you balance your personal life and reduces stress. Otherwise, your performance will suffer, which no one wants.
- Private life: Keep Out!
Don’t underestimate the vital importance of protecting your home life. Safeguard the scarce time you get to spend away from the daily grind – on your own and in the company of others.
Ringfence your relationships, so that you allow no work-related diversions to cause you to miss once-in-a-lifetime family events or socializing with friends. Without care and attention, relationships can wither if you don’t keep up with them.
Is any extra time you devote to a job really worth the end of a partnership, family bond or friendship?
When you truly appreciate the value of life outside your place of employment, you’ll take steps to protect it when external factors threaten to take it away. You owe it to yourself and those closest to you.
Sometimes, we simply can’t avoid having to work late every so often. But, this can become the norm if we let it, with our home lives coming off second best. The more often you stay behind at work, the fewer hours you’re able to spend with family and friends. You’ll miss out on sharing quality time with those special people in your life, and relationships can become strained.
Equally as important, when you’re tied to your workplace later than you should be, there’s little opportunity to switch off from the everyday pressures and relax. You need to jealously guard your home life for the sake of your health and wellbeing.
The above tips will help you to re-build the divide between your work and personal lives for everyone’s benefit.
How has working late at your job affected your personal life? What tips do you have to help get the balance right?
Please share your own experiences in the comments section below. I’d love to hear your views.
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Photo by Karrah Kobus (Used with permission from the artist)
It’s easy to go running once. It isn’t even that hard to go running for an entire month. What’s really difficult is going running, day after day, for years. It’s easy to start something; it’s much harder to consistently finish it.
Many people think consistency is a matter of willpower. That the people who exercise every day, always save a percentage of their income. Or those who manages to upkeep a blog for years have a special ability to endure.
I completely disagree. I think consistency has little to do with willpower and I want to use this article to explain why.
How I Became Consistent
I’m not perfectly consistent in my life. But, for the important things, I have been pretty good at showing up. I’ve exercised 4-5 times per week, nearly every week for the last four years. I’ve maintained a vegetarian diet and kept detailed records of my spending for almost as long. I also just finished writing my 724th article for my own website, which has had regular updates every week for more than three years.
Not always was I as consistent. I was a starter—good at starting projects, bad at sustaining them. I would hop between obsessions, starting a new project or pursuit, and giving it up as soon as I got bored. I think a lot of people are like how I used to be—great starters, lousy finishers.
But gradually, I became consistent, and I think you can too. The problem isn’t your willpower, just the approach you are taking to new goals and projects.
The Power of Consistency
Before I start talking about how to be consistent, I think it’s important to clarify why I believe consistency is important to start with. Many people associate consistency with boredom and a lack of initiative. People have told me earnestly that if something isn’t improving after a few weeks or months, you need to change it.
If that’s your attitude, consistency will be difficult. Consistency is about working on a larger timescale than weeks and months. A consistent person doesn’t care that their weight loss plan isn’t working after three weeks, or that their website isn’t earning six figures after three months. A consistent person looks at the longer time horizon, where the little hiccups of progress are smoothed out over the next years and decades.
Consistency works because while continually starting has short-term momentum, it doesn’t build anything. Doing the same thing every day eventually snowballs into tremendous progress because it doesn’t stop.
What’s the best way to be in shape? Exercise, for five years. What’s the best way to launch an online business? Practice running one for a decade. What’s the best approach to enhance your social life? Put yourself outside your comfort zone, every day, for years.
Sustainability Instead of Speed
The reason I struggled with consistency was that I cared more about speed than sustainability. In other words, I worked on my goals to achieve the maximum progress I thought was possible in the shortest amount of time. Aim to read a book every day. Set the deadline for a six-month project in eight weeks. More, faster, sooner.
The reason it’s easy to go for a day or a month but not ten years is that the two time frames require completely different mindsets. To do something for a day or a month, you need to put a lot of effort into it. To do something every day for a year, you need the opposite, you need to have the activity require less effort so it doesn’t exhaust you.
When I started my business, I was working on a software program. I had created an intense deadline which was incredibly difficult to achieve. So difficult that, near the end of it, I was completely burnt out. At the time, I thought I was doing what was best for my new business, working extremely hard.
But after three years and dozens of projects, I realized I had things backwards. Sure, hard work is important, it is always going to be important. But if I can’t sustain that hard work, it isn’t worth it. Setting an impossible deadline and crushing myself to meet it meant I was useless for a few months afterward. If I had planned ahead, set the project in a sustainable way, I wouldn’t have lost that time.
If you’re going to start running, aim to run every day, just for a little bit. Don’t aim to break personal records on every single run, just aim to run. When you tweak your expectations slightly, it becomes far easier to continue for the long haul.
Show Up Every Day, Not Once in Awhile
This lesson might sound redundant, but it’s often missed. Many people try to be consistent by doing something irregularly. I suppose, technically, if you ran six days per month, every month for a decade, that would be consistent. But I know very few people who can pull that kind of schedule off.
Surprisingly, doing something every day or nearly every day is far easier to sustain than doing it once in awhile. If you want to be consistent with a new habit, run it every day uninterrupted for a month. Make it an irreplaceable part of your life, not an afterthought you do occasionally.
Sometimes you can’t do something every day. But you can at least make it work on a fixed schedule. Once per week, every week, I sit down and record all my expenses into a spreadsheet. I don’t bother with it every day, but I do it on a regular enough schedule that it is part of my life.
Make Consistency Your Routine
Have you ever been sleeping away from home, perhaps in a hotel room, and in the dark walked in the wrong direction to go to the bathroom? Or rolled over and forgotten that your spouse, girlfriend or boyfriend isn’t with you?
The hotel room isn’t your normal. That’s why you can be temporarily confused in the night, because it’s a foreign surrounding that you need to consciously navigate. New pursuits are like the hotel room—they aren’t normal yet. When you start exercising seriously for the first time, it isn’t normal to you, it sticks out like the misplaced light switch in a temporary bedroom.
If you want to do something consistent, it has to be a part of your life. It needs to be so deeply integrated that you roll around confused at night when it is missing. After exercising and writing consistently for several years, I feel bizarre not doing them.
You can make something your normal by ritualizing it and working to achieve certain milestones in your behavior. If you do it the same way, almost every day, for a month, the new pursuit won’t stick out anymore. Keep it up for another ninety days and it should feel like home.
Don’t Associate With Inconsistent People
Alright, maybe that proscription is a little harsh. But if you do something with a friend or group: running, writing, or socializing, for example, and they are inconsistent, maintaining consistency going to be far harder for you. A sketchy gym partner can drain your ability to keep going.
Of course, the reverse is also true. If you have friends or partners who are also committed to being consistent, they can be an ally. Just pick carefully the people you use as partners in any new pursuit, because if they aren’t serious, you might fall off the wagon because they’re jumping in and out.
The Red Triangle Method
The old gym I used to exercise in was run by a fifty-something real-estate professional. In addition to having a thick mustache and a zero-tolerance policy for people who didn’t pay their dues, he kept a small calendar in the back room.
On the calendar, he colored in half of the date in the shape of a triangle every day he showed up. If he was at the gym, there was a triangle. If he wasn’t at the gym the spot was blank. Sure enough, most of the spots had a triangle, and my guess is that he had been consistently exercising for at least thirty years.
We lie to ourselves about our level of consistency. We claim to be following our diet spectacularly, but omit the time we ate half a cake or binged on a bag of pretzels. We claim to be studying every day, but then still need to cram the night before an exam. We claim to be consistent, but often those are convenient lies to make us feel better.
The beauty of the red triangle method is the level of accountability. You can lie to yourself, but you can’t lie to a calendar. If a pursuit is important to you, I suggest trying the red triangle method, it keeps you consistent and it forces you to acknowledge when you’re slipping.
Be a Finisher, Not a Starter
“Just go start something.”
It’s a popular mantra these days with bestselling books like The Art of the Start. But I don’t feel it’s a particularly useful mantra. Many people are good starters. In fact, I’d estimate that for every hundred starters there would only be one or two finishers.
After blogging for a few years, I get a lot of emails from newer bloggers asking for advice. Even in a two paragraph email it’s easy to separate the starters from finishers. The starters email me, overflowing with enthusiasm and big goals. Maybe they even have a few articles online. Maybe they’ve slapped on a few ads or a widget. But, after a few months I never hear from them again. Maybe they got bored.
The finishers are completely different. They have the same level of enthusiasm, but it’s controlled. They talk about their posting schedule or their projects. Most importantly, they outline their goals in years, not in weeks and months. These are also the people that, after meeting them, have often gone on to greatly eclipse my own blog so that they are now the ones receiving email from new bloggers.
It’s good to be both a starter and finisher. But, it’s difficult to be both, so if you have to pick, choose to finish. Choose to show up every day until the job is done. Choose the pursuit that appears more boring on the surface, but has richer rewards in its depth. Choose to stick with a plan even if it isn’t paying out immediately. Choose to be consistent.
Related Resources We Recommend:
- Book: Poke the Box
- Book: The War of Art – Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
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So the office gossiper approaches you, saying that she’s got the latest scoop on one of your co-workers. Do you sit down and listen eagerly, or do you walk away, proudly proclaiming that you don’t participate in office gossip of any kind?
Let’s admit it. We all participate in gossip at least once in a while in our lives. After all, it’s not always easy to resist a piece of new information about another person. Humans are naturally curious beings, most especially about each other.
Despite its bad reputation, gossip—the light talk about other people’s personal affairs—has helped humans learn more about each. It has proven to be useful as well. If you’re an art-lover, hearing that your new neighbor “was in the art gallery last week” could help you start a new and meaningful friendship.
3 Ways to Handle Office Gossip
Gossip has also been useful in the workplace. There are managers who learn how hard their employees work through gossip, like how: “Mike has been volunteering in a lot of projects lately.”
Astute workers also use gossip to their advantage. For example, learning that your colleague is going on a month-long leave will give you the opportunity to immediately volunteer to help out with any of you co-worker’s projects while they’re away, making you look good in front of your boss.
Yet as we know, not all gossip is good. Malicious gossip like: “I can’t believe that suck-up Dan got the promotion” can decrease workplace productivity and breed resentment. This is even worse when false rumors meant to bring others down are spread.
Peter Morris, author of The Dysfunctional Workplace says that this kind of negative gossip and slander does not just bring one person down. The negativity in the workplace environment fills it with tension, making it bad for everyone. If the office atmosphere is edgy, small problems are blown up and of employees become anxious and tense.
A decrease in productivity is inevitable. Who would could work properly in a backbiting and stressful environment like this?
These being said, how can you as an employee keep gossip from reaching a harmful level? Here are some tips:
1. Analyze the Gossip
When your colleague comes to you with some new gossip to tell, try answering the following questions:
- What are his or her motives for telling me this?
So Marie’s saying that Laney, the project head, hasn’t been putting a lot of effort in the assignment. Yet hasn’t Marie been always jealous of Laney’s fast advancement? Could she be just doing this because she wants to create an opportunity for herself?
Also, don’t forget to ask this question when you’re the one faced with a piece of interesting information which you want to share. Why do you want this information to be known? Is it because you’re happy or concerned for a colleague, or just jealous of him or her?
If your answer is the latter, be reasonable and try to consider the negative effects which spreading this might cause, and if you feel like you really have to tell it to someone, try saying it to your cat or your pillow.
- Does this news have any basis?
This question is especially important if you’re a manager or supervisor. If you’ve been hearing something negative about a team member’s work habits, it’s always good to check the facts by asking more neutral parties or the person directly involved, before action can be taken to correct any problem.
The important thing to remember is that it’s never good to cause any false speculation or slander. Dishonest news will only create negative outcomes such as resentment.
2. Encourage Positive Conversation
Just like Morris says, everyone would prefer to work in a healthy and positive environment than in a tense, backstabbing one. Try becoming role models in the promotion of good conversation, especially if you’re the team leader.
Attempt starting well-intentioned conversations meant to support each other like: “George has been pretty out of it ever since his grandfather died. Let’s help him get back on track.”
If you hear anyone starting gossip that you know is just malicious talk and slander, stop it immediately. You can say something like: “I don’t think James is a lazy drunkard like you’ve been saying. In fact, I’ve seen him working a lot of overtime lately.”
If the mean talk continues, Morris advises that the issue should be brought up in meeting. Talk about how the nasty gossip and slander has been negatively affecting everyone’s work. You might be surprised to see other colleagues thinking the same way as you do.
3. Act Immediately
First, clarify things with anyone involved. For example, if someone has been spreading the rumor that you’ve been taking credit for Ted’s work, talk things out with Ted and make sure that he knows that the rumors aren’t true. Not only will you clear things up with him, you’d also get someone to back you up.
Next, talk to the person who has been spreading the mean gossip about you. Try to discover and solve the source of animosity. Clear any misunderstandings and resentment. Be calm and patient during the conversation. Acting immature will only turn the situation even more against you.
Lastly, show how untrue the office gossip is by acting in a way that contrasts the chatter. By continuing to live life the way you’ve always had, you’d quell any talk false talk against you.
How do you handle office gossip? Got any tips?
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