I talked to someone the other day who is moving across country, planning a wedding and changing jobs. All at the same time.
I completely flaked (notice the slowdown in posting here) just from an unexpected move across town a few weeks ago. It was all I could do to move and show up at my [...]

Posted in Personal Development, Work No Comments »

Is it important to separate your home life and your work life? I see self-employed and telecommuting people in forums talking about that separation as if there’s no question it’s important, but I wonder.
50 years ago, not everyone had to work for a paycheck. It wasn’t too expensive to leave “the city”, buy some rural [...]

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The title is a bit of an oversimplification. What it really means is that what we think of as “wasted time” may not actually be a waste after all. We need to overhaul our definitions of “productivity” and “time wasting.”
The current definitions
I used to wait tables. My shifts would last 4-6 hours without breaks. I’d [...]

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If you have a job where you work closely with others in a team style or where co-workers have to fill in for each other when someone takes time off, Outlook Notes is a great way to keep people posted on their projects. It’s also great for keeping yourself on track.
An example of when the [...]

Posted in Technology, Work No Comments »

It seems like there are new stories every day about layoffs due to this shaky economy. If you’re afraid you might become a statistic, there are a few steps that could help you keep it.
I have to say up front: I’m not an expert on staffing. I’m just going by my experience and the experience [...]

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If you’re in a stressful, emotional situation where you need to express yourself clearly and get your point across (whether at work or in another relatively businesslike environment), the worst feeling is the sense that you’re not going to be able to do it without crying. I’m all for letting out emotions when you need [...]

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There are diligent bosses who keep on top of everything and know what everyone’s working on at any given moment, and then there are micromanagers: the bosses who actually slow companies down by interrupting people for progress updates more often than necessary. The first type of boss can be very effective. The second is sabotaging [...]

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A lot of the time, it seems like stress hits us hardest when it’s just a series of “little annoyances” that pile up, rather than one big crisis that we have to overcome. None of the little things seems like a big deal, and even as they start to bother us, we find ourselves dismissing [...]

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I recently helped a friend rearrange the items on her L-shaped desktop at work because the switchboard she uses was parked so far back on the wide side of the desk that she had to lunge forward to answer the phones. Since this is the task she does most often during the day, I suggested [...]

Posted in Organization, Work 1 Comment »

When employers hire someone, they factor in the costs of covering an absence of X days a year - those are your sick days, and they are considered part of your overall compensation package. Now, if you get paid (or some other incentive) for not taking sick days, good for you.
But if you don’t use [...]

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