Category Archives: Thoughts
Self-Reflection Sundays
My family members are in my thoughts each and every day, especially today. I am so proud and inspired by my cousin, Jake, and his dad, mom, and brother.
To my Uncle Scott: You are in my thoughts and prayers everyday and I admire your strength through your fight with cancer. My heart goes out to you. Thank you for being such an incredible person and for never giving up! I love you.
Watch this amazing story: Coaches vs. Cancer Studio
Five Tips for Standing Out in Your First Job
Adapted from Monster, Alexandra Levit hits some key points. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Hopefully, this isn’t news to recent college graduates, but the workplace is more competitive than ever. If you have a job already, congratulations — you’ve made it over the first hurdle. Now it’s time to make sure you can stay put through this economic crisis and beyond.
Here are five essential tips gleaned from working with HR staff, managers and twenty-something employees in hundreds of organizations.
1. Be the One Everyone Wants to Work With
Members of Generation Y, or those born roughly between 1978 and 1993, unfortunately, have a reputation of showing up to work with a sense of entitlement. Combat this perception by showing that you’re willing to pay your dues and learn from any assignment, owning your career progression and being a “can-do” person. If you encounter roadblocks, marshal your resources to get around them rather than letting a project languish.
2. Surpass Your Boss’s Expectations
Find out what the boss wants from you first, and then brainstorm ways to go above and beyond the call of duty. You can also establish a good rapport by making your new boss feel needed. Show that you are ready and willing to be guided, and bond over the fact that he has some years on you. Understand the value of self-sufficiency, and approach your boss with a problem or complaint only if you’ve explored all options for resolving it yourself.
3. Carve a Niche for Yourself Through Innovation
Ask yourself what your company or department needs, and think about how you can use your unique set of skills and talents to provide it. So what if you’re hardly a Renaissance man or woman? You’re still new blood. Can you offer a fresh perspective on a vexing problem that has been plaguing your managers for months? Can you find a way to do something faster and more efficiently?
4. Take the Extra Step to Help Someone
Beach-ball management, or bouncing a request over to a colleague because it’s not your responsibility to handle it, is all too common in the professional world. If someone asks you a question and you don’t know the answer, make it your business to find it. By doing whatever you can to ensure your department or organization is perceived in a positive light, you will add value and stand out as a team player.
5. Subtly Promote Your Achievements
If you want people to take notice of you, you must make your accomplishments visible. How do you share your contributions without being perceived as arrogant or boastful? The key is enthusiasm. If you emphasize your passion when describing an achievement, people will think you’re just excited about it. An excited person appears earnest, and it’s hard to be critical of someone who’s earnest.
Of course, these suggestions aren’t limited to new college grads. If you’ve been out of school two years or 20, the tips might well be worthwhile in hanging onto your job through the downturn.
{Alexandra Levit, a nationally recognized business and workplace expert, is the author of the They Don’t Teach Corporate in College: A Twenty-Something’s Guide to the Business World.}
The Invisible Invasion on Your Desk
Is your workspace really clean? Office workers are becoming hip to the fact that their workspaces are breeding grounds for germs and bacteria, but depending on what city you live in and what kind of office you work in, the level of contamination can vary widely.
In the past five years Dr. Charles Gerba, a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona, has done four Clorox-sponsored studies over five years that looked at office environments, and found that the germiest desks were in the Big Apple.
Regional Differences
“There were a lot more bacteria in offices in New York,” Gerba said, suggesting that bigger cities with larger, multistory office buildings and colder climates kept people at their desks for lunch and breaks, which meant more chances for people to spread germs.
In comparison cities with lower densities, warmer climates and more opportunity for workers to leave their offices during the day had fewer microbes, Gerba said.
“Cities like Tucson, San Francisco and Los Angeles had much cleaner offices,” he said.
Handle With Care
Shared workspaces, like media newsrooms with staffs on different shifts, are also likely to be much more bacteria-laden than other offices.
To cut back on bacteria, office workers should focus on three areas to keep clean: their desktops, phones and computers. Besides washing their hands frequently, workers should invest in disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizers, since custodial staff rarely clean desktops or office equipment.
Gender Inequality
“Most people don’t usually clean their desk until they start sticking to it,” he explained, adding that men and women tend to contaminate different things.
Gerba found that men, for example, are more likely to have personal digital assistants, like BlackBerrys, that are highly contaminated.
When it comes to invisible microbes on the desktop, many women’s desks have a higher incidence of contamination. The research showed that women often have more perishable food at their desks, while men tend to go with candy bars or other packaged foods for their in-cubicle snack. Apples, oranges and bananas can leave mold behind. Another item women had at their desks that can be a breeding ground for bacteria are makeup kits, according to Gerba’s studies.
Cleaning Your Equipment
Shaking the crumbs out of a keyboard or employing a canister of compressed air to get rid of dust may help extend the life of office equipment, but to really clean use products that kill germs. Taking a dry paper towel to your desk is not only ineffective, but it may also make things worse, Gerba said.
“It moves germs all around instead of disinfecting,” he said.
Most office equipment should not be sprayed with cleaners, but wetting a tissue or paper towel with a gentle disinfectant can allow for adequate cleanup.
Take the Stairs?
While many office clean freaks will go to great lengths to avoid touching the knob on the bathroom door, Gerba’s studies found that knobs and light switches were “pretty clean.”
But one of the dirtiest spots in office buildings was a fairly innocuous site — the elevator’s first floor button.
“I always knuckle that one,” Gerba said.
{Source}
Job Search Blues? Keep Those Spirits Up
If you’re having a difficult time finding a job, and it seems like it’s taking forever, don’t despair. We’ve all been there. The uncertainty of what lies ahead. The fear of never finding a job or plopping into the wrong one. The anxiety and stress from interviews-gone-wrong. Take a breath. Relax. You have something the rest of us don’t – spare time. So smile!
Here are some suggestions for keeping your spirit positive.
Think Up
The mind is a powerful vessel. How we think and what we think can control our spirits. We literally can think ourselves up or down. To keep out the negative thoughts and self-doubt:
- Wake up thinking or saying positive statements.
- Avoid negative media, news, emails, and downer movies and television.
- End the day thinking or saying positive statements.
- Think about the positives a new job brings: new skills, new relationships, and a new chance to show your skills and talents.
Positive Reminders
Surround yourself with quotes or statements of hope and encouragement. Write your favorites on sticky notes on the refrigerator or computer — somewhere you can easily see them. Two favorites from Winston Churchill:
- “The pessimist sees problems in every opportunity…whereas the optimist sees opportunity in every problem.”
- “Never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever give up. Never give up. Never give up. Never give up…”
Take Steps
Literally. Move. Being a couch potato shows. Leave the house at least once a day. Exercise, jogging or walking will:
- Re-energize you.
- Help to clear the mental cobwebs.
- Prepare you to look your best for interviews.
Pamper Yourself with Kind Acts
How you treat yourself can impact your spirit.
- Play your favorite music softly in the background while you “work.”
- Eat healthy without hugging the refrigerator. Now is not the time to bulk up.
- Sing — regardless of quality. Singing happy songs will actually will help to stretch and relax your vocal chords while refreshing your spirit.
- Avoid being sloppy. Dress and groom yourself with respect — for you.
- Treat yourself with affordable goodies such as a favorite food or beverage, an afternoon movie with popcorn, doing something touristy, or a mindless novel.
See Spirited People
Make sure you spend some time, preferably in person, with positive and supportive people every day.
- Surround yourself with yea-sayers and avoid the naysayers.
- Work your network.
- Call people rather than email or texting them — it’s more personal and supportive.
- If you’re single and live alone, go to the library or a coffee shop to be around others.
- Help others in need. Get out of yourself from time to time.
- Spend quality time with your family and friends.
Keep at the Top of Your Game
Keeping your spirit up has a lot to do with how you feel about yourself. Don’t let your skill set and knowledge slide.
- Keep up on industry news.
- Read trade journals and business magazines and newspapers.
- If possible, practice to improve your career skill set.
Now’s the Time
Enjoy the positives of your job search, like having spare time. Remember all those times you said, “If I only had time, I’d…”
- Read those books.
- Clean that closet.
- Take that class.
- Get in better shape.
Do Your Best Work to Find Work
Knowing you’re taking all the right steps to find a job will help improve your spirits.
- Write a perfect resume and cover letter for each job.
- Send X amount of resumes out each workday without fail.
- Keep up-to-date records of results.
- Keep accurate contact information on companies, executives and hiring agents.
- Have your interview clothes clean and ready to wear.
- Work at finding work every day.
Article by Pat Mayfield via Monster
Self-Reflection Sundays
Life moves fast. It whizzes by with no rhyme or reason and suddenly we find ourselves asking, “How did I get here?” As I was cooking dinner last night, I got to thinking about my time living in Texas. I moved to Houston two years ago, and already I find myself living in a different city. Granted it’s only an hour north of Houston, but change is change no matter how big or small.
I feel very blessed that I have the strength and courage to adapt to new surroundings so well. Sure, there are many times where I feel homesick or wonder why I moved away from home. I miss my friends and family more and more each day. But I think I’ve figured out exactly why I made that life-changing decision to move.
I wanted to prove to myself that I could be alone.
I really think that being “alone” is cast in a negative limelight. I have learned more about myself these past two years than my high school and college years combined. Lately, I’ve noticed how unbiased my thoughts are – I’m not influencing anyone, nor is anyone influencing me. I can do what I want when I want. I don’t have anyone to answer to and my schedule is on my terms. It’s a time for self-exploration and discovery. To renew and revive those passions and dreams tucked back deep in my mind. I make myself a priority instead of constantly putting others first. I feel happy, free, and able.
I didn’t feel like that before. I felt like I had to make some sacrifices and do things that weren’t necessarily at the top of my list. There were so many nights where I wanted to stay in and relax rather than attend some outing. Looking back at the outcome of many of those outings, I wish I had stayed in. But the past is in the past. No time for regrets. I can focus on the now, and now my list is on a pedestal and I can come and go as I please.
Point being, there is a monumental difference between being alone and being lonely. Being alone does not mean you are lonely. It simply means you are choosing to put you first. If you recognize this, you’re already leagues ahead of everyone else.
Hopefully the rest will get it.
Someday.
Travel Thursdays
Instead of highlighting all of the amazing places I’d love to visit at some point in my life, I found myself thinking about the past and how much easier things were when I was a kid. Sometimes I close my eyes and wish for just a second that I could go back to my childhood life, a life where I was perfectly content chasing after fireflies and running around the backyard with absolutely no direction and not a care in the world. I stumbled upon yet another article on Thought Catalog and it truly hit home. Chelsea Fagan, you’ve done it again.
10 Things We Did Better As Kids
1. Make friends.
While the fact that we are constantly in proximity with people our own age and have nothing better to do than go out and play with sticks for a few hours no doubt helps in our ability to make friends, there is an openness in childhood that allows us to embrace people without a weird layer of judgment and hesitation. There doesn’t come a moment in kindergarten where you see someone across the classroom and you’re like, “Oh, eww, that girl needs to stop looking at me with those bitchy eyes. What is she wearing? A skirt? Pfft. Okay, grandma.” We’re just like, “Hey, you have a Hello Kitty lunchbox. I like Hello Kitty. Let’s be best friends until the end of time,” and we are. It’s perfect.
2. Forgive people.
There is a strange tendency we develop as we get older (except, I imagine, in old age when you literally stop giving a shit about anything that doesn’t absolutely matter) to hold onto things long past their expiration date. There are certain slights that we shouldn’t go back on for our own mental health/emotional safety, but let’s be honest — most things don’t fall into that category. When you’re young, though, you basically just punch each other in the face and then you’ve immediately forgotten what you were upset about. Were that we could have such sage calm when it comes to our significant others. “You forgot to take out the trash again!!??!?!?! This is unforgivable!!” Come on, it’s pretty forgivable.
3. Try new things.
It’s as though life could be divided into two distinct categories: the time when you’re willing to experiment with unknown but potentially awesome things, and the time you’ve decided that everything unfamiliar should be side-eyed into oblivion. It perhaps comes at the moment when someone makes you try brussel sprouts for the first time and your child self feels so profoundly betrayed: “What is this!?! What cruel God would make a food grow from the earth that literally tastes like feet??!” From that moment on, we are destined to hesitate considerably before we embark on any new adventures.
4. Be content with what we have.
There is such a sweet innocence for our ability, when young, to be completely content with what is available to us. We have no real concept of envy or inferiority yet, only a sort of general excitement about being alive and getting to play. You don’t know how much money anyone has, or where they live, or if they are better-looking than you. There is just a pleasure in what is available, in making the most of what you have. If only we could feel this way when one of our friends invites us over to their new apartment that is beautifully furnished, in the perfect location, and filled with impressive-looking knick knacks from various world travels.
5. Admit we are wrong.
Why is it often so difficult to admit — to others and, more importantly, to ourselves — when we are in the wrong about something? Apologies should not be easier to deliver with insincere qualifiers like, “I’m sorry you felt that way,” but they so are. There is just something so grating, so offensive to our pride, to admit that we made a mistake and owe someone else a sincere apology. When we’re kids, though, there is about a .45 second duration to any feeling of righteous indignation, and we’re fully aware that getting over ourselves and saying we’re sorry when we should is the key to happiness, friends, and potential lollipops after dinner. Maybe we should all start giving out lollipops for thoughtful, honest apologies?
6. Enjoy simple things.
Have you ever played with a stick? I mean really played with it? Have you ever seen all the amazing things sticks can do and become with your imagination? Have you heard the dulcet tones they produce when run along a picket fence? Are you on my stick level? No? Then you have some five-year-olds you need to chill with stat, because they are about to blow your uptight mind, brah.
7. Come up with something to do.
You leave a kid alone in a room for a few minutes and they will literally just start talking to themselves and pretending that they are flying or some shit. They don’t care. They will take that cardboard box and travel to the moon to have tea with their family of teddy bears. What do you do when you’re alone in your room? If we’re being honest, probably complain on the internet about how bored you are and dismiss the fact that you are literally constantly surrounded by potential sweet things that you could be doing. No one cares if you look crazy, just start talking to yourself and making up an awesome alternate universe to hang out with. It’ll be great.
8. Let go.
While there are definitely things that can upset you as a kid — moving to a new school/town comes to mind — we are so much more elastic when it comes to rebounding from the setbacks. Sure, you’re upset for a while and there are definitely things you miss, but you’re going to focus on the positives and enjoy yourself as much as possible, because you understand how little being upset about things actually gets you. Besides, there are wayyyy too many sticks to play with in your new neighborhood to worry about the past.
9. Find the humor in things.
If you can pee your pants in front of your entire class and still go out that night and enjoy your “let’s make you feel better” dinner at Chuck E Cheese’s, I think you have found the secret to a higher plane of existence.
10. Be comfortable in our own skin.
I often look at pictures of myself when young and am struck by how purely happy I look, how confident and sure I feel, all while wearing these heinous sweaters my grandmother would make me wear with these weird puff-balls of fabric all over them. I look like a hairball Nyan Cat coughed up, and yet, I am just so chill I couldn’t be bothered with what anyone thought. I didn’t know what it meant to look silly, or for people to judge me, and I was happy to have my picture taken. If only I could get back to that time, perhaps I wouldn’t spend the morning after parties paralyzed in fear that my unphotogenic self would be plastered all over Facebook and I wouldn’t be able to detag the particularly egregious shots with the necessary speed. We could all stand to be that little kid in the ugly sweater again, not giving a damn if anyone thinks we’re pretty.
{Photo via restartmyheart}
The Big Question: Your Future
While I post about many other topics, I still haven’t forgotten the purpose of this blog. The purpose of this blog is to give advice in regards to career paths, the economy, and proposed steps forward. I realize that I have been a working professional for only two years. But in those two years, I’ve worked for two very diverse, large-scale companies and have held a total of four positions. Some may think I’m “not qualified” to give advice, or maybe that this blog shouldn’t exist at all. Maybe they’re right. But I feel that I’ve made tremendous strides as a young working professional, and my hope is that I can share my experiences and what I’ve learned thus far so you can avoid making those mistakes. That is why I’m here.
Let’s start from the beginning. Let’s say you’re approaching college graduation. By this time, most people would recommend that you should have “at least two internships under your belt” and that you “should have been applying for jobs all year long as a senior”. Yes, this is sound advice. Is it absolutely necessary? No. At least in my opinion it’s not.
To be perfectly honest with you, I wasn’t thinking about my future that much when I was in college. Sure, I was working towards a degree and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, just like everyone else. But I realized early on that I wanted to truly enjoy college. I did not have any internships. I did not have a part-time job. I spent one summer with friends and my new boyfriend, the second summer at weddings, the third summer in Europe on a study abroad trip, which leaves us with the fourth summer- the summer after graduation. THAT’S when I started applying for jobs. Personally, this was the best decision I’ve ever made. I knew that I would be working for the rest of my life, so why bog down the happiest time of my life with internships and part-time jobs that would turn out to be “less important” in the long run? I chose to live my life in the moment, and I haven’t regretted it since.
Right after I graduated, my roommates and I moved out of the townhouse we’d lived in for two years. I moved back in with my mom and worked a part-time job as a server at a restaurant to make some extra cash. You better believe when I wasn’t working, I was on my computer 24/7 applying for jobs. I would wake up in the morning, grab a cup of coffee from the kitchen, walk upstairs, and start scouring the internet for job listings in my pajamas. I remember my mom saying, “Shouldn’t you be getting dressed and dropping your resume off at places?” This brings me to my next point. There are so many tools available to us now that didn’t even exist five years ago. Yahoo Jobs, CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, Simply Hired, LinkedIn- the world we live in now is a job seeker’s dream world! You can immediately apply for jobs across the world with the click of button. No more snail mail. No more dropping your resume off in person. Live in a small town and want to get out? Always dreamed of living in a different country? You can! The internet is your oyster.
I mainly used Indeed when applying for jobs. This is because Indeed takes all of the job listings out there, from CareerBuilder, Monster, Yahoo, Simply Hired etc, and compiles them all into one website. Indeed and LinkedIn are the two I would recommend most. My dad has always said to me, “Getting the interview is the hardest part.” Boy, was he right. So before shooting off your resume into cyberspace, make sure it’s up-to-date and that you have an outstanding cover letter (more advice on that here). The downfall of applying for jobs on the internet is that after awhile, all of these resumes and cover letters begin to look the same to employers. Make yours stand out in a unique way without going over the top. It should look professional, neat, organized, and should be no longer than a page if you’re just starting out.
I submitted about 10-15 resumes online per day. If I was feeling really ambitious, sometimes I’d get to 20-25. I didn’t stick to just one industry-I applied to multiple ones. All I wanted was to get my foot in the door; I didn’t really care what industry the job was posted in. I knew I just needed to get some experience under my belt. My dream industry will find its way to me… eventually.
I applied for jobs, in all different industries, all sorts of positions, 10-15 per day, for a month and a half. I only got called for 3 or 4 interviews. One of those interviews turned out to be my lucky charm.
Don’t give up. Be persistent. If there’s a job out there that you really want and is realistically attainable, use LinkedIn to network. Communicate with others. Build your network. Ask for help. But most importantly, know in your heart that things will work out for you. Everyone’s timeframe is different, so don’t get discouraged. And by all means, if you want advice or need help, email me.
Seriously. You can pick my brain.
Racin’ For The Cure
Yesterday, I signed up for my first competitive, timed 5K – Susan G. Komen’s Race For The Cure. The race is on October 6th, which is only 3 weeks away. Needless to say, I needed to hop on my training plan right away. I started training yesterday and planned on “easing into things”. But of course, being me, I dove into it head on. I ran the full 3.1 miles yesterday with 2 one-minute walking breaks, for a total time of 33 minutes. I told myself to relax today, but I didn’t. Running is my nirvana. It’s my stress reliever. It’s the only thing that makes me feel really good after a long, busy, productive day at work. Mostly people like to sit in front of the TV and eat junk food. I run 3 miles and then dig my hands into an over-sized bag of carrots. Silly wabbit.
Today was day 2 of training and I’ve already improved my time by 2 minutes (ran straight through, no walking breaks)! Now the time to beat is 31 minutes. I’m taking this very seriously and hope to reach my goal time of 28 minutes. If you want to join me and support the fight against breast cancer, please click on the link below to donate. Even $1 or $5 goes a long way. Think of it as your charitable contribution for the week, month, year, or what not 
Thank you to my mother for being the first to donate!! Any and all support is greatly appreciated!
Join the fight against breast cancer!
What Love Shouldn’t Feel Like
A truly captivating article. Read on.
Love shouldn’t feel circumstantial. It shouldn’t feel as if I love you more than you love me or vice versa. There shouldn’t be conditions, levels or lesser degrees of love. If there are then whatever you’re feeling is something else. Maybe lust, maybe like, maybe comfort – but certainly not love. The effort shouldn’t be one-sided; all of the little things can’t come from one contributor; and if you hurt, your companion should as well.
Love shouldn’t make someone feel like a bother. We shouldn’t be able to empathize with a pesky gnat at a picnic, being shooed away. Love shouldn’t be treated like hard labor, and it shouldn’t feel like it either. It shouldn’t make us sad more often than happy, or lead to bad times outweighing the good.
Love shouldn’t consist of waiting around to hear from the person you care infinitely about. That’s the worst. Sitting by your phone, waiting on pins and needles for something – anything from them. The phone might vibrate, but it’s beyond disappointing when it turns out to be a text from somebody else. It aches your heart to know that they’re somewhere out there, completely unfazed by your absence. We can convince ourselves that the subpar phone service failed to deliver our lover’s text, or prevented their call – but we know the chances of that are slim. And sure, we could just contact them, but when you initiate conversations regularly, it’d be nice to have that attention reciprocated. Love shouldn’t feel like being wide-awake until 3am; wishing, hoping, praying for a measly phone call from the one you adore.
Love shouldn’t keep notes on every blunder ever made. When a mistake occurs, retaliation should never be a thought. The pain felt by your companion’s mistake shouldn’t make you want to get even. If you know how much it hurt you, why would you want the one you love to experience that same agony? Those feelings are poisonous. A desire to exact revenge or document every error is a surefire sign that you’re involved in something other than love. Instead you’ve got yourself a contaminated, breakable link that the Grim Reaper of Love is ominously stalking – preparing for its imminent death.
Love shouldn’t feel like uncertainty. It shouldn’t feel like a battle. It shouldn’t feel like a tug of war, with two people trying to make the other “love” them more. Maybe you’ve mistaken your physical infatuation, or crush at a time of vulnerability for love. Those things are flimsy. Those feelings are fragile. The first storm will either demolish those relationships, or leave enough water damage to rust and wither them away.
Love shouldn’t feel hopeless, because it never is. In love, a pair can be down, but never knocked out. Love should make all things possible, even if they aren’t necessarily looking good today. If I love you and you love me, we will prevail – but if we don’t, we won’t. Love shouldn’t feel like we won’t.
{via Christopher Hudspeth, Thought Catalog}
Don’t stumble over something behind you
It’s time to talk about life. Life has lots of hurdles. Lots of bumps in the road. We’ve all come across those roadblocks, ones that may physically be standing in our way or abstract ones that seem truly impossible to pass. Very rarely is life easy, and most people learn this the hard way. Luckily, from every mistake, hardship, and heartache comes a lesson. These, my friends, are called life lessons.
Now, there are two kinds of people in this world (yes, I truly believe this). There are people who make mistakes, never learn from them, and continue to make those same mistakes over and over. Then there are people who make a mistake only once or twice, come to terms with those consequences, and learn to cut that behavior out of their life. I like to believe I am the latter. No one is perfect. We’re human and emotions get the best of us sometimes. Everyone has the capability to feel angry, jealous, irritated, depressed, or envious and these feelings are usually exercised more frequently than others. But the way you act as you are feeling these emotions says a lot about your character; this can make it or break it for most relationships.
Your soul is your character. Your character is your soul. To me, they are one in the same. How you choose to treat those around you whether it’s giving your word and sticking to it or telling a friend the harsh truth say a lot about you as a person. Is it okay to tell someone close to you that they’re making a wrong decision? Sure. As long as you have facts to back your case up, the act of saving someone from a harsh reality is something a good friend would do. If they choose to listen and take your advice, great. If not, then bear in mind that it’s their mistake, not yours. In the end, we all must ask ourselves, “Which kind of person do I want to be?”
You can’t physically stumble over a rock or pothole you’ve already passed down the road, so why stumble over something that has already passed by in life? You shouldn’t because it’s not worth it.
It’s already passed. Gone. Out the window.
So let it go. Let it drift away.
Do this and promise yourself one thing: I won’t look back.
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