Work-Life Abundance?

Jennie Wong has a great article that looks at work-life balance from a different angle.  I’ve had many previous posts regarding this topic including Work-Life Balance Advice, Work-Life Balance Choices, and We Work Too Much.  But Ms. Wong’s article hits on a point I’ve long feared may be true.  To many people, work-life balance has become polite code for working less.  And so work becomes the bad guy. 

Start Your New Job Right

So you landed your new job.  Great.  Now what?  Just like new parents have to immediately flip the switch from pregnancy-focused to parenting-focused, so do the legions of people who land a new job.  The job seeker becomes the newbie.  So how do you start your new job right?  Scott McDowell, Hannah Morgan, and Katharine Brooks make some good points in these articles.  As Pianaman routinely cuts to the chase, here are my crystal ball offerings:

Here's Why You Should Be Networking

Networking.  In many ways it's like flossing, exercising, and eating right.  We know we should do it, but we never seem to get around to it.  And if we do, it's sporadic at best.  So why don’t we network effectively?  I surmise a main reason is because we generally don’t experience the full benefits of networking at the time we are doing it.  Many of the benefits may not be realized until far down the road.  However, in today’s instant gratification culture, that’s usually not good enough to warrant our attention. 

So, assuming you need a little motivation to help keep your networking efforts further up your priority list, try thinking with this mindset.  All jobs are temporary.  The days of working for the same company your entire career are long gone.  Median job tenure for 2012 was 4.7 years.  Over the course of a typical career, that equates to over 9 different jobs.  Go in with the mindset that all jobs are temporary and you will realize how important it is to network.  Here’s a few ideas to help you get the most out of your networking efforts.  Some other good points on networking can be found at Amazing Business, Help Guide, Passive Panda, and About.

Delegation is Not Easy

Delegation is most definitely not an easy task.  That's because knowing what to do and how to do it are two completely different things.  Delegation is an art, not a science.  Delegation is subjective, open-ended, and can be very emotional.  Unfortunately, many owners, managers, and workers do a very poor job of delegating.  Here's three decent reads on understanding the pitfalls and improving delegation skills: The Art of Delegation: 11 Ways to Work Smarter Today; How You Can Become a Better Delegator; and The Triple Whammy of Poor Delegation.

Humor: The 7 Habits of Highly Annoying Co-Workers

We've all had those co-workers with the annoying little habits that drive us up a wall.  Here's a list of the 7 most highly annoying habits (plus some honorable mention candidates).  Enjoy.

Ditch Train the Trainer

In this increasingly competitive global economy, companies are always looking for the most efficient use of resources.  Understandable for sure.  But, sometimes I think companies have difficulty recognizing where to draw the line.  Employees are always being asked to do more with less.  But at some point, it's just less.

One area where this 'more with less' concept rears it's ugly head time and time again is training.  The Train the Trainer model has become more and more popular.  What's not to love?  It supposedly saves both time and money.  I'm not buying it.  Here's three reasons why.

Taking Control of your Calendar

Elizabeth Grace Saunders has a great post about respecting yourself and taking back control of your calendar.  This is so simple, yet so difficult for most people to accomplish.  Taking control of your calendar is critical to any hopes of accomplishing work-life balance.  As I mentioned in a previous post, it's really about choices. 

Why Work-from-Home Policies Work

New Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer made the bold move recently to rollback Yahoo's work-from-home policy and require all employees to work at Yahoo's offices.  Best Buy almost immediately followed suit and ended their work-from-home program.  There was a firestorm of media coverage on Yahoo's decision, most of it against the move.  Here's three different takes: New York Times, Forbes, and CIO.  My take: a laughably bad idea.  Here's why.

3 Reasons Why The Bad Boss Has No Clue

Most everyone has had the experience of dealing with a bad boss, some more than others and to differing degrees.  Here's a few articles on this topic:  Bad to the Bone, How to Deal: Don't!, Harvard Business Review.  Hopefully, none of you had bosses who made the Really Bad Boss stories (yikes!).  There's no doubt having a bad boss can truly be a helpless feeling at times.  An employee's relationship with his/her manager strongly influences the employee's overall job satisfaction. 

While many employees invoke the Peter Principle ("Employees tend to rise to their level of incompetence") when discussing their manager, there's easily many other reasons why the blockhead boss has no clue.  Here's three main reasons why:

Is Age Just a Number?

Sure it is.  And 'experience' is just a word too.  I got a kick out of Brian Wong's post on LinkedIn.  Brian's a 21-year-old.  Although his age is stated in the article, I could have guessed he was a youngster just by reading the article.  I love his enthusiasm, passion, energy, innocence, and idealism. 

Staying Focused and Productive

It seems like everyone is perpetually looking for ways to squeeze more productivity out of their day.  Much like diets, there is no magic answer.  It all comes down to making better choices and having the willpower to stick with it.  If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you'll need to make an entire lifestyle change.  A quick fix diet will only put you on a weight roller coaster.  It won't address the core lifestyle problem.  Similarly, focus and productivity issues should be addressed by looking inward, not outward.  I like many of the points Nadia Goodman makes to train your brain to stay focused.  Another article embedded in Nadia's has some good tips for finding focus and nixing distractions.