work/life balance

In Favor of Doing Favors

Homegirl on April 29, 2011

“So shines a good deed in a weary world.”

–Willy Wonka

So true, Mr. Wonka, and I live by those words. Kind of. Strike that and reverse it into graphic-design land. It’s probably not wise to admit this, but I will do a design favor for just about anyone who asks. Yep, free design! I know, what a ho. But a design ho, so it’s harmless. Except to my bank account. It’s not a goodwill thing, believe me. Karma coins do not pay my bills. I do free design for purely selfish reasons.

Let’s face it, graphic design is not the most lucrative career choice. But I had delusions of grandeur. Sitting in my black turtleneck, smoking cigarettes, discussing the latest color trends, and laughing at people who use Comic Sans. Years later, reality has set in. I score a job, receive a 63-page PDF of stringent brand guidelines, put my head down, and get to work. Twenty rounds of changes later, my ego is in the toilet and my brain is void of any creative thought.

So when a friend calls and ask me to do an evite for an outdoor BBQ with an actual pig roast? I am so in! Your son’s gay wedding with a superhero theme? Done! Why, you ask?

You, my appreciative friend, feel guilty and let me have creative freedom. I do not have to make ten rounds of changes. I do not have to make a logo bigger. I do not have to adhere to the brand guideline encyclopedia from hell. I get to pick my own color palette. My own fonts! I get a heartfelt “thank you so much.” I get satisfaction. I remember why I love graphic design.

So the next time your neighbor’s cousin’s brother-in-law’s college roommate needs a poster for his short film about daisies, definitely give me a ring. I’ll design the crap out of it–and this one’s on me!*

* bottles of wine graciously accepted

Miss Education: Why Does It Take So Long to Leave a Lousy Job?

Miss Education on April 29, 2011

Happy Friday! Today brings the debut of “Miss Education,” a public-school teacher in the New York area. Until she finds herself a shiny new career and can leave the blackboard jungle behind, she’ll be posting anonymously. We think her struggle to drastically remodel her work life is something that lots of us can relate to . . . .
After four years teaching, I’ve had enough. In fact, I often wonder why I stuck with it for the first four days. In 2007, I graduated with a diploma in one hand, a teaching license in the other, and stars in my eyes. I had just one goal: to change the world through the power of literature and my dynamic, witty personality. I didn’t know which school would hire me, which grade I would teach, or even which city I would work in, but somewhere, my first class of middle-school students was gearing up to have the best English teacher of their lives.

Four years later, after working for the New York City Department of Education, I am also working at a second job on the sly, enhancing my resume with other marketable skills and counting down until the day I can quit teaching middle school forever and shred my license into confetti.

I think that I went into teaching for all of the right reasons. None of the perks–summers off, pensions, health benefits, a workday ending at 3:00 p.m.—meant anything to me when I began my secondary-education program at college. I cared about only two things. I wanted to spend most of my day with eager, energetic young people, and I wanted to talk about books ALL DAY LONG. Was there a better way to make a living? Read More →

Make Your Lunch at Work Count

Brooke Alpert on April 22, 2011

Brooke Alpert is a nutritionist and the founder of B Nutritious, a private nutrition counseling practice based in New York City. She blogs for us about how to stay healthy, fit, and centered during even the craziest of work weeks.

Think that a long leisurely lunch will help you eat less for the rest of the day? Some new research suggests otherwise. A study published last month in the Journal of Nutrition found that people who had a two-hour meal didn’t eat less over the rest of their day than those who spent just 30 minutes eating.

Having a long lunch (or any other long meal) can lead to different outcomes for different people. For some of my clients, long work lunches lead to eating more calories from multiple courses that they otherwise wouldn’t have had. For others, the leisurely speed of the meal allows them to be more aware of their hunger levels and feel more satisfied than they would be if they’d just been shoveling in food at their desk. Read More →

Bullet Points: Career Management Musts, and Problems for Newbie Startups

The Hired Guns on April 15, 2011

Forbes uncovers three new “career management musts“. These sites will let you “score” your professional online brand, help you get a raise, and partially automate your job search by keeping track of contacts, interviews, and all other forms of contacts.
Kris Ruby, the head of her own PR agency, talks to Business Insider about her biggest challenge as a young entrepreneur: it’s “time management and balancing my personal and corporate brand. In your first year as a start up, you do not necessarily have the cash flow to bring on a full time staff and you are often a ‘one man show’ wearing many hats….”
If you haven’t voted in our “Should interns get paid?” poll, you have until noon Eastern today. A couple of the choices are running neck-and-neck…

S.W.F. Seeks J.O.B.: No Gut No Glory

Judy McGuire on April 1, 2011

S.W.F. Seeks J.O.B. is our new monthly career advice column penned by Judy McGuire, a sex and relationships expert who also happens to be hilarious. Judy will help us understand how the rules for dating and job hunting are a lot alike — and how the victories in one part of your life can be applied to the other.

I’ve spent the better part of the last decade writing about relationships for a variety of places, including the Seattle Weekly, TheFrisky.com, Time.com, and the New York Press. Hell, I even wrote a book called How Not to Date, which the Huffington Post called “one of the ten most underrated humor books” of the past few years. But even after ten-plus years both freelancing (a.k.a. looking for work 24/7) and writing about dating, it was years before I realized how similar the two truly are.

I’ve certainly sat through more than my fair share of awkward dates. The dinner conversations that turn into an excuse for the guy to list every asset in his portfolio. The meet-ups for drinks that begin with a disappointed glance (his) and end in tears (mine). Sure, there are highs and there are hookups, but for every great night out, there’s also equal or better amounts of discomfort, disappointment, and downright dismay. Read More →

Should Your Work Life Be More Like Preschool?

Brooke Alpert on March 25, 2011

Our newest blogger is Brooke Alpert, MS, RD, CDN, a nutritionist and the founder of B Nutritious, a private nutrition counseling practice based in New York City. She’ll be bringing advice on how to stay healthy, fit, and centered during even the craziest of work weeks. And because every few days seems to bring new headlines about wellness and nutrition, Brooke will also help us separate the truly worthwhile discoveries from fads and questionable findings.

I have a two-year old, so I watch a lot of Nick Jr. on TV. There’s a promo I’ve seen more than my fair share of that has me thinking.

It has a few sections, but the best one starts in an operating room, with all the beeping and other noises you’d expect. A bunch of doctors and nurses are all huddled around what seems to be a patient. Once you get in closer, you see that everyone is playing with the swabs, the wooden sticks, the Q-tips, and the rubber gloves. Then you hear an announcer ask, “What if life was more like preschool? You’d have arts and crafts time.” Others parts show a bunch of rough-looking mechanics pausing for a story and office workers with eyes closed for nap time.

Maybe this commercial is on to something. Let’s break down what happens in preschool: play, snack, recess, and a nap. It got me thinking about what I recommend to my clients. I want them to sleep more, make healthier choices, exercise, and enjoy life. Not so different, right? Read More →

iBoss

Homegirl on March 24, 2011

A print designer who now finds herself in a digital world, Homegirl blogs about the perils and joys of freelancing. They both involve wearing pajamas all day.

If you’re going to work from home, you must be disciplined. Like me. OK, unlike me. It’s hard to be your own boss and an exemplary employee at the same time. A few nights ago I went to bed swearing I would get up early, go to a yoga class, and get all my work done at a reasonable hour. Next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and it was 10:00 a.m. What is wrong with me? Oh, yeah. I don’t like alarm clocks.

I grabbed the dog and rushed him out the door to get a power walk in before buckling down to work. Believe me, I gave myself a stern talking to on that walk. I need to become more motivated, I thought to myself. Stop procrastinating. Keep normal hours and get in sync with the outside world.

I walked by my favorite bakery and bought myself a cappuccino and the most delicious cookie on the planet. Oh, how can I stay mad at me when I do such nice things for myself? Caffeine combined with a sugar buzz? I’ll finish my work in no time. Which means I could knock off early and treat myself to a movie. You know, as a reward for being such a good boss.

Bullet Points: Storytelling and Finding Your Muse

The Hired Guns on March 18, 2011

The New York Times’ “You’re the Boss” column talks storytelling. The author MP Mueller says that all the businesses that “really captured” his “imagination and heart” all had a “company story, told well.” We’re obviously big fans of using stories to get your message across, whether you’re the CEO of Starbucks or a fresh-faced grad applying for your first job or looking to launch a new company.

These days, more and more workers are “commuting” to a home office. If they’re going to get anything done, the onus is on them. In this episode of the nerdy-but-fun Radiolab show, the topic is self-control and inspiration: Writers Oliver Sacks and Elizabeth Gilbert talk about moving forward when they’re stuck at their work. Gilbert talks about how you can live a “lifetime of creativity without cutting your ear off you know what I mean?” She avoids writer’s block by talking to her muse: berating, soothing, and reassuring it. Then her muse shows up and she gets to work. How do you talk to your muse?

In January, the novelist Michael Chabon gave blogging a try. In his final post for The Atlantic, he writes that “novelist time is reptile time” and compares novel-writing’s pace to that of blogging: “Blogging, I think, is largely about seizing opportunities, about pouncing, about grabbing hold of hours, events, days and nights as they are happening, sizing them up and putting them into play with language, like a juggler catching and working into his flow whatever the audience has in its pockets.”

Bullet Points: Cutting Down on the Noise and Human Resource Secrets

The Hired Guns on March 16, 2011

Tony Schwartz, Hired Gun pal and the author of Be Excellent at Everything, writes about what the addicted-to-texting-and-tweeting crowds at SXSW would need to “seize back control of their lives.” Hint: it doesn’t involve more Internet.

You likely already have too much to do, too much information to absorb, and too many choices to make. If so, your challenge is learning to say no far more often — “no” to more projects, more meetings, more emails, more tweets, more Facebook updates, more purchases, more friends, more “likes”, and more fans and followers. . . Prioritization isn’t just what you want to do, it’s increasingly what you ought not to do.

These dirty little secrets of HR make for sobering reading. The bottom line is that they are people too–and some of them are full of foibles. So be prepared by knowing what they might be thinking. [TechRepublic]

Bullet Points: Avoiding the Monday Blues, Internships, and Networking @SXSW

Allison Hemming on March 14, 2011

7 Tips for Networking at SXSW. These tips will work at just about any large and complicated event. And it’s true–ditching your friends (just temporarily!) and allowing some room for the unexpected are both good starts. [Inc.]

From time to time everyone gets the blues on Monday, right? And probably rates skyrocket whenever an hour gets stolen from your weekend, as it did today. (And sadly, sleeping in is rarely an option.) Next Monday, head off that low-down feeling with Careerealism’s eight tips.

Marketwatch’s “Recession Baby” takes on the question of internships in this incredibly competitive job market. An employee at the Vault.com delivers the somewhat chilling news: “As long as you can afford to work unpaid you should do so, until you find paying work.”

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