Work, success, and meaning at every stage of your career
Building skills on the job
Each conversation is a dance that we discover as it unfolds, with its own rhythm, flavor, flow. The pleasure we and our partners derive from this dance will depend in no small measure on how well we improvise, moment by moment, phrase by phrase, instinct by instinct. And yes— on how well we talk!
Administrative Professionals Week fell this year on April 24. The modern admin assistant is tasked with a variety of important tasks, including data management, supervision, budget responsibilities, even hiring and training. Good riddance to the days when as Peggy Olsen, in Season One of Mad Men, said, “He may act like he wants a secretary, but most of the time they’re looking for something between a mother and a waitress.”
Confession: I’m an extrovert who dislikes networking events. I like meeting new people, but I find making small talk tedious within a few minutes of arriving. Superficial chat exhausts me, and it’s rare to make a true connection at most business events or parties.
One of her great actionable takeaways is the phrase: “The story I’m telling myself is…” She introduces the concept with a story about a time she was completely overwhelmed with work.
“A child comes to think of himself as the personality he gets recognition for or, in other words, as the set of patterns of action and habits of thought that get him out of childhood in one piece. That set, raised to adulthood, is what we are calling the calculating self.”
Most of us think of retirement age as somewhere between 62 (Social Security eligibility) and 70 (mandatory retirement age for some professions, and the age when Social Security payments max out.) But a wave of young people have decide life is too short to spend 50 years of it working.
A great blog post by LinkedIn talks about the most-requested skills in employer job postings. I’ve re-posted it here. The post includes links to LinkedIn’s training courses. (available through a free 30-day trial; you can subscribe by the month after it ends.)
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and not just because of the food. I love the fact that we dedicate a national day to being grateful for our blessings. If you’re working, here is a list of things you can be grateful for.
Psychologists define rumination as “the focused attention on the symptoms of one’s distress, and on its possible causes and consequences, as opposed to its solutions.” Farmers define rumination (by their cows) as “to chew again what has been chewed slightly and swallowed.” Either way, it’s an unappetizing way to spend your evening.
I’m a big fan of humor in the workplace. If we’re not having fun (most of the time), it’s our own fault.
Your Work, Your Way 