Question: “I was recently contacted online by a close friend that I haven’t seen in 25 years. We made plans to get together, but I’m worried about seeing him. ‘Steve’ is at the top of his game as a highly successful motivational speaker. He’s been married for almost 30 years and has four kids. My life is the complete opposite. I never married, and my career ended after the 9/11 attacks. Then my mother developed a terminal illness, and my father became senile. I went bankrupt, lost my home, and am now destitute. At the age of 50, I’m working two jobs, sleeping at a friend’s house, and fending off depression. I am very ashamed of my situation. What on earth can I say when Steve asks how I’m doing?” —Downtrodden
If you’ve ever wanted a new challenge to keep your administrative job from feeling “same old, same old,” consider how Catherine Russell must feel. She has played the same role in an off-Broadway play for 25 years. She offers good advice for staving off the feeling that your work is repetitive:
Questions to pose when you’re feeling stuck or overwhelmed: 1. Ask, “Who?” not “How?” 2. Ask “What’s essential?” 3. Ask “When?”
December 5, 2011
Categorized in: Meetings
If you struggle with coordinating electronic schedules with people who use different tools for scheduling, Tungle might offer a solution.
Practice this: in an earnest, non-defensive tone, “Yes, if you can let me finish, this is an important point that’ll clarify your concern.” Resist the urge to speak faster because you anticipate being cut off. If you get into the habit of speeding up, you may say something you regret later. And you may string […]
Fifty percent of a company’s paperwork can usually be eliminated, without disrupting business. How can you help reduce the distraction of unnecessary paper piles?
Focus on knowing where to get information quickly rather than knowing how to do everything … Watch what you say on Facebook: More than 90% of job-screeners say they’re using social network tools to weed out applicants … Take the lead in developing your own professional skills.
Executive search firm CEO Skip Freeman calls it “Fatal Career Mistake #4”—not branding yourself as a person who can save or make money for a company. These days, you won’t be hired merely because you have the know-how, he says. You’ve got to be a problem-solver.
Question: “I work for a bank that was recently acquired by a larger bank. Management has told us that there will be layoffs in a few months, but we don’t yet know who will be affected. Should I wait and see what happens or start looking for another position now?” —Worried
How do you make sure a task gets done? Peter Bregman, author of 18 Minutes, believes we ought to make appointments with ourselves in order to accomplish things. “We should all be working off our calendars, not our task lists,” says Bregman.