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Category: Personal Development

Cheer up with a good read

Happiness coaching is seeping into the workplace, The Wall Street Journal noted recently. It’s considered an antidote to the recession and its effect on the workplace. Here are four books that tackle the topic of happiness:

Ask for the boss’s help intelligently

Being afraid to ask for help can land you in deep water. So learning how to ask for help—and doing it right—is critical to your success as an administrative professional. Asking for help doesn’t have to make you look dumb. In fact, it shows you have good judgment, and that you’re aware of what you don’t know.

Suffering health problems in silence

More than half of workers believe their work status would be negatively affected if they sought treatment for a range of health problems, according to a recent poll by the American Psychiatric Association. For example, the percentage who fear the stigma of seeking treatment for alcoholism is 73%, and for depression, 62%. One way to change existing stigmas? Raise awareness.

Leverage your intuition on the job

Your gut tells you to wait a day before sending an angry e-mail or to stay away from the rumor mill. That’s your intuitive intelligence, says best-selling author and UCLA psychiatrist Judith Orloff. By checking in with your intuitive coach, she says in her book Second Sight, you end up making better on-the-job decisions and navigating office politics masterfully.

Didn’t impress? Try again

You already know nothing is more valuable than a good first impression. What should you do if you arrived late, stuck your foot in your mouth or just weren’t feeling like your usual self during that first encounter? Should you throw in the towel and accept your fate? Absolutely not! Even though research supports the difficulty in overcoming a negative first impression, you can take action to up the odds of getting back in someone’s good graces.

Read like a CEO

Put yourself on the same page as your boss, literally, by reading what he’s reading. Some of the best books on executives’ nightstands: Superfreakonomics, Outliers, Built to Last, The Upside of the Downturn, Viral Loop and Too Big to Fail.

9 tips for an emergency energy boost

“When your energy level is low, everything feels like a chore,” says Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, “even things that would ordinarily make you happy.” Exercise and a good night’s sleep can boost energy, of course. But what if you need more energy right now? Try one of these strategies:

Train your middle-age brain

If you often find yourself chalking up things to a “senior moment,” it may be time to train your aging brain. Scientists have confirmed that brains continue to grow through and beyond middle age. The trick is finding ways to keep brain connections in good condition and to grow more of them.

1-Minute Strategies: Feb. ’10

Remain contactable by creating a Google Profile … Ask or you won’t get it … Pose targeted questions about the specific behaviors that you want feedback on … Volunteer if you want to feel better about your life … Eliminate everything from the web page you’re reading, except the text and photos, with Readability.