If you’re employed while interviewing for a new opportunity, do not send interview thank you notes during business hours - even if you told the prospective employer you’re taking that time off. People are forgetful, and seeing a time stamp from an hour in which you are expected to be working implies that you are not working the [...]
Archive for February, 2012
Interview Thank You Notes Sent During Business Hours May Give The Wrong Impression
Posted in Interview, tagged Employment, Hiring Decisions, Interview, Job Search, Jobs, Office Politics, Thank You Notes, Work on 2012/02/29 | Leave a Comment »
Things Guys Like But Won’t Tell You
Posted in Improving Relationships, tagged Attraction, Chocolates, Dating, Flowers, Gifts, Happiness, Love, Romance, Spa on 2012/02/28 | 7 Comments »
Following is a list of items many guys like but won’t tell you. Hugs Snugs (snuggling) Surprise gifts Flowers Chocolates Entwining feet Subtle PDA (public displays of affection) Entwining fingers Laughter in response to their jokes Being told that they are loved Massages Special treatment “Eskimo” kisses or nuzzling Some men even enjoy spas, eyebrow [...]
Before Committing, Confirm The Beauty Tip Works For You
Posted in Beauty, tagged Cosmetics, Fashion, Hollywood, Make-Up, Mary Kay, Oscars, Red Carpet, Style on 2012/02/27 | Leave a Comment »
The intent of this post is not to discourage people from buying Mary Kay cosmetics but to caution people against adopting Mary Kay’s application tips without comparing the results to other recommended techniques. There are very few face shapes upon which the Mary Kay application tips will produce flattering results. Also, as can be seen by [...]
Welcome To The Family
Posted in Family Enrichment, tagged Commitment, Engagement, Family, Happiness, Love, Marriage, Relationships, Wedding on 2012/02/26 | 1 Comment »
When we marry, we are not marrying just a person. We’re wedding the person’s family. While some of us might be able to separate ourselves from our family, others are not. If there’s a chance that you are marrying a person equally wedded to his or her family, questions such as the following should be [...]
Want More Of A Good Thing? Be Generous With Positive Feedback.
Posted in Psychology, tagged Business, Communication, Employment, Feedback, Happiness, Karma, Negative Feedback, Positive Feedback, Rewards on 2012/02/24 | 1 Comment »
Businesses seldom receive positive feedback from customers. If someone does something exceptional, engender additional good behavior and reward the employee by letting the business know. Take five or fewer minutes to type or jot a short note, or have a brief conversation with a manager. On the flip side, many businesses will reward negative customer feedback with reimbursements, rebates, vouchers, or coupons. But, customers are rarely [...]
Posted in Improving Relationships, tagged Behavior, Bullies, Employment, Happiness, Life, Love, Relationships, Success on 2012/02/23 | Leave a Comment »
Don’t let things you have no control over, such as dealing with obtuse clerks, bullies, lousy traffic, a punishing boss, strain your relationships.
Constructive Approach To Delivering Negative Feedback That Cultivates Improvement & Loyalty
Posted in Manage Successfully, tagged Employment, Jobs, Office Politics, Performance, Performance Appraisal, Performance Evaluation, Psychology, Review, Success on 2012/02/22 | Leave a Comment »
A common recommendation for addressing developmental opportunities in an employee’s performance evaluation is to (a) point out areas of weakness, (b) provide one or more concrete example of each weakness, (c) list steps the employee can take to improve her performance, and (d) identify measurements of success. If you have an underperforming employee who clearly [...]
Using Another Person’s Voice To Strengthen Your Argument Can Backfire
Posted in Getting Ahead, tagged Communication, Ethics, Etiquette, Friends, Office Politics, Perspective, Politics, Psychology, Relationship on 2012/02/21 | 1 Comment »
Generally, an argument or position is not strengthened by saying someone else agrees with you or came to a similar conclusion unless that person’s opinion has weight with the audience and has approved use of his name. In fact, it can weaken an argument to rely on the words or opinion of another person because it [...]
Posted in Getting Ahead, tagged Behavior, Happiness, Problem Solving, Psychology, Success on 2012/02/20 | Leave a Comment »
If you can’t do anything about a matter, why waste time fretting about it? Come up with a plan and move on to other things.
Noteworthy Career Advice Site: Business Fitness
Posted in Getting Ahead, Hiring Decisions, Job Search, Manage Successfully, Noteworthy Sites, Resignation Tips, tagged Big Picture Consulting, Business, Business Fitness, Career, Dawn Lennon, Development, Employment, Leadership, Management, Success on 2012/02/19 | 2 Comments »
It’s been a while since we’ve been to a website that offers career guidance as comprehensively as Business Fitness, a blog by Dawn Lennon, a Career Strategist and founder of Big Picture Consulting. Ms. Lennon’s advice is succinct while addressing matters from all angles: managers, employees, colleagues, and HR. Her blog is honest, without being brutal or offensive. Ms. Lennon does not [...]
A Simple, Inexpensive Way To Make Your Jewelry Sparkle
Posted in Natural Remedies, tagged Diamonds, Gems, Gemstone, Gold, Jewelry, Jewels, Rings, Wedding on 2012/02/18 | Leave a Comment »
An inexpensive way to clean gold jewelry is soaking it in a cup of water with two activated Polident tablets, pulling the jewelry out eight to 12 hours later, then gently buffing the jewelry with a soft-bristled toothbrush under running water (the polishing tool of an electric toothbrush works best). The jewelry – even those without [...]
Simple Self Evaluations Are More Effective At Holding A Manager’s Attention
Posted in Getting Ahead, tagged Communication, Employment, Feedback, Jobs, Office Politics, Performance Evaluation on 2012/02/17 | Leave a Comment »
Managers might not read everything in your self-evaluation. As such, you’re best off keeping it simple in order to maintain his attention. Address each subject and goal succinctly. Use bullet points and stick to key facts.
A Secret To Navigating Office Politics Without Being Political
Posted in Getting Ahead, Politics, tagged Career, Employment, Friends, Networking, Office Politics, Politics, Relationships, Success on 2012/02/16 | Leave a Comment »
If you’re poor at navigating through office politics, align yourself with the top performers in your Department. By top performers, we don’t mean people who have been successful politically but are generally inept at their responsibilities. Instead, we’re talking about colleagues whom others perceive as invaluable contributors because they are subject matter experts, tech-savvy, or [...]
How To Make Seemingly Inconsistent Messages Consistent
Posted in Improving Relationships, Manage Successfully, tagged Business, Children & Family, Communication, Employee Relations, Employment, Life, Love, Relationship, Success on 2012/02/15 | Leave a Comment »
With children, partners, and employees, ensure that your message to each is consistent. For example, don’t push your son out the door to get exercise only to chastise him for staying out too long. Don’t castigate your spouse for insufficient communication, and then criticize her for a profuse email. Don’t censure an employee for digging [...]
Posted in Dating, Personal Enrichment, tagged Dating, Friends, Happiness, Life, Love, Pleasure, Relationship, Valentine on 2012/02/14 | Leave a Comment »
Put work in its place. It’s Valentine’s Day. Go out and enjoy it!
An Achilles Heel Lies Inside Our Strengths
Posted in Getting Ahead, tagged Achilles, Business, Employment, Jobs, Office Politics, Politics, Psychology, Skill, Success on 2012/02/13 | Leave a Comment »
When a person’s strength becomes a weakness, weakness is all that remains in the eyes of others. A successful way of permanently degrading a person’s stature is by emphasizing the few failures she has experienced in areas in which she is strongest. For example, if the person has extraordinary technical skills, the perception others have [...]
Noteworthy Crowdsource Funding Site: Kickstarter
Posted in Business, Noteworthy Sites, Personal Enrichment, Technology, tagged Crowdsourcing, Financing, Gifts, Innovation, Kickstarter, Publishing, Success, Supermechanical, Twine on 2012/02/12 | 1 Comment »
The crowd sourcing site Kickstarter is a funding platform enabling people to finance the production of an item in exchange for a copy of or other benefit tied to that item. Innovators seeking financing for a project, such as the production of a gadget, but wanting to maintain control over their project can post it on Kickstarter. An innovator sets [...]
Easy, Healthy Home-Made Alternative To Potato Chips
Posted in Penny Recipes, tagged Calories, CHinese, Diet, Food, Japanese, Korean, Recipes, Seasoning, Seaweed on 2012/02/11 | Leave a Comment »
Substitute potato chips or other unhealthy fried foods with seasoned seaweed. Seasoned seaweed can be as crisp and salty as a good potato chip, but with a more dynamic flavor. A package of small sheets can contain as few as 15 calories, while a package of large sheets – which have multiple uses, including wrapping [...]
A Polite Short-Cut To Customer Service
Posted in Business, Finances, Getting Ahead, tagged Business, Communication, Customer Service, Dispute, Management, Success on 2012/02/10 | Leave a Comment »
If you’re struggling to reach customer service, call a department in the home office that employs licensed professionals – generally, they’ll make more effort to connect you to the appropriate, helpful person.
You Don’t Have To Share Everything In A Marriage
Posted in Improving Relationships, tagged Employment, Job Security, Love, Marriage, Mental Health, Partner, Security, Spouse, Stress on 2012/02/09 | Leave a Comment »
There’s no obligation to tell your spouse everything; especially things over which he has no control and cannot positively effect that will only increase his stress. If he’s working through his own stressors, what value is added by piling on other worries? If you can contain your own emotional turbulence about things such as job insecurity [...]
Meeting Survival Tip: How To Keep Your Cool & Stay Awake
Posted in Getting Ahead, tagged Boredom, Communication, Humor, Jobs, Jokes, Leadership, Meetings, Office Politics, Sleep on 2012/02/08 | Leave a Comment »
Having trouble keeping your cool or staying awake during a meeting? Distract your brain by maintaining an internal conversation, singing or humming in your head, or remembering humorous incidents and jokes (just make sure not to LOL). If you’re really angry or tired, think of sarcastic quips to your agitator’s comments, or silently repeat ”ho-hum” to really boring [...]
Create Non-Stick Cookware Naturally
Posted in Penny Recipes, tagged Bakeware, Baking, Baking Tips, Cooking, Cookware, Dining, Home & Garden, Recipes on 2012/02/07 | Leave a Comment »
Create non-stick cookware without using toxic chemicals by “seasoning” your cookware. Nearly any type of cookware can be seasoned: iron, glass, stainless steel; pans, griddles, bakeware. Cookware is seasoned by coating the inside of the cookware with oil and baking the oil into the cookware by heating the cookware until much of the moisture has [...]
Posted in Improving Relationships, tagged Charity, Contribution, NGO, Nonprofit, NPO, Participation on 2012/02/06 | Leave a Comment »
If you’re going to join a group that requires contributing some type of action, such as building a product or delivering speeches, make an effort to participate. Otherwise, you’re just a hanger on, no matter how much money you contribute.
Posted in Improving Relationships, Politics, Psychology, tagged Caring, Children & Family, Diplomacy, Empathy, Love, Peace, Politics, Relationship, Success on 2012/02/05 | Leave a Comment »
If you don’t care, there’s no reason (excuse) to not be empathetic.
Are Your Values Borrowed?
Posted in Family Enrichment, Personal Enrichment, Psychology, tagged Children, Faith, Family, Love, Parenting, Values, Work on 2012/02/04 | Leave a Comment »
Often, our aspirations are set by our parents. Our parents communicate what is important, what generates value in their lives, through their actions. Parents who work endless hours for their employers communicate to their children that working endless hours is how one emulates maturity and demonstrates commitment to his employer. Step back. Reassess your values. [...]
Long Term Perspective On Success & Failure
Posted in Business, Personal Enrichment, Psychology, tagged Attraction, Business, Failure, Happiness, Love, Marriage, Relationship, Success on 2012/02/03 | Leave a Comment »
Accept that at times you will fail. Likewise, when you do fail, remember that you will experience success again. By the time we retire, we’ll most likely have racked up more failures than successes by nature of living long lives and having the courage to try things. It is the successes – such as marriage, [...]
Don’t Let A Fight Get In Your Way
Posted in Improving Relationships, tagged Divorce, Family, Love, Marriage, Relationships, Romance on 2012/02/02 | Leave a Comment »
It’s natural to fight. You won’t agree on everything. To maintain a strong, healthy relationship filled with respect, keep your head during a fight and try not to say anything deliberately insulting or hurtful, regardless of how upset you are. Remind your spouse that you still love him, even while you fight. Originally published 10 [...]
