Work is punishment - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Work is punishment - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog I keep wondering why so many people put up with bad workplaces, bad bosses and bad jobs. Why are many people desperately unhappy at work (up to 50% according to some studies) but accept this as normal? Heres why: Were carrying massive cultural baggage. Through much of Western history, there has been a sense that work is hard and unpleasant and that?s why we get paid to do it. This is expressed most clearly in Max Weber?s biblically-based work The Protestant Work Ethic, which was used by Protestant preachers to preach that hard labor was good for people, good for Christian society, and a salve for original sin. According to Christianity, humans used to live in the Garden of Eden, where everything was perfect. But because of original sin we were ejected and, according to Genesis 3:19, this is our situation now: ?By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.? According to Hebrew belief, work is a ?curse devised by God explicitly to punish the disobedience and ingratitude of Adam and Eve.? The Old Testament itself supports work, not because there?s any joy in it, but because it is necessary to prevent poverty and destitution. The ancient Greek word for work is ponos, taken from the Latin poena, which means sorrow. Manual labor was for slaves, while free men were supposed to pursue warfare, large-scale commerce, and the arts, especially architecture or sculpture1. So, according to our cultural roots, work is a curse, a punishment for original sin, and only for slaves. In short, life is hell?or ?nasty, brutish and short,? as Hobbes put it?work is hell, and we must endure it because we?re all sinners but dont worry, well get our reward once were dead! Any questions? It?s time to put that particular view of work behind us! Richard Reeves has this to say in his excellent book Happy Mondays: Anybody who thinks work should be miserable simply because it is work or that there should be a cordon sanitaire between ?work? and ?life? needs to find a time machine, key in the year 1543, and go and join Calvin?s crew. They?ll feel more at home there. In the meantime, the rest of us will get on with enjoying our work, and our workplaces. But we can never forget that were going up against thoughts and beliefs that have been part of our culture for centuries. This is why we need a conscious revolution in workplaces all around the world and why those of us who have chosen to break with the old attitude to work need to support each other. Related posts The top 10 bad excuses for not quitting a job that sucks. The top 10 signs youre not happy at work. The happy at work manifesto Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Taking Time Off Without Taking a Hit - Hallie Crawford

Taking Time Off Without Taking a Hit Listen to Matt Jones from Q100 in Atlanta talk with , Certified Career Coach about taking time off from work without taking a hit to your career. Whether its the holidays or summer break, many people are fearful to take time off from work fearing they will hurt their career by not being fully present at every given moment. During this prerecorded radio program, Hallie and Matt talk about how to ask to take  time off and how to handle it effectively so that it shows you still care about your career and the company. Listen in Now! Taking Time Off Without Taking a Hit If youre wanting to ask for time off from work, but are uncertain on the proper way to do so, here are 5 tips to help you approach the topic with your boss: Give them plenty of advance notice, especially if the time youre asking for is a busy time of year for your company or industry. Decide when to make the request. How far in advance you need to let them know can depend on what is going on that time of year. Better to let them know well in advance and come up with a plan than blind-side them. Decide how to ask: Follow company policy or the preference of your boss.  Writing is preferred regardless so you have a record of it along with their approval. Go in with a plan: In advance of the ask, come up with a plan for how your work can be handled. Complete your work in advance so there are no loose ends in your absence if possible. Determine and communicate the boundaries: Are you taking time off and won’t be available at all? Be a team player: Many employees worry if they take time off they won’t look like a team player. The way to avoid this is to understand the culture of your organization and what’s expected in terms of frequency of time off. Communicate with your boss openly about how things will be handled during your absence communication is key. Remember, use the tips above to handle your vacation time with care. But as with anything, evaluate your situation on a case by case basis. If you’re extended time off every month for example, that becomes excessive and you will send the wrong message. Use common sense when handling your time off and when in doubt, over-communicate about it with your supervisor to ensure you are leaving the right impression the one you want to leave. HallieCrawford.com was founded by certified career coach, speaker and author . Since 2002, the company’s team of certified career coaches have helped thousands of job seekers worldwide identify their ideal career path, navigate their career transition and achieve their career goals. Schedule a free consult with https://halliecrawford.com today to learn more about our services. Schedule a free consult with HallieCrawford.com today

Definitions of Resume Builder App

Definitions of Resume Builder App Resume Builder App at a Glance My Resume Builderapp is one that it's possible to download on your Android device to be able to help you produce an appealing resume. Resume Builder Pro is still another practical app which will help you make a decent resume in under 10 minutes. Then the Quick Resume app is an excellent choice. The PathSource Resume app will help you produce an outstanding resume. The Resume Builder App Pitfall The app will lead you through the procedure simplifying that task. There's no absolutely free package. It's so simple to use with an interface which can help you switch different numerous resumes, settings and other capabilities. The interface has a very simple design and is simple to navigate. The Honest to Goodness Truth on Resume Builder App Our resume builder is the quickest approach to create a resume that will allow you to get your fantasy job. The most important thing for obtaining a job is that need a good resume. Obviously, the app has a great deal of advertisement including full-screen ones. You can preview each template to obtain a notion of how your final resume will look. The Downside Risk of Resume Builder App There's some software also available in the current market that can be employed to create an attractive resume for you. Resume Companion is an extremely user-friendly site that provides a wide selection of tools that may help you compose an outstanding resume and send it to a possible employer. The app is simple to customize and it offers you many alternatives to create a stunning CV so that you can entice a desirable employer. The site is extremely helpful for resumes. Imagine you have two resumes before you. Just like resumes, there are many cover letter templates out there. The New Fuss About Resume Builder App The app is completely free but has lots of advertisements including full screen adds. Obviously, you'll have a good deal of unique templates to assis t you in making a cv. There are, in addition, some creative templates made out of unusual design and will be appropriate for designers applying for employment. There are many templates to select from ranging from the traditional formats of conventional resumes to more modern designs which are getting more popular (see example above). Resume Builder Free is just one more free and light application that will let you create a resume in almost no time. Resume Builder The resume builder is extremely simple to use. So, My Resume Builder is invaluable in creating an awesome ready-to-go resume. My Resume Builder can help you create a fantastic resume with the support of its tools.

Career Success Tips Surround Yourself With Confidence - Work It Daily

Career Success Tips Surround Yourself With Confidence - Work It Daily Success Tweet: Surround yourself with positive people. Hold them close. They will give you energy and help you create the success you want and deserve. Successful people surround themselves with positive people â€" people who are both positive by nature, and positive about their life and career success. Positive people are optimistic; and as I’ve discussed in the post on Tweet 44, optimism is the first step in building your self-confidence. Becoming confident and follow other career success tips will help you develop as a professional and a person too! Positive people help you feel good about yourself, because they feel good about themselves - and life in general. They help you build your self-esteem because they have a strong sense of self-esteem. Positive people are there when you begin to doubt yourself. They are not threatened by you or your success. They realize that self-esteem is not a fixed pie. There is an unlimited amount of it to go around, so positive people are always giving it away. Here’s a bit of career advice. Build your self confidence and jumpstart your life and career success by spending your time with upbeat, positive people. Not too long ago, I did a talk for a local real estate company. This was at the height of the subprime mortgage crisis, not a good time to be in the real estate business. As people entered the room and saw me, most came over asked if I were the speaker, and introduced themselves. This was great, because it helped put me at ease. Once I knew people’s names, it was easier to feel relaxed and enjoy doing my talk. As the moderator kicked off the session, she recognized several people in attendance, all of whom got a nice round of applause for their accomplishments. When she introduced me, the audience also applauded. During my talk, I could see people taking notes and nodding their heads as I spoke. All of this made it easier for me to connect with them as an audience and do a better job on my talk. My self-confidence was buoyed by the positive energy I observed prior to and during my talk. I’m a professional speaker. I do lots of speeches, and I get a little nervous before each one. I welcome these nerves because I know they are my body’s way of telling me that I am up for the presentation. I worry when I’m not a little nervous, as that is an indicator that I might be a little flat during the talk. However, because the people at the real estate company introduced themselves to me prior to my talk, I knew that this was a positive audience. I still had the positive butterflies, but my nerves were in check and my self-confidence high because of the positive energy in the room. When I got to the part in my talk about surrounding yourself with positive people, everyone in the audience nodded. They got it â€" they knew exactly what I was talking about. After the talk, a few people came up to me to discuss that very point. They said that being in the company of positive people was one of the most important aspects of their success. This is a small example, but a telling one. To succeed in sales, you have to be self-confident. By its very nature, selling involves a lot of setbacks and rejection. It takes a self-confident person to make the sixth call after not getting anywhere on the previous five. Successful salespeople face and deal with their fears of rejection, and they seek out positive people to help them stay motivated to keep doing what it takes to succeed. This is important in other aspects of life as well. The people around you have an amazing impact on your view of life. When you surround yourself with negative or cynical people, you become negative and cynical. On the other hand, when you surround yourself with positive, self-confident people, you become positive and self-confident. The choice is yours. I choose to surround myself with positive people. Not only do they help my self-confidence, they are more fun to be around. The common sense career success coach point here is simple. No one can go it alone. Follow the career advice in Tweet 49 in Success Tweets, “Surround yourself with positive people. Hold them close. They will give you energy and help you create the success you want and deserve.” Positive people are great. They feel good about themselves and life in general. They are enthusiastic â€" and their enthusiasm is contagious. When you surround yourself with positive people. You’ll become more positive and enthusiastic. And, you’ll be on your way to creating the life and career success you want and deserve. Who are the most positive people you know? Get to know them better, spend more time with them. This post was originally published on an earlier date. Career success confidence image from Bigstock Have you joined our career growth club?Join Us Today!

Questions to Ask in an Interview - Your Career Intel

Questions to Ask in an Interview - Your Career IntelDo you have any questions for me? The Answer Should Always Be, YesA job bewerbungsgesprch is not only the time for a company to decide whether or not youre the right candidate for the job, but also to determine whether or not the company is a good fit for you. Interviews are structured so that the interviewer asks the majority of the questions, allowing you, the candidate, to do most of the talking. Working in this way allows you to walk through your resume and qualifications to prove your value and worth for a position. However, at the end of most interviews, the interviewer will often ask if you have any final questions. The answer should always be, Yes.As a Senior Executive Search Consultant with Lucas Group, I have coached a number of candidates through the interview process, and I have compiled a list of suggested questions to ask during an interviewWhat is the growth potential with the position?This is one of the more importan t questions to ask an interviewer in bestellung to see where he or she thinks the ideal candidate would be with the company in five years. Determine whether theres a clear career path to follow and if the position would lead to more opportunities within the organization. You want to ensure the position provides vertical movement and would allow you to advance within the company with your tenure and success.Why is the position open?Get a clear understanding of why the position is available. Where is the pervious employee now? Did they leave for a better opportunity? Were they promoted? Feel out the interviewer for any red flags.What would you define as success in the first year in the position?Understand what goals there would be within the first year in the position and gauge their expectations, making sure theyre realistic.Get to know your boss.In some instances, the interviewer will be your manager. In others, it may be another individual. Ask about their management style and list en for any potential issues that may arise that would keep you from performing at your highest potential.By having a prepared list of questions to ask the interviewer, youll be able to gain better insight into the position and whether or not it would be a good career move both personally and professionally. What are other questions you have asked during an interview? We invite your thoughts in the comments below.

How To Clear Your Mind

How To Clear Yur Mind The human mind is perhaps ur most powerful asset when it comes to innovation and productivity. On average, it churns out 70,000 thoughts per dayWhen thoughts are focused and directed toward accomplishing a task, thats a lot of mental muscle working to our advantage. But, when the majority of the minds output is random or causes us to lose concentration, it can feel like our brain is our worst enemy.This nonstop flow of thoughts can also be disturbing. Anxiety sufferers know this firsthand. Negative thoughts and what-if scenarios run continuously in a circular pattern, driving the thinker to distraction, and also to varying states of misery that include symptoms of nervousness, restlessness and a host of other physical feelings.While everyone experiences some states of anxiety at times, general intrusive thoughts are what most all of us deal with daily. When life events occur or when work demands increase, stress levels can rise and impact efficiency. Since life is a continuum of change with constant new challenges and stressors, the effect is mora within our control than the cause.Regardless of what happens to us or around us, the real experience of a situation takes place in the mind. When it comes to experiencing stress and distractions, our brain becomes command central for handling and for freeing ourselves from those effects.When something happens that interferes with our state of equilibrium, throwing us off balance or robbing us of a single-minded approach to what needs to be done in the now, theres one approach you can take to get your mind back on trackThe Triple A Approach Awareness, Acceptance, Action1. Awareness means we acknowledge what is happening without affixing a judgment to it. That means we dont label it as good or bad, right or wrong. It also means not assuming our anxious thoughts are facts. Withholding judgment nips stress in the bud. It allows us to write the story in our mind that is based on facts without all of the emotion-inducing adjectives.2. Acceptance enables us to not waste energy fighting or reacting negatively to a happening. Without acceptance, we can easily make ourselves a victim, which is always a lage of weakness, not strength. Recognize that you cannot control everything, but that doesnt make you weak. Taking on the role of helpless prey opens up the floodgate of debilitating poor me thoughts.3. Action is made more possible with a mental foundation of awareness and acceptance to build upon. Free of excess mental activity normally spent on judging or resisting, we can faster analyze a situation without bias and make a decision on what to do next. There could be a need for immediate action, later action or no action. True emergencies make the first category. Later action gets moved to a to-do list.Most of our distractions are less critical and stem from the constant stream of thoughts and flow of activities throughout the day. There are strategies for managing both.Awareness st ill plays a part in keeping the ordinary roll of thoughts from becoming full-blown intruders, but there are other steps we can take to liberate our minds. Meditators and followers of mindfulness practices learn quickly how to stay present. They dont stop thoughts. They learn how to quit noticing them. Thinking appears to be involuntary for humans. Trying to put the brakes on it can be more stress-inducing. Instead, we can practice how to let thoughts drift by without giving them unnecessary attentionsimply accepting them as they come and go, allow us to focus on the present rather than worrying about the future.Creating more thoughts or stories about the thought can add more stress. To-do lists by themselves arent stressors, but repeated thoughts about all that has to be done are. Attending to what needs to be done right here and right now (while letting thoughts come and go of their own accord) cuts tension and worry.Another technique involves using all of your senses to engage wit h the moment. This method may take a little practice at first, but becomes easier over time.Start by sitting comfortably in a chair and visually noticing with awareness and without judgment all that is around you. Notice the shapes, colors, patterns, movement, lightness and darkness of what you see. Your thoughts will already begin to move to the background with this step.Next, and while continuing the first part, add in your sense of hearing and take note of all of the sounds you hear along with all that you see. You may find yourself noticing new sounds.Continue this exercise by adding your other sense perceptions one at a time, while still including the ones you have already employed. Repeating this practice, that you can do anywhere, will help you form the habit of paying attention while letting thoughts and distractions pass. You can use it more deliberately to pull yourself out of any thought or anxiety tailspin.But what about preventing distractions and unwelcome stress to be gin with?Careful planning and organization can help. The irony is that many people dont utilize time management strategies or the tools to schedule work, projects and to-dos. Not doing so makes us vulnerable to interruption and a sense of being overwhelmed.Mapping out goals and projects by year, month, week and day helps you get a handle on the big picture. Reviewing the week and month ahead every Friday allows you to have a solid game plan for the week ahead. Making sure to glance at the next days schedule every evening keeps you on track. Daily planners arent out of vogue theyre just underused.Get granular with your daily calendar. Schedule time for activities that need to take place to move projects along. Otherwise, work will be left to chance and may go undone until the last minute, adding more pressure. Stick to the schedule like glue, unless you cant avoid doing so.Watch out for the meeting matrix. Plan meetings sparingly and only when necessary, and make sure to run them eff ectively to save time. Coordinate work and communication as much as possible using tools like Slack, Trello and Asana.Put away your cell phone and get out of the inbox. Learn how to use email in a way that doesnt take you away from what needs to get done. Its tempting to read every homilie at the sound of its arrival. Have hard and fast rules about when to read and answer them.Mandy Long, millennial mother of three children, entrepreneur and CEO of Patronus Health, shuns email. Its the biggest time drain and doesnt provide a way to organize communication and collaborate on work, said Long. I avoid it as much as possible. Slack is Longs go-to for internal communication and staying organized.Learn to say no. If something doesnt fit your short or long-term goals and heightens anxiety, gracefully decline. Women are prone to biting off more than they can chew simply because they dont want to offend or show any sign of not being able to do it all.Applying tactics to reduce distractions an d added work can mean fewer menacing, time-sucking thoughts running through your mind. But when they do creep in and you feel the stress building, bring yourself back to awareness.--Theresa is a writer and the co-founder and Chief Marketing Customer Officer for a job search technology company. Shes passionate about discovering and sharing life and career hacks for women.

The Top 25 Cities for Medical Sales Professionals [Infographic]

The Top 25 Cities for Medical Sales Professionals Infographic Whether youve already established yourself in the medical sales field or youre looking for a new career opportunity altogether, the latest infographic from MedReps.com can help. Considering factors like job-to-candidate ratios, the number of open positions, average pay levels, and cost of living, MedReps.com surveyed the country and found the top 25 cities for medical sales professionals.Some highlights from the infographic- New York City has a lot of open jobs, but a high cost of living and a high candidate-to-job ratio mean job seekers will have to work hard to land and keep medical sales jobs in the Big Apple.- Phoenix boasts the highest average salary, with medical salespeople earning more than $178,000 a year.- Competition is low in San Francisco, with a job-to-candidate ratio of about 1.85 jobs per candidate. However, the cost of living in the city is very high, which may turn some medical sales professionals off.Want to find the city that will help you further or launch your medical sales career? Check out the full infographic below