Category: Career Advice

They’re disciplined. Tenacious. And remarkably resilient. They’re mentally strong people, and their grit helps them overcome tremendous obstacles to achieve their goals. Whether it’s personally or professionally, we all face challenges in our lives that test our mettle. Do you have what it takes to succeed, even when the going gets rough? Make sure you’re…

Ever had to lead a dull meeting? Give a presentation on a dry topic? Teach your team something that’s important but incredibly boring? Then you know how tough an audience can be. By now you’ve probably heard that statistic from Microsoft saying that the average human attention span is shorter than a goldfish’s. Regardless of…

Ever hear of dead butt syndrome? It sounds creepy, but it’s a real medical condition! Also known as gluteal amnesia, the condition develops when the gluteus medius (one of the three main muscles that make up your behind) stops firing correctly. Left untreated, it can lead to lower back pain, hip pain, as well as…

Fact: People judge books by their covers… …and emails by their subject lines. You may have great news to deliver. An unbelievable offer to share. Or an urgent request that can’t be ignored. But none of that matters if your recipients never open their emails from you. And the secret to getting your emails opened?…

It’s cold. It’s raining. You’re tired. And in 45 minutes, you’re headed into another day of that firestorm/3-ring-circus you call work. The question is: Is it going to be a great morning or a fantastic one? That’s not a misprint; it’s an example of choosing a positive outlook to improve your experience – and it’s…

Half a trillion dollars (yep – trillion, with a “t”). That’s the estimated annual cost of work stress to U.S. employers, according to this 2017 Mental Health America study. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. This eye-opening survey includes dozens of disturbing statistics that quantify the extensive impact job stress has on today’s…

Umm… So… Mmhmmm In this earlier post, “Words and Phrases Smart People Never Use in Conversation,” we explained why filler words like these can make you sound less intelligent than you really are. But hold on a second (well, 200 milliseconds, to be exact). According to N.J. Enfield, a professor of linguistics at the University…

The language you use at work can inspire, inform, persuade and instill trust – or make you sound utterly clueless. Which side of the communication fence do you stand on? The truth is, all of us are occasionally undisciplined in our word choices. But if you’re habitually using any of the following words or phrases,…

Email. Whether you love it or abhor it, two things are true: It’s an indispensable part of business. And it isn’t going by the wayside anytime soon. Yet, as ubiquitous a form of communication email is, many professionals are bad at using it – sending dense blocks of text, spamming inboxes with unnecessary “Reply All”…

Amateur or professional? Regardless of industry, functional discipline or role, most of us prefer to be thought of as the latter. But what, exactly, sets true professionals apart – and how can you make that transformative leap from “wannabe” to “the real deal”? The first step is to understand these stark differences between amateurs and…