In his book, On Writing, Stephen King wrote: “… put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room.  Life isn’t a support-system for art.  It’s the other way around”.
Sometimes I feel the same way about work, whether I’m doing something artistic or not.
But before we explore “working to live” versus “living to work”, it’s important to define both ‘work’ and ‘life’.
For the purposes of this article, when I talk about work, I’m talking about the thing you do that allows you to make …read more

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An article from Scientific American got my attention today, especially since I found myself sick several times last month. The article, entitled “The Danger of Stress”, revealed studies showing how long-term stress can be harmful to the body.
It might seem counterintuitive, but… stress makes our immune systems less effective because it actually elicits an immune response itself. [It] causes the body to release pro-inflammatory cytokines, immune factors that initiate responses against infections. When the body produces these cytokines over long periods of time—for instance, as a result of chronic stress—all sorts of bad things can happen. Not only …read more

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In a recent Wired article entitled “Dressing for Success Means Looking Like Hell“, it was suggested that a relaxed dress code at work was often a symptom of working too hard.  From the article:
Before sitting down to write this, I e-mailed a bunch of friends in various professions and asked them about their work wear. The men overwhelmingly responded with an affinity for the aforementioned stiff shirts from Brooks Brothers, as well as half-brags about their disheveled appearances at the office. “I wind up wearing my lunch more often than not” one wrote [subtext: because I eat at …read more

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Let me be honest: I slept for the most part of the day.  True, it was because I was feeling ill, but after a good day of sleep, I have to say that I feel more capable to tackle the work I have to do. I seem more focused and less likely to give in to distractions.
What are the benefits of sleeping, exactly?  If we think clocking in some overtime work and burning the midnight oil will do wonders for our careers, we might be in for a surprise if we find out that it might be doing the opposite.
A …read more

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This startling news item from Ksl.com shows that American employees are getting more and more stressed, and that they are releasing this stress via expressions of rage at work such as bullying, verbal arguments, and even threats. Here’s a quote from the article:
Reuters says 2 to 3 percent of workers polled admit to pushing, slapping or hitting someone at work. Fuller says other studies show that office bullying is responsible for one resignation out of four.
Source: Ksl.com
The article also mentions that managers express desk rage 33% of the time, while employees do it at a much higher rate of …read more

I found this interesting article from The Times of India, discussing Utah’s transition to a 4-day workweek from a 5-day workweek.  Researchers from the Romney Institute of Public Management found that 60% of employees who have transitionedto the 4-day workweek reported higher productivity.
They found that even though four day work week employees work the same number of hours per week as their traditional work-week counterparts, they reported being more satisfied with their jobs, compensation, and benefits, and were less likely to look for employment elsewhere in the next year. 
Source: The Times of India
It’s funny what a seemingly slight difference …read more

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One of my high school friends, let’s call her Jane, wanted to meet up with another friend named Eric.  Here’s a little backgrounder on their careers:
Jane’s Career:

B.A. in English, so she naturally went into the publishing world after graduation.
After a few years working for a magazine, she decided to join the marketing team of a business process outsourcing (BPO) company.  But she also does some freelance writing on the side.
Now that she’s leaving that BPO company, she wants to try a variety of options that may not have to do with marketing or publications (probably in the …read more

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Whether you refer to them as Millennials or Gen Y, they are undoubtedly making big changes in how the workplace, and work itself, is perceived. As a member of Generation Y myself, I can’t help but pay attention to what we’re doing collectively and individually. Here’s a list of some articles that I found thought provoking, interesting, and some of them even insulting:
What Gen Y Really Wants by Penelope Trunk, published by Time Magazine
Gen Y Myths Debunked by Sarah Pierce over at Entrepreneur.com
Attracting the twentysomething worker from CNN Money
8 reasons why this is the dumbest …read more

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It’s better when you do things yourself, right?
After all, you accomplish tasks better and faster than your teammates do. You can’t trust them to create the same high-quality work you do. So why not do everything yourself?
Because it’s a BAD idea, for the following reasons:

Your team won’t learn anything.
You automatically shut yourself off from their valuable input.
You’ll be overworked and stressed.
If the work quality is good, your teammates will get undeserved credit.
If the work quality is poor, you’ll be an easy target to blame.

So what’s the solution?
Delegate.
So how do you delegate tasks to your teammates?

Eliminate. …read more