My best friend leaned across the small table between us, careful not to spill her drink. “I saw a police officer at the scene, and he was getting sick.” Her eyebrows lifted and her eyes widened. “When I drove past, I saw that the car was totally smashed. Like, it was in pieces.” She leaned […]
Make a Career Change Without a Career Move
How to Be an Expert (Not an Egotist) at Lending Your Expertise at Work
Listen, your heart’s in the right place. You want to be helpful, and not just because you read that being helpful will make you happy. You intend to be helpful because you want to do some good in the world, and you feel that there’s no better time than now. The idea that you would […]
Why Work-Life Balance Still Eludes Us
I woke up in my mother’s arms just as she handed me across the threshold of our next-door neighbor’s front doorway. I recognized Donna’s different scent and feel, and the midnight dark and quiet in her entryway. Donna and my mother exchanged hushed words. Then, the front door closed on my mother’s fading presence. Donna […]
How to Stand Up for Yourself at Work Without Being a Jerk
Let’s get a few things straight. Conflict makes my palms sweat and my heart race. If I cannot immediately resolve a conflict, I put as much distance between myself and it as possible. In fact, I once left a job in order to avoid dealing with a conflict that sprung up between me and a […]
How to Stop Taking Things Too Personally at Work
“Can we talk?” Judy didn’t wait for my reply. “Let’s go in here.” My hand, which was reaching for my bag in preparation to leave work for the day, froze in mid-air. I almost made it out, I thought to myself with a laugh. I followed Judy to a small meeting room and plopped down […]
How to Handle Public Criticism at Work
I crept downstairs to my TV-room, and left the lights off. I sat on my couch and folded my legs underneath me, and reached for the remote. Thank goodness Mom and Dad are too tired from their Thanksgiving travels to stay up with me and watch this, I thought. This is going to be harrowing […]
Why College Didn’t Prepare Me for My Career
Everyone knew that it was going to rain on our graduation ceremony, but not one of the graduates brought an umbrella. In our defense, we’d been rained on a lot since our freshman year, and we had long been immune to soggy jeans and cold fingers and toes. Plus, the rain made our rivers ripe […]
Signs That You Are Depressed at Work
This is going to be so embarrassing, I thought, and braced myself as I walked toward my doctor’s reception desk. I imagined the expression I’d get from the nurse at the desk once I opened my mouth — a mixture of disbelief and annoyance. But I had to know the answer to a question that […]
3 Quirky Tactics for Choosing a Career Path
“A helicopter pilot? That’s what it says?” The high school career counselor stifled her smile. “Yep, that’s what it says.” I looked down at the paper in my hand. I expected the test results to be silly, but not ridiculous. A helicopter pilot? I couldn’t even (and had little desire to) drive a stick. Moments […]
An Introvert’s Guide to a Successful Working Style
“That’s him,” I said, and motioned with my chin towards the approaching wave of newly-arrived travelers flowing through the airport’s exit-checkpoint. “You sure?” The news photographer picked up his bulky camera and hefted it to his shoulder. The handsome, twenty-something lead singer looked a little different than the picture on his band’s website, but I […]