Success

Is Your Job Making You Sick?

September 21, 2023 by Tim McMahon

Ways You Can Tell and What to Do About It

It’s not uncommon to feel a bit stressed or burnt out at work, but what happens when your job begins to hurt your mental and physical well-being? This can happen more easily than you might think, and it’s essential to recognize the signs early, so you can take action before things get worse.

In this post, we look at some of the telltale signs that your job is making you mentally or physically sick and offer some practical advice on what you can do to improve your situation.

The Mental Toll

You Feel Constantly Fatigued

Working long hours, feeling unfulfilled, and experiencing stress daily can all take a massive toll on your energy levels. This often leads to feeling physically exhausted, which can, in turn, exacerbate your mental state. If you’re feeling drained and find it challenging to muster the energy to focus on anything outside of work, then it might be time to re-evaluate your work-life balance.

You’re Irritable and Short-Tempered

Your job is likely to take up a significant amount of your time and energy, which can lead to feelings of frustration. This often causes irritability and a shorter temper than usual, which can create conflict with colleagues and even cause problems at home. If you find yourself struggling with your emotions and feeling overly sensitive or defensive, it could be a sign that your job is taking a significant toll on your mental health. [Read more…] about Is Your Job Making You Sick?

5 Signs It’s Time to Make a Career Change

September 24, 2022 by Tim McMahon

People change their careers all the time. In fact, the United States Department of Labor reports that adults will have an average of twelve jobs under their belt by the time they reach their fifties. While their reasons for changing careers can vary depending on personal circumstances, the tell-tale signs of an impending career change are pretty much universal.

1) You Feel Undervalued

Being able to build your skills and advance in your profession is an important facet of your career. If you’re performing the same task every day without an outlet for expressing your strengths, you are working at a job, not a career. Feeling uninspired, apathetic, or generally unmotivated from a job that doesn’t challenge you is a sign that you have mentally checked out, which means it’s time for a change.

2) Your Salary Isn’t Enough

Work is called “work” for a reason, but there will be a tipping point where the paycheck doesn’t make up for an unfulfilling job. If money is the only thing keeping you at your mentally draining day job, it may be another sign that you’re ready for bigger and better things. [Read more…] about 5 Signs It’s Time to Make a Career Change

Building Confidence to Help You Reenter the World

September 17, 2022 by Tim McMahon

Whether you’ve been out of the job force because of school, family obligations, or COVID, returning to the work world can be intimidating. So, developing the self-confidence that is essential for a good job interview, and climbing the corporate ladder is a skill you need to master. Thankfully, there are easy ways to build confidence so you’re ready to reenter “the real world” and achieve your goals.

Improve Your Work-Life Balance

It can be challenging to balance work with your personal life, but it’s essential to your mental and physical health. Finding the right balance can be especially hard when work is stressful. Try to find ways to reduce stress throughout the workday, such as taking a short walk during your lunch break or regular five-minute breathers. Using your vacation days and working remotely on occasion can also help provide a healthy work-life balance. Remember to establish boundaries you’re comfortable with.

Start a Realistic Fitness Routine

Not everyone has the time to spend an hour at the gym each day, but that doesn’t mean you can’t begin a fitness routine. Mayo Clinic notes that it’s recommended that adults get at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity each day. With a bit of creativity, you’ll find meeting this goal a breeze.

For example, you might park 5–10 minutes away from your office and walk the rest of the way each day. You can take the stairs instead of an elevator at work or when out shopping. Even parking further away on visits to the grocery store can add up. Parents could play active games with their children, like sports, tag, or hide-and-seek.

Investing in a cheap set of free weights can allow you to squeeze in 10 minutes of strength training each day, which is realistic for most people. You might invest in an exercise bike or treadmill, which can help you get in a few minutes of moderate exercise every day.

If you plan to purchase exercise equipment, it helps to read unbiased reviews of the various products available. There are numerous types of exercise equipment on the market, and quality may vary widely between manufacturers. Be sure to check what reviews have to say before spending your hard-earned money.

Eating Healthier

The CDC points out that eating healthier isn’t just about losing weight, although it can help. Eating right also means protecting yourself against illness by boosting your immune system and generally feeling better. If you are feeling generally unwell or lack energy, that can lead to depression and consequently a lack of self-confidence, so maintaining your health can actually help you feel more confident.

One simple way to eat better is to pack lunches for work instead of eating out. You can organize your lunches for the week on Sunday evening if your weekday schedule is too busy. As an added benefit, packing lunches can also save you money.
[Read more…] about Building Confidence to Help You Reenter the World

How Is Time Management Important In The Workplace?

May 26, 2022 by Guest Contributor

Leonardo Da Vinci once said ‘Time stays long enough for those who use it.’ Time is considered the most valuable resource because it is limited and everyone gets the same number of hours in a day. But some people utilize their time more efficiently than others. This is primarily due to enhanced performance through effective time management. Time management impacts performance and efficiency at work. Not only will it make employee efficiency better but will also help to meet deadlines and deliver improved work quality.

Time management plays a major role for companies to prioritize tasks and attain goals faster. With an effective time management plan, organizations can take on new opportunities for sustainable growth. To achieve goals with less effort, it is essential to improve time management. And if you have poor time management at work, it can result in work-life imbalance, unwanted stress, and missed deadlines, not to mention a poor professional reputation and the resulting diminished financial prospects.

What is Effective Time Management?

Time management is the process of preparing and dealing with your time to work smarter rather than harder. With the help of good time management, one can plan time between the most critical tasks. Every day we focus on performing our tasks with less effort and making the most of our time. [Read more…] about How Is Time Management Important In The Workplace?

What To Do If an Injury is Keeping You From Working

September 4, 2021 by Guest Contributor

An injury keeping you from your workplace can be especially difficult if it impacts your financial stability. This article highlights a handful of ideas for things to do when your injury keeps you from working.

Consider Alternate Ways to Make Money

When you have an injury that is preventing you from working in the traditional fashion, you might consider alternative ways to make money. After all, even if you make a fraction of what you would otherwise, making some money is still better than making none.

Work from Home. If you’re lucky enough to have a sympathetic boss, you might be able to convince them to allow you to continue your regular job from home. One advantage the pandemic created was normalizing working from home. Working on a computer doesn’t require your presence in the office, and having you work from home could be beneficial to both you and your employer, given that they wouldn’t have to find someone else to take on your responsibilities.

Freelancing. Alternatively, one of the best ways to make money away from a traditional workforce is to invest in freelance efforts. There are many potential areas that you could engage in freelancing, and often the best way to start is to simply dive into an area you enjoy. The more experience you have in a field, the more likely you are to get work. But as long as you are applying and are enthusiastic, you will probably find some work to get the ball rolling.

Pursue Compensation for Your Injury

If your injury is the fault of another party, such as your employer, then you might be entitled to compensation, especially if it is affecting your ability to work. In fact, [Read more…] about What To Do If an Injury is Keeping You From Working

Creating a Personal Brand for Your Success

July 6, 2021 by Tim McMahon

It can be difficult to make yourself stand out in a world where everyone is on social media, everyone is competing for jobs, and everyone is trying to figure out where they fit into the world. You might find yourself being pulled in different directions and offered a lot of conflicting advice about how to present yourself professionally. This can be incredibly overwhelming, but it is important today to have a personal brand that you can use to promote yourself as a professional so you can reach your career goals. So what is a “personal brand”? Basically, it is what you are known for i.e. your reputation. You are probably already known for certain things among your friends, and relatives. But you may or may not already have a professional reputation. The key is to create your “personal brand” before one is created for you.

If you aren’t sure where to start when it comes to creating a personal brand, here are a few simple steps to get you started.

1. What Are You Trying to Say?

The first thing you need to figure out when developing a personal brand is what are you trying to say? Think about your passions as an individual, and how has this shaped your life. What has led you to pursue this particular career path? It might be worth taking the time to sit down and create a mind-map or list of things that you think represent you and have inspired you throughout your lifetime, as these can all be used as a base for your brand.

2. Research

Once you have an idea of what you’re trying to say with [Read more…] about Creating a Personal Brand for Your Success

How to Get a Job with No Experience

December 24, 2020 by Tim McMahon

Finding a job without experience is a common “Catch 22” or “no-win” type problem. But in real life, you don’t need to despair because everyone has been in this same situation early in their career and obviously many have succeeded despite this handicap. So all that remains is to discover how they did it and follow their example.

This is such a common problem that this question appears in many forms on Quora:

Be Reliable and Seek Apprenticeships

Martin Gainty says: That he runs a remodeling business and hires part-day-laborers all the time. “If the person does what they say they will do and manage to be sober and on-time” he would be happy to give them a reference to the local master-contractors “who are ALWAYS looking for apprentices”. He says electrical and plumbing apprentices are in high demand.

So the first tip is to be reliable and seek a job as an apprentice which will give you the experience you need.

Get in on the Ground Floor

Turning Unemployment to Success

December 18, 2020 by Guest Contributor

Beautiful Stories

We’re going through a difficult year, what with the COVID-19 pandemic, the election, and everything happening in-between. However, one of the key effects of this year is the massive spike in unemployment, although it has mitigated somewhat in recent months.

If you or someone you love is unemployed, then you’ll already know how bad it can make you feel, whether that comes in the form of shame, guilt, or anxiety and stress. However, just because you’re unemployed now, that doesn’t mean you’ll be unemployed forever, and you may even be more successful than you’ve ever been before.

Here are some real-life stories that will show you what I mean.

JK Rowling

JK Rowling’s story is one of the more well-known stories of rejection and triumph. At the start of her career, [Read more…] about Turning Unemployment to Success

6 Ways You Can Reset Your Career

December 1, 2020 by Tim McMahon

The 2020 coronavirus pandemic has had a huge impact on people all over the globe, not least in terms of how business is done. You might, for instance, have had to adjust to working from home and been surprised at how efficiently you can achieve your daily tasks; or, less positively, you might have lost your job. If 2020 has had you seriously considering where to go next in your career, you may be feeling stuck in a rut with no way out. To help you out a bit and give you a few ideas, here are six ways you can reset your career.

1. Go For a Promotion

You might be finding that, although you enjoy your job and are comfortable in carrying it out, it is nevertheless no longer challenging you as much as it used to, perhaps even to the point of boring you. This might be a sign that your current job has become too easy for you, in which case you might like to consider going for a promotion. There are, however, several things you should consider before going for promotion. For instance, you could arrange an appointment to speak to a person in that role to learn more about what exactly their position entails and what qualities recruiters are looking for. They might even be able to point you in the direction of any further training that is required for the role.

2. Pursue Further Training For Career Development

Continuous learning throughout your life is [Read more…] about 6 Ways You Can Reset Your Career