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What Does An MBA Graduate Do: The Sky’s The Limit

At some point in their careers, an artist realizes they have to operate their creative endeavors like a business.

They can’t be artists if they don’t sell a product or a service that generates enough profit for them to remain artists.

Every artist may be at the center of their being an artist, but they still need a bit of business acumen to get them through the month.

This same sensible consideration applies to almost any enterprise mankind takes on.

Good Business Sense Helps

At some point in their careers, a scientist realizes that it will take a little business acumen to get them to their next discovery. At some point in their careers, a professional athlete realizes it will take a little business acumen to allow them to remain professional athletes.

Even charitable enterprises are run like a business. For the most part, you can’t even give away something for free – a service or something tangible – without running it through the business office.

Public schools have business managers, who help make key decisions on programs and special projects, because if the funding isn’t there, the programs will not endure. Hospitals are run by administrators with business degrees. Even altruistic charities, like Goodwill Enterprises, operate along the lines of a business model.

Consider the example of businessman Chuck Feeney, who became a billionaire through is businesses in duty-free shops, the types of businesses you find at airports.

Feeney formed Atlantic Philanthropies and vowed to give away all of his money before he died. At age 83, he accomplished this goal. The last donation the foundation made was $37 million bequeathed to schools in Northern Ireland.

That was near the last donation by the foundation with Feeney having given away almost $6 billion. His goal, he said often, was to have the last check he wrote before he died bounce at the bank. And it seems his wish might come true.

Not All About Making Money

How business majors lament this strategy, however. As a rule, foundations only give away their earnings, so that they continue to make investments to keep the foundation alive and well, so it can make more donations down the road.

Feeney broke that general rule and his generous heart will see the end of its ability to give. In the hands of business majors instructed to only give the profits away, Feeney’s $6 billion could have lived on in perpetuity. The giving didn’t have come to an end.

The problem with a master’s degree in business administration, the ubiquitous MBA, can be traced to the inclusion of the word business in the title. Business implies people earning money for the sake of earning money.

If the emphasis was on the word administration, the stigma of the profit-addicted, ruthless businessman falls away and reveals what an MBA means in the real world. With a masters of science in management and organizational leadership, doors open up in ways that a “master’s degree in making money” does not.

Even altruistic philanthropists like John Lennon realized you can’t give your foundation away in your pursuit of a goal. Lennon, in his life, strove to promote world peace, but he also took time to thank his wife Yoko Ono, from time to time, as she had a sounder business head on her shoulders than he did.

The creative former Beatle may have given his fortune away, like Feeney had done. Ono, however, is the daughter of a Japanese banker and to this day, years after Lennon’s murder, is able to run several charitable foundations that promote the arts, the environment and world peace.

Lennon praised his wife’s business skills in one of his songs, called “Cleanup Time.”

The queen is in the county home, counting out the money /

The king is in the kitchen, making bread and honey

Lennon sang this as a tribute to her skills as a businesswoman and his new-found appreciation of domestic life.

Limitless Possibilities

Clearly, what you can do with a business degree is get involved in almost any endeavor man attempts. You can support science, charities, healthcare and art. You can be in the room where some of the most important decisions are made on funding for a limitless list of ideas.

Another very great New Yorker (Lennon and Ono lived New York City) was my stepfather, who recently passed away of old age at age 92. In his day, he ran a print shop.

His business skills were legend, and he was able to turn a small shop that printed wedding invitations and menus of local restaurants into one of New York’s largest print shops.

One of his greatest joys was simply handing out paychecks, because he knew his business skills were providing decent wages for about 60 printers and shop assistants who worked for him.

You can do worse than simply earning money that keeps the wheels going round and round. A degree in business gives that notion solid possibilities.

(Photo by Fathergoose / CCO Public Domain )

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Considering a Career Change? Avoid These 7 Mistakes

They say the grass is not always greener on the other side, and in many cases, this may be true.

Similarly, we may think our current career as a bunch of baloney and another career (which we have long been daydreaming about) as something that is just what we need.

Let’s go back to the grass is greener phrase and look at some other meanings that people have attached to it:

If the grass is greener on the other side, would the other side think your grass is greener than their side?

The grass may be greener on the other side, but maybe yours will be greener if you water it.

If the grass is greener on the other side, there’s probably more manure there.

Gained a new perspective? Exactly!

There are definitely big mistakes one can make. Making these when choosing to jump over to the other side will have you realizing you’ve made a major misstep.

1. Not Having a Solid Plan

If you really are considering making the switch, you can’t just rely on a leap of faith. Sorry, sir, but you’ve got to do more planning than that!

A successful career change can take months to achieve. Without a plan, you’ll end up confused and feeling like you are stuck in the middle of nowhere for a longer period.

You will have to consider many aspects of the new career. How is the salary? Will it be enough to pay your bills?

Will you need more education and training? Where will you be able to get it? How long will it take? Do you already know someone who can be a great guide and put you in the right place?

Without these questions and answers, you might end up opting for the first opportunity you get, even if isn’t the best one for you.

2. You Hate Your Job

You may hate your job, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to make a career change. You might hate your boss, the corporate culture or the tasks you do.

However, you should be able to discern the difference between making a job change and a career change. A job change might be the answer to all of your problems even if it is within the same career/industry.

3. Chasing the Greenbacks

The money may seem more attractive, but such an allure can also be deceiving. Chasing money just for the sake of chasing money is almost always a bad idea.

In this situation, we can ponder one of the statements above: The grass may be greener on the other side, but maybe yours will be greener if you water it.

In terms of career, this can translate to: The other career may earn you more money, but maybe your current career would too if you invest more time/effort/dedication in it.

Or, If the grass is greener on the other side, there’s probably more manure there. It is likely you will also hate the new job that earns you more benefits and money because of health, stress and other factors involved in the job that you didn’t consider.

4. Someone Else Wants You To

If your mother, father or significant other is telling you to change your career because of a reason that doesn’t benefit you, you might want to reconsider.

At times, even loved ones ask us to do something that solely benefits them, and a career change is definitely not something you’d want to base solely on their wishes (and not your own).

Don’t let anyone influence your career choice, because this is something you’ve gotta do all the time and all your life. Not them!

If the new gig is something you don’t love more than your previous job, you’ll end up resenting your new career as well as the person who advised you to go for it.

5. Not Doing Thorough Research

By research, I don’t mean a research of your own intentions. I mean time invested in researching your prospective new career as well as others.

Maybe you have another career waiting for you that you haven’t thought of. Talk to people in your network, talk to a career counselor or other professionals who are willing to help you in your endeavors.

You may find that you weren’t looking into other career options that would help you make better choices. With more information you will be able to gain a wider perspective of potential jobs. This way you can ensure that your career change is well thought-out and eventually successful.

6. You’re Bored

If you looking for a change just because you are bored, you might face the same problem in the next career and then the next and so on. This problem can happen to anyone at any point, but it doesn’t mean you ditch your current career.

Maybe a better solution to this problem would be to ask your boss to make your work more challenging. Maybe you simply require a challenge.

Or you could invest more time and effort into your company by engaging in more challenging projects. Get involved, befriend your coworker or switch to another department that will let you do the kind of work you’re interested in. The boredom will go away on its on.

7. Not Having the Right Qualifications

Merely making the decision to change is not good enough. There may be a gap that needs to be bridged before you can successfully walk over to the other side.

Skills, qualifications, additional training and experience are often required before you can obtain a full-time job at an upper level in the hierarchy.

If an entry-level job is not what you are looking for, you might need to work as a temp, volunteer, or intern to gain some experience. This will also enable you to test the waters before you actually decide to pursue a career in the field.

—

Make sure you answer every question from every angle before you decide to move to another green pasture. Many people come to a point in life when they seriously consider a career change.

Many of them successfully change to a new role they love. If you avoid mistakes like those listed above, then your career change is good to go!

(Photo by Ulisse Albiati / CC BY)

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5 Reasons Freelancers Should Cook

The quick pop of eggplant yielding to the knife; the warmth of steam ghosting from the colander; the joy of turning over a chicken breast to find it richly brown.

What is more authentic and soul-stirring than cooking?

And that’s what this post is all about — the need of a freelancer to do all he or she can to maintain authentic experiences to renew one’s spirit during hard weeks of toil.

Some freelancers — with no 9-to-5 schedule and a work day that may seem to have no end — eat frozen meals from sad paper trays or order takeout or stop by the fast food place.

Some have spouses to cook for them — at least sometimes — and that’s a great aid in productivity in some ways. Some freelancers cook, but only if by that we mean warming up soup, boiling spaghetti, throwing cheese and sauce onto a bagel, and gassing up the old broiler.

By cooking, I mean preparing items from scratch, using a bit of creativity, and transforming and combining ingredients. Here are the ways in which cooking can enrich the life of, in particular, a freelancer, and how it stirs your soul.

1. A Freelancer’s Health

I’ll go out on a limb and guess you’re already on board with the notion that home-cooked meals are healthier than, say, Burger Monarch or Taco Knell (notice I’m not bad-mouthing any fast food chains…by name), but there are indeed recent studies verifying common sense.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School took a look at more than 9,000 adults over a period of years and found that eating home-cooking dinners led to consuming 140 fewer calories per day, along with less sugar and fat than those who rarely dined at home.

Everyone’s health is important to them, but freelancers tend to have a special relationship with health insurance, and we aren’t going to get paid sick leaves from our jobs. If you’re not working to bolster your health, you’re letting a component of your career slacken.

2. Problem Solving

Maybe the reason some people shy away from cooking — aside from the time consumption — is the apprehension of eating a bad meal. What is turmeric anyway? What does it mean to julienne? If you get things wrong, will you have a gloppy mess?

I don’t mind admitting that I’ve eaten a few bad meals in the name of being adventurous, winging it, seeing what would happen if. If you’re not an avid cook, spend a few years sticking to recipes. There are more than nine hundred tetramegabillion of them on the Internet.

But even if you’re doing that, cooking means problem solving. Why did the rice go dry twenty minutes before it was supposed to be done? Where’s that too-herby taste coming from? It wasn’t there last time. How do I get the potatoes cooked through in the skillet without burning them on the outside?

I love problem solving when cooking, and I don’t mind claiming that doing so has strengthened my problem-solving skills across the board. What freelancer doesn’t have to solve problems all the time?

3. Creativity and Brainstorming

I love cooking more than eating. I like chopping more than chewing. I don’t mind — too much — if a meal is a bit hard on some of my taste buds if it was fun to create.

Cooking is one of the most visceral creative experiences — transforming raw goods into a finished product whose qualities hit home to you in one of the most intimate ways possible.

Cooking can help with two seemingly opposite or unrelated issues: It can bring some expression into your life if your freelance work is tedious, or it can help you develop creativity you may need for your work.

Cooking, for whatever reason, is uniquely suited for causing the necessary ideas to pop into my head. It seems to prep the brain just perfectly, allowing the right level of concentration, with no other language information crowding them out.

4. Calming and Restoration

Whether you’ve experienced it or not, I’m sure you’ve heard people talking about the soothing effects of chopping and sifting and measuring, etc.

It’s true, and these things are as important to people whose livelihoods depend solely on their own efforts as to anyone. It’s a wonderful way to restore your mind and get ready for more work.

5. Good Breaks

Finding one’s mind wandering or running out of energy are only too common for freelancers of all stripes. We all struggle with what to do in little moments when our minds push away the work we’re doing.

Social media and similar web distractions can go on too long and don’t take us away from our computers. Other things might get us arrested.

Going to flip the steak in its marinade — or make the marinade, for that matter — is a wonderful quick break from writing, allowing you to stretch your legs and use your hands a little, getting you in a much-needed realm apart from your freelance work.

—

Ultimately, even if cooking is a bit time consuming, it’s been proven that there’s enough time to do it and still get enough freelancing done to pay the bills.

Eating food one has cooked oneself, and the cooking, are just too real and earthy to pass up. It’s a great way to keep yourself grounded and balanced.

(Photo by Yalın Sayı / CC BY)

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http://ift.tt/18eJEeX Why should you use an umbrella company? There are many reasons but first you need to understand what ...

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5 Ways to Accomplish Goals While Multitasking

Goal setting in a multitasking environment is viciously difficult.

Ideally, you want to get the most out of your productive time with the least amount of effort.

Otherwise what is the point of multitasking?

The trouble is that it is very easy to lose time and concentration when your attention is pulled from one task to another.

Here are some useful tips for how to set goals while multitasking.

1. Monitor What’s Finished

It is imperative that you are fully aware of the progress of your goals. If you are not sure of your progress, then you cannot organize your time and cannot organize your productivity. It is the same as trying to run a business without a budget or trying to steer a car with your feet.

If you know how much has been completed, then you know how much work is still left to do, and you know where to put your productive time. It also acts as a motivator when you know how much is left to do on each goal you set.

One of your goals should be to monitor and check the progress of your goals. It sounds like a paradox, but all it takes is budgeting a little time to check on your progress. The rewards far outweigh the time it takes out of your day or week.

You can also analyze your productivity if you monitor the progress of your goals. This will help you plan your future goals and set their time limits.

You do not want to risk paralysis by analysis, so justtake a little time to check on your progress at routine intervals. You do not spend hours checking what speed you are driving at, but you would be in big trouble if you didn’t check every now and again.

2. Work Out Your Priorities 

Setting a goal is pointless if the deadline and workload are incompatible. There is no point in setting a goal where the deadline is too close or the workload is too much. All you are doing is setting yourself up for a failure, which is going to damage your motivation.

There is also the fact that if you budget too little time or if there is too much work, you will miss the deadline, you will not hit your goal, and all your other deadlines and goals are going to suffer.

That is a dramatically bad thing in a multitasking environment where a certain harmony and balance must be reached in order to work productively.

If there are things that are of a low priority, can you squeeze them in during periods where you have reached and surpassed your other goals? For example, if one goal is to complete a high priority goal within three hours and you do it within two, couldn’t you squeeze in your low priority goal instead of budgeting time out of your productive (and pre-planned) time?

3. Set Up Contingencies 

This is important, albeit difficult, in a multitasking environment. The people that miss their goals and do not have a plan are the ones that have to work extra hours and are the ones that let the team down.

A contingency is a plan that you enact if it looks like you are not going to reach your goal, if you miss your goal, or if something goes wrong. Sometimes it can be as simple as asking others for help, and other times it is more complex.

Above all, make sure you have a contingency plan you can put in place if things go wrong. If you have to think on your feet or re-plan during your working process, you lose time and a lot of efficiency.

4. Look To Improve Your Process

Goal setting should have more than one purpose, and one of those purposes should be to improve your processes and surpass your goals. For example, if you have a goal that you reach every month, why not up the stakes and try to achieve more?

You can achieve more if one of your goals is self improvement and the improvement of your processes. There is always a faster and more efficient way of doing things.

Sometimes making yourself more efficient means sacrificing a little time in the moment, but it is worth it if your efficiency improves. Set goals to improve your processes and make sure that your “improvement” doesn’t simply involve doing more work or you will end up putting too much on your plate (more than you can handle in most cases).

5. Every Goal Must Have An End Point

A goal is useless if it does not have a deadline and an end point. Even if you are multitasking, you still need to know where each goal ends and what time or date the deadline is. Without these factors you are not setting goals, you are just doing chores.

“But my task is a never-ending one,” cried the overworked employee. Your task may be never ending, but your goal to complete the task is not. Just because you have to do the same thing over a period of time doesn’t mean it cannot become a goal.

When you work on your never-ending task, isn’t one of your goals to get it done by the end of the day, week, year or specific time period? A goal tells you how long you have to do it and how much you need to do before it is over.

If you cannot work this into a long-term goal, then think about milestones and how your goals can work toward reaching them. Think about how you may improve your goals and your processes so that one day the task is not never-ending.

If your goals have deadlines and end points then you have something to work toward. All of your multitasking is worth the effort if there is an end point and it becomes a big motivator.

—

What about you? Do you set goals while multitasking? What tips do you have?

(Photo by EladeManu / CC BY)

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10 Tips to Motivate Employees

Harvey Mackay once said,

“Determination + Goal-setting + Concentration = Success.”

Certainly one of the things that distinguish high-achieving operators from the pack is their ability to set and achieve goals.

While goals may exist in most organizations, there is a real art to setting them well — an art not enough business people practice.

Many set the marker unreachably high, which quickly leads to disappointment.

Others set it too low and are rewarded with sloppy standards.

If you want to be sure the goals you set — both for yourself and your employees — fire up motivation, increase determination and, most important of all, drive things forward in your company, there are 10 key things to keep in mind.

1. Keep it Clear

Nothing is more certain to demotivate you than being handed a vague, immeasurable objective. Giving either yourself or your team an indefinite aim is a great way to get an indefinite outcome. Consider what exactly it is you wish to accomplish.

Ask yourself what the ultimate successful result of this initiative is. Ensure it is clear in the minds of all relevant parties — this is where we are, this is where we want to be and, when we get there, we have achieved this goal.

When you have a concrete destination, you are more focused in your journey and less likely to be discouraged should things get rocky on the way.

2. Keep it Quantifiable

How will you know when your goal has been reached or surpassed? If all you have to measure against is a statement like “Be more productive,” then you will not.

Rather, you need to make your goal something measurable and quantifiable beyond any interpretation or argument, such as a number of products sold, a number of clients signed up or a number of employees hired.

3. Think “We Will” Not “We Should”

It is important to keep all inconclusiveness out of your goal setting. These are not things that you should be doing or should try to do. These are things you will do.

Similarly, don’t let shame be the motivator. i.e. “We haven’t been doing enough of this in the past.”

Always look optimistically to what you will achieve in the future. This kind of positive language and positive thinking means you set off in pursuit of your objective with confidence and clarity.

4. Make it Known

Do not hide your or your team’s goals in order to save blushes should they not be achieved. This will only lead to a less enthusiastic and confident frame of mind in their pursuit.

Rather, proudly proclaim that these are the things you will be achieving from the get-go.

5. Put a Deadline On It

Some business people will give their company a solid, clear, quantifiable goal but decide not to pressurise things by adding a deadline. You can guess what happens next.

The goal loses all urgency, becomes just another thing that the business will probably do “someday,” and, soon enough, is completely forgotten.

6. Reflect the Company’s Vision

If you are setting multiple goals, be sure they all serve your overall vision for your business. It’s easy to get bogged down in achievement for achievement’s sake.

Celebrating because you managed to pass a goal might give you a warm feeling, but if that goal did not service the overall objectives of your business, time and money have likely both been wasted.

7. Remember Readiness and Ability

When you are setting goals for employees, it is always tempting to push the marker sky high. As any good boss knows, workers tend to think they are only capable of so much. But when they’re motivated correctly, employees will deliver far, far above their assumed capacity.

However, giving your workers a target that they are not ready or able to reach will decrease your credibility. Keep things optimistic but realistic.

8. Break Big Goals Down

If you have a large goal with a deadline long into the future — say “Raise product sales by 15 percent by the end of the year” — it can quickly begin to feel unrelated to the work you do on a day-to-day basis.

In order to keep focus on your ultimate goal, break it down into things that can be achieved in a month, a week or even a day. As long as these mini-goals are being ticked off regularly, you are on track for the big one.

9. Review as You Go

Occasionally, what seemed a reasonable goal at the time it was set becomes less and less tangible as time goes by.

Don’t be too proud to admit you miscalculated and adjust if necessary. It doesn’t make you a bad leader, just a practical one.

10. Remember the Reward

When a goal has been reached by either yourself or your company, remember to mark the occasion. Whether it’s bonuses, promotions or just positive feedback, ensuring people get the recognition for achieving the tasks you set for them helps to keep them motivated for the goals you will set in the future.

—

Setting business goals can be a tricky skill to master. However, with the right combination of pragmatism, optimism, ambition and management, you can get it right.

Follow these 10 tips and be sure your goals keep your company motivated, productive and powering forward. Good luck.

(Photo by Steve Wilson / CC BY)

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Stop These 10 Habits & Be Happy at Work

No matter how detailed my to-do list is or how diligently I try to stick to it, I always find myself overwhelmed at 2 p.m., making a mad dash to get things done.

This end-of-the-day crunch time leaves me exhausted and dreading what the next morning holds.

So how does an organized professional like me end up feeling like I’m giving everything, yet leaving with a sense that I’ve accomplished nothing?

Even more importantly, is there a way I can identify what I’m doing wrong, change it around to work in my favor and end each day with a sense of accomplishment instead of frustration?

Absolutely!

Here are 10 bad habits that are killing my work happiness and may be killing yours too. Stop them and be happy at work.

1. Doing Everything Alone

Taking the lead on a project and doing everything yourself is a bad habit that needs to be broken. It might actually slow down progress.

It certainly doesn’t maximize the assets available to you. Teamwork is the key to success, and surely your fellow peers have talents and skills to share.

What To Do Instead:

• Boost productivity and team ethics by recruiting help from your coworkers.

• Identify professional strengths and delegate parts of projects to others.

• Pull the pieces together, polish it off and submit it as a team. Not only did you meet the deadline ahead of schedule, you displayed true leadership to your peers and superiors.

2. Always Saying Yes

Identifying yourself as that one employee who always says yes isn’t always a good thing. Although employers appreciate workers who can be counted on to commit to any project thrown their way, if the job isn’t done correctly it will hurt your professional image.

Saying yes to every single request is toxic and may set you back with more than just added stress.

What To Do Instead:

•  Take a moment to analyze whether this request will help to support your professional goals.
• Estimate the actual amount of time the project will take and determine whether you can physically execute it, along with your other duties, by the deadline.

• Get comfortable with and understand that it’s okay to say no.

3. Comparing Yourself To Others

It seems natural to want to compare ourselves to others as a way of measuring our own personal and professional successes. Unfortunately, we tend to stack our accomplishments up against those far better off than us.

This destructive habit will always produce negative feelings and crush your self-esteem and potential self-image.

What To Do Instead:

• Compare your present self to your past self.

• Take a snapshot of your personal life and professional life from five years ago, or even two years ago, and review the accomplishments.

• Visualize everything you have done to get where you are today. Then jot down ideals of what the future you, five years from now, will look like.

• Know that you can reach those goals and more.

4. Working Only for a Paycheck

Everyone has bills to pay, but a job should provide more than just an income. If you don’t find pride in the work you do and get genuine satisfaction from your job, you will ultimately find yourself miserable, wasting away years at a job you hate.

What To Do Instead:

• Be honest with yourself. Is the salary really worth the emotional toll?

• Determine the average salary for a career you would genuinely enjoy.

• Look into your current budget and cut anything that is indulgent and unnecessary. Making a little less while reporting to a job you truly love is worth every dollar decreased from your current pay rate.

5. Eating at Your Desk

How many days out of the week do you dine on your packed lunch in the company of your work computer? If you think denying yourself from a lunch break is putting you ahead through an extra hour’s worth of work, think again.

There are many reasons why you shouldn’t eat lunch at your desk, including that it can actually decrease productivity.

What To Do Instead:

• Schedule your lunch break on your work calendar, just as you would any other meeting or appointment.

• Make the most of your break by eating lunch outside or munching on your sandwich during a brisk walk outdoors.

• Break away from anywhere there is fluorescent lighting. Soaking up some sunshine during each break can help re-energize and rejuvenate.

6. Dreading Your Commute

Whether your drive time is 15 minutes or an hour, you may find yourself in a rut sticking with the same old commute day after day. People spend an average of 600 hours per year in their cars.* With so much time spent in the car, it’s important to find ways to enjoy it.

What To Do Instead:

• Maximize your time by enjoying an audio book. Your local library has plenty of free options.

• Carpool with someone else. Besides the obvious benefits of saving on gas and drive time, you gain a de-stressing buddy to download with at the end of the day.

• Determine if there’s a better route. Mobile apps like Waze and Inrix Traffic give you a live snapshot of your drive, which allows you to see if there may be a better option.

7. Hoarding Your Vacation Time

There’s nothing wrong with being dedicated to your job, but every battery running at 100% needs a recharge every once in a while. Instead of hoarding those precious vacation days, plan a stress-free vacation to recharge and beat burn out.

What To Do Instead:

• Schedule a vacation day on a Friday or Monday and enjoy a 3-day weekend.

• Plan a week-long vacation for the summer months during the dead of winter. It will give you something to look forward to.

• Visit a destination that keeps your mind stimulated on the present, and don’t check your work email while you’re away.

8. Complaining Constantly

Dwelling on the negative and being a constant complainer can be toxic for you and your entire department. Oftentimes, it makes a situation seem worse than it actually is. Whether the complainer is you or a co-worker, break free from pessimism and watch your work environment improve instantly.

What To Do Instead: 

• Practice positive self-talk, which can elevate your mood and improve overall happiness.

• Spend more time with fellow employees who maintain a positive attitude.

• Keep a gratitude journal with lists of things for which you’re grateful. List something in it every day and review your lists often.

9. Wasting Time

Do you procrastinate in the morning by checking personal emails or Facebook on work time? Starting your day off poorly can cause a domino effect of decreased productivity throughout the entire day.

This bad habit will set you back and leave you constantly feeling behind. Nix those bad habits and replace them with morning habits that will actually set you up for success.

What To Do Instead: 

• Start the day by creating a reasonable to-do list — stick to it.

• Highlight items on your to-do list that need immediate attention.

• Set a timeline for completing each item.

10. Letting People Ramble

We’ve all had a co-worker who, after asking him or her one innocent question, can corner you into listening to a seemingly never-ending story. Unfortunately, you can’t avoid these people forever. But you can learn to master the art of evasion and improve your skill of professional interruption.

What To Do Instead:

• Use body language such as eye contact and hand gestures to interrupt the conversation.

• Involve others. If it gets bad you can always send out an SOS email to your closest co-worker signaling “Save me please!”

• Interrupt by using a phrase such as “That reminds me” and return the focus to work.

By owning up to these common bad work habits and dedicating our efforts toward a more efficient work day, we can boost our self-confidence. We can also increase our professional potential and feel great about our career.

Seeking out a more productive way to do things allows us to end the madness and revel in office bliss — the ultimate goal of being happy at work.

(Photo by Highways Agency / CC BY)

A Durham-based mailing business is expanding its operations and creating at least 10 jobs in the p…

A Durham-based mailing business is expanding its operations and creating at least 10 jobs in the process. MetroMail, who currently employ 220 people at its site in Seaham, are increasing its workforce after a rise in output. The company has announced that it will create new positions in early 2015, with further recruitment planned throughout the year, after signing up new clients and new innovations in the pipeline. The managing director of the firm, Alan Purvis, said of the new positions:”Every year we’ve seen our business grow and we’re now in the position where we need to add to our workforce in several key areas of the company, to ensure further growth in 2015. “We’re also comm