On my way to buy crap I didn’t need the other day, I tailgated a car that happened to have a great bumper sticker. All it had on it were the words, “It’s all Temporary.” That really hit me and made a lot of things click. Like when you’re trying to first ride a bike, and you keep falling on your ass, then all of a sudden you’re charging forward in a wobbly line. Kind of like that, but more useful.

A lot of times, we all get caught up with work and life stressors, and it gets us frustrated, stressed, and shortens our life. Globally, more than 3 out of 5 doctor visits are for stress related problems. Globally, 23% of women executives and professionals, and 19% of their male peers, say they feel super-stressed. While stress is useful in a fight-or-flight scenario, I find that most of the time I get worked up about something REALLY stupid (or someone really stupid). Seeing this bumper sticker put it all in its place. It’s all temporary. If you think about it, these three simple words make a lot of sense. It’s a common idea in Buddhism, and something that I’ve forgotten over the years. If some situation has you stressed out, just realize and understand that it’s temporary. It’ll be over in a few days, weeks, whatever, so really in the grand scheme of things it’s no big deal. Conversely, if it’s something good, also realize and understand that it’s all temporary so you should enjoy it and cherish it.

If you can get into that frame of mind, I find that it calms you down and makes difficult situations go down easier. While I still haven’t been able to stop all stress in my life, keeping these three words in my mind have helped tremendously.

This post is the next in my How to Deal series (the previous being on dealing with bad performance reviews). As we ride past 25 and 30 is visible down the road, we start to get these feelings of aging. No, not the need for medication for the stir in the pants, but some mentality changes. For me, it’s been about physically weakening, views on taking risks, growing up, and even a tad on mortality. I know we’re not on the cusp of total decrepitude, but it’s something worth thinking about.
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STAY CALM. Most important from the get-go is to stay calm. If you spaz out you’ll most likely end up doing something really stupid that can come around and screw you (yeah..you know where). Almost everyone gets at least one bad review in their careers, so stay calm, and see how to deal.
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There’s always that talk that you eventually need to have that just totally sucks. Either you’re telling someone they’re being let go, or asking for a raise, or telling your boss you royally fucked something up. Each of these and more are sure your get you stressed and chewin on your nails. The good news is that you’re not alone. Most people have a terrible time dealing with terrible conversations. Read More

For those of us that have to travel for work, the weekly travel is a huge part of the week. Whether it’s a driving commute or flying, travel takes up a huge chunk of time, and wears on you mentally. Unless you handle the travel and have control over it, then it can really cause major job discontent and drain you mentally and physically.
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Unless you live in the jungles and buy your wares with bugs and tugs, your credit score is very important and something you should pay attention to. Even though most of us know that credit scores affect mortgages, loans, and many other aspects of our lives, few know how it’s calculated. The most common score (there are many) used is the FICO, proprietary to the Fair Isaac Corp. So the basics: your score is from 300-850, is calculated using a proprietary formula, and will kick you ass if you fuck it up.

There are five weighted variables that factor into your score–

Payment history (35%)
Amount(s) owed (30%)
Length of credit history (15%)
Amount/frequency of new credit (10%)
Types of credit (10%)

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For a lot of us, up until now the road map of life was pretty clear. We learn early on that you go to school. From kindergarten to grade 12 and later on maybe to undergrad and beyond. But there will be a time when the education stage of your life makes way for your professional life, and that’s when things can get a bit confusing. Where do you go from here? How are all those years in school going to help you get where you want to go? Here’s a few ways to put all that education to work.

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There’s nothing worse than finding yourself, a recent college graduate, unable to find a job, stuck with student loans to pay off, and with looming expenses of rent and other bills. Maybe your grades weren’t as good in college, or you picked a low-demand major (like English or Spanish), or perhaps you waited too long to begin your job hunt when everyone around you started months earlier. Whatever the reason, you’re now stuck in a rut, you’re lost, and you don’t know what to do. Read More

For many people, public speaking is not on their list of favorite things. In fact, many surveys have shown that people fear public speaking more than death. This anxiety arises not just for speeches, but can also arise anytime we get in front of a crowd to present our ideas and even for one-on-one conversations at work. However, it is undeniable that being able to clearly and persuasively speak in your professional life is crucial to moving up in the business world.

In studies done by Paul L. Witt, PhD, assistant professor of communication studies at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, there are generally two types of people: Sensitizers and Habituaters Read More