Tuesday, November 26, 2019

3 ways to cut yourself some slack at work

3 ways to cut yourself some slack at work3 ways to cut yourself some slack at workDo you ever feel like youre constantly stretching yourself too thin without giving yourself room to breathe? Its time to back off and give yourself the space you need - here are three ways to stop getting in your own way at work.Surround yourself with positivityThis can go a long way.A TODAY.com article by writer and former English professor Gina Vivinetto features input from Paula Davis-Laack, who is an author and founder of the Davis-Laack Stress Resilience Institute, about how to be kinder to yourself. One tip is to start a portfolio of good stuff.Positive emotions do more than just help you feel good - they increase your creativity, make you more social, build your resilience, and reduce the negative physiological impact of negative emotions, says Davis-Laack. She collects thank you notes, testimonials for her business, and other positive notes and keeps them in her office, the post reads.The art icle welches for NBCUniversals Season of Kindness initiative.Give yourself another chance after that errorGive yourself room to fail.Chelsea Babin, Content Manager at IT recruiting firm Camden Kelly, writes on the site about the process of recovering after messing up at work. One of her tips is to Start Over With New Knowledge.When screwing up doesnt lead to firing and doesnt lead to your life being ruined, youll appreciate the ability to start over with new knowledge. This will help you avoid being too hard on yourself in the future. And, when you make a mistake, youll have the confidence to know that you can handle the situation calmly, professionally, and positively, she writes.Dont try to be perfectThis will only make things worse.Melody Wilding, an executive coach and social worker who teaches at CUNY Hunter College, writes in The Muse about how to improve your shortcomings without beating yourself up. One of her tips is to check your perfectionism at the door.To keep your perf ectionism in check, take note of how you describe your slip-ups. Do you catch yourself saying things like I always forget peoples names or Ill never figure out how to run a report that pleases my boss? If so, youre slipping into whats known as a negative explanatory style- that is, blaming bad events on permanent, all-encompassing aspects of yourself (think Im just not that smart or Ill never have the confidence to be good at public speaking), she writes. Instead, try to turn those thoughts into specific, changeable behaviors that you can improve.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

ASME Marks 135 Years

ASME Marks 135 Years ASME Marks 135 Years ASME Marks 135 Years. One hundred and thirty-five years ago, on Feb. 16, 1880, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers was founded by leading U.S. industrialists, educators, technical journalists, designers, shipbuilders, military engineers, and inventors. Held at the offices of American Machinist magazine in New York City, this preliminary meeting chaired by Alexander Lyman Holley who, alongside thirty leaders of industry laid down both the intellectual boundaries of the profession and the advantages of association. A portion of the New York Times article, published Feb. 17, 1880, which reported on the founding meeting. This influential meeting was announced in The New York Times the next day. At that time, committees were established to form by-laws, nominate officers and generate a potential membership list. An organizational meeting was held April 7 of that year, at nearby Stevens Institute (N.J.), for 80 interest ed engineers and leaders of industry, primarily focused on machine design, power generation, and industrial processes. Their main intent was to project a broader national role to advance technical knowledge and systematically facilitate a flow of information from research to practical application.ASME founders established the professional values we live by today values that guide the industrial and academic research we conduct, that encourage us to share our technical information and technical achievements at meetings and through publications, that provide educational efforts for life-long learning, and that foster the development of standards that promote the reliability and safety of products we use every day. The offices of American Machinist magazine at 96 Fulton Street in New York City, where the founding meeting took place on Feb. 16, 1880. So 135 years later, we congratulate all ASME volunteers and members who continue the Societys mission to serve diverse glob al communities by advancing, disseminating and applying engineering knowledge for improving the quality of our lives. ASME continues to grow in its rich heritage to be the essential resource for mechanical engineers and other technical professionals throughout the world.

How to Succeed at a Startup Company

How to Succeed at a Startup CompanyHow to Succeed at a Startup CompanyHow to Succeed at a StartupHeres what you need to know to succeed at a startup.Dreaming of helping to found the next Amazon or Uber? That will mean working for a startup. Working for a startup company can be an incredibly exciting and fulfilling experience, but for those coming straight out of corporate life, it can also require a serious change of perspective. Heres what you need to know to succeed at a startup and enjoy the experience to boot.Be realisticEveryone whos ever worked at a startup has probably fantasized about seeing their stock options climb sky high and turn them into instant millionaires at the IPO. However, its important to face facts most startups either never reach that IPO or end up as typical mid-level companies. The odds of catching the brass ring are pretty slim, so recognize the fantasy for what it is and focus on more achievable rewards.Expect to work (constantly)The biggest drawback to w orking for a startup is the difficulty of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Startups often cant afford to hire enough people to keep each job within the confines of a 40-hour workweek, which means youll probably be working at least one and a half jobs, depending on the amount of time you end up putting in. The good berichterstattung is that technology has leapt to the rescue, with tools such as Slack making it much easier to work remotely or at odd hours of the day. You might be working 12- and 14-hour days for a while, but at least you can do some of it in your fuzzy pajamas and bunny slippers.Define your jobWhen you take a job at an established company, youre likely following in the footsteps of a dozen or more other employees who have cycled through that job already. Youll have a reasonably well-defined job description and will have a clear idea of your duties and their boundaries. At a startup, you may well be the very first person ever to hold the job you were hired for, so your job description is likely to be pretty fuzzy. While this can be difficult for employees who like firm boundaries, its also a huge opportunity for you to define your job and your responsibilities in a way that fits your own preferences perfectly.Embrace responsibilityBecause startups tend to have so few employees, each and every one of those employees is critical to the companys success. One slacker could single-handedly bring down the company. That means if youre going to work at a startup, you need to be prepared to roll up your sleeves and take charge of your job. Youll likely be the only person working on a given project, so its success or failure is entirely up to you. Expect to do a lot of self-management as well, because your boss will probably be too busy to spend a lot of time with you.The upside of this kind of environment is that not only do you get to own your successes and savor the resulting accomplishment, but you can also expect a meteoric rise within the com pany if you do your job well.Accept the riskYouve no doubt heard the scary figures about how many businesses fail during their first year. When you work at a startup, you need to accept the possibility that the company youre working for could disintegrate suddenly and without warning. Thats a pretty scary possibility, but its the necessary counterbalance to the possibility that the startup could hit the jackpot and make you rich for life. In short, startups are a high-risk, high-reward kind of job. Be optimistic about the possibilities, but make koranvers you remember what you could be getting into.RelatedHow to Help Your New Business Survive Its First YearBe prepared for ups and downsSpeaking of risk, life at a startup tends to be chaotic, to say the least. You can expect some wild changes to take place in the company, your job, your benefits, and possibly your compensation package. For instance, if the startups funding starts to run dry, you may be asked to accept a temporary pay cut to help keep the company on its feet until more money turns up. Company perks like free lunches and insurance coverage can come and go depending on what resources are available at any given time. Even the nature of your job can change overnight based on what the company needs to be done at any particular moment. One of the biggest advantages startup companies hold in the marketplace is that they tend to be nimble, but that means youll need to be equally nimble to thrive in such an environment.Find your callingFor most startup employees, the long hours and sometimes crazy ups and downs are well worth it because theyre working on something they believe in passionately. If youre going to work at a startup, its crucial to pick one with a mission you care about. If you dont truly believe in the company, its products, and your role in its success, youll struggle to find a reason to invest the necessary time and energy. But as the saying goes, if you love your job, youll never work a d ay in your life.Click on the following link for more career advice.Ready to find the startup for you? Get a free resume critique to find out if your resume is in shape for your search.Recommended ReadingWant to Work for a Startup? Talk to David GaspinIf You Want to Be a Good Leader, Never Stop LearningOverwhelmed at a New Job? 5 Ways to Deal With Stress and Anxiety