The Career Clinic Blog

A salesperson is being honored. The executive making the speech says, “You’ve probably seen him working late every night.” The man sitting next to me, Larry, pipes up: “Not me. I’m never here…”

Larry was always ready with a little anecdote, a little something that made you smile if not howl with laughter. No matter how boring or unpleasant a meeting promised to be, if Larry was coming it would also be fun. He knew how to cut through even yuck to find the rich, creamy nougat center of hilarious.

You want some career advice? Be that person. Be the person who makes coming to work fun.

Comment (0)

What can you say that will make you sound more intelligent, whether you're flipping burgers or flipping houses or flipping multi-billion dollar companies?

Nothing.

That's right. The poet Taylor Mali has a suggestion if you're tempted to fill a moment of silence with "um" or "uh" or "er."

Don't.

"People are afraid that silence will make them sound stupid," Taylor says. "So they fill it with something that's guaranteed to make them sound stupid."

How do you break the habit? Ask people who care about you to nag you until you quit. Wear a rubber band on your wrist as a reminder to snap out of it. Make a point of listening to yourself when you talk.

Better yet, record yourself and then listen. Silence won't feel as painful by comparison!

Comment (0)

"This day might be kind of fun." Spoken like a woman who'd never given birth before.

Ignorance was accidentally bliss fifteen years ago today thanks to my sister, who’d promised me that by the time anything hurt very badly I'd get an epidural.

I was in labor before I found out the hospital in our small town wasn’t set up for epidurals. The nurses gave me a little something to take the edge off--I can’t remember what it was--but it didn’t take the edge off of anything.

What a gift from my sister, though. I never once worried about the pain of childbirth...and by the time I came to terms with my predicament, well, nothing to do but annoy the nurses.

Oh, I know what you're thinking. Annoy the nurses with the screaming, the yelling, the acting like I was the first person to endure this much.

Nope. Not that.

I annoyed at least one of the nurses by (get this) worrying if Darrell was bored. All he had to do for four hours and thirty-five minutes was hand me ice chips, rub my back, and not have contractions. So I worried he wasn't having a fun day.

It was a fun day, all right--eventually.

Happy Birthday, Katie!

Comment (0)

Once upon a time I asked my boss for the raise he’d promised and we both knew I’d earned. Now he wasn’t sure. I was stunned, and told him so.

At which point he said: “You push too hard sometimes.”

He wasn’t used to being held to his word, from what I could tell, and managed mostly by intimidation. So I was delighted, and okay, relieved, when he laughed at my response: “When (insert his name here, in italics) tells you that you push too hard, it’s time to take a good long look at yourself.”

I used to be afraid of bullies. Then I heard how the wife of a friend looked at them: “Oh well, they get the life that goes with it.” Now I’m more playful with people who intimidate me.

Or I pretend I’m watching a movie. It makes it easier to stay detached.

Comment (0)

Get your hopes up. Please. Believe you can have a wonderful life, and go get it. Not sure how? I wasn’t either. That’s one reason I went to a workshop given by Dick Bolles.

Dick convinced me it was okay to want what I wanted. One thing I wanted was a radio talk show, and the people who attended the workshop with me made me promise to go after it. What a supportive group! Don’t get me wrong. I had wonderful friends back home who were as nurturing as they were fun to be around. But there was always this hesitation when it came to the really big dreams.

I wondered when that starts. You wouldn’t pull aside a five-year-old, bursting with excitement on her first day of kindergarten, to say, “Whatever you do, kid, don’t get your hopes up.” Yet at some point, I bet you started hearing it. I bet you’ve heard it a lot. And I bet it came from someone--or many people--who love you more than life itself. I challenge you to find more good intentions in one statement than, “Don’t get your hopes up.” It can be a spirit killer, though, if you take it to heart.

The Career Clinic was designed to help you get your hopes up, and keep them up. We trust you're strong enough to weather the inevitable disappointments, and learn something that'll help make your dream come true the next time--or the time after that.

Do you remember when you were little and your heart was set on something--until you got it, and you wondered what all the fuss was about? Not so with the talk show! It took me seventeen years, and it’s more fun than I thought it would be.

Thanks, Dick.

Comment (0)