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How Not to Ask
Apr 26th
(Editor’s Note: The following article is an excerpt from the book Knowing Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You’re Worth by Mika Brzezinski. Brzezinski is a co-host of Morning Joe, an MSNBC anchor and author of All Things at Once. She is also co-host of The Joe Scarborough Show on Citadel Media. She is the mother of two daughters, Emilie and Carlie, and has been married for fifteen years to an investigative journalist at ABC. For more information on the author, visit her website or follow her on Twitter.)
Many of us need to rethink the way we ask for promotions and raises, because when we do ask, often it ain’t pretty. Just listen to the answers I hear when I ask, “Are there differences in the way men and women ask you for raises and promotions?”
“‘I know you’re busy, I know you don’t have time . . . ‘” — Valerie Jarrett
Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett has been the boss in a variety of workplaces. When I ask whether she sees a difference in approach between men and women when asking for raises and promotions, she says, “Amazingly, men are almost detached from it emotionally. They’re really comfortable . . . Women are much more timid and appreciative and polite. Men are very matter of fact, businesslike, unemotional. It isn’t really personal.”
“Women are emotional?” I ask.
“Emotional in the sense of apologetic . . . I remember one woman in particular who started with, “I know you’re busy, I know you don’t have time . . . ”
“Basically saying, ‘Don’t give me the raise’?”
“She backed into it badly, is the way I would say it.” Valerie tells me.
“Apologetic” and “tentative” are two adjectives I heard over and over. The editor-in-chief of Newsweek and The Daily Beast, Tina Brown says women often start to apologize with their body language before they even open their mouth. Then they’ll begin by saying, “Well, you know, I’ve been here for a while and I’ve been thinking a lot about this . . . Men come in and they just say, ‘Hey, I’m not doing this anymore unless I get X.’ And you think, ‘Of course, of course, of course,’ you know, you must take care of Joe, Fred, whomever. But women don’t do that. They just come in and they look sad . . . And we can’t do that!”
“‘I didn’t really want to come to you with this . . .’” — Carol Bartz
I ask Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, “Have you ever had a woman ask for a raise and apologize for imposing?”
“Oh, absolutely,” she says. Bartz trots out a few she’s heard: “‘I didn’t really want to come to you with this, but, gosh, do you think my bonus percentage could be higher?’ And, ‘Gee could you just think about it?’ When they say, ‘I don’t know if you’ll consider,’ right away they are giving you an out. Of course I wouldn’t consider, you just told me not to consider . . . when somebody gives you the reason you can say no, it just makes your job easier.”
And men?
Men will say ‘”I believe I’m undervalued here,’” Bartz tells me. “And that’s always code for ‘I’m going someplace where they value me, and it’s for these reasons.’”
“When men ask for raises there’s always some cost,” ad exec Donny Deutsch says. “It’s always ‘because I did this’ and ‘if I don’t get the raise . . . ‘ There’s always [an imaginary] gun to the head, some gamesmanship. First of all, women don’t ask as much. And when they do ask, it’s not ‘Give it to me or else.’”
When you combine my experience with what I heard from the bosses above, I have to say we women stink at this. Just look at our best opening lines:
- “I’m sorry.”
- “I know you’re busy.”
- “I don’t know if you have the time.”
- “I don’t know if you’ll consider . . . “
- “I don’t know if this is possible . . . “
- “I hate to do this.”
- “I don’t know if there’s room for this in the budget.”
- “I’m sorry if the timing is bad.”
I think I’ve managed to use everyone of those phrases in my attempts to get a raise. Of course, I used an additional strategy, too — what More editor Lesley Jane Seymour calls “playing the victim card.” Seymour says women “present their personal challenges, saying things like, ‘Well, I have this situation’ or ‘I have that burden’ or ‘My mother is ill and I have to support her’ or whatever. Women present their cause, and you have to realize it’s not a manager’s job to support your causes, whatever they might be . . . The companies can’t say, ‘Oh, I feel sorry for you.”’
(Photo credit: Question Mark Blackboard Sign via Shutterstock)
How to Stop Overthinking Everything
Apr 26th
When we’re faced with a crisis, or if we have an important decision to make, many of us fall into the trap of overthinking. You get stuck on a thought wheel that goes over and over again with no break and no insight whatsoever. It’s the kind of thinking that does nothing but perpetuate its own existence.
We get this guilt-induced feeling that if we keep thinking on something long enough (usually constantly), then we’ll eventually come up with the right answer. All we have to do is think long enough, and BOOM! Divine inspiration appears.
How can you stop yourself from overthinking?
Distract yourself
Find an activity, like knitting or working with your hands that requires so much attention that your brain is forced to be distracted from overthinking. Working with you hands is especially good, because it engages your motor skills as well as your thinking process. Your brain simply doesn’t have the resources to split itself into a third activity, that of overthinking.
Other activities are the ones that make you feel curious, proud, amused or challenged. When you’re feeling good and you’re forced to stretch just a “teensy bit” beyond what you’ve done in the past, you’re really get your brain working for you. Or try watching a suspenseful movie. Studies have shown that when someone views something suspenseful, the brain is forced to become stuck in the present because all of your senses are completely engaged. You literally don’t have time to worry about the future because your mind is focused on that’s stimulating you right now.
The STOP technique
A therapist once told me that she gave her patients rubber bands to wear on their wrists. As soon as the thought wheel started, they would snap their wrists with the rubber bands to get them to stop. Immediately.
Other ways to use the STOP technique is to say the word “STOP” out loud, or if you’re out in public and don’t want to cause a scene, imagine a big red STOP sign right in front of you. Anything that immediately brings your attention to what you’re doing at the moment will stop the overthinking wheel from turning.
Pull the trigger
If you’re in a situation where you know you need to act, and want to act, but you’re trapped by fear, take the first step towards doing whatever it is. Even if it’s a baby step.
Constantly wishing, hoping and praying doesn’t give you any momentum, or any relief. It just keeps you stuck in that wheel. But taking the smallest step gets you out of that treadmill that’s going nowhere and whether or not the first step is a misstep really doesn’t matter. It will still set things in motion so that you’ll move yourself out of the feeling of suspended animation that rumination causes. You’ll start to feel like a snowball, gathering momentum as you go.
Avoid overthinking traps
If you’re the type who over obsesses about money, pry yourself away from constantly checking your bank account every day. If one of your coworkers is so negative that she always drags you down, start taking lunch at a nearby restaurant to avoid hanging out with her so much.
The traps are things that cause your subconscious to react without you even realizing that there’s a connection between the two. You feel down around you coworker but you just can’t figure out why.
Sure, it’s good to do some self-examination and try to find the insight that will solve our problem, but at some point, we hit the point of diminishing returns. We’re wasting valuable time doing something that gives us nothing in return but more misery and anxiety.
(Photo credit: Portrait of Young Man With Books on His Head via Shutterstock)
Laura Finger is a freelance writer, who blogs about the process of being a creative entrepreneur. She can be reached on Twitter at @rihannsu, or her blog at Boatjumpers.com. When not writing, she's hard at work trying to escape back home to Texas.
A First Look at Loft Resumes: Resumes That Stand Out From the Crowd [Giveaway!]
Apr 26th
As our access to new technology increases every day, we have more creative and better ways to represent ourselves to prospective employers. Although digital formats of resumes and our work history are nice to ship off to a recruiter quickly, there’s nothing like having a well designed and attractive paper resume.
One of the newer services on the block for creating resumes, Loft Resumes, does just that. Rather than helping you create a digital resume, Loft gives you the ability to create some extremely stunning and professionally printed resumes. Here is Lifehack’s first look at Loft Resumes.
Initial thoughts
My initial impression when I went to Loft Resumes was that they consider design above all else. The resumes that they create are extremely high quality and you can tell that Loft cares about how your resume will stand out visually from all the others.
The resumes aren’t cheap. They start at $99 for one page, 2 high resolution revisions, a 3 day turnaround after the last accepted revision, and a matching Word/Pages template for your cover letter. If you need anymore revisions after the included 2, they will cost you $5 a piece.
It does seem a little pricey at first, but if you are trying to make a good impression on an employer that gets a ton of applicants, $99 doesn’t seem so bad. Especially because of the paper and color quality. Of course, if you are a designer yourself, then Loft Resumes probably isn’t for you in the first place. You should be using your skills to make your own resume.
Stand out from the crowd
We all know that when you are applying for a position that requires a traditional resume, you don’t have a lot of time to make an impression. Most hiring managers or HR professionals quickly scan a resume looking for certain things. They hardly ever stop, even if your resume is amazing and especially when the have a ton of them to go through. According to Loft’s “Why Loft” page, professionals spend about 30 seconds on your resume.
Other than being obsessed with good design, Loft’s goal is to make sure that your resume stands out from the crowd and that it isn’t just a run-of-the-mill black on white or a dreaded Microsoft Word template (oh, the horror!). They seem pretty dedicated to making sure that your resume is something that an employer will soon not forget and that’s a good thing with such a competitive job market.
The Giveaway
When one of the cofounders of Loft Resumes contacted us at Lifehack about hooking our readers up with some free, beautiful, handcrafted resumes, how could we say no? One look at Loft’s site and you will understand what we mean.
Today we are partnering up with Loft Resume’s to bring 3 lucky Lifehack readers one personally crafted resume from Loft’s online store (that’s a $99 value). You get to choose any one of their 48 different designs to create your one-page resume. With the package you will also get the standard 2 revisions as well as a 3 day turnaround.
All you need to do is signup for The Lifehack Letter, Lifehack’s new, monthly newsletter that will bring you exclusive content and special offers. After signing up and verifying your email address, you will be automatically entered to win. Also, anyone that has already signed up for The Lifehack Letter will automatically be entered.
The Fine Print
Employees of Loft Resumes and of Stepcase (including current independent contractors of both) are not eligible for this contest. The winners of the Loft Resumes will be announced by Lifehack on 5/4/2012 via email. This prize will only be available to people that sign up for The Lifehack Letter. Check out Loft Resumes FAQ for any questions regarding their service.
Good luck!
5 Reasons Why Quitting Makes You a Winner
Apr 25th
You’re not supposed to quit. Ever.
At least, that’s what we’ve been told. But there are times that not quitting results in your life being stymied, stressful, and unfulfilling.
So let’s get right into it. Quitting can make you a winner by:
1. Allowing you to move forward in your life.
Are you hanging on to old goals that aren’t relevant to you anymore? Or, digging a little deeper, are they someone else’s goals for you?
If you find yourself dragging your feet and staying stuck in the same place, maybe you need to quit holding on to those old ambitions that don’t fit you anymore – or never fit you.
Clinging tightly to the familiar only holds you back.
2. Reducing stress and creating more time for you.
Did you know that the Latin origin of the word quit meant “calm, resting”? The negative connotation of being a quitter only came into our vernacular seven centuries later in the 1800’s. Are there things you want to quit but can’t bring yourself to say no? How about being on that board for your friend’s non-profit? She said it would only take a little time, but now you’re on three different committees. What about volunteering three days a week at your child’s school rather than one because none of the other parents would pick up the slack?
It’s time to quit.
Yes, you may have to face your fear and learn to say no, but the rewards in your physical and emotional health will far outweigh your initial discomfort.
3. Creating more emotional and energetic space for you.
Have you ever seen the show Hoarders? People with this disorder pile junk and garbage up in their houses until there is barely room to walk, let alone eat or sleep. Are you an emotional hoarder? Do you collect your negative emotions and the emotional baggage of other people and won’t let go of them? Perhaps all of those thoughts and feelings have created a pile of toxic energy inside you.
Maybe it’s time to quit.
You’re human so you’re always going to have negative emotions. But quit hanging on to them. Learn to create positive emotions through positive action and let go of the negative energy. And let other people have their own emotional journeys. You don’t need to take on the mood, feelings, or problems of your spouse, family member, or close friend.
Clean out your cluttered emotional house and notice how much more energetic space you have left for yourself.
4. Creating new opportunities for you.
In 1934, a seventeen-year-old girl was about to take the stage at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem for their amateur talent show. She was going to do a dance routine but became intimidated by a dance team that went before her. Suddenly, right before she went on, she made a decision. She decided to quit her long-held plan to dance. She went up to the stage manager, tugged at his sleeve and said:
“Mister, I’m going to sing instead of dance.”
The young woman’s name was Ella Fitzgerald. She won that show (and $25) and went on to a legendary career as a jazz singer.
What opportunities might open up for you if you quit something dear to you? Something that you loved but has run its course?
Nilofer Merchant was an entrepreneur who had built a successful consulting business but, after eleven years, realized her passion for her job had dwindled to nothing. She quit her business. And opportunity after opportunity arose for her, many of which re-ignited her entrepreneurial fire.
Is there something you need to quit in order for your passion to be fanned into flame?
5. Empowering yourself to be self-compassionate.
Like most people, you probably have an inner critic that chirps away at you, telling you how bad you are and how much better you could be doing.
Kristin Neff, author of Self-Compassion and a pioneering researcher in the field of self-compassion, suggests that this inner critic is something that has evolved over time in order to keep us safe and on track. And that we often see it as a way to keep us in line and motivated. The problem is, it is harsh and judgmental and leads you to believe that, although other people are worthy of kindness and compassion, you aren’t.
Neff’s work has found that people who are self-compassionate are much less likely to be depressed, anxious, and stressed, and are much more likely to be happy, resilient, and optimistic about their future. In short, they have better mental health.
It’s time to quit fighting with your inner critic and show yourself some compassion.
Talk to yourself as you would talk with a good friend who was suffering with a problem. Put your hands over your heart and acknowledge that you’re having a rough time. And remember that all of us have flaws and make mistakes. It’s just part of being human.
What do you need to quit to be a winner in your life?
(Photo credit: Hand Pushing a Resignation Letter via Shutterstock)
Bobbi Emel, MFT, is a psychotherapist in Los Altos, Ca. who specializes in helping people face life's significant challenges and regain their resiliency. In addition to seeing clients in her private practice, Bobbi is a well-regarded speaker and writer. You can find her more of her writing about bouncing back in life at The Bounce Blog and follow her on Facebook and Twitter at @BobbiEmel.
How to Be 25% Happier in Five Minutes a Day
Apr 25th
Remember when you got a raise and bought a new car, and you’ve been happy ever since?
Neither do I.
It doesn’t work that way, does it? We buy things, we achieve goals, we indulge ourselves—but none of it gives us lasting happiness.
So, what does work? According to scientific research, the answer is gratitude.
Unhappiness often boils down to fear in one form or another: fear of not having enough, fear of not being enough.1 For example, you might be miserable at work because you’re afraid you can’t do your job, and you’re afraid you’ll be fired. You might hate doing the bills because you’re afraid you don’t have enough money. If somebody cuts you off in traffic and you get angry they put you in danger, that’s also fear.
But gratitude counteracts fear. If you can train yourself to be in a state of gratitude most of the time, you can reduce your fear and open yourself up to happiness.
It’s not mystical, and it’s not difficult. Each night before you go to bed, make a list of five things you’re grateful for.
It may seem foreign or awkward at first, but anybody can think of five things. You could be grateful for your family, a sunny day, a great meal, your health, your best friend, or a special moment. Even if things are going badly, you could be grateful for ways they aren’t worse.
There’s no need to edit or judge. Whether the things on your list are as profound as a parent’s love for a child, or as frivolous as my love for milkshakes, the important thing is to come up with at least five things you’re grateful for.
It doesn’t take long to have an effect. In one study, participants were 25% happier after doing this for only two weeks.2
Why it Works
By making a gratitude list every day, you retrain your brain to notice the positive. We encounter so much information every minute of our lives, our brains have to filter out most of it.
Just imagine if we noticed every tick of the clock or every footstep—we’d never get anything done. But when you learn a new word, suddenly you see that word everywhere. That’s because it’s been reclassified as something important, so instead of leaving it in the background, your brain starts pointing it out to you.
You can take advantage of that effect. By making the daily gratitude list, you put your brain on the lookout for things to be grateful for. Before long, you start noticing them everywhere.
More and more, you notice positive experiences as they happen, and you feel grateful in real time. Later, you get to enjoy the same experiences again as you remember them and put them on the list.
Positive Effects
One study found that after 21 days, participants who made daily gratitude lists were not just more optimistic and satisfied with their lives overall, they slept better and experienced less pain.3
In another study, participants were asked to make daily lists for only a week. Not only did they exhibit more happiness and less depression by the end of the week, they were still feeling the effects six months later. This was especially true for the people who kept making the lists, even though they were only supposed to do it for a week.4
I used this simple technique to help pull myself out of depression, and I use it now to keep feeling good. I hope it will work as well for you as it has for me.
Silly or serious, what’s one thing you’re grateful for right now?
1. What Happy People Know by Dan Baker and Cameron Stauth. Rodale, 2003, p. 24.
2,3. “Counting Blessings Versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Daily Life” by Robert A. Emmons and Michael E. McCullough. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 84, No. 2, 377–389.
4. “Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions.” Martin E. P. Seligman, Tracy A. Steen, Nansook Park, and Christopher Peterson. American Psychologist, Vol. 60, No. 5 (July–August 2005), 410–421.
(Photo credit: Happy Jump via Shutterstock)
Cara Stein is the founder of 17000 Days, a blog about remembering that life is short and making your best days a common occurrence. She's a big believer in self-reinvention and building your ideal life for yourself. She's the author of How to be Happy (No Fairy Dust or Moonbeams Required) and Getting Unstuck. Her latest adventure is Beyond Fear, a workshop on overcoming your fears. Contact Cara on Twitter @cara_stein or Facebook
Is Stress Destroying Your Productivity?
Apr 25th
We all deal with stress from time to time.
It is part of what we are, you could say it is part of our wiring.
Yet, while stress can get us moving, it also directly impacts on our ability to be productive.
How does your stress affect your work?
Stress Much?
Lack of organization and poor time management can lead to self-inflicted stress.
In fact, some people seem to always put themselves in stressful situations.
They even try to tell themselves that they like it…
When you say, “I work best under pressure.”
You are actually saying, “I don’t get my work done when I am not under pressure.”
While stress can be a tremendous motivator, it is often counter-productive.
What Stress Does To Your Productivity
Is your stress helping you or hindering you?
Here are 7 Ways That Stress Impacts Your Productivity:
- Drains Your Energy – Ironically, stress will give you an adrenaline powered burst of get-up-and-go-like-hell. However, after that initial burst, it quickly drains your energy. Physically and emotionally, you will soon find yourself exhausted. And when you are losing sleep over your stress, you will not be able to perform at your best.
- Impacts Your Focus – Stress hijacks your brain and makes it difficult to focus on what is important. It keeps nagging until you end up doing the urgent over your priorities.
- Wastes Your Time – Ever spend an entire day worrying about something that “might happen?” Stress can make us spend time worrying that could have otherwise have been spent on productive activities.
- Causes Interruptions - Have you ever had your internal fire alarm go off? You are right in the middle of something important, when you remember that stress-inducing item that you forget to do. Suddenly, you are dropping what you are doing to deal with the urgent item.
- Decreases Your Creativity – When you are stressed you tend to “lock on” to the first solution that comes your way. Your mind has trouble opening up. Simply put, it limits your ability to come up with new ideas.
- Affects Your Personality – Stress directly affects your personality. Have you ever worked with someone who is stressed and said, “You don’t seem like yourself?” They often snap at others without thinking, and yell without knowing it.
- Impairs Your Judgement – Stress causes you to do things you wouldn’t normally do. You may find yourself taking risks that you wouldn’t normally take. In extreme cases, people will even do unethical things that go against their character.
Stress or Self-Destruction?
Stress may get you out of your chair right now. It may give you that jolt of attention that your body needs.
However, consider how it is affects you in the big picture. It is more detrimental that you realize. Maybe you have been under stress so long that you don’t know what your true potential.
Reduce your stress and increase your productivity.
Question: How does your stress impact your ability to get things done?
Learn the Art of Contentment and Reduce the Stress in Your Life
Apr 25th
Are you the kind of person that always looks to see what kind of car your neighbor is driving? Or are you worried about what your co-workers are making as far as salary? Not happy in your job, marriage, friendships, or “fill in the blank”?
You need to learn the art of contentment. Being content is not being driven by always wanting more. I know that ambition is a prized trait in our society. I am not saying that ambition is wrong. What I am saying is that the constant striving for more and not enjoying what you have or where you are at the moment will drive you crazy. Things do and will change. Have the attitude that they will change for the better. That can co-exist with being content. The attitude you have for the present will determine your stress level and even if you are in the right space or not to accomplish what you want for yourself.
I would like to give you couple ways to bring contentment into your life. As with anything, learning to master contentment takes practice. Work these techniques into your life and start to see the difference in your stress level.
Learn a Right View of Problems
There is an old saying, “What you focus on expands.” Have you noticed that when you buy a car, you start noticing people driving the same model? That is because you are hypersensitive and focused on that model. It is the same way with problems. If you focus on what is wrong in your life, what you don’t have that is what you will constantly see. You will see what you look for.
Now I am not telling you to ignore problems. Take them straight on and deal with them. Always think of them as temporary and changing and then, most important take action to change them. The difference between being content and not is understanding that the problem is a temporary situation. One of the main causes of suicide is seeing problems and situations as permanent and taking a permanent solution to them. All things change.
If you look for what is right in your life, you will end up seeing many things.
Learn to Cultivate Gratitude
One of the big problems of media these days is that we get an incorrect view of reality. We get false expectations. Everyone has a new car, each family has a 4,000 square foot home. You don’t see reality. The world is imperfect. There blemishes on the most beautiful apple. There will always be something wrong with everything. When we are content we can separate reality from our expectations.
Keep a mental or even written list of the things you are grateful for in your life. When you hit a rough patch, review them and remind yourself why you are grateful for what is going on in your life. You can do these by topic. Make a list of what you are grateful in your job, in your spouse, etc.
Don’t focus on comparisons. What someone else has or what someone else makes. The problem is that people only compare themselves to those who have more or make more. No one ever compares themselves to people who have or make less. Therefore they make false comparisons. Just stay away from comparisons totally and you will find yourself much less stressed out.
Stake Your Life on What Satisfies Your Passion
Bring into your life what satisfies your passions. Nothing will bring happiness, stress-free living quicker than by doing things you enjoy. It may be art, a hobby, travel, a course on improving yourself in some way, even something as simple as listening to a foreign language tape on your daily commute. I know some of you are saying you don’t have time. There is always time to squeeze in something you like to do.
What you don’t want to do is fully stake your life on what you don’t like. What you focus on expands. Once again, view that situation as in the process of changing while you concentrate on those things that bring you joy.
Contentment of the Spirit
Mark Twain said that the master passion of man was the contentment of the spirit. That is what we are really striving for, just to be content. Go ahead and practice these steps and see what they bring you.
(Photo credit: Businessman looking up and relaxing with hands behind head via Shutterstock)
For 20 years, Michael Martel was a Green Beret in the US Army. He now works with people to put Special Forces like effectiveness into their lives and businesses. Go to Achieve The Green Beret Way and learn about his book Get ER Done: The Green Beret Guide to Productivity and other tools for achieving outstanding results.
4 More Ways to Create an Online Resume
Apr 24th
The last time I was here, we looked at how to use your Linkedin data to create a stunning visual resume with Re.Vu.
If you tried the service and found it wasn’t for you, here’s a few more nifty websites that also do a great job of displaying your resume.
1. Visualize.Me
Visualize.Me handles many of the functions I raved about when reviewing Re.Vu, and handles them very well.
The layout is simple yet very effective, with room for your work experience, skills and education, plus options to include languages spoken, recommendations and more. Pulling a page together takes no more than a few clicks, and where Visualize.Me triumphs over Re.Vu is in the ability to further customize fonts and colours.
Despite all that, the overall results aren’t quite as appealing to the eye as other sites, though as a good alternative to those sites, Visualize.Me is certainly the number one contender.
2. ResumUP
Another site offering to take your data from other services and make pretty pictures from it, ResumUP initially eschews Linkedin in favour of Facebook and Twitter. This is great if your data is available for the world to see on Facebook (more of which later), but if you’ve opted for privacy, this appears to be of little use.
Logging in for the first time presents you with a heavily-customizable resume that is quite overwhelming. Whereas other services place simplicity at their core, ResumUp has so much going on at once that it can be off-putting.
Sure, the infographs it creates are arguably the most attractive of any service we’ve looked at, but combined, they create a resume which seems far too busy to really be effective.
3. About.Me
About.Me may not be able to do anything fancy with social networking data, but that’s actually one its strengths.
Here, you only really need two things; a nice background image and some brief text. Put the two together with the site’s easy-to-use layout tools and what you’re left with is a great-looking profile which really grabs the attention. Most of that attention is immediately drawn to the background image, which unquestionably takes pride of place here. On the downside, this means that, unlike other sites who do the visual stuff for you, the onus on making your page stand out is all on you.
The site does have its own gallery of backgrounds that do look fantastic on any page, though using one of the ready-made backgrounds limits the opportunity to create a page that’s personal to you.
About.Me’s other main selling point is the stats it produces, providing you with a detailed background of how your page views, referrers and search terms people used to find you. Useful stuff that could well help you improve your page with a bit of search engine optimisation.
4. Facebook
More commonly known as the realm of embarrassing photographs and updates on the trivialities of every day life, Facebook’s new Timeline does provide a great opportunity to display your resume.
The ‘Life Event’ option can be used for inputting your work history, ‘Places’ for countries visited or areas of the world you’ve worked in and not to mention photos for a visual display of your proudest achievements. But if you’d rather keep your Facebook profile a private affair, why not consider creating your own Facebook page and making it another tool in your personal brand.
After all, what better platform to sell your skills than on one of the most popular websites in the world?
Conclusion
Whether its through one of the sites above or not, the opportunities to get creative with your online resume are abundant. Find what works for you and may your resume bring you much success — however you chose to create it.
(Photo credit: JOB via Shutterstock)
In Praise of Slow Mastery: 10 Great Achievements That Took Time
Apr 24th
Great things take time. We round up a list of incredible achievements from "Mad Men" to the Brooklyn Bridge to "Born to Run" in recognition of the power of perseverance.
Personal Finance: 4 Ways to Save Money and Improve Your Money Management Skills
Apr 24th
Virtually every single person in America who is financially independent started off with nothing. But they acquired good personal finance habits, learned how to save money, and improve their money management skills, eventually becoming some of the most successful people in their communities. And anything that anyone else has done, you can probably do as well.
Save Money by Using a Long Time Perspective
To save money and become financially independent you must begin living on less than you earn even if you are deeply in debt. One of the most important guarantors of your personal finance success is called “Long time perspective.” Take the long view. Develop a long term attitude toward yourself and your financial future and begin thinking in terms of where you want to be in five and ten years. This long-time perspective will have an inordinate impact on your personal finance habits and money management skills in the present, and will help you save money over the years.
The starting point of financial independence is described in George Klasson’s book, The Richest Man in Babylon, as “Pay yourself first.” He says that, “A part of all you earn is yours to keep.” If you just save 10% of your gross earnings every single paycheck over the course of your working lifetime, you will become financially independent and gain personal finance success. In fact, if you saved $100 per month from the time you started work at age 20 until the time you retired at age 65, and this $100 per month earned 10% per annum return, compounded, you would be worth more than $1,100,000 when you retired, in addition to social security pensions and everything else.
The Most Important Money Management Skill
In a study done recently called “One Hundred Million Millionaires” the writers and economists concluded that it is possible for every single adult in America to become a millionaire if they start early enough, consistently save money, and actually plan their personal finance. And since it is so possible and so easy for so many hundreds of thousands and millions of other people to achieve financial independence, it must be possible for you to improve your personal finance as well.
Just imagine! If you only make $25,000 year, but you save 10% of that, or $2,500 per annum, just over $200 per month, you will become a millionaire. But in order to successfully get there, you need to make a decision to improve your money management skills.
Most economists and psychologists agree that the key to personal finance success and is the ability to delay gratification. The reason for financial ruin and failure to save money is the need for immediate gratification. People who lack the discipline to restrain themselves from spending all they earn, have no financial future and can never save money. This is a key money management skill you need to remember in order to gain financial success.
Change Your Personal Finance Habits
Your goal should be to carefully save 20 – 30% of your income each paycheck and to invest that money carefully over the years. Of course, for most people, at least initially, this is impossible. They are too deeply in debt and they have entrenched spending patterns that are consuming 100% of their income or more. So here is a formula for you. Decide today that you are going to change your personal finance habits, save money, get out of debt and achieve financial independence within the next few years. You begin by resolving to save one percent of your gross income. Let us imagine that you are earning $2,000 per month.
One percent of $2,000 is $20. You decide that you are going to save $20 each month. $20 per month is approximately 67 cents per day.
Every day you save 67 cents. Every month you put the month in the bank. And once you put the money into that savings account, you never, never touch it for any reason. This is your wealth account which you never, never touch for any reason.
A remarkable thing is going to happen to you within a few months as you save money. Your attitude toward yourself and money management will change. You will feel stronger and more confident even though you only have a few dollars in the bank. You will be adhering to a budget more closely and questioning unnecessary expenditures.
Growing Exponentially
But the best news of all is this financial accumulation account will start to grow. You will start to get little unexpected dribbles and drabs of money coming in that you promptly put into this account. Instead of the account growing at $20 per month plus interest, by the end of the first year, there will probably be more than $500 in the account. By the end of the second year, there will be over $1,500, maybe even $2,000. By the end of the third or fourth year, you will have several thousand dollars put aside, you will be out of debt, and you will not have to stress about how to save money for the rest of your life.
As you become comfortable saving one percent of your income and living on the other 99%, you then raise your savings rate to two percent of your income. You live on the other 98%. When you become comfortable at that level, you increase it to three percent and then four percent, and eventually up to 20% and up to 25%. Within three years, you will find yourself living quite comfortably on 75% of your income and saving the rest.
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