Welcome to the Weekly Reads, where I highlight articles that I found on the web and that are focused on career advice, lifestyle, beauty or anything I think would round-up as useful for the young, modern, working woman.
The Weekly Reads are perfect for your Monday morning commute or your first coffee break of the week. So get yourself comfortable, pour a cup of coffee – or tea – and enjoy this week’s reads!
What have I been up to this week
I am happy to report that this week has been super short. I was in Spain until Tuesday and so I got to have a relaxed weekend and start of the week, worked on Wednesday and Thursday and then took Friday off to catch up with studying – all the “holidays” were planned of course.
I must have mentioned this before but taking Friday off and not going anywhere but just catching up on whichever projects you are working on – or even just to take care of yourself – is a great thing. Even with this I must admit I am still behind with different things like studying, exercising and even work. So, despite the slight guilt of taking Friday off, I am planning now to start the new week on a super early and productive note so that I can tackle as much as possible.
Since I said I was behind on several things, I guess there’s no shame in also sharing a quick update on where I stand with my reading. As some of you might remember I started to read a new book in January (Becoming by Michelle Obama) and to be honest I haven’t even finished it yet. I told myself that this year I would read at least one book a month but with March midway through almost and me barely halfway through the first book I am not off to such a great start.
The Weekly Reads
What are you made of. I love this What are you made of series from MM Lafleur where they ask women to share their career stories through a fill-in-the-blank questionnaire. Absolutely love this and find it super inspiring, so make sure to check it out!
Going green. I must admit I am not a great example of leading a green life but it’s something I often think about. The Every Girl put together a list of 10 things you can do to lead a greener life and some are super easy to apply in the day-to-day life.
Button up. Winter is pretty much over but the cold days are not so I thought I would still share this piece from The M Dash on how to style a white button up for both work and weekend I’ve been wanting to wear a white button up with a black turtleneck underneath for a while and I might even give it a try in these remaining cold days.
Remote work. This is an interesting perspective on remote work. I, myself am working from home every Friday or at least I try to and I can say I haven’t quite figured out how to handle it correctly as I am generally just ending up putting way more hours into work, taking fewer breaks etc… While remote work might not always be the best option for everyone, if you have the option I think you need to try it and figure out if it fits your lifestyle and working dynamics.
In between meetings. There is no worse thing and less productive than useless meetings. And yet, many of us found ourselves sitting in meetings sometimes at least half of our work days. In some cases this is part of the job but as you are not supposed to have that much individual output but in some other it’s really mainly a waste of time. So finding time to work on other tasks might become challenging. This article from HBR shares some advice on how to get work done when you are always in meetings. Some of the tricks are understanding that there is no perfect time to start working on something or blocking your schedule to reserve some time for important tasks. I definitely do both to squeeze in some productive time in. What about you?
Thank you for reading and I am wishing you a wonderful start of the week!
