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. Just get yourself comfortable, pour a cup of coffee – or tea – and enjoy this week’s reads!
What have I been up to this week
There is really not too much to tell you about my week. I have been working crazy hours and I am slowly starting to feel the weight of it. Having no summer it ain’t that fun! On a brighter note, I did manage to work out five times this week and it feels like quite an achievement. I am really proud of myself for managing it given the busy schedule and I love how the “success” in this area really lifts my mood overall!
The Weekly Reads
Getting organised. Hitha linked to this article on the Slackification of the American Home in her #5smartreads and it’s quite an interesting read. To be honest, I am not surprised as everyone is trying to organise their lives as well as possible in an attempt to fit it all in. On the one hand I am thinking that we were never as organised as we are today – which is great – but on the other hand I am really feeling the exhaustion from doing it all!
Job hunting advice. Job hunting can be tough and a lengthy process, so being prepared and staying positive matter a lot. If you are in the process of applying to jobs and are starting to get discouraged, make sure you are revisiting how you are presenting yourself, get some honest feedback (either from interviewers or friends) and prepare yourself as far as doing mock interviews with trusted mentors/friends; one thing I know for sure you can never be too prepared.
Stretch it out. If you like me work at a desk every day and spend the majority of your day sitting, stretching has probably become your best friend. At least in terms of aspirations. I have to admit since I started working out more intensely and doing the HIIT workouts, I have stopped doing yoga pretty much altogether and I kind of notice it. I am planning to at least go back to my at-home yoga sessions but in the meantime, here are a few yoga poses you can do to relive tension after a long day of sitting at your desk.
Work email. There can be some personal privacy related concerns that should stop you from adding your work email to your personal phone. While the first one I am not too concerned about I think there are also some more practical reasons. I have personally disabled notifications for emails and even though I kept the email app I only check it when it’s needed. Those late night emails carrying bad news were really putting a toll on me.
Meal prep to get ahead. The one thing that is currently missing from my life is a proper diet – by which I mean eating nutrient rich and consciously. I generally eat healthy but having long, stressful days we often end up eating dinner out – a burger, sushi, pizza – and it really is not the best thing. I like doing it once or twice a week but I know I need to get it under control; naturally, when I see healthy and easy meal prep ideas I always add them to my list of things I wish I cooked.
Office habits. Positioning yourself well at work is an art that not everyone manages to master and it can dictate a lot when it comes to promotions. Luckily, there are some very obvious bad office habits to avoid if you want to get ahead. From my experience, I think the one skill that can set you apart is the ability to communicate well – and to be more precise, knowing how to communicate across stakeholder levels, whether its your peers, your manager or the CEO you need to be able to distill the information and communicate with the exact amount of detail suited to the person on the other end. I really liked the practicality of the article linked and couldn’t agree more!
Thank you for reading and I hope you are having a great start into the week!
