Topic: career issues

Doctor Tips on How to Quit Chronic Pain at Work

Did you know that it’s North American Occupational Health and Safety Week? Neither did we, so don’t feel too badly. Even though we don’t happen to work in an inherently dangerous industrial factory, mine, on a construction site, or an oil rig, sometimes going to work can be a real pain. Meaning that, aside from the normal stresses that can surround our daily job, where and how we toil can actually cause serious chronic pain. And because most of us spend an inordinate amount of time at work, we’d prefer it to be a pleasant, rather than painful experience. So how can we avoid developing physical pain in the workplace? (Besides not tripping over that power cord.) For answers, I turned to Charles Friedman, a Florida-based doctor who specializes in pain management issues. (And because it also happens to be Employee Health and Fitness Month and Healthy Vision Month, we think our Q&A with the good doctor is right on time.) More »

Keep Parts of Your Life Separate, or Risk Independence and Sanity

One of my favorite Seinfeld episodes is the one where George Costanza explains to Jerry what will happen if his worlds collide. Elaine has invited Susan, George’s girlfriend, to a show. It was Jerry’s idea. And George can’t believe how stupid Jerry was to suggest that, because if Susan becomes part of the inner circle, his worlds would definitely collide and, well, blow up.

George (to Jerry): Well, that was a really stupid thing. You know what’s going to happen now?
Jerry: Worlds collide.
George: Yeah.
Jerry: Because this world is your sanctuary and if that world comes into contact with this world…
George: Yes. It blows up! So if you know that, why did you tell Elaine that?
Jerry: I didn’t know. Kramer just told me about the worlds.
George: You couldn’t figure out the worlds theory for yourself? It’s just common sense. Everyone knows you have to keep your worlds apart!
Jerry: Yeah, I guess I slipped up.
Kramer enters.
George (pointing to Kramer): He knows the worlds theory.
Kramer: What – is it blowing up?

I am definitely no George Costanza. I have not been careful about separating my worlds. In fact, they are Irish dancing with each other. And the result? A nuclear explosion happening in my life. More »

Opening Day Divas: 6 Women In Major League Baseball Who Actually Matter

As of yesterday and today, the 2011 Major League Baseball season has officially begun, even though today it’s snowing up and down much of the East Coast. (And, unforch, that’s no April Fool’s joke.) Unless you’re an avid baseball fan, you likely had no idea that yesterday and today officially mark the beginning of the new season of 162 or so professional games, plus a hell of a lot of Cracker Jacks, foam fingers, and tepid beer. Like most professional sports, baseball has historically been an old-boys-club. And unless you’re a creepily obsessive baseball fan, you likely had no idea that there actually are women who help make all those home runs, overpaid players, and steroid scandals possible. Of course, these women aren’t running the bases come game day, but they sure as hell aren’t secretaries or assistants, either; they’re top executives in their ball clubs, behind the scenes in their organization’s front office, and up in those luxury skyboxes taking stock of the money-making empires in which they hold a real stake. So, to celebrate Major League Baseball’s opening day and the fact that, with my New England-native husband, I’ll be listening to way too many Boston Red Sox games on the radio for at least the next five months (because we’re old-school, we prefer listening to watching on TV), I found six women (yes, only six) in MLB who actually matter to the sport, and why. Back off boys – while you may not face all these women at the plate, several of them sign your checks, so you should probably spit out that giant wad of gum and show some respect. More »

Tracy McMillan Is Wrong: Our Takedown of HuffPo’s Controversial “Why You’re Not Married”

This is author Therese Borchard’s second post for Blisstree; she’ll be blogging for us on a weekly basis about all kinds of mental health, depression, and therapy issues. Find her debut post here. Have a question for Therese? Leave it in our comments section, below.

Maybe it’s because I just turned 40 over the weekend, or maybe it’s because I was asked to be a “relationship expert” for a dating website a few days ago (LOL), or that TV writer Tracy McMillan’s recent HuffPo piece “Why You’re Not Married” got under my skin, but I can’t stop thinking about how I ended up married with two kids when I was the one labeled in college “most likely to become an old maid” because 1. I preferred a tiny closet of a room for me and only me over a roomy quad with three other classmates, and 2. I hated men.

Furthermore, I’m confused as to why two of my closest friends who did everything right on the family track are still single in their 40s. McMillan would say it’s one or more of the following six reasons:

They are bitches. More »

One Day Book Review: Should You Hook Up With Your Best Friend?

One Day by David Nicholls, Vintage, $14.95

Crossing the line from friendship to dating has always been an area where men and women tread lightly. Once that line is crossed, the relationship will be altered for life. But what if your best friend is also your perfect life partner? Are you willing to explore a future together that could possibly destroy years of priceless friendship?

The idea behind One Day isn’t groundbreaking; it’s basically an updated British version of the screenplay for When Sally Met Harry, but author David Nicholls paints an intriguing picture of the steadfast friendship between college cronies Emma Morely and Dexter Mayhew that looks faintly familiar.

The setup is simple: Readers meet Emma and Dexter (in bed) on the morning after their college graduation, July 15, 1988. With the world before them, these freshly-minted co-eds had one last fling (with each other) before packing their bags for real life. What unfolds is a look at Emma and Dexter on July 15, and for the next 30 years of their lives. More »

Can Making $75,000 a Year Buy Happiness?

On January 26, Oprah did an entire show on the subject of happiness – how to find it, how happy you really are, how to increase it – and one of the final topics she touched on was happiness as it relates to money. Believe it or not, a 2010 study released by Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School claims that making $75,000 a year is a benchmark of happiness. According to the study, when people make less than $75K a year, they’re more prone to unhappiness, but earning more than that amount does not increase a person’s happiness.

I should note that according to the study, there are two types of happiness: a day-to-day happiness (whether you feel happy or sad in the morning), and an overall satisfaction about your life (long-term happiness.) While no amount of money can make the day-to-day perfect, it’s apparently the overall satisfaction that’s impacted by this magical $75,000 number. More »

Oscar Curse: 10 Best Actresses Who Won Academy Awards, Then Divorce Cases

The 83rd-annual Academy Awards are Sunday, February 27, but current Best Actress nominees who believe they’re happily coupled may want to think twice before accepting that precious career-friendly gold. A new study from researchers at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and Carnegie Mellon University found that Oscar winners in the Best Actress category are at a higher risk of divorce than nominees who don’t win. On the flip side, Best Actor winners apparently don’t experience this potential pitfall. Researchers concluded that when the traditional role of “breadwinner” is reversed (i.e. the woman starts to earn more money than her partner, or earns a major award), the relationship experiences a strain that’s often irreconcilable. The study looked at 751 nominees between 1936 and 2010: Turns out, Best Actress winners are 63% more likely than nominees to see their marriages end. The median marriage length for winners is just 4.3 years, while losers (kidding!) enjoy a 9.51 year relationship duration. This year’s married or engaged nominees who need to start worrying include Annette Bening (to Warren Beatty), Nicole Kidman (to Keith Urban) and Natalie Portman (engaged to choreographer Benjamin Millepied). Perhaps it’d be better for everyone’s marital status if an unattached Best Actress nominee like Michelle Williams or Jennifer Lawrence unselfishly collected Oscar gold this year. Here’s our top ten list of formidable actresses over the years who watched their Hollywood marriages disintegrate after (and maybe because of) their Oscar victory and subsequent major career boost: More »

Aging: What It Means for Women to Turn 30 In 2011

I’ve been 30 for one week. I have a new driver’s license. Thanks to my age, I now check a different box on questionnaires. Thirty doesn’t feel that far removed from 28 or 29, but the fact that I’ve entered a new decade has given me the heebie-jeebies and has me asking, “Now what?”

Lately, I’ve find myself concerned about weird things, like anti-wrinkle skin cream and decreasing metabolism. But beyond the vanity-related anxieties about aging, a few serious thoughts also have been bothering me, like the status of my professional career and motherhood — issues I thought would be resolved by my 30th birthday.

Exactly one month prior to “the day,” I sat on my couch wide-awake at 1 a.m., struggling with a range of emotions about exiting my 20s. As someone who recently completed graduate school and is in the midst of a career transition, there are days when I feel no more qualified for a respectable job than a doe-eyed recent college grad. At this point in my life, shouldn’t I be the one hiring people, having years of experience under my belt, instead of being the one submitting my transparent resume? More »

Attention, Women: Do Not Send a Photo of Yourself With Your Resume

Check out this post about the art of sending resumes from Emily V. Gordon on Lemondrop.

Apparently, in Europe, it’s become a trend to embed a picture of yourself into your resume, you know, to give it a little extra personality. We are relieved it’s not a trend here. (We have a hard enough time picking a profile pic for Facebook.) More »

What We're Reading:

Are Dutch Women Happier Than You? Ja.

Check out this post on women’s quality of life in the Netherlands by Maureen Dempsey on Lemondrop.

According to a recent DoubleX article on Slate, Dutch women have cracked the work-life-balance code. They are happier, well-adjusted human beings who “work half days, meet their friends for coffee at 2 p.m., and pity their male colleagues who are stuck in the office all day.”

They would pity me, too. Two weeks ago, I started a full-time job after three years of work-from-home freelancing. (I have chronic grass-is-always-greener syndrome.) They would most certainly pity me as I worked up a sweat speed-walking home from the subway in order to capture every last remaining minute of the day with my 3-year-old and husband.

Do the Dutch possess the answer? Can women really have it all, or are we attempting the impossible, as these underemployed European women prove?

That’s the deal here in America. More »

Need a Foot In The Door? Come Intern With Us

By this point in the fall semester, most college students are already situated in their fall internships and probably have their weekly routine down. But our parent company, b5 media, is looking for some college students to help with some new business development and social media initiatives, and these positions just can’t wait until the spring.

So if you (or someone you know) put off applying to an internship this semester, found you have a little bit of extra time in your schedule or just want to squeeze in a little more experience by working for an online media company, we might have the perfect opportunity for you. Or, at the very least, you can see how weird we all are in person. More »

Need a Job? Become an Optimist

Cheer up: A new study shows that optimistic MBA students experience significantly better outcomes in the job search world. These glass-half-full types expended less effort looking for jobs, and were offered jobs more quickly than pessimists. Upbeat candidates are also more likely to get a promotion.

So if you’re out of work, you’d better start looking on the bright side – and fast. Any tips from optimists to help pessimists change their attitude and score a job? Or perhaps you pessimists would just like a place to rant about your misfortune. Please do. More »

“Save the Assistants” By TheGloss Editor Lilit Marcus Debuts Today!

Today at Blisstree, we’re celebrating the release of Save the Assistants: A Guide to Surviving and Thriving In the Workplace (Hyperion), the debut book by Lilit Marcus, Editor-in-Chief of our uber-cool sister site TheGloss. The idea for Save the Assistants began several years ago when Lilit and her friend co-created a website to act as something of a support group for their fellow recent college graduates turned beleaguered assistants at various entry-level jobs. And now Save the Assistants (a.k.a. STA) is a book! But STA is no stodgy career-advice tome written by an egotistic self-help guru with a celebrity following or a bristly old coot who used to work at GM. Nor is it a complain-y rant about how all bosses are mean and all minions are mistreated. It’s a smart and hilarious companion for anyone who’s trying to survive a job they hate in order to eventually find the career they want. More »

Office Culture: What Your Co-Workers Really Think of You

You left high school cliques and lunch table politics long, long ago, but now that you’re a working girl, you have to navigate equally tricky office culture. Worrying about what your co-workers think of you and how well you fit … More »