Keep Track of What You Do So Resume Updates Are Easy

Keep Track of What You Do So Resume Updates Are EasyKeep Track of What You Do So Resume Updates Are EasyOne of the reasons its difficult toupdate your resumeis because as time passes, your memory of accomplishments and day-to-day responsibilitiescanfade. If you struggle to remember your plans from last Friday, how will you recall the highlights from your year-end performance review? The trick is to write things down now, so that making updates tojob descriptions on your resumeis easy later on. Heres what you need to know. Why Track Your Work Making resume updates easier is just one reason to keep track of what you do, learn, and accomplish at work. Other reasons include acing your performance reviews and making powerfularguments for promotions and raises. It can also be helpful if you have to write a bio of yourself,whether for an event youre attending or aleidher professional moment. Finally, these notes may make it easier to prepare for bewerbungsgesprchs, and acecommon questio ns, such as What are your biggest accomplishments? and Describe a difficult work situation and how you overcame it. What Should You Track? Since you are not directly updating your resume, be expansive in what you log, however you choose to do so (more on that later). Here are some things to track New skillsIf you attend classes or workshops, note it down. Training sessions at work are also worth noting. Did you learn a new software program? Write that down,too.Awards and praiseDid your boss send around an email to the team touting your work? Did you win salesperson of the year from your organization or get acknowledged by an outside group? Write down the date and substance of accolades and compliments. Projects and tasksThink of this as the day-to-day. Like doing the laundry each week, its both essential and infinitely forgettable. Write down at least thewhat(budget analysis for year-over-year projections), and consider includinghowyou accomplished a task, from obstacles to succ esses. As well as being helpful when you update your resume, this can be valuable as you think through answersto common interview questions. Interactions with co-workers, managers, and people you superviseIf you manage people yourself, youll definitely want to include that on your resume. Other interactions with colleagues wont necessarily make it onto this document, but can stillbe quite helpful during interviews. (For instance, if youre askedquestions about teamwork.)ChallengesAgain, you may not want to include this information on your resume, but many interview questions will center on how youve dealt with difficult co-workers, projects gone awry, and other workplace challenges. If you have notes on that time your team missed the deadline for a big project, and how you recalibrated for the next one, youll be halfway to a sharp interview answer if youre asked about a time you hit a speedbump on a task. Accomplishmentsand results Whether its organizing an event, exceeding a sales q uota, closing a deal, orsaving money, write down the big things you get done at work. Include as many specific, quantifiable details as possible, so you wont have to go into your email archive later for the information. How to Track Your Work This task is deceptively difficult. When you receive a compliment, you might think at the moment, Ill never forget this But if you dont write it down, you might. Here are some ideas for where to write down information Draft email ordocument Keep a running log in a draft email or a word processing document.Journal Or, perhaps you want to track your work using old fashioned pen and paper.Voice recorderIf writings a chore, you could use the voice recorder on your phone or another device to track your work. (Note This might be easy at the time, but potentially harder when updating your resume, since its difficult to skim through recordings.)ListDo you have an app on your phone with your grocery list or another list? Use that to track your work, too. Draft of your resume Create a version of your resume where you add informalbullet points as things happen. When youre ready to update your resume, the information will already be there - youll just need to polish the language.Paper or digital calendar Itmaybe helpful to use a calendar to jot down notes.Digital folder Consider keeping a folder where you save emails, performance evaluations, and other documents that provide helpful background. Wherever you track your work, make sure itllbe accessible even if you lose your ability to log-in to your work computer. So, if its a draft email, save it in your personal email account, not your work one. And put your digital folder in the cloud, not on your work computer desktop. Timing is also critical here. While its good to track events when they happen, that may not always be feasible. Consider setting a quarterly (or monthly or weekly) reminder to jot down some notes. Dont let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Get down notes as often as you can, with as much detail as you can. A typo-ridden sentence that doesnt contain the full picture (but will jog your brain later when youre updating your resume) is better than nothing. Even if your notes are fragmented or sporadic, theyll be helpful down the line.

Chart comparing stay-at-home moms and working moms sparks outrage

Chart comparing stay-at-home moms and working moms sparks outrageChart comparing stay-at-home moms and working moms sparks outragePeople on social media are furious over a viral Facebook post detailing the differences betweenworking momsandstay-at-home moms. Shared by conservative Christian blogger Lori Alexander ofThe Transformed Wife, the flowchart, titled Should Motzu sichs HaveCareers?, explains a day in the life of each type of mom.Her life is falling apart. She doesnt feel like shes a good wife or motherreads the outcome for the working mother, who apparently comes home exhausted after being away from home hours every day and feeds her kids fast food dinners. According to Alexander, the working mom also spends her weekends cleaning and running errands instead of being with her children.The stay-at-home mom, on the other hand, has a life thats fulfilling. Her husband and children rise up and call her blessed It must be due to her nutritious and delicious homemade dinners, along with the fact that she teaches about Jesus all day long.The controversial chart is receiving a lot of criticism by both working moms and stay-at-home moms alike. This is so grossly oversimplified its appalling, writes one woman, while another says, I welches a SAHM for 16 years, your list is completely delusional and an embarrassment to all mothers. ALL moms need to feel supported fulfilled and worthy.Many of the 2,5000 responses are women sharing their own experiences and urging others to stop mom-shaming. Some days my life is more like the career woman you described. Other days its not, commented one working mom. However, you have shamed all working mothers, even those who might not have a choice WE ARE ALL MOTHERS AND WE SHOULD STOP SHAMING EACH OTHER.Alexander, who is a mom of four, has been attacked in the past forher unpopular opinions. Earlier this year, she wrote a similarly divisive post titledMen Prefer Debt-Free Virgins Without Tattoos.This article was originally publishe d on Fatherly.

6 ways to reset your routine this spring

6 ways to reset yur routine this spring6 ways to reset your routine this springWere not sure how it happens every single year - but April often arrives as a surprise for busy professionals. The chill of the winter (and the recovery from the holidays) has many hibernating during the departure of the year, so when the temperatures rise, so do the stakes to deliver.With the start of the second quarter, the end of the year somehow feels instantly eminent, challenging hard workers to refocus, reset and strategize for them months ahead. Since spring is notorious as the season of cleaning - why not apply the same mentality to your habits?Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreBranding expert Wendi Weiner says now is a solid opportunity to take an introspective look into how you can firm up your own personal skill set closet to power your way through the remaining nine months of the year.Her e, ways to double-down and shape-up ASAPGet real about your schedule and goalsNo matter if youre an entrepreneur, a senior vice president, a director or a one-person show, an effective schedule that helps you meet your goals is essential to success. No matter how motivated someone might be (or how much they adore their gig), its easy to be tempted by late nights or cutting corners here and there. You know yourself best, so get real with how youre approaching your day-to-day.Are you sticking to a routine or falling short of it? Is your current way of doing things creating roadblocks and challenges for you? Weiner asks. Consider the ways in which you can create a schedule that ensures alignment with your goals and creates stronger patterns of success. Focus on a detailed plan and map.Prioritize focusing on right here, right nowLike it or not, everyone faces some harsh math at some point in their career, according to career expert Michael Dermer. What does he mean? Well, youve been the re you have 100-hours worth of work and only 10 left to complete it. This thought alone is enough to send your heart rate sky-high, but take a breath, and focus on the here-and-the-now of today.Instead of focusing on the tasks of the day, they worry about what is not getting done. This is counterproductive. Focusing on the ninety-nine things that you cant do that day or mentally jumping ahead to tasks that require multiple days is wasted time and effort, he continues.To solve this, decide what you need to complete in this work day. And then? Let the worry of the other things fall to the side.Focus on the eintrags you have determined require your attention that day. The path to success is rarely built with giant leaps for mankind but steadily won with, determined, daily progress. When we integrierte schaltung away at todays to-do list, we build powerful momentum for our business, he adds.Reset your thinkingWhile some years are full of exciting adventures, career-changing feats, and s ix-figure milestone others are lackluster, complicated and frustrating. If the start of 2019 has been paved with angst, Weiner says its time to reset your thinking and attitude. This doesnt mean playing the blame game either, but being frank about areas of improvement and gaps for growth.Ask yourself what has happened and how would you like to change it. Think about how your own personal behaviors can be adjusted to help you reset or revamp your way of doing things, she continues. Perhaps that means focusing on more positive thoughts and affirmations on a daily basis.If you have been filled with a lot of negative in your life, perhaps it is negative energy that is festering up and you need to take charge of that for stronger professional growth and better professional outlook.Do the hardest thing first thing in the morningYouve heard this advice before - but for good reason. We have the most mental agility, energy and flow first-thing in the morning, so its best to use it to your advantage. Many people are tempted to delay the most stressful item of their day, but thats a mistake, according to Dermer.Unfortunately, ninety percent of people check their email as soon as they get to work. That turns their agenda over to someone else. They do it because its easy and you feel more effective in a shorter time by answering emails, he explains. Focus first on the hardest task of the day. This will allow you to apply your best to the most important jobs. Resist the temptation to do mindless or easy things to gain a brief sense of accomplishment.Prioritize your self-careSo, you finally made the leap and went freelance full-time. Or - congrats - you became a parent. Maybe you took on extra duties at work thanks to a promotion and youre overwhelmed, to say the least. All of these exciting ventures are just that - but also stressful and time-consuming. When you arent giving yourself enough TLC, getting enough sleep or maintaining a work/life balance, your productivit y will plummet.Even though you cant always control how much you time you receive, making an effort to carve out a bit of space for recovery and zen each week will improve your overall happiness - and creativity - on and off the job.Silence your technologySure you paid $1,000 - or more - for that fancy iPhone but how much of your hard-earned hours has it sucked away from you? Most folks are tempted by text messages, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and so on, but dont realize how much cradling this daily sidekick is stealing your attention.Shifting your attention from one task to another, as we do when were monitoring email while also reading a report and answering text messages, disrupts our concentration and saps our focus. Each time we return to our initial task, we use up valuable cognitive resources reorienting ourselves, Dermer explains. Research shows when we are deeply engrossed in an activity, even minor distractions can have a profound effect. Its up to you to protect your cognitive resources.The more you do to minimize task-switching over the day, the more mental bandwidth youll have for activities that matter.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people