English is a Difficult Language

English is a difficult language. For each spelling rule, there is an exception, such as “i” before “e” except after “c.” Yes, “pie” follows the rule. However, “height” does not.

English also has many silent letters. For example, the “gh” in “through.” English also has a long history which has contributed to these silent letters. For example, the word “knight” has a silent “k” in modern English. In Old English, you did pronounce the “k” and the word sounded more like “kneht.”

English has borrowed words from other languages, such as the French word “chic.” If we followed English pronunciation rules, we would say, “chick,” which is incorrect.

Even if you are a native speaker of English, you can still spend a lifetime learning the language. New words and expressions are always being created and grammar rules are always being updated to current usage.

What is an English slang term you just learned? How about new jargon in your field or industry? Comment below!

Image credit: original source unknown

5 Tips for a Remote Team to Stay Productive and Organized

How do you stay productive and organized while working on projects with team members you rarely see in person? Most startup companies I’ve worked with don’t even have an office where team members can meet and discuss their work. Despite this modern-day work challenge, working efficiently as a team is possible. Let’s look at five tips to help your remote team stay productive and organized, even if your team lives in different time zones.

Tip 1 Establish Clear Communication Channels

One of the most important tips is clear channels of communication. At the traditional office, you can have an impromptu discussion at the water cooler, pop into a coworker’s cubicle to ask a quick question, or pick up the phone for a brief call. When working with a remote team, you need ways to connect using technology. You can use messaging apps for quick messages, virtual meetings for longer discussions, and project management platforms to track the progress of tasks.

Regular, scheduled meetings are important to check how people are doing on tasks. Small group or one-on-one meetings are crucial for more opinionated discussions. Impromptu or scheduled one-on-one meetings are the best way to discuss sensitive messages because tone and emotion can be misinterpreted in lengthy texts.

Project management software and regular updates provide transparency and keep team members on track. Everyone can see the progress of a project, who is responsible for a task, and when the task has started or finished.

Tip 2 Define Clear Goals and Deadlines

Clearly defined goals and deadlines provide your remote team with direction and purpose. I’ve worked on teams without clear goals and deadlines. The chaos that ensues can be mentally draining and emotionally frustrating. When all team members understand the team objectives and the timeline for project completion, tasks are prioritized correctly and effectively.

Clear goals, such as clear priorities for the week, allow the team to see who has too many tasks to juggle, who needs help with a task, and who can take on more tasks. 

Tip 3 Define the Responsibilities of Each Team Member

In a remote team, defining each member’s responsibilities prevents confusion and overlapping efforts. One way to do this is by mapping out the flow of work and assigning one team member to be responsible for that task or stage of the project.

One project I enjoyed was creating Trello cards. Each card was named one stage of the project flow. On each card was a list of tasks for that project stage. Team members moved and added cards with a description of their responsibilities until we mapped out the entire team’s workflow for a typical project. Anytime we had another project to complete, we followed that map as each team member fulfilled their list of responsibilities and tagged the next team member for the next project stage.

Tip 4 Clarify How Files Should be Organized and Documents Stored

Remote teams need an efficient way to share files instantly and electronically. Most remote teams share and save information on the cloud. When several people share the same drives (like sharing the same office space) you need to be organized or frustration is guaranteed to occur. 

You’ll need to standardize ways of naming files and folders. If everyone names files the same way and organizes them the same way in folders, it will be easy to find a file, even if you’ve never worked on it before. 

Tip 5 Time Management by Coordinating Work Schedules

Remote teams that have team members located in multiple cities, time zones, or even countries will have a different workflow than an office with team members all starting and ending their work day simultaneously.

It is important for team members to familiarize themselves with core working hours (times when most of their team is online) and when team members work. For example, if your team member starts work hours before you, consider leaving them a message that will be answered by the time you start your workday. Also, you may need to anticipate questions to ask while they are still online so you can complete your work on your own when they are offline.

Fun fact: those who live on the west coast will start work as if they are entering a bustling office, with plenty of emails and messages to catch up on. Those on the east coast will start the day with messages and emails that were sent the day before. And on the west coast, it does get a bit quiet and lonely at the end of the day when the team members on the other side of the country has logged off. (A little like staying behind at the office when others have gone home.)

Key Takeaways

By implementing these five essential tips, your remote team can achieve greater productivity and organization. Establishing clear communication channels, defining goals and responsibilities, organizing digital files, and managing time effectively are key to an efficient remote team.

If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to make sure you don’t miss the next post!

In Search of the Perfect Career

Do you ever wonder if you’re working in the career that you were meant for? When I came across a series of career and job-related quizzes, I couldn’t help but try them out. “Was there an alternate career that I was better suited for?” I wondered.

The first quiz I tried was “What Career Are You Meant For?” You can try it yourself if you have a few minutes. After a series of multiple-choice questions, the quiz decided I was best suited for a writing career. It’s accurate enough. I’m a technical writer.

Another quiz I decided to try was “Answer These Yes Or No Questions And We’ll Guess What Your Job Is.” After a few minutes and several multiple-choice questions, the quiz did NOT guess my occupation. I don’t even work in the fitness industry!

Would you try these career quizzes? If you do, let me know how accurate they are!

Managing Your Workload: 5 Tips to Handle an Overwhelming Schedule

We love it when life has great timing and hate it when too many deadlines occur on the same day. “When it rains, it pours,” is the saying. I recently found myself with two major projects due on the same day and only two days to get the job done. How would you have handled this situation? 

I asked ChatGPT what it recommended because my client always asks me if ChatGPT can help lighten my work. It came up with ten tips to handle an overwhelming schedule, and because I found a list of ten tips overwhelming, I reduced those tips to a more manageable five. Here are my tips for getting an overwhelming work schedule under control and my insights on how well these tips work.

Tip 1: Prioritize Tasks

Start by organizing all your tasks in a list and deciding which ones must be done and which are less urgent. If the tasks are major tasks, break those down into subtasks and prioritize those as well.

Pros: This tip helps to make the job less overwhelming when you focus on finishing just one item at a time. It’s also satisfying to see each item checked off your list as you complete them. Your progress is tangible.

Cons: Life isn’t ideal. I finish a task, give it to the supervisor for review, and see a pile of edits on it, not a stamp of approval. So I pop the task back in the to do list so I can work on it again later. 

Tip 2: Create a Schedule

Establish a schedule for getting the work done. Working in 15 or 30-minute blocks for example allows you to focus your attention in short spurts. Set a goal to accomplish within that block of time. When the block is finished, take a quick break to rest your eyes or stretch. If you’ve been working for a few short blocks, take a longer break to go for a walk or have a snack.

Pros: Working in short spurts keeps you focused and working to short-term goals. It’s easier to work for a short block of time, instead of working for several hours until the task gets done, or thinking you’ll be free from work in eight hours.

Cons: The perfect schedule doesn’t exist. You might be interrupted by a coworker with an urgent question that you must deal with immediately. 

Tip 3: Set Boundaries

Even if you plan out your schedule and set goals to manage an overwhelming schedule, you can’t anticipate everything that could go wrong. Your boss might ask you to change what you’ve done. After several fixes with no end in sight, it’s time to protect your mental well-being. Let your boss or team know what you’re facing. Tell them you need support, and what that support may be, such as taking a break until the next day, or asking if someone else can help with the task.

Pros: Your mental health will improve when you set boundaries and let your boss or coworkers know that you’ve hit your limit and need a break. Without that break, you’ll become less productive.

Cons: You may feel guilty over delegating your work to a coworker because it was your task to complete. 

Tip 4 Take Regular Breaks

Taking scheduled breaks is essential if you want to stay productive. Even if you think you can stay focused for three hours straight to get a time-sensitive project out the door as soon as possible, it’s not the best idea. Your eyes need a break from staring at the screen. Your body needs rest – sitting or standing at a computer desk is unnatural. Remember to take mental break to take your thoughts off work and give your body a rest.

Pros: Better for your health. Better for your eyeballs and good for the brain and other body parts. The mind needs a chance to clear your thoughts.

Cons: You may feel you’re losing time by resting, but the breaks are worth it.

Tip 5 Utilize Technology

Technology is a great tool to help you get the job done. Always look for new developments that will help enhance your productivity. For example, grammar and spell-checking apps keep an extra pair of eyes (so to speak) on the quality of your work. Spreadsheets and various apps keep your tasks organized.

Pros: Helps you to do your work more efficiently and accurately.

Cons: Technology isn’t perfect, so you can’t rely on them completely. For example, grammar-checking apps sometimes suggest corrections that aren’t always the best choice.

Key Takeaways

An overwhelming work schedule is manageable if you find a system for dealing with what you need to complete. By prioritizing tasks, creating a schedule, setting boundaries, taking breaks, and using technology, you can chip away at those tasks and get the job done. 

If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to make sure you don’t miss the next post!

4 Tips to Finding the Perfect Mentor

When you’re juggling a career, social life, and hobbies, finding time for career-related training is challenging. One way to improve your skills is by taking a course or program. Another is to read many books. However, one of the most effective ways is to learn from a mentor with the skills and experience you’re looking for. Finding the perfect mentor is not easy, but there are some tips you can follow to find the right one for you.

Tip 1: Choose a mentoring style you’re excited about

To learn from someone with a social media presence, start with an online search. Follow this person on their social media platforms, watch their videos, or subscribe to their newsletters. If they have free seminars or workshops, sign up for them. Your purpose is to learn more about their teaching style, as well as what they teach. You want to choose a mentor whose style resonates well with you.

To learn from a mentor you’ve met in person, build a connection. Most likely this person doesn’t have an online presence because they don’t offer mentoring professionally. They don’t have courses or videos available for you to learn from. This person may be a coworker or someone in your professional network. You’ve heard their advice during a networking event or an informal discussion and their advice resonates with you.

Whether your mentor is a well-known celebrity or someone you know personally, ask yourself if your mentor challenges you. Someone with similar life experience or skills may not be able to mentor you as well as someone with a higher level of skill or more years of experience.

Tip 2: Take action and start learning

When you’ve found someone you like as a mentor, ask yourself if your mentor can motivate you to get results.

Your mentor should inspire you to take action when you watch their YouTube video or teach you about a new concept. Their message should excite you so much that you want to learn and change. They should also be approachable. For example, you should feel comfortable having dinner with them without feeling nervous.

Their mentorship should have you thirsting for more knowledge about the same topic or madly scribbling notes. You should be excited about applying what they are trying to teach you as soon as possible.

To get the best results from working with a mentor, have some goals in mind. The worst scenario is to be too general about what you want your mentor to teach you. If your mentor posts a lot of learning material online, focus on one topic at a time, not getting your hands on everything they have ever published. If your mentor wants to help you improve your skills, don’t set a general goal, such as, “I want to get better at my career.” Set specific goals and share these with your mentor.

Tip 3: Choose a mentor who chooses you

Getting feedback from your mentor is important. Don’t just take classes with your mentor. Sign up for coaching sessions or group sessions to practice what you’ve learned. Take your mentor out for coffee and ask for an evaluation. Get feedback on your progress as often as you can. 

If you can schedule an hour with your mentor, plan goals in advance. Prepare questions to ask your mentor, or list what you’d like to improve on before your meeting. Set clear expectations and outcomes to show your mentor that you respect their time.

Work with a mentor who is invested in your future. After receiving feedback, take some time to reflect on what you’ve learned. Was the feedback valuable? Can you use the feedback to make improvements? Did your mentor seem genuinely invested in providing you with meaningful goals and useful feedback? 

A mentor who is a good match will encourage you, tell you what progress you’ve made, be honest in their critique, and help you set goals for next steps.

Tip 4: Focus on making progress

Finding the right mentor is like an investment. You want someone who is approachable, excited about what you want to learn, and honest when mentoring you. It will feel uncomfortable and even painful to be told that you aren’t doing something well. However, if you only spend time doing things that you already excel at, you will not grow as a person.

Embrace change and getting uncomfortable. You chose this mentor because they are great at something that you aren’t. Follow their lead and get comfortable facing your fears. Each time you challenge yourself to try a small goal, you make progress. When you look back, you’ll be surprised at how far you’ve come.

In life, the best direction to keep moving in is forward. After you reach one milestone in the road, aim for a new one. Always keep challenging yourself and you will grow as a person.

Key Takeaways

Finding the perfect mentor is a search for a two-way relationship. Your mentor should be someone you are inspired to learn from, but also someone who is excited about seeing your career advance to the next level.

If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to make sure you don’t miss the next post!