How Happy Work Rewires Your Brain

“I’m always anxious.” Helen said. “I never know when my boss will pick on me. She’s just so unpredictable. It’s affecting everything.”Helen works at a college in the New Haven, CT area. One of the reasons that she headed toward the non-profit arena was that the stress associated with the private sector was too much. […]

If going to Starbucks is the best part of your work day, you have to find a  new career.

“Do you think I should give up Starbucks?” Allison, a thirty something account executive in a Fairfield based marketing firm, asked in relation to financial planning related to her career aspirations.  ”I’ve read that by spending an extra $5 per day I’m giving up thousands of dollars over time.” “That’s true.” I responded.“But going to Starbucks […]

Joy as a career motivator

With hope, holiday cheer is reaching you and that many of you are enjoying family and friends during Christmas to New Year’s break. While I’m sure obligation is one of the motivators for doing whatever you need to do during holiday season, my hope is that much of what you do is motivated by joy. […]

Resume Help For Career Changers…Something More Is Needed

Theresa, a fortysomething administrative assistant from New Haven with only similar secretarial experience, called for help with her resume. She wanted to change careers and hoped that she could move into “some type of management role.” She had been rejected without so much as an interview from a dozen or so management jobs. She thought […]

Career Change 2016

“I guess I was just hopeful that I would figure it out.” Pete said.  Pete was a mid-thirties manager at an industrial company in New Haven county. His path from Southern Connecticut to his first job was not that different than most. He was a business major. He started searching for work during his second […]

Optimistic real world advice versus optimistic delusion thinking

” I have been working in human resources for 30 years.  I’m sick of it and want to try something new.” So began an e-mail exchange with Judy, a 55 year old HR executive in Hartford. I have absolutely no interest in filling my calendar with people that I cannot help so I often ask […]

Enjoyable work leading to success at work

Those fortunate enough to enjoy healthy food have the great luck that what they enjoy an activity that is also good for them. How I wish that homemade bread was good for me! Those who are in careers in which they are doing activities that they like have similar great fortune. While lawyers are not […]

Career Happiness and Mental Health

70% of the suicides in this country are committed by middle aged men. I was stunned by that percentage. I then recalled that the first suicide that touched me was of a soccer teammate’s father.  By all accounts, he was a great guy with a happy family. But this was the 1980s when not having […]

The New World of Careers In Organization

I was watching a video from Big Think on the changing nature of employment. As I discussed in Career Path of Abundance, the new world of work will present employment situations more like those in the entertainment field. We sometimes forget that all those movie and TV actors are in project based work without work that […]