How can we help our esteemed friends to see themselves in a more positive light? We can point out the contributions they make―often unbeknownst to them―that make a difference to us. “Tom, thank you for providing backup support on my project. As a result, I was able to get away for a much needed break.” “Sharon, I appreciate your effort arranging the event. I know it took time to find the perfect location, order the refreshments, send out notices, and greet attendees. With the details covered, I could focus on my presentation.”

Tom can feel good about his ability and willingness to back up a colleague, knowing that he supported someone’s wellness.Sharon can take pride in her attention to detail, knowing it contributed favorably to the overall event.

Now, how can we see ourselves as worthy, successful winners? We can pay attention when others say thank you and take their appreciation to heart. And, when a thank you is not forthcoming, we can still relish in the many ways―small and large― that we do our part, knowing it makes a difference somewhere, somehow, to someone.

Now, what have you done today that benefits another? Let us know, and we promise to shout, “Hurray for you!”

Take a look at Freshnickle’s blog:

Career path, 12 easy steps.

The right outfit for you

Laura Petruchik worked for my business, Shenouda Associates Inc., as a technical writer before starting her family. We have stayed in touch through the years. I was delighted to learn how Laura benefited from journaling through Career Success in 12 Easy Steps. In response to my email wishing Laura and her family a happy new year, she wrote, “I’ve been wanting to get in touch with you to let you know that your book has made a wonderful difference in my life! Your email prompted me to finally write a review. I won’t give it away. I’ll let you read it (posted on Amazon).”

Here’s Laura’s book review, posted on Amazon.com:

What a gem! Before reading this book, I was truly at a crossroad. Years as a successful professional, followed by many more years as a stay-at-home mom, then some time trying to re-introduce myself to my previous career. Something just wasn’t right. Being a mom had changed me, changed the way I look at the world and my role in it. I wanted something different for myself—a new career—a new definition of Me. The process seemed painfully slow and frustrating. After all, my biological career clock was ticking! Career Success in 12 Easy Steps was the key to my self-discovery. I was curiously journaling my way through the book and came to a halt in the section that asks you to envision yourself in your dream job. Never would I define myself as a fashionista, but the question “What are you wearing?” led me to my Ah-ha moment. I pictured myself in casual sporty clothes, holding a patient chart. Combining this with other pieces of the puzzle I had put together with the help of this book, I am now back in college studying to be a Physical Therapy Assistant. I have found my new passion. Sometimes the key is in the smallest of details. Career Success in 12 Easy Steps is a wonderful way to assess, to evaluate, and to tease out those details. What are YOU wearing in your dream job?

A success story starts with having a dream and taking the next steps. Kudos to Laura for discovering her new passion and returing to college to make her new passion a reality! Now, what are you wearing in your dream job?

Balance life and work with yin and yang

Long-time Shenouda employee, Donna Muldoon, applies the concept of good enough to balance work and life

The biggest lesson I’ve had to learn regarding work and life balance is the concept of good enough. This has been especially difficult for the perfectionist in me but has ultimately been the philosophy that helped guide me, and console me, during my most hectic times.

Reminding myself that not everything has to be perfect and that many things can be done to the good enough state has saved me productive time and energy, and allowed me to feel better about the job I’ve done on some tasks. Of course, this is best applied to mundane, repetitive tasks like household chores or yard work but has also been useful at work on similar types of jobs—ones that come back around for many revisions.

It’s not always easy to remember to stop at good enough. I still feel like I’m cheating—not doing my best—but it has helped to achieve some measure of balance in my life at important times.

All the planning, organizational tools, support structures, and helping hands can’t guarantee work and life balance. The small degree of balance present in my life is largely due to an incredibly patient and considerate employer who allowed me the latitude to keep most of the balls in the air, most of the time.
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A few words from Judy Shenouda, the “incredibly patient and considerate employer”

As a small business owner, I recognize the critical importance of balancing the needs of the business to deliver the products and services that clients purchase with the needs of workers who have all kinds of non-work demands on their time and energy. Over the years, I have learned to address this yin and yang balancing act.

I determine the human resources that are needed to complete all clients’ projects on time. Knowing the starting point of a project (what we are receiving), the completion point (what we are delivering), and the due date, I calculate as best as I can—in spite of many unknowns—the number of people hours of work that are required each week.

It is equally important to establish with workers their availability. How many hours can they realistically work on average per work? Are these hours during our clients’ typical working day? If not, when are they able to address questions from others—clients, colleagues, and me? Gaining clarity on workers’ availability and constraints is key.

Knowing the human resources that are needed to meet clients’ needs, I map out a solution that takes into account the time that workers can commit. Maybe a team approach is needed. Maybe I will be part of the mix, either as a backup resource or the project’s face in team meetings. This takes creative juggling but  has allowed my business to retain both loyal, long-standing clients and loyal, long-standing workers.

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Make a brain dump list

It seems that I, too, have used tools for so long that I’m not always aware that I’m using them. Like many people, I often develop a tool that helps with an immediate situation— sometimes just a temporary aid that is used once and discarded when the work is done. Occasionally, the tool proves to be so useful that I keep it (either electronically, in hard copy, or just in my mental file).

At the risk of sounding developmentally immature (tool-wise), I will admit that my most frequently used—and useful—tool is the List. Big lists, little lists, scraps of paper lists, formal lists. Revised lists, living lists, circulated lists, perfect lists. Sometimes the lists evolve into tables created on the computer and become forms that are kept as records.

However, my favorite list is the Brain Dump (BD) List. This most basic tool has given me the most satisfaction, primarily because it creates such relief mentally. I use the BD List when I realize that I am trying to remember too many things and am seriously close to forgetting everything. To create a BD List is easy—you just do a brain dump. Without any thinking, editing, prioritizing, or order, you just start writing down everything you need to do. You just dump all those thoughts onto the paper and start to feel the relief of having a list in front of you that will help you accomplish all those assorted tasks. Once the list is written down, you can easily see what has to be done and put an order to the items.

Very often, once the BD List is started, I add to it as my brain clears and semi-forgotten items come to light again. The ultimate relief, of course, comes not just from deleting all the various items from continuously cycling through my mind but the satisfaction of being able to cross them off the BD List!

Check out the book clubs at your local library

Creating tools has been a part of my makeup for as long as I can remember. I’m not talking about those made from metal, but I am talking about job aids that guide us through a process. As a student, I converted long passages of text into outlines, charts, and other visual aids that stripped away the excess, leaving the headings, key points, and relationships. That was really all that was necessary to help me recall the whole story. As a teacher, I developed similar tools to help organize content for my students. As owner of a technical communication business, I developed tools for talking with clients to scope out jobs; identifying the qualifications that workers needed in order to complete jobs; working through the process of researching, designing, and delivering manuals; and more. Long ago, I labeled these tools Afformations—forms that say Yes. Yes, I can learn this. Yes, I can do this. Yes, I can succeed! Sure, off-the-shelf tools were available, but they never quite worked for me as well as my homegrown tools.

And today, I find myself applying this aspect of who I am to a volunteer endeavor. For several years, I have been a member of a nonfiction book club that meets monthly at our town library. About 10–15 adults take turns leading the discussion of books that we have selected. Often the discussion revolves around the subject of the book—healthcare systems, economics of the middle class, religions and faith, neighborhoods and community, genomes and stem cells, and more. Recently, a club member asked, “How else can we talk about a book?” When some of us met recently to finalize our book selections for 2012, we started to answer that question. Here’s what we did.

We looked over the various book reviews we collected when selecting the coming year’s books. We flipped through the pages of BookPage® America’s Book Review to learn how others write about books. There was nothing scientific about this approach. We spontaneously came up with items, such as genre, credibility of the author, verifiability of the data, organizational structure, voice, tone, theme, mechanics, and more. And, as the one who likes to create Afformations, it is my task now to create a tool for the club. I will type up all of the ideas from our brainstorming session, group ideas that are similar, title each group, organize the groups into a sequence that makes sense, and voilà, our nonfiction book club will have a form that says, Yes, we can talk about the subject of our nonfiction book—and so much more!

Someone in the group has already indicated that tools exist that provide ways to talk about nonfiction books in general and the books on our list in particular. As time goes on, we will no doubt use these resources and watch our homegrown tool evolve.

Now, tell me, what homegrown or off-the-shelf tools do you use to succeed at discussing nonfiction books or doing anything else? I would love to hear from you.

At various meetings and events, I have given away my book as a door prize. At times, I have given away more copies than I intended, just because I felt like it. And guess what? Recipients purchased copies—for the 20-something child seeking direction, the recently downsized friend, the local library. I have received flowers and dinner, referrals to speak at meetings, and the wonderful company of new friends.

What I learned about doing good should not surprise you! You likely know this already. When you give, somehow it comes back to you, from somewhere. My mother—ever a source of wisdom—told me that years ago, a Mr. P visited regularly to provide spiritual support. They read religious texts and talked about many aspects of their life, including the challenges that Mr. P faced with his children who were struggling. In time, Mr. P and his family moved away. Some time later, when Mom received a letter from Mr. P, she learned that his children were thriving. To this day, she believes that this letter from Mr. P carried a bigger message: I helped you. I received my reward. The score is even. Enough said.

On your big day, Yvonne, smile, laugh, and delight in reading of the many good deeds that those in our midst do, day in and day out.