Making moves and work-life balance.

Posted by Sydney

I think I suck at the work-life balance thing. I'm trying to get it, but when it comes right down to it, everything that I do outside of work is somehow driven by my desire for this amazing career. I'm a self-diagnosed workaholic, and you know what, I'm okay with that. For now.

Actually, let me clarify. I'm rocking the work-life balance thing, for the most part. I'm making some great friends, exploring this city, making a point to have a life outside of work. It is the (potential) love part of the work-life balance that I can't seem to wrap my head around.

The thing that gets me (sometimes) is when I think about dating. I've been "out of the game" so to speak for awhile now, probably longer than I care to admit. And looking back on the past two years (oops, there it is), I have noticed a trend. I tend to make excuses to not be interested in having a romantic element in my life.
I was in school, finishing my degree, finally listening to my mom when she said "Sydney, you gotta slow it down with the dating stuff, you just get distracted", planning my move to Chicago, trying to save money, getting up early, whatever I could think of to not commit to having a hint of romance in my life. In April, when I decided to move to Chicago to really do this, I put up a wall. There was no point in me getting involved with anyone at the time – I was moving across the country soon, why would I start a relationship that I would inevitably have to end?

I told myself I wasn't getting involved until I had my feet planted firmly on the ground in (insert city here) and could support myself. The last thing I want is to be this struggling intern (at the risk of unemployment in 3 months) that is all kinds of needy. I want to do this on my own. Make a name for myself. Be independent, and not just a state of mind (because I'm already there on that one), but really independent. Then I'll be ready.

You know, I say that, and then I can't help but think it might be cool to have someone involved in this whole process. And then I think about how I've been out of the game for so long that I wouldn't even know it if someone was trying to date me, because at this point in the process, I'm still new to the city so I think everyone is just really friendly. Am I missing out on something because I don't know the signs? Have the rules changed dramatically since my last relationship?

The glorious thing about moving to a new city is that I can be very selective about who I surround myself with. I'm done with the people who are bitter, angry and just plain rude. There's no reason to keep negative energy in my space. I left Florida to rid myself of the nay-sayers and those who thought I was "lucky". For the LAST TIME, this is not luck. Everything you see happening here is part of a delicate plan that, with opportunity and preparedness, is falling into place perfectly.

Which, at the end of the day, is why I'm fine to come home and just sit in my chair for hours, staring out at the lake. I've always said "if it's supposed to happen, it will". I still believe that. But sometimes I get this little bird on my shoulder that tells me to open my eyes and make things happen.

I guess the conclusion is, when it comes to my work-life balance, I'm making so many moves for me and my career, that when it comes to the "life" part, the love part of life, I need someone to make the moves.
(h/t to Ben Smithee for getting me thinking about the balance)

Get Rid of Underarm Stains and Keep Them Away

from Lifehacker by Rosa Golijan

When we showed you how to banish stains with homemade stain removers, many of you begged for methods to rid yourself of those unsightly, yellow, I-don't-know-how-this-happened-I-swear-I-used-antiperspirant underarm stains on your clothes. Turns out that it can be done in stages.
Photo by jekert gwapo
Style site Men's Flair has some pointers to help you raise your arms high—without dreading the looks of horror as you reveal yellow stains—through proper treating, washing, and drying. Men's Flair lists many of the concoctions we've covered before, such as using citrus and baking soda/borax combos (though they did leave out a previously highlighted aspirin technique).
What caught our attention more than any of the treating and washing tips though, is the info on how to properly dry a shirt for best pit-stain removing results:

If at all possible, dry your white shirts in the sun. This can help to "draw out" stains, and make your white shirt look even whiter than it did after you washed it. If you can't dry your shirt outside, try air drying indoors instead.
Avoid drying your shirt in the dryer. Heat can set residual stains and will not help you get the whitest shirt possible.

Head over to the link bellow for the tips and keep in mind that these methods focus on white cotton t-shirts, so be careful with your colorful delicates.
How are you keeping the sweat stains away this summer? Do you keep your arms firmly at your sides or do you have some tricks to keep discolorations away? Tell us in the comments.

Underarm Stains on Shirts No More [Men's Flair]

What Not to Say To Someone Who’s Just Been Laid Off

What Not to Say To Someone Who’s Just Been Laid Off:

“You’re not unemployed, you’re funemployed!”

“I can get you a new job!” [and the job is totally inappropriate]

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”

“Do you know what you did to deserve it?”

“Everything happens for a reason”

Always provide encouragement and support. Losing your job sucks and most people go through the stages of mourning before being able to get on with their life. Just being a friend can be the most important thing.

http://unemploymentality.com/2009/08/what-not-to-say-to-someone-whos-just-been-l...

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How Creatives Can Use Social Media For Personal Branding

How Creatives Can Use Social Media For Personal Branding:

As a creative professional you have every opportunity to leverage social media to your advantage in your career. More than any other profession, creatives are judged on both the appearance of their work and their personal appearance. Creative professionals include people who work in industries like design, advertising, media, art, and more.

Most creative professionals will change employers many times over their careers. Many will also work as freelancers or start their own companies. This constant change has given rise to the need to present a cohesive story about your personal brand.

It's not very hard to establish and maintain a personal brand, and the importance cannot be overstated. It's important that, as you move from project to project and you become more well known, you have an established voice across the Internet. That way when people hear about you, they can readily find out what you want them to know. Here are some simple steps you can take to begin establishing your own personal brand.

Create your own Web site and blog. It doesn't have to look amazing and you don't have post to your blog daily. You should, however, have a Web site that showcases your portfolio or resume, what you can do, and what your interests are. Post to your blog a few times per month discussing some of your recent career challenges and how you met them. Let people who visit your site know you have a personality. It may not seem important, but as you grow in your career and start making a name for yourself, people are going to start looking for you, and you want to make sure they find the info that you supply, instead of what someone else says about you. You should also use this site as a place to connect to all of your other content on the Web, especially your active social media profiles like Brazen Careerist, Twitter, or LinkedIn. For a good example, you can visit my site CoryHuff.com.

Use Twitter. Find 5 - 10 people who are leaders in your industry. Listen to what they are saying, answer questions that they send out, and occasionally send them some interesting content. In other words, be their friend. Be patient, though, because if they really are leaders in your industry, they're probably very busy. Do the same thing with 5 - 10 peers in your industry, and also with people in closely related fields. Building these online networks is a great way to build offline networks. I have received consulting offers, collaboration opportunities, and performance auditions (I'm an actor) all from Twitter. Use management tools like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to create groups of people that you follow on Twitter. If you are job seeking, or thinking that you might be soon, find recruiters in your industry and follow them as well. They often post jobs directly to Twitter and forming relationships with these people is very important.

Use LinkedIn. I use LinkedIn as a way to connect with people that I have worked with or hope to work with in the near future. I don't randomly add people on LinkedIn, because that's not the culture. Creatives were late to the game on LinkedIn, but their numbers are growing, especially in the advertising, design and PR field. Answer questions on LinkedIn Answers.

Use niche sites like Brazen Careerist. Finding niche sites where you can be an early adapter are important. Brazen Careerist focuses on Internet savvy young adults who are ambitious to grow their career. Being well known here can make you appear to be a thought leader in your industry and raise your Internet celebrity - which is important for your personal brand. Make sure you look for an active community, though. Brazen has done a good job of engaging their users. When I started TheAbundantArtist.com, I had just joined Brazen and I noticed that a significant portion of my traffic came from the Brazen community.

Provide Value. It's not the number of friends, it's the quality of connections. I know some people who have used automated systems to attract 20,000 followers, but they don't know any of the people they're connected with, so their connections do them no good.

Building your personal brand will make it easier for you to network, protect your online reputation, and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. If you haven't started on your own personal brand, then start today!

Cory Huff founded TheAbundantArtist.com where he teaches artists how to sell art online, enabling them to cut out middlemen and keep more profits for themselves. He also works as a social media specialist for a NetBiz.com and has a parallel career as a professional actor.

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The Downside Of Transparency

by Carlos Miceli 

Be transparent, they say.
Not so fast.

First of all, business transparency (a must) is not the same as personal transparency.
We want to see what's really going on at the places we are giving money to (or thinking about it). We don't necessarily want to know what everyone is going through, unless they are (true) friends.
Second, and most important, there's a backlash to individual transparency: you can't be transparent about someone else.
You see where I'm going with this, right?
Transparency means talking about you.
Maybe you will say what matters or help people that are going through the same things that you are. Or maybe you'll just be transparently self-centered.
Holly Hoffman is an example of transparency I agree with. Penelope Trunk is not.
You decide how transparent you should be.

But let's skip the "it's all about balance" argument. Extremes are much more common.
Bottom Line: You don't need to open up to be transparent. Just don't lie.

Don't Include a Link To your Online Porfolio

Polls suggest employers might be interested in the sites—83% of respondents to a recent Association of American Colleges and Universities survey said an e-portfolio would be "very" or "fairly" useful in ensuring that job applicants have requisite knowledge and skills. But basic human-resources software don't allow such links in the first round of application submissions, and many hiring managers are simply unwilling to carve out time to dig into the digital showcases, they say.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304851104579360721244708190

Use Google Docs to Create Formatted Resume

Perform a search for “resume” on the Google Docs template gallery page.