Sometimes I Miss the Nine-to-Five (And What To Do About It)
There are many things I love about being a #solopreneur. I like answering to myself. I like giving my ideas legs. I like meeting people, creating things, making my own schedule, and simply trying such a venture. But there are things I miss about the nine-to-five. I loved working full time (not only because of the salary and […]
Vacation-Productivity At Home
I spent the weekend at the beach. We soaked up sun, introduced each other to various sites from childhood, and generally took it easy. On weekends I wake up 2-3 hours earlier than my roommates, and this held true at the beach. I had the condo to myself every morning, and I got so much done! […]
Start a Business for the Win, Part 1: Yes, YOU Can
Originally published by DC EcoWomen on April 15th, 2015. If you’re thinking about starting a business, congratulations! Anyone can start a business. All you need is your idea, your goals, and a business model (and probably a website). Here are some things to consider as you plan your business: Find your niche – No market is […]
Constructive Criticism Isn’t Everything
Why is criticism, even constructive criticism, hard to hear? An Iranian friend said, “the first thing I learned when I moved to the United States is that you never admit that you’re wrong.” Whoa. It made me think about our tendency to defend ourselves when we receive criticism. For many of us it takes intention, […]
The Best Advice Ever (How Life Is Like Math)
The best advice I received in high school came from Ms. Jones, my math teacher. “Trust yourselves,” she would say. “Why trust someone else’s answers over your own?” She was encouraging us not to cheat on quizzes, but the advice applies to all situations. I was not confident in math. I peeked at others’ answers not to copy […]
Plan Your Day and Avoid Paralysis
In times of rest, my mind is often busy planning my next several moves. Sometimes this is useful – on the bus I jot down blog post ideas, or I break down tasks for a big project. Other times a busy mind is the worst – waking up before my alarm and lying there while […]
Three, Two, One, Ignition: Launch!
How do you know when you’re ready to launch? It could be anything: a side project, a business, a book, a career, yourself after college, a family, etc. Time: There’s no such thing as perfect timing. As this article on happiness puts it: “There may be better and worse times to do something, but there’s no perfect […]
Know Your Limits
This post is (mostly) for introverts. Everyone has limits. Your mind and body can only handle so much before you become useless to the world. Across the introvert-extrovert scale, people’s limits vary. Introverts “may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas.” (Susan […]
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel: Create Templates
At a lot of jobs and in life, there are tasks you will have to do over and over – emails to send, meetings to run, presentations to write, events to plan. Often these tasks will be months apart from each other. As you design the meeting or event in the present, it’s obvious how to do […]
Are Your Dreams Actually Goals?
I recently said the following: “I’m leaving my position at this company to pursue my dream of starting a business.” Then I read Bullish: Some Dreams Are Stupid and realized that starting a business isn’t a dream. It’s a goal. People say dream when they mean goal. Maybe it’s because dreams are unintentional – you can’t […]
