Marty Nemko's Blog, page 348

Making the Most of a Conference or Convention: The Ultimate Networking Opportunity

In a career counseling session Friday, a client asked me how to make the most of a professional conference. I expand on what I told him in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

A Lesson in Persuasion: The Feedback I Gave on a Job Seeker's Cover Letter

A client asked me to review a request for an informational interview that he was planning to send to nonprofit managers. He said, “Give it to me straight in the eye.” I did so. 

In response, he said that while difficult to take, he found the feedback inordinately useful, not just in improving his letter but as a lesson in writing, persuasion, and thinking. 

So, I've decided to post it as today's PsychologyToday.com article.

"I'm Expecting a Job Offer. How Do I Negotiate?"

One of my clients expects to be offered a position as senior fundraising director at a nonprofit. In a recent session, she asked me a number of questions about negotiation. 

I post the edited transcript as my PsychologyToday.com article today.

Many People DID Die Wishing They Spent More Time at the Office

It's often been claimed that "No one died wishing they spent more time at the office."

That doesn't comport with some of my friends and colleagues. But that's anecdotal so, for my PsychologyToday.com article today, I reviewed all 3,500 entries in the book: Last Words of Notable people.

While many last words are religious about their spouse or ending their pain, enough speak about wishing they could work more to dispute "No one died wishing they spent more time at the office." 

Whether or not we choose to work more, it certainly seems we should be more accepting of diversity of how people choose to live their lives rather than pathologize work-centric people as "workaholic" or "out of balance." Indeed, per my anecdotal experience and the names on the following list, many highly contributory people, already lifelong hard workers, wished they had or could work more.

Of course, people with less potential for accomplishment might well feel that work-life balance and even a bias toward "life" is wiser. 

In any event, the article offers two dozen people's last words that suggest they wish they had "spent more time at the office" or at least that work, not pleasure, relationships or spirituality, was on their mind at that final moment.

A Workover: She Wants a Career Keeping Kids Out of Trouble

On my NPR-San Francisco radio program, I do Workovers. Callers call in with a career problem. I've been posting edited transcripts of Workovers that might interest Psychology Today readers. Here's today's offering:

A Final Talk Between Father and Son

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer a fictional exchange with non-fictional implications between a dying father and his son. 

A Workover: How I Can I Be More Focused at Work?"

On my NPR-San Francisco radio program, I do Workovers: I help callers with their work-related problem.

On PsychologyToday.com, I've been posting edited transcripts of Workovers that might be of interest to Psychology Today readers. Today's offering is about a man who can't stay focused on his work.

So You Want to Get a Book Published: Lessons from the Front

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I share the lessons I've learned from my experiences in getting my nine books published and not published. 

Accepting Our Decline

The term, "the ravages of aging," haunts me. So does, "Aging isn't for the faint of heart."  

And those are mere abstractions. Concrete examples drive deeper into my psyche, for example, yesterday seeing a friend in a hospital bed facing a triple-whammy of life-threatening challenges.

And with me at 65, my body is already issuing occasional reminders of where I am on life's conveyer belt.
Even most religious people have a tough time with aging's ravages, those harbingers of eternal death, but atheists have it harder. We cannot look to a better hereafter.
What's an aging atheist to do? 

My PsychologyToday.com article today offers are my thoughts. None offer unyielding peace but perhaps a balm:

Major Lessons from Daily Life

I'll admit that today wasn't typical but often, daily experiences can be most  instructive if we stop to think about them.

Perhaps telling you about three events that happened to me to today will inspire you to stay alert to such opportunities. Or at minimum, the stories themselves embed lessons we all should remember. I recount them in my PsychologyToday.com article today.