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Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Tips For Timing Your Request For A Raise

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Many people are in a position where they feel that it would sure be nice if they could get a raise at their job with the way that the economy is right now - but at the same time, many of these same people are in a position where they are nervous about asking for a raise, lest this request cause their superiors at their job to look at them in a negative light. Of course, in all actuality, management expects their employees to seek raises - and when the employee in question has been doing a great job at work, this is not at all an offensive request - but even once you realize that this is the truth of the matter, it will still be important that you understand how to time your request for a raise correctly, in order to maximize the end results.

Waiting for your annual performance review is the best way to ask for a raise; you can go into the performance review, if you have been doing an excellent job at work, knowing that it is likely you will be commended for the hard work you have done; when the performance review begins to wrap up, be prepared to present your case for a raise - not only letting your boss know that you would like a raise, but also letting them know how much you feel you deserve.

On the other hand, if there is not a performance review upcoming for you, or if you work at a company that does not conduct regular performance reviews, figuring out the right time to ask for a raise can be a bit more difficult. The main thing for you to make sure you realize is that you should request a raise when you are in the setting of a formal meeting; with no performance review looming on the horizon, you should request a meeting with your boss, and in this meeting you can present a clear case as to why you deserve the raise you are requesting.

And one mistake a lot of people tend to make is that they are afraid to ask for a raise - but once you get past the fear of asking for a raise, you will also need to keep yourself poignantly aware of the fact that there is a right time and a wrong time to ask for a raise, and if you realize you are approaching this at a "wrong time," you should be ready to bail and wait for another opportunity!

Monday, December 15, 2014

Overlooking Bad Days At Work

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When the job you work at is relatively stressful at times, one thing that can be especially frustrating is those times when you experience a bad day at work, as this can not only ruin the rest of your day at work, but it can also end up carrying over into the rest of your day - even after work ends. While there are plenty of people who have a tendency to allow a bad day at work to pull down the remainder of their day, there are others who have learned how to separate the frustration of a bad day at work from the tranquility they hope to experience throughout the rest of their day - and if you are trying to figure out how to overcome a bad day at work yourself, the great news is that it is really quite easy to do!

In order to overcome a bad day at work, the first thing you will want to do is put work completely out of mind during your drive (or commute) home; this can be more difficult than it sounds, of course, but when you make a concerted effort to do so - perhaps distracting yourself with music or the radio - you will soon find you are able to do this.

An evening at home after a long day of work will often consist of nothing more than some dinner and some television, but when you have experienced a bad day at work, you will want to make sure you are maximizing your evening; do something fun or memorable during the evening, and you will feel a lot better when it is time to wake up the next morning and head into work again.

And as far as "waking up the next morning and heading into work again" goes, you will want to do your best to "press the reset button" and start over as you enter into your new day. Put the difficulties of the previous day out of mind, and approach this new day of work as if it is going to be great - and as you approach the day in this manner, positive results are sure to follow!

Sunday, December 14, 2014

The Art Of Short Story Writing

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A lot of people find that they want to write a short story, even though they are not a "writer" or an "aspiring novelist." Many people find short stories to be therapeutic, fun, relaxing, enjoyable. Short story writing can be a productive use of your time, and it can be a very fun hobby. At the same time, however, it is not much fun to write short stories if no one will read them!

In modern American literature, few writers were as highly regarded as Kurt Vonnegut. From the late 1940s until his death in the late 2000s, Vonnegut wrote critically acclaimed and highly-regarded short stories, novels, and essays. At one point during Vonnegut's writing journey, he compiled his list of "rules" for short story writing. The next few paragraphs summarize these ideas.

Vonnegut began his rules focused on what you should do for the reader - firstly, that you should make sure the reader won't leave your story feeling like they wasted their time, and secondly that you should give the reader at least one character they can root for. Continuing with characters, Vonnegut says that every character should want something, even if it is only something small, and every sentence should either reveal something about a character or advance action. Vonnegut next encouraged writers to make awful things happen to their characters, no matter how sweet and kind these characters are. This allows the reader to see what the character is made of. He advises writers to start as close to the end as they possibly can, and to write to just please one person. To understand this last one, realize this: If you write to please one person, and that one person loves your story, then all others who have similar tastes to your "one person" will love it also.

Vonnegut's final piece of advice was to give the reader as much information as possible as quickly as possible. "To heck with suspense," was his thought on this final rule. He claimed that the reader should always have a complete understanding of what is going on.

Of course, Vonnegut admitted that you can break all of these rules and still create a terrific short story. But you could sure do a lot worse than Kurt Vonnegut if you are going to find a writer to take advice from for writing short stories.