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How To Cope With The Office Jerk

February 28, 2013 By

As if your job isn’t hard enough already, but you have to deal with cranky co-workers whose paid positions seems to be making your day more miserable. Rude co-workers are bad news for everyone, as a new study published in the Journal of Organizational Behaviour found that people with annoying office peers often bring their frustration home and take it out on their partner and family, who in turn take that grumpy attitude into work and spread it to even more people. It’s practically an epidemic.

So how can you deal with the office douchebag without letting them poison your happy home life? Although it may be tempting to let your emotions run rampant at work to avoid bringing that baggage home with you, it’s actually healthier for you to remain calm and collected. Here are a few tips for dealing with the jerk in the cubicle next day.

1. Confront Them With The Truth

Often times, rudeness is a mask for insecurity, which means those office jerks may not be so tough once someone points out the flaw in their character. In an office setting, they may not even realize that they are not acting professional if the rude remarks are way for them to feel bold. Try speaking to them, in private, about the issue by gently pointing out that their words and actions are earning them an unfavourable reputation. In many scenarios, this simple interaction will be enough to flip on a light switch in their head and remind them that acting like a jerk won’t get them far at work.

2. Recruit The Masses

There is strength in numbers, and if you’re getting unfairly stressed out by the office jerk, chances are so are your coworkers. Recruit your peers to help alienate the rude sheep from the herd. Send him a silent but definite message by ignoring rude emails and avoid including him in new projects since you know he’ll poison the work environment. Sooner or later he’ll have to confront the group about it, and if he does so rudely, you and your coworkers can call him out for it and make him realize his negative tone and attitude are toxic to business relationships.

3. Focus On Your Work

If your bully cannot be eased into a tolerable coworker, you may have to learn to emotionally distance yourself from negative experiences at work. You can train yourself to be more hardened to that rude coworker’s remarks and learn to brush off their attitude without giving them a second thought. To help you not sweat the small stuff, focus on being productive at your job instead. Sometimes jerks feed off of the frustration they cause other people—don’t give your office jerk that satisfaction! Aim to be independent of petty office politics and that annoying coworker may get bored of bothering you.

4. Separate Work From Play

At the end of the day, your home life shouldn’t really be affected by whether or not Rudy McGee was docile or idiotic at the office today. The best way to achieve a marked separate between your workday and evening at home is to create some sort of barrier experience, whether that means going out for a run as soon as you’re done work or sipping on some red wine as soon as you reach your kitchen.

Filed Under: How-To

How To De-Clutter Your Wardrobe

February 27, 2013 By

Spring is on the horizon, bringing with it new fashion trends and an excuse to do some cleaning out of your wardrobe. You probably have at least a few clothing items from last year that you simply don’t wear anymore and there’s simply no need to hang on to them. Liberate yourself and your closet from the confines of clutter by following these easy steps.

Personalize Your Sense Of Order

There’s more than one right way to organize a closet space. Some people like to use shelves, while others prefer to stick with hangers. But think beyond the way you store you clothing, to the way you organize that storage. If you generally choose your clothing items based on colour, sort the items in your closet by hue. Or if you live in a place that requires you to plan your clothing according to the weather, sort your wardrobe by fabric type. If you tend to base your outfit on functionality, rearrange your closet by item type to simplify your life.

Optimize The Space You Have

To achieve order, you don’t need to go out and find a place with a larger bedroom closet. If your closet if over-stuffed with everything from your folded shirts, to hanging jackets, to mismatched socks and random belts nestled between items of clothing, then of course your closet is going to feel small and cluttered. Invest in a hanging bag or shelves to sort your socks, ties, belts and boxers so they aren’t messing up the rest of your closet.

The Right Hanger

If you don’t already own them, it’s time to buy some decent hangers. And buy enough that you don’t need to double up, or even triple-up, on hanger space; each piece of clothing deserves its own place to hang in your closet. Plus a good set of hangers will deter you from tossing your shirts into a crumpled pile on the floor of your closet and encourage you to actually iron your shirts before you hang them. Even if you have good taste in clothing, there’s nothing less attractive than a man in a wrinkled shirt.

Donate The Surplus

If you find that no matter how you rearrange your closet you simply do not have enough space for all of your clothing items, you need to reconsider whether or not every piece of clothing is still relevant. If you haven’t worn something in the last year, get rid of it. If you don’t feel good in a certain outfit, either because it is no longer the proper size or it’s no longer your style, get rid of it. If you have more clothing than you truly need or have space for, get rid of something. There are plenty of places that accept donations for old or gently worn clothing. If something is ripped or unwearable, try to find another use for it such as a grease rag. Your closet will thank you for taking a load off it’s shelves.

Enjoy The Extra Space!

A neat space to store your clothing can drastically reduce the length of your morning routine of getting ready, because all your clothing is organized and relevant. Nothing slows you down like wading through old pants that you don’t even wear anymore to find that nice new pair of chinos that match that belt you can’t find. When you do your spring-cleaning this year, don’t evening consider skipping out your closet.

Filed Under: How-To, Style

Are Early Lunches The Key To Weight Loss?

February 26, 2013 By

The timing of your meals might be just as important as the food you ingest, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Obesity. The Spanish study found that people who ate very late lunches—after 3 pm—were unable to lose as much weight as those who chose to eat earlier.

The late lunchers lost 25% less weight than the study participants who ate lunch sometime before 3 pm. The study followed 420 people as they completed a weight-loss program.

Keep in mind that this was a study of Spanish eating habits, a culture in which a late lunch is generally the biggest meal of the day. In North America, the most calories per meal are usually consumed during dinner sometime after 4:30 pm, so the study cannot conclusively prescribe changes that should be made to American diets. However, there is value in switching our calorie-heavy meals to earlier in the day by eating a large breakfast and a more minimal dinner.

The timing of when you consume food can affect your metabolism and either encourage or detract from your body’s ability to keep off excess weight. According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, most American’s eat about 3.5 meals of 70 calories or more per day. The addition of extra meals often means people are eating ‘second-dinners’ after they should be finished eating for the day. Not to mention any additional snacking that goes on throughout the day.

The problem with our modern schedule of eating large meals and snacks frequently throughout the day is that it can upset your metabolism by looping you into a state of constant craving. Your body can get used to snacking or consuming excess calories and will feel hungry faster if the constant flow of food is suddenly stopped or reduced.

Late night eating is a larger problem in America than late lunchtimes, but some people are able to eat later meals and manage their weight with exercise and reduced calories for dinner.

 

Filed Under: Food

How To Dress For An Interview

February 25, 2013 By

Appearance is an important factor anytime you make a first impression. Especially when your career is riding on that impression to market yourself to a potential employer. Choosing your outfit for a job interview is a delicate process, as you can’t afford to be forgettable, but you don’t want to look outrageously out of place in their office either. Strike the perfect balance between classy and original, and you’ll up your chances or getting a callback. Here are some tips to help you dress to impress for an interview.

1. Keep It Classy, But Not Predictable

There’s nothing wrong with choosing a classic professional look, such as a dark suit, tie, and dress shirt—it’s a classic for a reason.

2. Personalize Based On Culture

It’s also important to take the company’s unique corporate culture into consideration when dressing for an interview. If the position is a high-level management role, you’ll probably want to look sharp regardless of it you’re interviewing at an amusement park or a bank. But if you’re interviewing for role at a start-up tech company, for instance, you can probably dress more casually if you know the culture is very laid back.

3. Clean Up

Make sure that any item of clothing on your body is clean before heading to your interview. There’s nothing worse than a man in a great suit with a mustard stain on his tie. Also tidy up yourself with a shower, neat hairstyle, trimmed fingernails, and hint of cologne. Just don’t douse your entire body in aftershave and various scents, but a light, clean scent is always a good thing. If you have great facial hair, there’s no reason to lose the beard, but keep it short and neat so it doesn’t become distracting from the rest of your appearance.

4. Take Care of the Details

Coordinate your belt with the rest of your outfit. Keep your shoes conservative and forgo any flashy accessories. Avoid wearing bright orange socks that will stick out and ruin your entire outfit (if you actually own socks like these, you may need to rethink your entire wardrobe). Employers want to hire people who are detail-oriented and understand how to coordinate various aspects of any project, including your outfit.

5. Bring a Briefcase

If the job is more casual, or you’re interviewing for an unconventional position where it would never make sense to bring a briefcase, at the very least show up with a notebook, pen, and a copy of your resume. Showing up unprepared for an interview does not bode well for your potential as an employee in any field of work.

Aside from impressing your interviewer with your acute sense of style, dressing well for an interview will also boost your self-confidence and make you feel more capable of scoring that job.

Filed Under: How-To, Style

How To Be A Better Listener

February 22, 2013 By

Sometimes the key to a better relationship is as simple as communicating with your partner. Most of us have no problem expressing our frustrations or venting about our jobs, but often we forget to truly listen when our partner is expressing the same things to us.

If you learn to be a better listener, you’ll seem much more supportive and sincere as a boyfriend, and that’s something your woman will certainly take notice of.

 

1. Be Respect Respectful

You need to acknowledge the value of what she is saying in order to demonstrate that you care about her concerns and opinions. A woman can tell when you aren’t interested in what she is saying, but this will make her appreciate it even more when you take the time to really listen to her.

2. Know When To Keep Quiet

It’s amazing what you can learn when you shut up and let the other person do most of the talking. It’s also amazing how many men try to suggest solutions or corrections for a woman’s problems when she simply wants to vent. Not that wanting to help her is a bad thing, but you need to understand that as soon as you open your mouth and start suggesting things, you’ve stopped listening to her and redirected the conversation to include your own thoughts.

3. Ask Better Questions

One of the easiest ways to demonstrate you’re terrific listening skills is to ask relevant, thoughtful questions about what she is talking about. Again, you’ll want to make sure you aren’t cutting her off mid-sentence or stepping on her toes by taking over the conversation. But asking a few questions shows you are actively listening rather than vacantly nodding your head as she speaks.

4. Don’t Make Assumptions

Any good listener realizes that paying attention to what someone says doesn’t involve jumping to conclusions or zoning out partway through the story because you’re pretty sure how it’s going to end. Plus if you make assumptions about what she is saying, you are more prone to disengage and stop paying close attention, which can turn out horribly if she is presenting a unique point of view but you take on the role of know-it-all and refuse to acknowledge her thoughts and opinions.

5. Don’t Zone Out

This is literally a no-brainer: focus is crucial in practicing good active listening. Whether you’re talking with your girlfriend, your best friend, or you mother, most people can easily recognize when their confidant is distracted by something else. Providing someone with your full attention shows that you consider them to be a priority and value what they have to say.

 

Good listening is a skill that can be easily honed but it does require practice. The next time your woman wants to vent or tell you about her day, remember these tips and apply them to your situation. Communication is integral to healthy relationships and being a good listening can mean the difference between being happily dating or being perpetually single.

Filed Under: How-To, Women
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