Once it was easy to know what to wear to the office. For male managers, it was always a dark suit and white shirt with a tie. With the arrival of Dress-Down Friday, all the old rules went away. Some companies introduced the system in which once a week (on Friday) the employees were allowed to wear casual clothes of their choice. In recent years, casual dress days at the office have become widespread in the USA, and employees are starting to push the policy to extreme limits. Casual Fridays have become so casual that some people are coming to work in outfits that resemble pyjamas.
In a recent poll, 82% of Americans thought that it is OK for businesses to have a dress-down day, while 12% thought it is not. Those who opposed the dress-down policy pointed out that casual dress style might encourage casual or sloppy work. Others commented that the relaxed atmosphere and comfort of casual clothes leads to increased productivity.
So what's appropriate for the office? Experts differ in opinions, but there are a few points they agree on. Ripped and worn looking jeans, shorts and Hawaiian print shirts are all unacceptable. Faded denim is also associated with sloppiness. Keep your look smart. For example, pair up dark jeans with a button-down blazer.
There are also two important factors when discussing dress codes in the workplace. First of all, it must be clear. Employees need to know what is expected of them; otherwise, a dress code that is meant to create a relaxed atmosphere might actually increase stress. Second, employees must always consider their clients. For example, I spoke once with a lawyer in a firm with a casual dress policy who keeps a jacket and a tie in his office, and puts it on when expecting a client who might be offended by a more casual approach.
And one final thing - no matter what clothes people wear, they must always be clean and neat. Coffee stains are unacceptable on the front of one's casual as well as one's formal shirt.
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Suits or smart casual? The modern office dilemma
Short- and long-term goals
We all want to achieve some success in our life, don't we? We have plenty of plans, dreams and goals. And, perhaps, the last thing is the most important, as we all know that it's very difficult for a person who has no goals to achieve some success.
So, let's talk about this. The first thing I should speak about is that we need to have short- and long-term goals. Because when we achieve our small goals, we'll be able to achieve bigger goals in future.
But, how to do this?
Long-term goals
To achieve them, you need to have plans how to do it. But, before making plans, answer the following questions, which will help you a lot in future.
1. How difficult will it be to achieve them?
2. What do I need to achieve them?
3. What plans should I have?
4. What actions should I take?
5. What should I learn?
6. Whose help will I need?
7. What emotions should I have, and what should I avoid?
8. What are the motives of my actions?
9. What will be my motivation if I have problems in future?
10. What can help me to cope with problems in future?
Sort-term goals
Make a list of things you should do. And divide it into 3 parts:
1. Goals
2. Tasks
3. Actions
And, maybe, the most important thing here is the necessity of putting down all your goals on paper.
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Effective Time Management
Many people, are overwhelmed with their job and personal affairs, and they do not see a way out of this situation, believing that nothing can be changed. However, psychologists say that the main problem is the lack of time - you just need to want to change yourself.
And the best way to make these necessary changes is to learn how to manage your time effectively. Time management is the ability to determine what are primary tasks, and what are secondary, i.e. what tasks you should do first of all, and what can wait a bit.
But, there are a few things you should do before using time management in your life. Without them all your efforts will be useless. First of all, you should get rid of laziness and fear of making decisions, and you have to trust people.
And if you do this, then you can start managing your own time. And here you have 8 ways how do to it more effectively.
1. Make lists
Plan your actions and put them down on a paper (you can also use your computer, but I think, a notepad is the best solution).
2. Encourage yourself
When having done a task, reward yourself for your work. It may be even a day off or a simple walk.
3. Concentrate on a one action at a time
Your brain works more effectively if you are busy only with one action at a time. And vice versa, the more things you do, the less effective will be the result.
4. Try not to postpone your tasks
Simply, a delay is the main "enemy" of our productivity.
5. Make a deadline for your tasks
If you make deadlines for all of your tasks, you will definitely save plenty of time.
6. Don't bite off more than you can chew
Very often people do too many tasks, they try to manage to do everything but the result is always negative. If you do too many tasks at once, you will just get tired.
7. Start your diary
Start your own diary where you can put down all your thoughts. There you can make plans and visualize them. Besides, there you can put down your tasks as well as the result of your work. Briefly speaking, with the help of your diary you can analyze yourself.
8. Try not to get tired
If you get tired of your job, of your tasks, you won't be able to achieve a positive result, besides, you'll just waste your time.
Believe me, if you learn how to manage your time, you will have more chances to achieve your goals.
And, what are your ways of effective time management?
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Best Kiss 2010 (Photo)
Next week we will celebrate St. Valentine's Day. So, let's feel more romantic and just... KISS!
What a feeling!
Love, what a wonderful feeling! Love inspires, gives wings, we want to fly, when we are in love. Unfortunately, very often a person loves someone who doesn't respond to this feeling. And often it is a reason for depression, loss of the motivation.
It happens, but is it really worth? And we won't hesitate to say YES! This feeling for all centuries has been the most valuable thing that can happen. For the sake of love people lived, fought and won. For the sake of it they even lost. It happens that we need to give up, to try to find another love, and to forget about this one. The reason, often, is that we fall in love with a person who loves someone else.
We must always remember that we shouldn't interfere with these relationships. Because, we cannot be happy when making bad things to others. When achieving our goals we should look at the feelings of other people as well as at our own.
We need to try to make our world better, cleaner. And that is the main task of love. So watch your love. Because loving someone means to make him/her happy, and sometimes it means to live without him/her. You must try to be above this cruel world. You must be worth of love. And then, I'm sure you'll find it, you won't notice, as you will become happy. Make good and you'll receive good either. Therefore, always be honest and then you'll be loved.
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Healthy Running
You've been thinking about running for a long time? But, you can't start? You are constantly looking for a new reason to avoid it? Believe me, you should start it right now. And here you have a few reasons to do it:
1. It's very simple
Running is fun. And, do we have so many things that bring us fun? You feel like you are doing something important.
Running shouldn't be taken too seriously. The only thing you must think over, is when choosing shoes for running, all the rest can be acquired, including your physical condition, which you will definitely improve after a few runs (but not after a one).
2. Running helps to burn calories
Perhaps, you think that you can burn a lot of calories doing some other things, but according to the scientific research we burn 705-865 calories after one hour of running. But, when skiing we burn 595-678 calories, and when cycling - 498-604 calories.
Do you need any other proofs?
3. Running relieves stress
All people have different problems that's why stress is very "popular" among us. But, running easily relieves it. Scientists have already proved that a daily running helps to cope not only with a simple stress, but also with a hard depression.
4. It helps to stay healthy
Most of experts think that running helps to avoid such oncological diseases as breast cancer and uterine cancer.
Besides, regular running helps to avoid heart diseases and even flu.
5. It prolongs life
And the most important reason is that running prolongs life as it trains our cardiovascular system, i.e. our heart.
So, if you want to improve your health and live longer, you should start running today.
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Translator - connecting nations
Today I would like to speak about my own profession - about a translator. It will be useful for many of my colleagues who are just starting their career.
Who is really a translator? This is a person who knows perfectly at least one foreign language, who helps other people to understand this language by giving a written translation of different documents or by translating one's speech (if you are an interpreter). It's a person who must know also some customs, culture, traditions of the country where people speak this language. Simply - it's someone who connects nations. Without him no international affairs would be possible.
But, having all these qualities doesn't mean that you will become a good professional. Besides, you must have at least some simple marketing skills, in order to find your potential customer and to show yourself as a real professional.
What to do if you are just beginning? Simply try to be a freelancer (see more about freelancing). I also started like this. At first try to register at such a big translator portals as ProZ.com and TranslatorsCafe.com. Many potential clients can find you there. You can stop at this point, as lots of freelance translators earn enough to make it a full-time job.
And if want to go on developing your career, you can join some freelance groups, or even establish your own small translation agency (as I did it; you can find it here). But, I must tell you that it's much harder to do this than to be a freelancer. The decision is yours.
So, let me summarize, what are the main steps, when starting your translator's career:
1. Build your resume/CV.
2. Register at translation portals.
3. Start sending your resume to different agencies.
4. Give your bid to translation jobs, posted on these websites (there are plenty of them there).
Use these tips and you will start to build your career as a translator right now.
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