10 Quick Tips for Avoiding Distractions at Work

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Wednesday, 15 January 2020 14:37

In a world of push notifications, email, instant messaging, and shrinking office space, we’re becoming increasingly distracted at work. The average employee is getting interrupted 50 to 60 times per day, and about 80% of these interruptions are unimportant. As a result, people are spending little time in what psychologists call…

How to Overcome Your (Checks Email) Distraction Habit

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Wednesday, 15 January 2020 14:33

How often do you have a day that leaves you feeling not only exhausted but also like you didn’t actually accomplish anything? If your answer is “always” or “very often,” you are not alone. In most professional jobs today, multitasking has become a coping strategy. We are constantly shifting our attention…

Working Parents: Does Your Schedule Reflect Your Values?

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Tuesday, 07 January 2020 08:32

A very wise friend once told me, “Talking about parenting is like talking about politics.” She’s right. Because of the highly personal nature of parenting, individuals tend to have strong opinions of the way things “should” be as a working parent. Being pulled in different directions — the expectations from…

How to Break Up with Your Bad Habits

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Monday, 06 January 2020 14:40

Breaking habits is hard. We all know this, whether we’ve failed our latest diet (again), or felt the pull to refresh our Instagram feed instead of making progress on a work project that is past due. This is largely because we are constantly barraged by stimuli engineered to make us crave and consume,…

How to Break Up with Your Bad Habits

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Tuesday, 10 December 2019 12:26

Breaking habits is hard. We all know this, whether we’ve failed our latest diet (again), or felt the pull to refresh our Instagram feed instead of making progress on a work project that is past due. This is largely because we are constantly barraged by stimuli engineered to make us crave and consume,…

How Being a Working Parent Changes as Children Grow Up

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Thursday, 14 November 2019 11:03

With a record number of women running for president in the U.S., it’s no surprise that the concerns of working parents are on the 2020 agenda. Elizabeth Warren unveiled a plan for universal childcare, Kamala Harris is a co-sponsor of the Child Care for Working Families Act, and several other candidates have voiced…

How to Demonstrate Your Strategic Thinking Skills

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Monday, 11 November 2019 15:37

We all know that developing strategic thinking skills is important, but many don’t realize how critical it is to your career advancement to show these skills to your boss and other senior leaders. Showing strategic thinking skills tells your bosses that you’re able to think for yourself and make decisions that position the…

To Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking, Stop Thinking About Yourself

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Tuesday, 29 October 2019 11:56

Most of us — even those at the top — struggle with public-speaking anxiety. When I ask my clients what makes them nervous, invariably they respond with the same answers: “I don’t like being watched.” “I don’t like the eyes on me.” “I don’t like being in the spotlight.” And…

When It’s OK to Trust Your Gut on a Big Decision

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Thursday, 24 October 2019 12:39

Some executives pride themselves on having a strong intuition, honed through years of experience, that guides their decisions. Others are ambivalent about relying on their intuition to make important choices, concerned that their gut reaction is inherently biased or emotional. This latter group is no doubt responding to the oft-given…

Should New Grads Take Any Job or Wait for the Right One?

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Monday, 21 October 2019 16:11

Luisa Kloep is a 26 year-old newly minted graduate with a masters degree in fashion and sales management. Like many of her peers, she is bright, talented, and enthusiastic about her new career. She’s also unemployed and feeling dejected about the job search she started five months ago. Luisa, who…

Are You at Risk of a Mid-Career Rut?

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Wednesday, 16 October 2019 12:56

It might sound odd, but people need the most help not at the beginning of their careers, but in mid-career — especially when it comes to making decisions. That’s a key finding from a research study coordinated by one of us (Julia). The study asked 500 college-educated adults in professional careers (representative…

Why You Should Stop Trying to Be Happy at Work

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Tuesday, 08 October 2019 09:16

So much is written about happiness at work — yet judging from Gallup statistics that show 85% of employees aren’t engaged, few know how to attain it. Given that the average person spends 90,000 hours at work in a lifetime, it’s important to figure out how to feel better about the time you spend earning a…

6 Causes of Burnout, and How to Avoid Them

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Friday, 27 September 2019 11:01

A fog of burnout surrounds you: You’re perpetually exhausted, annoyed, and feeling unaccomplished and unappreciated. Everything in you wants to quit your job. But is that the best choice? Ultimately only you can know what is right in your situation. But there is research that can help you determine whether you can…

When to Take Initiative at Work, and When Not To

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Friday, 27 September 2019 10:51

Proactive workers are in high demand, and it’s easy to understand why. When it comes to creating positive change, these employees don’t need to be told to take initiative. Research confirms that, compared with their more passive counterparts, proactive people are better performers, contributors, and innovators. But proactivity can go wrong. Emerging evidence suggests…

Making Sure Your Stress Isn’t Contagious

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Thursday, 05 September 2019 11:16

Stress doesn’t feel good to have, nor does it feel good to be around. Eighty percent of Americans say they feel stress during their day. In many organizations, stress feels baked into the work culture, even as everyone wonders what to do about it. Like a contagion, stress spreads. We literally catch the…

stress

Why Talented People Fail Under Pressure

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Thursday, 29 August 2019 10:25

When I was in high school, soccer was my life. I was one of the goalkeepers for the California state team, which was also part of the Olympic Development Program, and I knew the weight of my role. My ability to block a goal could make or break the game.…

3 Questions Hiring Managers Want You to Answer

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Thursday, 15 August 2019 16:39

Interviews have an outsize influence on whether you land the job you want. Even though your application materials reflect your lifetime of experience, a few hours of interaction with a recruiting team often ends up being the determining factor in whether you actually get hired. So, clearly you need to…

How to Take Criticism Well

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Monday, 12 August 2019 11:18

Many years ago, I had the opportunity to run an organization. I was excited about the possibilities ahead of us and the goals we could realize. However, instead of receiving unanimous enthusiasm for what I thought was an exciting vision, some team members found fault with my ideas and judged…

Preventing Busyness from Becoming Burnout

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Tuesday, 02 July 2019 14:33

For most of my working life, I’ve felt way too busy. Sometimes heart-stoppingly, wildly so — working long hours, missing out on family time or fun, and stressed beyond belief. And yet, a few years ago, as I was cleaning out my file cabinet before leaving the Washington Post after nearly 20 years,…

The Financial Upside of Being an Optimist

Category Personal Effectiveness
by CoachMatching
Tuesday, 11 June 2019 11:13

Under the weight of chronic stress at work, optimists are winning. It’s hard to escape the fact that chronic stress is one of the greatest threats to well-being in modern times. In a report published by The National Institutes for Occupational Safety and Health, 75% of workers say they are more stressed…

Personal Effectiveness