We all want meaningful work, right? But does it even exist? This is Part 1 of a 3 part series that will explore that very question — and you know me, I won’t leave you hanging on where to find it! Part 1: Money and Meaning What does meaningful work look like to you? What is your expectation? How do you know if you have it or not? Have you ever had a job that felt like meaningful work? These are similar questions I ask new clients when they tell me that they ‘just’ want to find meaningful work.

You’re supposed to care about your work, right? You spend roughly a third of your time on the job — or in some cases, much more. Not caring about your work means a lot of time spent doing something that’s meaningless to you, which could lead to a whole lot of misery. When you care about your job, you’re probably happier and more productive. This productivity is hopefully beneficial to you and definitely benefits your employer. According to Shawn Achor, author of the The Happiness Advantage, “The greatest competitive advantage you could have is a positive and engaged workforce.” Numerous

If you’re like me, you often schedule your life as if you have an energy source that won’t ever quit. Considering that none of us are superhuman, this is a strategy that’s destined to catch up to us sooner or later.  Yes, we may occasionally indulge in a quick respite, such as a pedicure or massage but, it’s likely not nearly enough to compensate for the daily abuse. If this sounds all too familiar and you feel like taffy that’s been pulled and stretched thin, I’d like to suggest a radically different approach: Instead of maxing ourselves out, let’s discuss

Every person has a personal brand, including you — regardless of whether or not you are consciously projecting that brand. Simply put, your brand is how you are perceived by others; it’s your reputation, which includes your values, traits and capabilities. People are constantly forming impressions of you, even if they aren’t aware of it themselves. Like it or not, according to this study, you are being evaluated for trustworthiness, status and even attractiveness based on your very first impression, which happens in less than a second. Sometimes this first impression is made in person and other times it happens

If you want to be successful in your field and think for a moment that you don’t need to network, think again. If you just groaned or rolled your eyes thinking that you’d rather stab a fork in your forehead, don’t do it, it’ll hurt more. Besides, I have some great tips to put you non-networkers on the road to becoming networking masters. If you’re in full scale job search mode, I have additional tips specifically for you in a separate blog post called Networking: How to be Effective and Not Feel Like a Nuisance! What Networking Is and What