Class Notes / blog
Milwaukee is a leader in the national brouhaha over paid sick days. In a recent survey, The National Opinion Research Center (NORC) found that 86 percent of US citizens favor legislation that would guarantee up to seven paid sick days a year. Milwaukee voters were ahead of the game, approving a referendum requiring paid sick days at the end of last year, making the Midwestern city third only to San Francisco and Washington, D.C. which already have legislation in place.
Milwaukee’s ordinance is being challenged. Detractors say that businesses may not be able to handle the costs, which could result in an abundance of lay-offs or cuts in benefits and salary.
But paid sick days may be more important to maintaining a productive workforce than one would think. According to the NORC, of those who were not receiving paid sick days, 55 percent said “they had at some point gone to work with a contagious illness like the flu or a viral infection” and 24 percent said “they had sent a sick child to school or day care because they had to go to work.” Is that strategy really less costly?
Are you having trouble staying motivated in your career search?
According to Julie Jansen, author of I don’t Know What I Want, But I Know It’s Not This: A Step-By-Step Guide to Finding Gratifying Work, “Setting very specific activity goals during every phase of your search for satisfying work is a must, even for the introspective and soul-searching phase. Goals represent your purpose and the outcome you wish to achieve.”
She suggests you do the following:
1. Feel passionate about your goals and the career you wish to have.
2. Partner with someone who is going through a similar situation at work to search for a new career.
3. Keep your energy level high to maintain a high level of motivation by staying healthy.
If you are dissatisfied at work, getting reacquainted with what really matters to you, may take some effort.
“Your values, personality traits, attitudes, and abilities are like the ingredients of a recipe,” says Julie Jansen author of I don’t Know What I Want, But I Know It’s Not This: A Step-By-Step Guide to Finding Gratifying Work. “Without knowing what they are, you will find it difficult to use these ingredients to help you create nourishing work.”
She suggests several steps:
1) Find a list of common values on the internet by typing “list of values” into a search engine.
2) Narrow the list to your own top ten by asking yourself which ones “you absolutely cannot live without.”
3) Think about your current worklife and decide if these are being expressed in any way.
More on Friday…
Are you feeling bored or unchallenged at work?
In Julie Jansen’s book, I don’t Know What I Want, But I Know It’s Not This: A Step-By-Step Guide to Finding Gratifying Work, she expresses the importance of taking a step back from the situation and focusing on yourself. “Whether you are wondering Where’s the Meaning? Or are Bored and Plateaued, the first thing you must do is get reacquainted with yourself so that you can focus your goals and energy in the appropriate direction.”
More on Wednesday…
View from Shorewood
Actor, businessman, philanthropist and race car driver Paul Newman caught the joy of reading early in his life. Here is “Newman’s Own” wonderful way to devour a book:
“When I was a kid, I used to go up into the attic with a good book, a glass of iced tea, and a bowl of popcorn.”
Last week I was lucky enough to give a talk with my dear high school friend, Leah Wedmore von Baintner, at the New Britain Public Library, our hometown library in Connecticut, about how much the library meant to us:
Bob Stains, vice president of the Public Conversations Project, was interviewed on Wisconsin Public Radio this week about this group’s work promoting understanding among people who vehemently disagree over political and other issues.
It’s tough work, even when you feel commitment to try. But the rewards are surprising and lasting.
It was so much fun to watch Betty White show off her craft this week on Saturday Night Live. The show has been so lackluster lately, but this 88 1/2-year old comedienne livened it up.
