Fall back in love with your work week

Fall back in love with your work weekFall back in love with your work weekIts no secret that themid-career slumpcan hit hard. But the day to day grind of the work week can lead to major success, depending on how you choose to spend your time. Instead of letting the days crawl to a close, make a plan to win the work week with these actionable strategiesInvite a Colleague Out to LunchThe power lunch is back and its here to stay. Using your work day tonetworkis one of the best ways to advance your career. Plus, your body will thank you for being active rather than sitting at your desk.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreNot taking regular breaks is one of the fastest ways to burn yourself out. Reach out to a new colleague or someone youve been meaning to connect with and have them join your for lunch.Plan a Group Outing or Host a Dinner at Your PlaceBring a select group together for a themedevent. Go to a haunted house,apple picking, or do movies like a pro. Hosting an intimate dinner at your place is a great way to connectold and new friends. Pro tip be thorough in your planning and keep your guest list small.Guest Post on a Website, or Start Your Own BlogWriting is a great way to build your professional portfolio. Employers today want candidates who have built up an online portfolio. Are you super passionate and unnaturally informed about a certain issue? Pitch your idea and get published or launch your own blog.Launch a New CareerUse your lunch break or your off-duty hours during the week to make your escape plan. You might not even need to leave your current company. If you want to tweak certain aspects about your job or convince your boss to let you work on a new team, put a proposal together to present to decision makers.Work on Your Bucket ListAlways wanted torun a marathonor learn a new language? Well are you waiting for? Sign up for that marathon and abf lug training. Or research the resources youll need to start learning that new language. Perhaps youve never taken the time to create abucket list, so now would be the moment to create one.Organize Your SpaceClearing off your desk and organizing yourworkspacecan be cathartic. Onlookers often associate the condition of your desk with the condition of your work, mind, and home. Dont let your reputation suffer over something as simple as a messy desk. Take the organizing bug to your apartment and go clutter free there too.Revamp Your Online PresenceWhens the last time you managed your online reputation? A simple Google search is the best place to start. Comb through and look for incorrect or out of date information. Make inappropriate social profiles private.Create a one-page website that professionally highlights your work using a simple platform likewix.com.Every piece of your digital life makes up your professional brand. Make sure they are all consistent.This article first appeared on Capitol Standard.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

How to be remarkable

How to be remarkableHow to be remarkableJohn F. Kennedys assassination on November 22, 1963 made headlines across the globe. Who was Lee Harvey Oswald? Why didnt Jackie Kennedy take off her blood-stained pink suit for the rest of the day? What role did communists play in the plot? What would Lyndon B. Johnson do as President?For most journalists, these were the obvious questions to pursue.But one journalist had zero interest in the obvious. Jimmy Breslin was a college dropout turned newspaper columnist. He had a knack for schmierblutung perspectives that other journalists missed. Newspapers are so boring, Breslin once lamented. Media, he added, is the plural of mediocrity, in case his point wasnt clear.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreWhen it came to writing a column about JFKs assassination, Breslin decided to eschew mediocrity and tell the story from the perspective of an unlik ely person.That persons name was Clifton Pollard. The day after JFK was killed, Pollard woke up at 9 am and was eating his Sunday breakfast when he received a phone call. It was his teamberaterin from work- a call that Pollard had been expecting. Polly, his supervisor said, could you please be here by eleven oclock this morning? I guess you know what its for.Pollard quickly finished his bacon and eggs. As Breslin describes it, Pollard then left his apartement so he could spend Sunday at Arlington Cemetery digging a grave for John Fitzgerald Kennedy.Yes, Pollard was a gravedigger. AndBreslins masterful columntold the story of JFKs assassination from the perspective of the man who spent his Sunday preparing JFKs final resting place.He was a good man, Pollard said, referring to JFK. Now theyre going to come and put him right here in this grave Im making up. You know, its an honor just for me to do this, he added. Pollard didnt get to attend JFKs funeral. When the procession began, he w as already hard at work in another part of the cemetery, digging graves for $3.01 per hour and preparing them for their future occupants (Pollard himself later became one of those occupants and was buried at Arlington Cemetery, just about 100 steps away from the grave he dug for JFK).The column about JFKs gravedigger became a signature one for Breslin, who made a name for himself by covering unusual angles of mainstream news stories. Breslins knack for spotting the non-obvious led him to win the Pulitzer Prize, host Saturday Night Live, and become the celebrity spokesperson forPiels beer.Its exceedingly difficult to notice what everyone else misses. Were wired to follow the crowd. We look to what our peers are doing and follow their lead. Journalists pursue the same stories as other journalists and businesses copy each others marketing strategies. Its like that Chinese proverb One dog barks at something, and a hundred others bark at that sound.Jerry Seinfeld knew the importance of n ot barking at the same frequency as other comedians. When Seinfeld started doing stand-up comedy, he told himself he wouldnt pursue the obvious sources of laughter. He wouldnt joke about sex. And he wouldnt swear. Instead, his stand-up comedy is about the minutiae of life that most of us find boring. I do a lot of material about the chair, Seinfeld says. I find the chair very funny. That excites me. No ones really interested in that?- ?but Im going to get you interested. Its the entire basis of my career.Heres the thing A comedian who jokes about sex isnt remarkable. A columnist who covers the usual angles of a political assassination isnt worth talking about. Everyone is rushing to that same center, grasping for that low-hanging fruit.Remarkable happens when you reach for the fruit that others ignore- the one obscured by all the leaves. A columnist who covers an assassination from the gravediggers perspective or a comedian who can do a 15-minute routine about a chair?Now, thats som ething worth talking about.Inspiration My podcast bewerberinterview withRob Walker, the author ofThe Art of Noticing 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discover Joy in the Everyday.Ozan Varol is a rocket scientist turned law professor and bestselling author.Click hereto download a free copy of his e-book, The Contrarian Handbook 8 Principles for Innovating Your Thinking. Along with your free e-book, youll get the Weekly Contrarian - a newsletter that challenges conventional wisdom and changes the way we look at the world (plus access to exclusive content for subscribers only).This article originally appeared on Ozan Varol.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

5 ways the new health care bill could change things for workers

5 ways the new health care bill could change things for workers5 ways the new health care bill could change things for workersOn Monday, House Republicans revealed the American Health Care Act, their plan to repeal and replace whats known as Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act.The proposed bill is expected to be voted on by two House committees on Wednesday.Already, its controversial. House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz faced criticism on Tuesday after he told CNN that Americans who found health insurance expensive should invest in their own healthcare instead of getting that new iPhone. (In 2015, health care spending was estimated to be $10,000 the latest iPhone costs around $649.)There are a few things we dont know yet. The Congressional Budget Office has not yet given an official estimate on how much the plan will cost and how many people will it cover in comparison to Obamacare, which insured 20 million Americans who didnt have health insurance before.Were in unch arted territory- Congress has never reversed a major social benefits program once it has been implemented.To help you figure it out, here are some big takeaways on how the GOP health care bill could affect workers.High penalties if you dont have health insuranceThe authors of the new bill want to encourage people to maintain their insurance coverage. Generally, thats been done through financial penalties for people who let their coverage drop.In Obamacare, that meant paying a one-time penalty to the Internal Revenue Service if you didnt have health insurance.The AHCA takes a new tack it imposes a 30% surcharge on premiums for people who go without health coverage for over two months. The surcharge lasts for a full year.So, instead of paying the fine to the IRS, essentially Americans will pay it straight to insurance companies.Who the higher premiums will affect most workers who are between jobs, Americans with chronic illnesses and disabilities that directly cause longer job gaps, o r people who switch from full-time to part-time work and cannot afford coverage afterward. Recent research found that up to 85% of cancer patients have to stop working while getting treatment with absences that last up to six months.In short, the new bill has advantages for high-income workers and disadvantages for lower-income ones, as this full explainer from Vox makes clear.Age makes a significant difference in what you will pay for health coverageOlder workers will be charged up to five times more by insurers, according to the new bill. Thats higher than Obamacare, which charged older Americans up to three times as much as young people.The tradeoff older Americans get higher tax credits than younger Americans (which is likely to be small comfort to older workers who cant afford the upfront cost of coverage).Obamacare provided subsidies based on income. The new bill uses age as the differentiator in coverage.The AHCA would give refundable income-capped tax credits based on age, s o that a 61-year-old would get $4,000 to put towards insurance and a 29-year-old would get $2000.Another issue of concern to older workers the new bill would end Medicaid enrollment expansion- which aims to help lower-income individuals and families- in 2020.In fact, by 2024, the Medicaid trust fund is likely to dry up immediately under the new legislation, think tank Brookings said.Adult children get to stay on their parents insuranceThree core aspects of the ACA stick around in the proposed new healthcare legislation. Families can keep their children on their insurance up until the age of 26, which acts as a safety net for you