The Mid-Year Career Tune-up

It's June and the year is nearly half over, so where are you at with your career goals and objectives for the year? This is a good time to pause and reflect on your career and evaluate if you're at the place you want to be.

Consider the following three areas and make corrections and adjustments as needed so you can move forward successfully.

Continued Learning. It is incredibly important, both to your job satisfaction and to your future career success, for you to have continued opportunities to learn and develop new skills. Take a look at what you've done so far this year, along with the skills you've developed, and consider if there are some training sessions or a conference you can attend sometime in the next few months. If your employer offers free training or provides reimbursement for classes take advantage of these perks. Sign up today.

Network Building. Throughout the year you want to continue to develop your network in several ways, including through social sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Be sure to keep your LinkedIn profile updated with new skills and responsibilities. In addition, if you're not currently working with a mentor seek one out. You can likely find a good mentor at your workplace or through your network of contacts. A good mentor will also introduce you to others and help expand your network. Finally, find a networking group in your community you can begin attending or register for a conference. Conferences are great places to meet great people doing cool and exciting things in your field and some of these people can become mentors and future collaborators.

Healthy lifestyle. It's difficult to be at your best in your career if you're not getting enough sleep, or if you're eating unhealthy food and drinking too much. Take a look at your habits and determine if you need to build more activity into your schedule. Perhaps you live close enough to bike into work a few days a week. Or join the yoga class at the office. Maybe starting your day with a few minutes of stretching and mindful meditation can get you more focused on developing a more healthy lifestyle that will benefit you and your career.

5 Steps to Stay Healthy at Work

Have you ever been in a company and watched a virus run rampant through a work team, keeping people home in droves? It's not uncommon for viruses and illnesses to spread quickly throughout a work area given the proximity to our co-workers, and the often unhealthy environments where we do business.

In order to stay healthy at work implement the following five practices:

1. Participate in work sponsored activities such as yoga or a chair massage. Many companies provide opportunities for employees to focus on health. Some provide an onsite gym, yoga classes, or other sports activities. Take advantage of these opportunities to maintain your health.

2. Get active at regular intervals. If you have a sedentary job be sure to schedule regular times of activity. Set a notification on your computer to let you know that it's time to take a brief walk around the building. If you can do it outside, all the better.

3. Improve the air quality in your work area and keep your space clean. In many buildings the windows do not open and we are subjected to stale circulated air. Keep some plants around your work station to improve the quality of the air around you. In addition, regularly clean and dust your work space to support your health.

4. Practice brief periods of meditation. Again, another useful tip is to practice regular times of meditation. You can combine this with a walk, as described in point two, or you can simply sit quietly at a desk for a few minutes, or catch an empty elevator. Even a few minutes of meditation will help quiet your mind, increase your motivation, and improve your health.

5. Wash hands frequently throughout the day. Finally, be sure to clean your hands often throughout the day. As we go to meetings we shake hands with others, and touch the same door knobs, and work surfaces, increasing the possibility of sharing and spreading viruses.