Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: 12 Side Hustles You Can Do From Bed

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career and life development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below from The Financial Diet, Chelsea Fagan and Lauren Ver Hage discuss earning additional income with 12 side hustles that offer the flexibility of working from home.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Why You Should Have (at Least) Two Careers

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• Why You Should Have (at Least) Two Careers: "working many jobs makes me happier and leaves me more fulfilled. It also helps me perform better at each job. Here’s how."

• How to Attract Amazing People Into Your Life: "Talking to new people makes your life exciting because it makes it unpredictable. Every single conversation you have with a new person is potentially life-changing."

• 5 Conversations You Absolutely Need to Have With Your Boss: "You have to stop and ask yourself not just what you need to learn, but what you need to unlearn and what is really going to take you to the place you need to go in this new organization."

• 11 Habits of Mentally Strong People: "The ability to break the mold and take a bold new direction requires that extra grit, daring and spunk that only the mentally strongest people have."
• How to Gain Strength from Your Darkest Moments: "When people go through tragedy they often become determined to make some good out of it. They want to do something worthwhile with the time that they have or to honor the legacy of the person they loved and lost."

5 Ways to Excel in Your Career (and Life) in 2017

As you've entered the new year you've likely set some goals for yourself in 2017 and, if you're like many people, a goal or two is related to your job and career. Of course, we can start the new year with good intentions and then quickly find ourselves discouraged and failing to meet our goals.

Consider the following five ways to stay on track with your goals and to excel in your career and job in 2017.

1. Automate when possible. Find ways to increase your productivity and create additional time in your schedule by automating as many tasks as possible. Use an app to manage your budget or to organize your email. There is, really, an app for everything so you have an opportunity to better manage and control some of the many tasks that dominate modern life.

2. Start a side gig. If you've always wanted to work for yourself or start a business now is the time. Set aside a few hours every week to work on this: develop a business plan, create a web site, offer your services as a freelancer, or start making that product you've dreamed of.

3. Go back to school. Start taking a class or two toward earning a new degree or certificate. You can even learn online or informally by reading some books by experts in your field of interest.

4. Be mindful of your health. Unfortunately, many of us don't pay enough attention to our health and don't realize that we can be much more successful in work and life, and increase our productivity if we focus on our health. Take a look at your diet and eat more healthily, be sure to be active and exercise, have a consistent spiritual practice, such as meditation, get enough sleep, and reduce alcohol and caffeine.  

5. Build a support system. None of us can succeed on our own so be sure to develop your support system. Your support group should ideally include co-workers, friends, family, a supervisor at work, and a mentor or two.