Career development

 9h

Advice | How to Thrive as an Adjunct Professor


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When I started teaching as an adjunct more than a decade ago, I felt as though my wish to become a college professor had been granted, but I hadn't worded the wish carefully enough. Apparently, when I had talked about my dream of teaching... in higher ed, I had not specified -- to the unseen academic gods listening in -- that as part of this dream/wish I also wanted semester-to-semester job security and full-time benefits, including health care.

Roughly 38 percent of college courses are taught by part-time instructors, according to the most recent data from the American Association of University Professors. As one of those part-timers, I learned quickly that I was expected to manage my classes and mentor and grade students with the same rigor as my full-time colleagues, but at a fraction of their salary and with more limited institutional support. One university I taught at provided a rare offer for part-time faculty members to buy into its health-insurance policy. The catch: The annual cost was more than I would earn there.

Initially, I was disillusioned with the adjunct lifestyle. But over time, I've learned how to manage the uncertainties of the part-time faculty job market, find institutions that pay me fairly, and fashion a successful career mixing adjunct work with freelance writing. Although it's not a perfect career, it's one I find deeply rewarding, and I'm no longer actively seeking a full-time teaching position. Here are the strategies I used to get here.

Rely on your network to find colleges that pay well. Adjunct work has as wide a range of pay as any profession I've ever been involved with. I've earned as little as $2,100 for a three-credit class and as much as $8,000 for a four-credit one -- and, of course, some colleges pay even more (or even less).

When I was new to teaching, I jumped at any opportunity to build my résumé, regardless of pay. That arguably made sense for a semester or two to build up my CV, but it quickly became a recipe for burnout and what amounted to less-than-minimum wage-per-hour earnings. These days when looking for new adjunct work, I make sure to only touch base with colleges that pay sustainable wages for adjunct instructors.

While some institutions post that info, many others are not so transparent, and it can be hard to find. In my experience, the best way to find out what a university pays adjuncts is to ask friends and co-workers. Even today, people are still reluctant to talk about what they earn. But you can break through that wall of secrecy by explaining why you're asking and why this information can help your career.

Refuse to be guilted into extra work. Because teaching is a calling for so many of us, it's easy to treat it differently than you might another job and agree to participate in department-related work for which you are not paid. You wouldn't do that if you worked at a restaurant, and you shouldn't be expected to do it at a university.

Good adjunct instructors should -- and often do -- go above and beyond for their students. Your contract might require office hours, and it's also reasonable to expect you to meet with the department chair before the start of the semester. But as a part-time instructor, you shouldn't feel any obligation to do unpaid labor, such as serving on committees or attending department meetings. It's nice to know people value your opinions, but if they want you to participate in these types of service duties and administrative events, they should pay an honorarium, at a minimum, for your time.

Send your résumé directly to a department chair and avoid application slush piles. One way I always keep my teaching slate full is by regularly reaching out to new institutions. In doing so, I avoid applying for posted adjunct openings, which tend to attract so many qualified applicants that the odds of you or me landing the position are slim, no matter how qualified we are. I also suspect many of those jobs are posted even though the department already has a preferred candidate in mind.

Instead, I tend to reach out to department chairs with a cold email explaining my credentials. This works surprisingly well. Part-time positions are inherently somewhat transient, as many candidates are actively seeking full-time employment and drop their adjunct courses once they get it. That means department chairs often have classes they need to assign and can frequently be willing to work with a newcomer.

Use your subject-matter expertise for other part-time work. That way, you're not financially ruined if a course gets canceled at the last minute. One of the great frustrations of adjunct work is that you are often asked to commit to teaching a course before the chair knows for sure that it has attracted the necessary number of students. In general, I think more department heads should start reaching out to adjuncts after they know the course will definitely run.

I've learned that I have to create a financial plan for each semester that is sustainable even if a course gets canceled and I lose the anticipated income. One way to limit the stress and uncertainty is to have an income stream outside of adjunct instruction. For me, the other portion of my income comes from freelance writing, which pairs nicely with my adjunct work since I teach courses on journalism and writing.

How you use your expertise to generate additional income doesn't have to be fancy. It might mean tutoring or working part time at a museum. What you do doesn't much matter so long as you get some type of steady income outside of adjunct instruction.

Embrace the benefits of adjunct work. To build a successful career, the final piece of the puzzle, for me, was realizing that being an adjunct professor does have some benefits that full-time professors don't enjoy. Those benefits are real, even if they aren't as tangible as decent health-care benefits. And one of them is full control of our time. From conversations with faculty friends in full-time positions, I know that they have to deal with many time-consuming things -- internal politics, grant writing, administrative paperwork, committee service -- that aren't clear from the outside.

Those are concerns we don't have to deal with as adjuncts, for the most part. Instead, we can stay laser-focused on the best part of being a college professor: working with students. Realizing that has helped me come to appreciate the teaching career I have forged. It's not the one I envisioned when I was starting out, but it's one that, these days at least, I am thoroughly enjoying. more

Career development

 10h

Company that rejected candidate last year emails him asking for his expertise for free: 'So strange'


Job hunting can be full of surprises, and a recent Reddit post has shown just how unexpected things can get. A Redditor shared an experience that left many online readers amused and stunned.

In his post, the user shared that he found a position that seemed perfect and went through six weeks of interviews, with several rounds of discussions. However, despite all his efforts, the company chose... someone else, but what followed next was completely unexpected.

"The company that rejected me last year just sent me an email asking for my expertise," the OP wrote in the caption of the post.

Redditor stunned after company asks for advice:

He shared that he recently received an unexpected email from the person who got the job.

The email asked for an opinion on a new company initiative and also requested professional contacts.

"It's so strange for them to reject you and then ask for free work," the Redditor wrote.

Unsure how to respond, the Redditor sent a consulting invoice instead, stating that if the company was interested, he would be available for hire at a specific hourly rate.

"I sent him an email that included the consulting invoice...I sent the email and am awaiting his response, although I believe I won't receive any reply in any case."

Check out the post here:

Social media reactions

Reddit users found the incident hilarious, with many joking about the audacity of a company asking for free advice after rejecting a candidate.

One of the users commented, "Different, but similar. Worked for a horrible company. The best thing they did was lay me off. Several weeks later, they wanted to meet and pick my brain."

A second user commented, "That's INSANE. Your only response should be in the form of a question, asking if they're interested in hiring you as a contractor and to negotiate payment for your knowledge."

"I once applied for a PM job at a company, but did not get hired. Called 3 months later to see if I could give a workshop on best practices to their PMO," another user commented. more

Todd Simmons


Career development 3d
Hi everyone! I’ve been sending out a ton of resumes, but haven’t had any luck so far. Any tips on how to stand out and actually get noticed? I feel like I’ve followed all the advice online, but I’m still not getting called for interviews. I’m an economist by training.
Thanks in advance!

4   

  • Kasuubo Esther

    11h

    keep on trying , may be your time is not yet.

  • Tiffany Smith

    13h

    Your ECONOMIC background makes you a great candidate for business ownership in our company. Inbox me for more info!

    1
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Career development

 12h

Build a career that markets itself in the age of AI


Have you noticed how the lines between personal branding and professional credibility have blurred? A decade ago, a solid résumé and a good reputation in your network were enough.

Today, algorithms shape visibility. AI tools help people showcase their skills faster, smarter, and often louder. The question isn't whether you're qualified. It's whether the world can see your value.

The rise of AI... has changed the rhythm of career growth. Automation handles repetitive work, while platforms reward those who share ideas and insights consistently.

That means your digital footprint now works as your résumé, portfolio, and calling card all in one. A career that markets itself isn't about self-promotion; it's about making your expertise discoverable and your growth visible.

I learned this shift the hard way when I transitioned from competitive sports to wellness coaching. For years, my performance spoke for itself. Then I entered a new field where nobody knew my track record.

Once I started sharing lessons, reflections, and evidence-based tips online, opportunities began to find me. That's the essence of a self-marketing career: clarity, visibility, and consistency.

Why you need a self-marketing career

AI tools make it easy to create and publish. They also make it easy to blend in. When everyone has access to the same resources, differentiation depends on perspective and presence. The professionals who thrive today are those who communicate their thinking clearly, show curiosity, and stay visible in the right spaces.

Search engines and social platforms have become filters for credibility. Recruiters and clients look beyond credentials; they look for thought leadership, communication skills, and evidence of learning. A consistent online voice signals confidence and adaptability. When someone Googles your name, they should find a clear story that reflects your values and expertise.

The risk of staying quiet is invisibility. Talent doesn't automatically surface; visibility does.

That said, a self-marketing career doesn't chase attention. It attracts it through relevance and trust. People remember those who add clarity and insight to the noise. That's how opportunities start showing up without constant outreach.

Three steps to building a self-marketing career

A self-marketing career grows through steady, intentional habits that reflect clarity, adaptability, and purpose. It's built by aligning what you know with how you share it, using both technology and human connection to expand your reach. The process isn't about chasing attention but about creating momentum through value, consistency, and genuine presence.

1. Clarify and communicate your value

The foundation of a self-marketing career is a clear professional identity. Most people skip this step and rush to create content.

Start by defining what you stand for and where you bring the most value. Think of your experience, your strengths, and the problems you enjoy solving. That mix becomes your personal brand, your unique blend of skill and story.

Spend time refining your narrative. Instead of listing achievements, explain what drives you. A strong narrative connects past experiences to current goals and future direction. It gives others a reason to trust your perspective.

When I began writing about the link between physical resilience and mental focus, I wasn't positioning myself as an expert. I was sharing lessons I'd learned through trial and reflection. That authenticity built credibility faster than polished self-promotion ever could.

Your digital presence should echo that clarity. Audit your LinkedIn profile, portfolio, and online bios. Make sure they align with the story you want to tell.

The words, tone, and visuals should all reflect your focus. Use simple language and avoid overinflated claims. People respond to honesty and evidence of consistent growth.

The goal here is coherence. When your professional identity feels clear and grounded, you create a natural filter for opportunities that fit who you are becoming.

2. Partner with AI as your amplifier

AI can feel intimidating, but it's one of the best assistants you'll ever have for building visibility. Instead of treating it as competition, treat it as a collaborator that helps you express your ideas more effectively. Use it to refine your writing, brainstorm content, and uncover insights that strengthen your expertise.

Start small. Draft posts, articles, or portfolio descriptions with AI's help, then edit them to reflect your voice. Let it handle structure, but always infuse your words with your tone and perspective.

The blend of human story and AI efficiency creates a rhythm that keeps your content sharp without feeling robotic.

You can also use AI tools to stay consistent. Schedule posts, track engagement, and analyze which topics resonate with your audience. The data reveals patterns that help you focus on what matters most. Visibility grows when your message is both meaningful and regular.

Authenticity still matters more than automation. AI can help you say things faster, but it can't replicate lived experience or genuine curiosity. Those are the elements that turn information into connection.

3. Build consistency and community

A self-marketing career thrives on rhythm. Small, steady contributions have more impact than rare, polished moments. When you share thoughts regularly, you give people a reason to remember you. Consistency signals reliability. It builds momentum.

You don't need to post every day. A few high-quality reflections each month can establish a strong presence. Share what you're learning, what's challenging you, or what's inspiring progress.

This approach turns visibility into conversation instead of performance. The goal is to participate, not to perform.

Community matters just as much as content. Engage with others' work, comment thoughtfully, and collaborate when possible. Networking used to mean handing out business cards; now it's about exchanging ideas publicly. Those small interactions expand your reach and deepen your credibility.

I've seen professionals in every field transform their careers through genuine participation. They ask questions, offer insight, and show appreciation for others' work. Over time, that generosity builds authority. People trust those who contribute value without expecting immediate returns.

When you stay active and present, your network becomes an amplifier. The visibility you create compounds over time, opening doors you didn't plan for.

Adopt the evolving mindset

The world of work keeps shifting. Roles change, industries evolve, and technology reshapes expectations. The only constant is adaptability. A career that markets itself is never static. It grows through continuous learning and reflection.

Think of your career like a living product. Review, test, and refine it often. Every new project or skill adds a feature that enhances your professional story.

AI makes it easier to learn faster. Use it to explore unfamiliar subjects, simulate interviews, or summarize research. The more you integrate learning into your routine, the more resilient your career becomes. Adaptability attracts opportunity because it shows readiness for what's next.

The professionals who thrive in this era combine skill with self-awareness. They know when to evolve, when to pause, and when to share the process. Growth becomes part of their public identity.

The mindset that keeps you relevant

Building a self-marketing career in the age of AI isn't a one-time effort. It's an ongoing practice of clarity, visibility, and connection. You don't need to be loud, you need to be consistent. Neither do you need to know everything, you just need to stay curious.

The best opportunities often come from people who've followed your work quietly for months. A well-crafted online presence becomes your reputation in motion. It speaks when you're busy creating, traveling, or resting.

AI amplifies potential, but it doesn't (and won't ever) replace self-awareness. The tools matter, but the person behind them shapes the direction.

When you communicate your story with honesty, use technology wisely, and stay open to change, your career begins to attract the right kind of attention naturally.

That's what it means to build a career that markets itself. The work you've done, the values you embody, and the curiosity you maintain all work together as quiet ambassadors for your next opportunity. more

Ian Montgomery


Career development 2d
Hey! I had an interview yesterday and realized that if I lied and said I fit all the job requirements, they would hired me. But I don’t have all the skills, so how would I do the job?
I decided to be honest and they didn’t take me. Now I’m thinking, maybe I should just lied and dealt with it later?

5   

  • Tiffany Smith

    13h

    Instead of trying to please an employer, BECOME THE EMPLOYER! Inbox me to find out how.

  • Dorothy Wickham

    1d

    To lie it's never acceptable.

    1
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Simona Jeram


Career development 1d
Hi everyone! I work in accounting at a logistics company. There used to be two of us, but now I’m alone and can hardly handle all the work. I asked my boss for a raise, but he threatened to fire me and said I should be glad to have this job.
I’m really tired. How can I make him give me a raise or hire someone to help me?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

2   

  • Tiffany Smith

    13h

    When you're ready to stop SLAVING for other people's business, inbox me! The skills they don't appreciate become the skills used to make MILLIONS!

    1

  • Justine Kipruto

    21h

    Hi! I’m sorry to hear about how much workload you’re handling — that sounds really overwhelming. I recently completed a degree in Actuarial Science,... and while I don’t have direct accounting experience yet, I have a strong background in mathematics, data analysis, and financial reporting. I’d be very interested if your company considers bringing someone on board to help.
    Please let me know if there’s a way I could apply or support your team.
     more

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Amanda Hollingsworth


Career development 1w
I’m not an ambitious person, I just want a normal, calm job and I’m not chasing promotions. But my boyfriend keeps nagging me every day about why I don’t try to please the boss, don’t take overtime, and don’t agree to work weekends when they ask. He keeps saying I need to build a career and make more money.
Honestly, I’m starting to wonder if I should even stay with him, because I don’t want to... plan anything serious with someone who’ll keep pushing me to work like crazy, while I just want a job I actually enjoy. What would you suggest?

 more
13   

  • Tiffany Smith

    13h

    Only relationships built on "unconditional love" will thrive! If you want to THRIVE in business, inbox me for more details!

  • alh777

    2d

    IF YOU want to upgrade your skill, YOU SHOULD. What are you goals and dreams? What is he doing with his life?!! You need to decide if he is someone... you want in your long term. PERIOD.  more

    2
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Ashley Evans-Clark


Career development 4d
In our company only men get promoted and raises. It’s much easier for them - work for a year and they already manage a couple of people. I’ve been working hard for four years and nothing happens for me. My boss says women are unreliable, that I’ll probably get married and go on maternity leave. Men, he says, are fine. So I get a lot of work but no raise.
Should I try talking to him seriously... again or should I leave since there’s no future here?

 more
3   

  • Tiffany Smith

    13h

    Leave the SLAVEship, and become the BOSS! Inbox me for more info.

  • Brent Harvey

    16h

    Simple! Keep your job, document, go to HR, find a good discrimination Attorney, get paid and smile at boss every time you see him.

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Anonymous member


Career development 5d
Hello! What would you do in my situation? Yesterday was my first day at a new job. I went through a long interview process and was super excited to get hired. But then I was totally shocked to see my ex working in the next department. For the record, I was the one who left him before our wedding.
How am I supposed to work next to him now?

6   

  • Tiffany Smith

    13h

    Leave him on the SLAVEship, and become a BUSINESS OWNER (not worker). Inbox me for more info!

  • alh777

    2d

    It can be a very uncomfortable situation, but it's doable. IF you are over him, it shouldn't be a problem, right? Be very professional. Don't let... others know you are his ex or anything personal. Life moves on and you and him should too. If you feel very uncomfortable, see if you can move your desk or work in a different department without saying too much about WHY. Do NOT interact with him by text, email, or otherwise UNLESS it's on a professional basis. Do your job well, help others, be of service, get paid, and go home. If you cannot bear it, find a different job asap. Let us know how it worked out for you. more

    2
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Career development

 14h

The Impact of AI on Human Decision-Making


It's not a far-off promise anymore: Artificial intelligence is here now, and it's changing the way businesses run, compete, and grow.

Artificial intelligence has started to have a big influence on strategic thinking in human resources, especially in talent management. Intelligent tools provide accurate analysis, data-driven projections, and unprecedented automation, from recruiting through... workforce planning. But the true task is not just taking on technology, but incorporating it in an ethical and human way alongside professional judgment.

Shifting From Instinct to Analytics

HR decisions are based on the experience, gut instinct, and contextual knowledge of a talent leader. Those skills are as important as ever, but today's context requires decisions that can be made quickly, are measurable, and based on hard data. In this way, AI helps organizations in recognizing patterns, associations, and indications of trends that are not easily seen by the human eye. For example, in hiring, algorithms can go through thousands of résumés in a matter of seconds and determine fit with high performers and flag the presence of turnover markers or long-term retention. Regarding people development, AI is able to map an organization's skill gaps and identify personalized paths of development. And in workforce planning, it can predict future needs from economic scenarios, attrition rates, and shifts in business demand.

One of the most commonly claimed virtues of AI is its potential to mitigate risk in decision-making. Algorithms do not get tired, or bogged down by feelings, or possess conscious biases like humans. Yet, this view should be taken with caution, since this is modeled on historical data, and if that data includes past discrimination and imbalanced outcomes, the algorithm could systemically repeat those same mistakes. As a result, design, training, and assessment of AI tools should be up to high ethical standards with ongoing monitoring.

AI as Co-Pilot Rather Than Pilot

Technology is not the guarantor of objectivity. Rather, it needs to be properly created by those creating and deploying it. AI as co-pilot, not pilot. To fully grasp what AI can accomplish, it needs to be viewed as an assistive technology, not a replacement for human judgment. The best decisions are made when technology augments, not obviates, human judgment, empathy and strategic vision.

In other words, AI can tell us what is happening, or even what might happen. But it remains leadership's job to decide what should be done, and how. In complex decisions, such as those involving promotions, reductions in headcount, succession planning, or cultural interventions, context and sensitivity are things that no machine has yet come close to emulating.

Ethics as the New Cornerstone of the Era of Algorithms

The rise of AI in talent management also demands that we reconsider the ethical structures underlying our work. How much is OK to automate in terms of someone's career? When data categories or profiles workers, what rights do they have? What is the role of transparency in AI-powered systems?

There are no easy answers to these questions, and yet they have to be at the heart of any strategy for cascading technology. Ethical concerns should not be seen as a limit to creativity, but rather, as the best enabler. Responsible AI builds trust, improves employee experience, and ensures companies are organizations that care about the lives of their people. The ascent of AI is also changing the skills that HR professionals should develop. But they also need to be critical thinkers about how data will be used, understanding how to interpret predictive models, and above all an openness to journey new paths. But the need is not just to know how AI works, it's also to reinforce our uniquely human skills that tech can't reproduce: strategic thinking, empathetic collaboration, change management, and value-based decision-making.

In an increasingly automated world, what is most human becomes the differentiator. Many businesses are already leveraging AI's advantages to optimize their talent management. For example:

Faster hiring processes: Employers with extensive hiring needs, leverage chatbots and automated screening for pre-qualifying candidates, accelerating time-to-hire in a more candidate-friendly way.

Turnover prediction: Machine learning models can flag the employees at risk of leaving and be used to design tailored retention strategies.

Personalized growth: Adaptive learning platforms recommend content based on an employee's performance and learning style profile.

Diversity and inclusion: Some tools spot imbalances in hiring or promoting diverse talent, guiding empirical efforts to set things right.

AI is transforming decision-making in human resources. It helps us become more proactive and responsive to situations and optimizes critical business processes. Yet, its true value comes when it is used consciously, harmonizing ethical and human aspects in all of its applications. The future of talent management is bound to be technological, but it will also be profoundly human. That balance is where AI's true impact lies: Not in replacing our decisions but in enhancing their quality, depth, and purpose.

In the end, artificial intelligence should be considered as a true partner in people management, reinforcing the efficiency, precision, and proactiveness of decision-making. But it can never substitute for the judgment, empathy, and strategic vision of humanity. The future of HR is about using AI to enhance efficiencies, but not at the expense of putting people first in every decision. more

Career development

 18h

AI Talent Matching Platform Development


My long-term goal is to roll out a fully fledged recruitment SaaS, but the cornerstone is an AI Talent Matching System. I need a developer who can stay dedicated to the project without strict timing pressure and gradually layer on the additional modules I have mapped out. Phase 1 - AI Talent Matching System The matching engine must handle three core functions: * Match candidates to open roles *... Suggest relevant jobs to each candidate * Rate the overall candidate-job fit It will work primarily with résumé data and the candidate profiles we store internally. I expect a robust ML/NLP pipeline that can evolve as we ingest more data, so experience with transformers, embeddings, vector databases, and model fine-tuning will be valuable. Accuracy, explainability of the scores, and an API that other parts of the platform can call are essential acceptance criteria. Phase 2 and beyond Once the core matcher is solid, we will plug in: a résumé parsing engine, a job-description analyzer, an AI recruiter chatbot for screening and scheduling, integrations with common ATS platforms, and separate dashboards for admins, recruiters, and candidates. An analytics layer will eventually surface bias metrics, hire velocity, and other insights. I will guide the product roadmap and provide sample data; your responsibility is the architecture, coding, and iterative delivery of tested modules. Let me know which frameworks or cloud stack you prefer so we can plan the build environment before sprint 1 kicks off. more

Douglas Barnes


Career development 1w
Where have all the good candidates gone? The younger applicants show up with no work experience, yet are very ambitious and expect to step into managerial roles immediately. The older ones, on the other hand, seem worn out and out of touch. Where can I find capable, reliable employees?

4   

  • CHRISTINE SIMIYU

    22h

    It is true they lack experience not because they want but because the employers like yourself have denied them the chances or opportunities to learn... and develop the same experience you are looking for.Learn to believe that most people who lack experience in their fields are always eager and ready to learn because they understand where the experience can lead them.Give the unexperienced the opportunity to get experience! more

  • Adam of City Compost

    1w

    Hello Douglas,

    I'd be happy to learn about the roles you are trying to fulfill. I am a job seeker.

Load more...

Career development

 23h

The role of creative engagement in competence and career development toward performance


Orientation: Creative engagement is the process of involving employees in creative activities of innovation, creativity and active participation in work. Competence and career development have an impact on employee performance. In addition to this, employee creative engagement has a role in mediating the influence of competence and career development on employee performance.

Research purpose: The... aim of this study is to test and analyse the influence of competence and career development on employee performance. This study also examines the mediating role of employee creative engagement on the relationship between competence and career development with employee performance.

Motivation for the study: This research provides ideas to improve employee performance and organisational performance. By conducting further research, competency and career development variables are expected to improve employee performance with creative engagement as a mediating variable.

Research approach/design and method: This study applied an explanatory survey method with a cross-section technique from 120 respondents.

Main findings: Employee creative engagement provides a significant mediating role in the influence of competence and career development on employee performance.

Practical/managerial implications: Employee development policies can consider employee creative engagement in mediating the influence of competence and career development on employee performance.

Contribution/value-add: Career development has essentially been proven to enhance employee job performance. This research adds the abstraction that employee creative engagement mediates the influence of competence and career development on employee performance. The value-add can provide policy direction for employee development management. more

Anonymous member


Career development 6d

What steps to take if need a manager to help with my portfolio?
4   

  • Author

    23h

    When I realized I needed a manager to help with my investment portfolio, I reached out to Selena from WBG Online (selena@wbgreco.online
    ) after a... friend recommended her. I started with a relatively small portfolio that was scattered across different accounts and performing inconsistently.

    Selena took the time to understand my goals and risk tolerance, then reorganized my holdings into a more balanced mix of equities, bonds, and a few growth-focused ETFs. She also introduced me to dividend reinvestment strategies and helped me move some underperforming assets into better-performing sectors.

    Within about six months, my overall portfolio was up around 15%, and for the first time, I had a clear, structured investment plan. What impressed me most was her transparency—she provided detailed monthly reports and explained each adjustment in plain language.

    Working with Selena not only boosted my returns but also gave me confidence and peace of mind about my financial future.     more

  • Brantley Winston

    1d

    If you’re looking for a manager to help with your portfolio, the first step is to clarify your goals, what kind of projects or roles you’re targeting... and what strengths you want to highlight.

    Next, identify potential mentors or managers in your field who have experience with portfolios similar to yours. Reach out with a concise, professional message explaining what guidance you’re seeking and why you admire their work.

    It also helps to prepare a draft portfolio beforehand, even a basic version — so they can see your current work and provide actionable feedback.

    Once you start building these relationships, you can gradually expand your network and get more tailored support.

    If you want, feel free to reach out to me directly, I can discuss your goals and help connect you with the right guidance or resources to improve your portfolio effectively.     more

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Career development

 1d

Why humblebragging is never a good idea


Kim Mills: Everyone wants to be liked and respected. Whether you're meeting a new colleague, trying to impress your boss, setting up your profile on a dating app, or even just chatting with a neighbor, some part of your brain is probably thinking about how your words and actions are coming across. Sometimes our intuitions are correct, but sometimes they're not. Today we're going to talk to a... researcher who studies impression mismanagement -- the mistakes we make when we're trying to make other people like us.

So why do people so often misjudge what will make a good impression? What are some of the most common mistakes? If you want people to like and respect you, is it better to boast a little bit or stay quiet about your accomplishments? And what about social media? Are the behaviors that make a good impression online the same ones that work in real life?

Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association that examines the links between psychological science and everyday life. I'm Kim Mills.

My guest today is Dr. Övül Sezer, an assistant professor at Cornell University's SC Johnson School of Business. Her research focuses on the mistakes we make when we want to impress others and how we can better navigate our social world. Questions she's looked at include: How can we signal that we're both competent and likable? How can a person brag wisely? And how can we network less awkwardly? Her work has been published in top psychology and management journals and covered in media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

Dr. Sezer, thank you for joining me today.

Övül Sezer, PhD: Thank you so much, Kim. It's so great to be here. Thanks so much for having me.

Mills: Now, you call your work impression mismanagement. Can you start by telling us more about that? What is impression mismanagement? And conversely, what is impression management?

Sezer: This is a great question because any time I get asked, What is impression mismanagement?, I start by explaining what actually is impression management. So that's a great start. So it's the psychology of how we try to look good in front of others, the ways we try to shape how others perceive us, whether we want to come across as likable, warm, competent, high status, trustworthy. So we all have these goals when we interact with others, whether it's a job interview, negotiation context, presentation in front of clients, or trying to get a second date, or curating our perfect LinkedIn posts.

All of these instances require some impression management and we are all aware of it. Sometimes it will be more conscious, sometimes it'll be less conscious, but we're all aware of it. Mismanagement is when our intuitions go wrong, and sometimes we end up engaging in the wrong strategy and we end up shooting ourselves in the foot because the strategies we try undermine us, it actually backfires. So that's the mismanagement part. And we all have these intuitions coming from somewhere, because no one teaches us how to brag. No one teaches us how to do networking. These are the things we learn as we navigate life.

Mills: So what are some of the most common mistakes that people make when they're trying to get other people to like or respect them?

Sezer: I have a long list of strategies that I've looked at. So for both -- I mean since my dissertation research and now as an assistant professor. So if I go on and on you can stop me anytime. That's okay. Because I'm very passionate about this and I love talking about this. So it all started with my dissertation work where we tried to understand what are some more sophisticated self-promotion strategies that people engage in. Because we all know bragging is not the most desirable thing. We all know that even since very young age, we are aware, Oh, I don't need to be too arrogant. I shouldn't be too arrogant because we want to be invited to parties and included in all the friends settings. So we don't want to brag too much. So that intuition is right. It's a universal value. Modesty, humility. These are things that we all care about across cultures.

But people do this interesting thing called humblebragging. And I would like to welcome everybody to my world of social paranoia because now I'm going to notice my humblebrags during this podcast and maybe our audience will also start catching more humblebrags as they listen too, because that's exactly what happened to me when I first started investigating this phenomenon. So it's basically bragging masked by complaint or false humility. So if I say something like, Oh my goodness, why do people hit on me even when I'm in my sweatpants? Oh, the Uber driver thought I'm 23. Does that make sense? Isn't that -- or I can't believe I got this award. Thank you so much. I can go on. Maybe I'll give some meta humblebrags. It's so hard to be invited on podcasts all the time, Kim. I just -- okay, I'll stop. I'll stop. But you can see how much we do it.

Mills: It's very common.

Sezer: It is absolutely very common. And of course some of the examples that I give right now, I mean seemingly outrageous and funny, I do it on purpose, but even in instances where it's not funny, when people get the job interview question, what's your biggest weakness? A lot of people end up saying, I'm a perfectionist. I work too hard. I'm too nice. I prioritize my friends and family. People list all their great qualities as if they are weaknesses.

So it happens. It happens all the time. And what we found was that even though people do it because they know bragging is bad and they think this is going to provide that sweet spot best of both worlds -- so I'm going to brag, but I'm going to soften it. So I'm going to both covey my great qualities and accomplishments, but I will soften it. I will frame it as a complaint or a little modest thing. But what ends up happening is that it actually backfires. It's worse than straightforward bragging. And the reason is because it comes across as very insincere. Being sincere, being authentic is something that we value a lot in others. So when the person is trying to brag but trying to hide it, it's actually more offensive to the recipient. So we don't like it. So humblebragging is one of the common mistakes that happen.

Anytime I talk about this work, I used to get the question, what if I don't share anything? What if I don't say anything? Now the first risk about that in the world of I think we can say that our world is full of self-promotion right now with the existence of social media. Just one quick look at LinkedIn or Instagram is enough. You would never feel lack of self-promotion around you. So if you don't share anything, there is the risk of missing out because now we live in a world where we need to emphasize our expertise. I don't mean to say we should brag all the time, but I just want to say not saying anything and staying quiet has its own risks. But if you have something good to share and if you don't share it -- and we had this paper, we called it hiding success -- especially the people around you who are close to you, maybe your close work friends, close friends and some family members, they do get offended a little bit this time because they think, oh, you don't think I'm going to be happy for you? That's offensive. Or do you think I'm going to be jealous of you? So there is that. Sometimes it backfires, even though we have the good intentions of not looking arrogant and not offending everybody, sometimes it ends up being offensive because people think, oh, you're trying to regulate my emotional reaction to your success. I will just be happy for you. So that backfires as well, and that's a very common thing.

And the reason why I say these are common strategies is because we did run lots of, I mean, first of all, they're common on social media and we did analyze that data, but we also survey people or run diary studies with people where people report surveys every day at a certain time for us. Or we ask people, have you ever hidden success from somebody else? And the answers were very interesting because from -- it starts very young like, Oh, I used to get better grades than my classmate in primary school and I didn't say that. Or I never shared the name of my high-status school name in my family. Things like that. People try to navigate that all the time. So that's why I say these intuitions are very common. But they end up not working.

And other things as well, like I study name dropping, you know where you casually drop a name into conversation. Now I'm sure I'm going to do that during this interview. Or I also study compliments or thank yous or apologies or advice giving, advice taking. And there are things that we do wrong in this domain as well. For instance, people sometimes make their compliments backhanded. If someone tells me, Oh, your English is pretty good for an international, I would be like, What do you mean? My English is amazing? Or things -- or if someone tells me, You're funny for a woman, because I try to do stand-up comedy. Yeah, I try to do stand-up comedy as a hobby. So I would be like, No way. That's not necessarily a compliment. So things like that. There are lots of different versions we can talk about.

Mills: How cognizant do you think people are of doing these things?

Sezer: When people are interacting with others, we are very aware when someone else does it -- and we don't even care whether it's true or not. Someone can really maybe be complaining about having lots of job offers and stuff like that in a genuine way. Maybe they really mean it. But for us, we would be like, Oh, that's like a humblebrag. That's kind of a weird thing to say.

But in our experiments, anytime we put people in positions and we give them impression management calls, like imagine I take you to my lab and I say you're going to talk with another person for five minutes either through chat or face-to-face. And let's say I tell you your goal is to impress the other person, try to impress them. And I'm going to ask them at the end of your interaction how impressive you were and based on how they rate you, I'm going to give you bonus money. So I incentivize you for this call. And when people are in this position, they do become less cognizant of these behaviors. Then we do brag, we do humblebrag, we do these other behaviors. So I think when we are in the position of presenting ourselves, we somehow forget.

I think another reason by the way, that these mistakes still exist and it's so hard to learn over time -- we never get in-time feedback. No one rolls their eyes in front of us or there's no yeah, or there's no dislike button on LinkedIn. No one tells it to our face that it was kind of a weird thing to say. So you end up navigating always with your intuition.

Mills: Why do people make these mistakes? You mentioned that we don't really learn how to make a first impression. Is that something that should be taught somewhere in life?

Sezer: I think so. I do teach impression management classes in my leadership class when I teach both MBAs and undergrads. So I think there are definitely things we can learn, but your question about why do we even make these mistakes is even a bigger one. So some of it comes from we never learn because we don't get the feedback. I think some of it comes from the problem of having multiple audience in the room, and with the way that the internet works or social media works, it became even stronger. What I mean by multiple audiences is that having our family members or our parents and our boss and our team members in the same network makes it very hard.

So here's what I mean by that. If I say -- for us for academics or publishing papers is one measure of success, it's a great thing for us, we get very happy, even if only five people read our paper, we're still very, very happy because it's a contribution and we worked hard on it. And if I share it, let's say with my mom, there's no way she can, no way she'll code it as bragging. She'll be like, oh, that's wonderful. Or same thing if we share things like this, like our promotion, our award, with someone like a boss, they'll be proud of us. But if we share it with a peer who was aiming for maybe the same award, same promotion, then things change because we have the whole social comparison dynamic there. But right now, because everyone is available all the time in the same platforms, we have this multiple audience issue. Everyone is in the same room and how do I create that profile now? That's why sometimes you would see some people just do professional social media and personal social media separately. They try to create separate pages for that, which I totally understand why.

Another reason why we make these mistakes: Sometimes we try to regulate our own emotions. It feels good to brag that -- there is research actually by some wonderful colleagues, it feels good. We feel good when we feel positive, when we brag, even though there is that discomfort when we think of other people's interactions, there is definitely this -- pride is a very interesting self-conscious emotion and we like that. And sometimes we engage in these mistakes because we are trying to feel good about ourselves.

And sometimes it's a perspective taking mistake. Sometimes we just don't understand how it's going to come across to the other side. So there are these multiple different processes. Sometimes it's the emotional reason, sometimes it's the other people are in the room and there are just so many different goals with any of these relationships. The way that I interact with my best friend is not the same as I interact with my boss, but if they're all seeing my LinkedIn post, there's no, I need to choose one style. So things like that make the mistakes even more inevitable in a way.

Mills: We were talking a moment ago about the workplace and that cliche question about what's your greatest weakness. Another thing that comes up in some workplaces is the 360-degree evaluation. Since you do this kind of work, I mean, how useful is that to people? Do they really learn anything from a 360 when all is said and done?

Sezer: I think 360 evaluations may work if people really believe that they're really anonymous and no one is getting the -- so the status differences definitely do play a role because no one wants to be giving negative feedback to their superior or their boss when their name or identity can be found out for sure. So people definitely have that concern. I think the way that people respond to 360 feedback makes it likely to work or not. And I'm going to give you the example of what we studied. This is also kind of related to impression management, but it's also related to feedback taking and authenticity. So we looked at how leaders react to 360 feedback because they get feedback from people who work as direct reports. And when people, especially when leaders get negative feedback, they have this bias, they want to address it very quickly. They say, here it is, I listened to you, I look at your feedback and I hear you and I incorporated this change immediately.

But what we found is that when that change happens very quickly and very immediately, other people don't find it authentic. They think, oh, you only changed because I gave you that feedback. But it's not internalized. You didn't think about it, you didn't reflect on it, you didn't internalize it. But when it's done in a way that's a bit gradual and over time, then people really think you really pay attention. So that's one, it's not necessarily an impression mistake, but it's like a feedback mistake where it hurts how authentic you come across. So it ends up being an impression management mistake. So when we get feedback, we shouldn't be too quick to address it. We should still tell people we hear them and we're working on it, but it should be a long-term gradual change rather than very immediate, very quick, loud change.

So sometimes this gradual change is more effective in terms of coming across as an authentic leader. So based on that, I can tell you that 360 feedback may work, but it depends how we react to it. I don't know if I answered your question or this was very specific about the paper too, but as you know, I look for opportunities to brag. So thank you for letting us know that this paper is coming out. Okay, exactly. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. I thought it's a bit relevant with the authenticity angle too, so I wanted to share that.

Mills: I just want the listeners to know that we didn't set this up so that you could brag.

Sezer: Absolutely, yeah, this was all authentic.

Mills: I didn't know about your paper. Yeah. This was totally authentic. Let me ask you, going down another lane here, have you found any gender or cultural differences in how people handle impression management or mismanagement or how they respond to people who might be using some of the strategies to make a better impression?

Sezer: The answer is absolutely yes, because both gender and cultural differences determine our norms. And how we are perceived or whether we engage in this behavior or not, really depends on the social norms around us. I mean, even when we think of social media, I'm always curious how did it become what it is today? I recently went back to my Twitter feed, I wanted to find out what's the very first tweet I shared with the world. And it was like, "I like to cook." That was my first tweet, which probably doesn't make sense in today's world. Why did I share that?

Mills: But you didn't say "I'm a good cook."

Sezer: No, I just said because probably at the time there wasn't that much of bragging norm. Or when Facebook first got into our lives or LinkedIn, it was a different thing and now it's a much different thing. So norms definitely determine how we behave in these platforms and in real life as well. And gender and cultural differences are absolutely key ingredients for social norms. So when it comes to gender, there's definitely the role theory as researchers would call it, would explain there's expected roles for men and women. And women know that modesty is a more communal, more warmth-related norm, which is associated more female, more with female characteristics. So women know that it's going to hurt them more and it actually does hurt them more a little bit. Bragging is not the same for a man versus for a woman.

So women receive a little bit more backlash. And because of that, I think women, the direct self-promotion, why women are a little less, there's more indirect self-promotion efforts engaged by everyone. And it's a very tricky balance of course, because what I find in my dissertation work was also that even the domain of bragging -- the topic of bragging matters too. When we brag about leadership versus when we brag about cooking or things like that also changes the norms around this. So women receive more backlash when they're direct and because they're aware of it and it's -- because it's an expected behavior, modesty is expected more by women, they refrain a little bit more from self-promotion.

And cultural differences definitely determine how these efforts are perceived, especially when it comes to collectivistic cultures versus individualistic cultures. Like some cultures are more collectivistic, some cultures are more individualistic. We haven't published this, but I did get a chance when I did run only one study, so I'm going to give this with that. But even in that one experiment, when we ran the experiments with U.S. and also Japan, participants from Japan, where Japanese culture is much more collectivistic than U.S. culture, humble bragging there wasn't that bad because humility is much more of a value there. People definitely deflect bragging in a genuine way, because no one wants to say, I, me, I did this, I'm the best. That's very forbidden in those cultures. So we did find that difference in that one study I could run. So there's definitely cross-cultural differences there.

Mills: There's a term that has come into common usage in the U.S. in, I don't know, the last few years -- mansplaining. And I'm just wondering if that is a reflection of the fact that men do tend to sort of take over and tell you what they know? And is that a form of impression mismanagement?

Sezer: Yeah, that's a great question too. We did have some studies around this phenomenon because especially this term mansplaining was very, it's still common, but it had its very popular day a few years ago. Maybe it is true that a lot of people do say they experience mansplaining, especially in the workplace. What we find is that it's usually status explaining though -- when there's high status positions are occupied by mostly men at this point in our lives everywhere in the world. And high status gives that drive to, Let me explain things to you. And sometimes again -- I mean this was just survey-based data, so people self-report experiences, but people do find that not all mansplaining are equal, meaning that sometimes it backfires, and it's an example of impression mismanagement because it's a bit condescending.

If someone explains to me, I don't know, how to watch sports just because I'm a woman, things like that would be an example of that, for instance. So yeah, sometimes advice giving that if happens, if it happens in the form of mansplaining or status explaining. So sometimes it can be also womansplaining, I guess if the high-status agent is a woman. It does backfire because of two things. Sometimes it can be based on gender stereotypes, which are, of course, offensive. When I said the sports example, I know I'm a huge soccer fan, I know soccer rules more than anybody else, and that's definitely offensive. But sometimes it just happens because of status differences and people just don't know where to put you, especially if you are on the younger end. That's why sometimes even men receive mansplaining too, because if they're young and if they seem like they don't know what they're doing, even though they would know, but just based on the perceived level of their status and their age, and then you get this unsolicited advice that may end up being condescending regardless of what the intention of the explainer was. So it can definitely be a form of impression mismanagement there.

Mills: Can people use techniques to sort of attenuate the bad reaction that they might be getting? So for example, when you say to people, Hey, how much do you know about sports? I mean, I know a lot about this particular sport. And so sort of opening the door to letting the other person know or say to you, yeah, I'm very familiar, say with soccer, then you can approach each other more on an equal level. Does that help?

Sezer: Absolutely. In fact, I'm a big fan of these pre-explanations. That's why probably in any social interaction that I'm in, I give this long introductions to any topic because probably I'm very aware of this. As I said, as someone who studies these things, I think it's always a good idea to give some more information about context or yourself or ask the other person. We also know that asking questions is a great strategy because people love talking about themselves. So if you ask questions, people always love it. It also signals that you're curious about them. If you share and you ask a question, you're curious about them. And curiosity is one of the things that we can all aim to induce in others. In fact, for bragging, the best strategy is to find a wingperson for our brags. If someone brags on behalf of us when we are not present, that's the best thing that can happen. So let's make a pact, Kim, from now on, I'm going to brag about you. Please brag about me, and we have our friendly brag loop going on.

Mills: All right. That's a deal.

Sezer: And I think the reason why it works very well, because number one, you are not there. So there's no ulterior motive, no one questions the legitimacy of the brag. Number two, you are curious about the person. If you hear about someone from another person, you're like, Oh, let me check. Do they have -- can I google them? Are they on Instagram? What's the work that they do? Do they have a website where I can learn about their work? So curiosity is a very important piece. So asking questions or finding someone else to brag for us are great strategies.

And going back to your question, that's why if you're in a situation where our level is not necessarily well known by the other person or we don't know their knowledge level, if we can ask questions, we can share where we're coming from. And that would stop all of the misunderstanding around advice giving or advice taking. And I'll say a few things about in general, how it's a great idea, I said both asking questions, but also sharing our journey too, which is another research that we did. So I'm a fan of these explanations and these extra conversations so that there's no mismanagement or misunderstanding.

Mills: Another thing that you've written about is how tough it is to balance trying to be liked and trying to be respected. So can you talk about that? I mean, how do you pull off that balancing act?

Sezer: It's probably the question that all impression management researchers or social cognition, social perception researchers around the world think about every day all the time, because it's called the self-promotion paradox. So what we know from social perception literature is that when we meet with someone, when we evaluate others, there are these two universal dimensions that we care about, warmth and competence. So when I meet with someone I care about whether they're friendly, warm, nice, do I want to hang out with them? And I also care about are they smart, capable, competent, do I want to work with them or can I interact with them in that context? Now, the tricky thing, the self-promotion paradox comes from fact that the strategies that take us to high warmth or high likability don't make us look highly competent.

So I'm going to give examples: If we smile all the time, if we agree all the time, if you're very conforming, if we're getting gifts to other people, giving compliments to other people, these things would make us be liked. Everyone would like us, but no one would necessarily think, oh my God, look at that person. They've got a PhD. They're a very interesting person who did all of these accomplishments in their career, life. And vice versa. If I'm competent, if I just talk about my accomplishments, then people wouldn't like me, right? That's called the self-promotion paradox. So it's very hard to get to both because there is that trade off. The warmer we are, there's a chance that we may look less competent and the more competent and smart and high status and respectable we look, we may look more distant and less likable and less warm.

Some strategies work. One is definitely humor when it's done well. So if you can incorporate humor in a smart way, it's one of these rare strategies that signal both how smart you are, but also it makes us very likable. Another thing that I referred to in my previous answer was, when we talk about our journeys, we still convey a lot of competence. And we don't lose the warmth. People still like us more and find us relatable.

What do I mean by that? When I say journey, we even have a definition of the journey. So we defined it as a long and often difficult process of going from one point to another. And basically when you share your journey, and we all had journeys, we all had long and difficult paths for something. And basically it reflects our determination to learn, how we learn a new skill and how we grow as a person. And I'm going to give you an example of that. And the tricky thing here, when we are in a job interview, when we are in a work happy hour, when we are in a reception where we try to network with people because we have limited time, we usually just list our accomplishments. So I did this, I did that, and it seems like a journey too, but it's not really because we only list our outcomes, our accomplishments. But instead of saying, for instance, I graduated from this school, if I tell people, Oh, I actually started learning English at the age of 15 and I came to the U.S. as a college student. Now there's a whole different story there. There's a whole -- and I'm sure all of us have lots of different things like that. So if you share -- instead of just focusing on the outcome or accomplishment, if you can say just a couple more sentences, Oh, I had to work extra hours to get this position. Or I learned this language, or I learned this new skill, or I navigated all of that when I had my kid. All of these things give much more personal information and journey and how you made sense of your growth and development, and that's way more interesting for the other party to listen to. So sharing journey information is another strategy that help us being both likable and respectable and get high ratings on both warmth and competence.

Oh, gratitude is a very good one I think. Although, I mean with LinkedIn posts gratitude, sometimes people also question the sincerity of gratitude posts as well, which is some research we are doing right now. But if gratitude has clear targets, instead of just saying, I'm grateful I got this job. If you say, I'm so grateful to my teammates, my mentors, if they're actual people that you're grateful to, people love, love gratitude, even if you brag. So that's another strategy that makes the bragging a little warmer.

In general, I would recommend sharing brag attempts or accomplishments with positive emotion is very effective. People love it when we say, I'm really so excited. No, I'm genuinely over the moon for this graduation. Something like that. And one key thing I want to say, this is more about emotion research, not necessarily impression management research, but as an impression management researcher, I'm very interested in the study of pride. As I've mentioned, it's a very interesting self-conscious emotion. So there are the researchers -- pride researchers distinguish two distinct types of pride. One is hubristic pride, the other is authentic pride. So hubristic pride is all about I'm superior, I'm great. I'm just so great. You just get that vibe from hubristic pride. Whereas authentic pride is really all about, I work so hard, and finally I get this. And people really respond to that in a very positive way. So anytime we feel that emotion, that sweet pride, if we sort of check ourselves and say, I'm really being authentic about this. Do I really share all the background, all the hard work or the sleepless nights or extra hard work or extra hardship that I had to overcome to achieve this? Then people respond to it in a more positive way. And you don't necessarily have the trade-off between warmth and competence. So these are just some of the strategies.

Mills: Are the rules different on social media? Because I mean, half of what I see on there is people saying, Oh, I'm in Budapest today and tomorrow I'm going to be in Croatia. Or, Here's this beautiful meal that we had last night, and you had to eat at home and you probably ate leftovers. You know what I mean? That's the sense that I get from reading a lot of the things that people I know post, and these are my friends. It's not that I dislike them because they're showing me that they're doing something fabulous. But are the rules different for social media and are people's reactions different?

Sezer: That's a great question because we all know social media is bragging Olympics, and it's very interesting. All of them became that way. At first maybe Instagram seemed like a very, everyone is having this amazing life filled with amazing meals, amazing trips, amazing hobbies. Sometimes when I see people's hobbies, again, I'm very happy for them, but I always think, how did they find the time? I barely survive with just a few things I need to do given in a day. And LinkedIn has become that too. And LinkedIn also became, people share lots of things with their photos and about their personal lives too. I don't know about your LinkedIn, but I started to see a lot of personal milestones. Maybe people don't put a Paris trip to their LinkedIn, but they still do share a lot of personal life updates in a good way. I think social media has changed the game in a bit that it made it very visible and pervasive.

So it changed the norms. I think we think it's more okay to brag now. So probably that's why when I find my first tweet saying I like to cook, that seems very naive and kind of missing the point to me. The other thing is, of course, in general, the same rules apply. Gratitude is great if it's done in a smart way and real way, rather than if you just say, I'm so humbled to be here. People don't think you're necessarily humble, right? People are actually a little aversive to some words. But in general, gratitude, positive emotions and directness -- being a little more direct, like hundreds of hours of work and finally here I am. Something like that would be way more effective than humblebragging, saying, Oh, I don't even know. I don't even know that my students selected me for, I can't believe I'm getting this teaching award again.

So generally the rules are the same in terms of people who never share things, who share only the accomplishments, I think that also backfires a little bit. I think the social media piece is very exciting for us researchers because now things are really changing. We see also the behavior differences between different generations. If you ever look at TikTok, the norms there are even more different because it's a more video based app, and the younger generations, the Gen Z members make videos that are almost like, they even make fun of -- I don't know if you heard of this, but they even make fun of the millennial pause, which is this idea that when you put the camera, I think older generations starting with millennials, we do this thing where the camera starts, we do have this slight pause where you just pause and look at the camera and you're ready.

Whereas for the Gen Z members, they start there, they start talking immediately -- when they put on makeup or cook, and it's like a normal thing. Oh, here's a day, there's a day at Harvard University as a freshman student, what do I do here? Because for them, they are much more concerned about the feeling of cringe, so they don't even want to look like they're trying. So that's a term that we're learning from social media as well. So generally, some rules are the same, meaning that you've got to be direct, you've got to show gratitude and hopefully talk about your authentic pride and journey, how you got there, your hard work and how you grow as a person, general rules of bragging work. But there are different norms because there are different generations coming along and they change the norms and we don't want to seem like you're trying too hard. That's why even the number of words you put on your status on social media, some people argue that that may reveal your age. If you write this long paragraph, you are like an older millennial. Whereas if you sort of say just one sentence as if you're not trying, that's much more of a younger generation person's attempt, attempt to self promote. So I find it fascinating that some rules are the same, but some rules are definitely changing there.

Mills: So I have to ask, because you mentioned it, and of course it's elsewhere in your bio, in addition to your work as a researcher and a professor, you do standup comedy. Does your research and impression management help you in your comedy? I mean, do you work it into your routine?

Sezer: Yeah, absolutely. I do. It's impossible not to. Well, first of all, in general, because I studied organizational behavior in grad school, so I'm very interested in behavioral science and what mistakes people make and how can we fix that. And in my research, I focus specifically on impression management mistakes. Comedy is also all about mistakes. If you go on stage and talk about how great things are, it's not funny. It has to be -- Mark Twain has this famous quote, there's no humor in heaven, because everything is so great there. So in a way, comedy is impression management in real time because you've got to talk about these mistakes, but also to be funny, you've got to manage the impressions too, because there is a timing. You've got to be vulnerable. And the soft deprecation usually works as a comedian. And soft deprecation is an interesting impression management strategy as well, where you can cultivate a lot of warmth and likability points. My research makes me very meta aware of these dynamics, so I always experiment with impression management on stage. I should say, and these are two favorite topics of mine. I love talking about impression management and studying it, and I love comedy and I love thinking about what makes something funny and relatable. Sometimes I run experiments, sometimes I make a joke. And if people laugh, I know it's real. And if my data works, I know it's real.

Mills: Well, Dr. Sezer, I want to thank you for joining me today. You've made a great impression.

Mills: You can find previous episodes of Speaking of Psychology on our website at speakingofpsychology.org or on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you like what you've heard, please follow us and leave a review. If you have comments or ideas for future episodes, you can email us at speakingofpsychology@apa.org. Speaking of Psychology is produced by Lea Winerman.

Thank you for listening. For the American Psychological Association, I'm Kim Mills. more

Career development

 1d

Alexandria area employers find applicants at job fair


ALEXANDRIA -- Around 50 job seekers (or maybe just "employment-curious") visited the 26 or so organizations at Alexandria's Viking Plaza Mall Tuesday, November 4 for the Alexandria Area Job Fair.

Jen Strand, the Recruitment Marketing Consultant and Event Coordinator at JobsHQ, a Forum Communications Company, said "industries [like] health care, manufacturing, retail, customer service" were... represented, along with "a little bit of government. Some booths said they had more foot traffic than any event this fall, and most booths felt that they will have at least a couple of applicants from the event."

Job hunting isn't usually what anyone would describe as fun, despite all the "we're hiring" signs around town. "It's true that there's a lot of entry level positions," says Strand. "Entry level positions are always going to be higher in number. Sometimes when you look at the employment market, there's a mismatch of skills where you have people who are not entry level, and now they find themselves looking for a career, but they're looking for something a little bit more advanced."

And like it or not, Strand says, AI (or artificial intelligence) is a part of the process and it's here to stay. "AI plays a big role in the qualifications and the preferences because the application process ranks your candidates based on their skills and their experience listed in the application or the resume. So if it's not listed, I can't capture that."

Frustrating? You bet. But everyone is frustrated, not just older folks who remember when applications were processed by human beings. "There's frustration all across all ages," says Strand. "I've had college students that have applied for 200 jobs and not had an interview yet, and then I've had folks that are experienced and have filled out 100 applications and still struggling to find that next gig. In fact, somebody I just talked to -- she's been looking for about six months.It's not always easy, especially if you're looking for a specific job."

One of the resources job seekers have, though, are career counselors like Sam Kuehl of Department of Employment and Economic Development or Tana Fox of the Minneapolis American Indian Center. They can help craft resumes and navigate the ins and outs of the application process, which has changed a lot, thanks to the internet and AI.

"Sometimes when you're looking, you have to broaden what you're looking for a little bit to get back into the market," says Strand. And career counselors can help those looking for work translate their "soft skills" (like getting along with others and building relationships) onto the page of a resume or application.

"It really depends on communication skills, both sides," says Strand. The job seeker and the employer: How well are they communicating what they really want? How well is a job seeker communicating what they really have?"

And despite the fact that age discrimination is illegal, how do you get around giving it away if your first job, for example, was in 1980?

"Sometimes you don't list your first job, and sometimes if that's your only job, sometimes you write it, 'I've got more than 10 years experience in this field.' So it really depends on how you're writing it and how you're communicating."

It can be especially challenging, if you were born before the internet, to feel as though you have something to contribute. And Strand says a lot of that depends on who is sitting in the hiring seat; something you can't do anything about.

"Did they just graduate from college in Human Resources and to them you're older than their parents? But then you have the HR person that's experienced," Strand said. "They're like 'Oh, I know you're going to be there. I know you're going to show up. I know that you have ethics. I know that you have all this knowledge.' So it just depends on who's in there. The other thing, as a job seeker, when you're out looking, if you are going out there thinking 'Nobody's going to hire me, because at my age...' your body language is going to speak that too. You need to be aware of 'How am I feeling about myself? Where am I putting my value?' Because you need to communicate that with every part of your being." more

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    I had an incident where I interviewed Thursday agency set that up and was offered the job. The agency told me if I had any questions to email the... person I interviewed with. I sent her an email yesterday thinking she would see it today. I asked a question about holidays and the hours are they flexible it was work from home. I was totally floored when she said they were retracting my offer? I am sure that was my answered prayer that door shut. Employers now are ridiculous  more

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Update & Polish My Resume


I have an existing résumé that already looks the way I want, but it needs a content refresh. I will send you the current file and the details of my most recent role; your task is to weave that new experience seamlessly into the document without altering the visual style or layout. While you are inside the file, please refine the wording so everything reads with a crisp, professional tone and my... key responsibilities are crystal-clear. No sweeping re-designs -- just smarter language and accurate, up-to-date content. I also need two PDF versions when we are done. They should share the same overall structure, but with slight variations (for example, one version can highlight leadership accomplishments a bit more while the other leans into technical skills). I'll outline the nuance I'm after once we start. Deliverables * Updated résumé in its original style * Two finalized PDFs reflecting the agreed-upon variations If this sounds straightforward to you and you're confident in résumé writing best practices, let's get started. more

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Think landing a job is hard? Try having 'DEI' on your résumé


After seven rounds of grueling interviews, an offer for a recruiting job seemed within reach for David Daniels IV. Until a reference check that Daniels learned had involved wary discussions of his background in diversity, equity and inclusion. The offer never came.

Having DEI experience on a résumé can feel like a scarlet letter in an already difficult job market, said Daniels, who lives in New... York and held roles at companies including yoga wear retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. "There's this sense of, if you did DEI, we don't want to hire you," he said. For Daniels and others like him, working in diversity made them hot commodities in corporate America just a few years ago. Now it's a liability. Conservatives have lambasted diversity work as exclusionary, while President Donald Trump's ire against what he has termed "illegal DEI" has spurred a retrenchment in many companies. Fearing lawsuits and the loss of government contracts, businesses quickly pivoted, downsizing or dismantling their diversity groups.

That left DEI professionals who lost their jobs stranded, competing for roles in a tight job market. Among the jobless population in the broader economy, about a quarter have been unemployed for a half-year or longer -- the highest share since the mid-2010s, excluding the pandemic-era years. DEI specialists say they're getting less interest from recruiters than they did several years ago and fewer interviews from companies. To bolster their chances, professionals have stripped the three letters from résumés and sought roles in adjacent departments such as in human resources, public affairs and marketing. Others have weighed changing careers.

One job hunter is Josue Mendez in New York, who used to work in the diversity group at Ogilvy, an advertising agency owned by WPP Plc. In June, weeks after his team won an industry award for a leadership program for its Black male employees, he was among those let go. Since then, Mendez spends his days scouring job listings and attending job fairs.

A conversation with a recruiter was going well, he said, until Mendez mentioned his experience in diversity. "It suddenly went very cold," Mendez recalled. "The second they see any previous work specifically in DEI, they want to stay away." The call ended ahead of schedule. The recruiter later told Mendez he was out of the running for the job.

A handful of large corporations remain publicly committed to workplace diversity. Delta Air Lines Inc., Southwest Airlines Co. and Coca-Cola Co. have kept the DEI label on their websites. And others are now emphasizing veterans and disabled employees.

But there's been a wave of reversals in the past year. Amazon.com Inc. halted some of its programs, McDonald's Corp. stopped setting "representation goals," and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. ended a policy of only taking some companies public if they had diverse board members. Corporate fears around legal risks earlier this year overshadowed everything else, said Tynesia Boyea-Robinson, whose firm CapEQ advises companies on diversity and other social issues. "A lot of people basically looked to their legal counsel and asked: What is the way we can protect ourselves from being sued?" Job ads reflect the changed landscape. New postings for diversity roles have approximately halved this year to about 1,500 from 2019 levels, according to Revelio Labs, a firm that analyzes workforces. Postings had almost quadrupled to about 10,000 during the height of the DEI boom in 2022 compared with 2019.

Since losing her position at a firm advising clients on their diversity efforts late last year, Victoria Person in New Orleans has been attending networking events held by the local Chamber of Commerce to help find clients for her new consulting business while she searches for a job. The moment Person mentions her 15-year career working in diversity, people give an uncomfortable laugh, change the subject or look over her shoulder to find someone else to talk to, she said. "I see and feel people reel back," Person said. "There's a lot of fear around this, people don't want to be associated with it." Still, despite the current malaise, Person said she hopes that diversity programs will re-emerge stronger and more inclusive, serving all demographics rather than specific groups.

Marie -- who didn't want her full named published because she fears online attacks from DEI critics -- lost her role as a diversity manager, making $150,000, following Trump's election win. Her job hunt initially yielded call backs and interviews. Now, responses have all but disappeared. Marie said she noticed some companies had posted the same diversity role multiple times over the course of months only to pull them later on. And in one interview, a chief diversity officer told her that the executive team wasn't fully sold on workplace diversity, even though the company had posted a role. Given the scarcity of roles in diversity, Marie said she's considering leaving the field. But returning to public education, her previous field, would mean risking cutting her income in half. In the meantime, she's joined a group dedicated to professionals laid off from their diversity jobs. Its founder, Michael Streffery, who was let go from his job as director of DEI at Realtor.com earlier this year, says the group's members have skills that are applicable to many other positions, including chief of staff. They also can work in roles involved in succession planning, compliance or shaping corporate culture, he said.

"They're systems thinkers, culture shapers and crisis navigators," Streffery said.

Before leaving his job earlier this year, Carlos Ayala experienced a slide. Once a chief diversity and inclusion officer at an energy company, his title was changed and his role downgraded. He stayed at the company for several months to help "de-risk" the department he once ran. That meant watering down or removing diversity policies to help reduce legal risks.

Ayala quickly experienced firsthand the liability of having worked in DEI. He said he had applied for a role overseeing diversity efforts at a company that appeared, at least publicly, to be sticking with the strategy. Midway through his interviews, Ayala got an email from the recruiter who said the business was "reframing the role" and shifting it to a generalist human resources position. "I thought, God, that's disappointing, they've been stringing me along," said Ayala, whose based in the Chicago area. Weeks later, he's still waiting to hear whether he got the job. Back in New York, Daniels is continuing his job search. He's picked up some consulting work including a client in the UK, where the political backlash to diversity is less severe. He said he's got more interviews after removing the DEI label from his online profile. In some interviews, Daniels said he's repeatedly had to reassure hiring managers that he's still comfortable working for a company, even if it's not focused on diversity. Despite the DEI retrenchment, Daniels is taking the long view. There's an ebb and flow when it comes to social justice issues, he said. "America has always been this way." more

Career development

 1d

New Year Resolutions Ideas for 2026: Build on 2025's Learnings


Image generated by Dall-E

As 2025 winds down, many of us are looking for new year resolutions ideas that actually stick. The goal isn't to overhaul your life overnight, but to choose realistic, trackable behaviors that improve focus, energy, and well‑being. If you've been searching for New Year's resolutions ideas that support better work and life balance, you're in the right place.

Looking... back, many of us struggled with overstuffed goals, inconsistent routines, and vague accountability. In 2026, we'll fix that with simpler productivity resolutions, stronger feedback loops, and smarter time management resolutions that respect your capacity.

At Timing, we've been exploring ways to work smarter, reduce stress, and increase happiness in our day‑to‑day lives. Building on the lessons of 2025, we've compiled 21 practical new year resolutions ideas for realistic resolutions for 2026 that you can measure, adjust, and sustain -- especially useful for freelancers, consultants, and small teams with ambitious work goals for 2026.

Table of Contents

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Understanding New Year's Resolutions

A New Year's resolution is a personal commitment made at the start of the year to set clear and purposeful goals to improve one's life. For many, the tradition is an opportunity to reset habits, build discipline, and refocus on priorities that often align with personal and professional goals.

Productivity resolutions are a powerful way to take control of one's time, energy, and focus. These resolutions encourage adopting systems and practices to improve your efficiency, minimize procrastination, and help you achieve your ambitions in a structured and sustainable way.

How to Set Realistic 2026 Productivity Goals

Even strong intentions fall short when resolutions are oversized or feedback loops are weak. Many goals fail because they try to change too much at once, rely only on willpower, or don't include objective checkpoints. To calibrate for 2026, narrow your scope and shorten your feedback cycles. Set one or two outcome goals, then support them with weekly habits and simple metrics you can review every 7-14 days.

Translate each ambition into a small, observable behavior (for example, "schedule two 90‑minute focus blocks" instead of "be more productive"), and track progress automatically with a tool like Timing. Use monthly or quarterly micro‑goals to adjust your plan as your workload changes. This approach creates gentle accountability, sustainable momentum, and realistic resolutions for 2026 you can actually keep.

5 Steps to Set Your New Year Resolutions for 2026

Image: Radek Grzybowski

Before we dive into 2026 resolution ideas, we need to lay some groundwork first. Here's a simple and structured process you can follow to make sure you choose the right 2026 resolutions tailored to your life goals:

Step 1. Reflect on The Past Year

Take time to review the past year and assess what worked well versus what didn't. Identify habits, tasks, or projects that added value and those that drained your energy.

Next, look at patterns around your productivity. Did certain tools or routines boost your efficiency? What specific tasks feel like time wasters?

Conducting a time audit and implementing a year-in-review routine can help build on strengths, address blind spots, and create a data-driven game plan for 2026.

Step 2: Identify Core Areas for Improvement

Pinpoint the key areas you want to focus on for the new year, such as career development, time management, work-life balance, or wellness.

Limit yourself to 2-3 core areas that will have the biggest impact on your life. It will help you prioritize your goals effectively without feeling overwhelmed and allow you to make the most progress without reaching burnout.

Step 3: Set SMART Goals

For each focus area, create SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. SMART goals give you a clear direction and make tracking your progress easier.

For example, instead of making your New Year's Resolution a vague goal like "be more productive," unpack it until you have something more tangible. Ask yourself how you can measure your productivity improvements.

A SMART resolution goal would be: "Use block scheduling to complete my top three priorities by noon every workday and use an automatic time tracking tool to monitor my progress."

Step 4: Break Your Goals into Smaller Milestones

Use micro-scheduling to divide each goal into manageable steps or milestones for each quarter, month, and week.

Breaking a big goal into smaller steps reduces overwhelms and makes progress more tangible.

Let's say you want to save $20,000 for your emergency fund by the end of the year. You would need to save $5000 every quarter, $1,700 monthly, and $425 weekly.

Focusing on the $425 feels much more manageable and doable than your overarching goal of $20k.

Step 5: Align Your 2026 Resolutions with Your Values

Make sure your goals reflect your core values, such as freedom, growth, or balance. Goals aligned with you feel more meaningful and are easier to stick with over time.

To create a deeper emotional connection to your New Year's resolutions, create a "why" statement for each goal. For example, "I want to improve time management so I can spend more evenings with my family."

Productivity Resolutions That Matter in 2026

Trends that actually move the needle next year focus on leverage, not hustle. Consider adopting one or two of these modern practices:

AI‑assisted planning and scheduling: Use AI to draft weekly plans, estimate task durations, and propose focus blocks. Pair with Timing to validate effort vs. outcome. Mental health and intentional rest: Schedule recovery blocks, no‑meeting mornings, or one protected evening for deep rest to prevent burnout. Micro‑goals (quarterly/monthly): Set compact targets you can reassess every 30-90 days to keep momentum and adapt to change. Habit sustainability and tracking: Track work patterns automatically to reinforce routines and spot time sinks early.

Examples for different audiences:

Freelancers: Add a 30‑minute Friday review to tag billable vs. non‑billable time and plan next week's top three. Consultants: Create a 90‑minute capacity planning block each Monday to sequence projects and avoid over‑commitment. Small teams: Adopt two 2‑hour team‑wide focus blocks per week; move non‑urgent chats to async. Solo founders: Automate invoicing and follow‑ups; use Timing data to review client profitability quarterly. 21 New Year Resolutions Ideas for 2026

Image generated by Dall-E

1. Create a Weekly Review Routine

Dedicate time each week to reflect on your accomplishments, challenges, and lessons learned. This practice allows you to adjust your goals, reprioritize tasks, and enter the new week with clarity and intention.

By regularly assessing your progress, your efforts align with your broader objectives while giving you flexibility for unforeseen changes. It strengthens your focus and helps you refine your strategies for all areas of your life.

2. Schedule Deep Work Sessions into Your Work Week

Carve out specific weekly times to engage in uninterrupted, high-priority deep work. Whether it's problem-solving, strategic planning, or creative projects, setting aside the time allows you to focus and tackle tasks in the right environment to drive meaningful results.

By guarding these blocks of time against distractions, you increase your ability to concentrate and produce work at a higher level.

Tip: Use Timing to identify your peak focus hours and schedule deep work around your natural rhythms.

3. Use Block Scheduling to Improve Focus and Productivity

Block scheduling is the process of grouping similar tasks into dedicated time slots. It reduces the cognitive overload of task switching and helps you channel your energy effectively.

Start by categorizing your tasks (such as meetings, creative work, or administrative duties) and assign each to specific blocks in your calendar.

For example, assign the first and last hour of your work day to inbox management instead of checking it throughout the day and breaking your focus.

4. Pay Yourself a Fair Wage

As a freelancer or business owner, your financial management is crucial. You're the only one responsible for your paycheck and whether or not you're paying yourself fairly.

A common situation for freelancers is not realizing how many hours they work in a month. Let's say you use an automatic time tracker and realize you're working 200 hours. Multiply that number by your hourly rate of $25, and you should earn $5000. If you're not, it's a sign to revisit your pricing and raise your rates, get rid of time sinks, or look for higher-paying clients.

Read More: Why Time Management is Key to Building Your Income

5. Dedicate Time Each Month to Learning New Skills

Dedicate time to identifying and developing (or refreshing) a skill that can add value to your career. Your upskilling could involve mastering a new technology, signing up for a course, or taking yourself out of your comfort zone.

For example, you could join your local Toastmasters if you want to improve your public speaking skills. Or, if one of your goals is to increase your income, you might identify a new freelance skill that can improve your earning potential and marketability.

6. Get On Top Of Your Time

Manual time tracking can be tedious, prone to errors, and disrupts your workflow. Switching to an automatic time tracker like Timing eliminates the need to rely on timers and your memory and instead gains precise insights into how you spend your day.

With these insights, you can optimize your schedule around your 2026 resolutions and improve your productivity with minimal effort.

7. Schedule Breaks to Improve Your Productivity

Stepping away from your work may seem counterintuitive, but regular breaks can make you more productive. Going for a short walk after a period of intense focus gives your brain time to recharge, process information, and come up with new creative ideas.

Try using the Pomodoro method (where you work for 25 minutes and then alternate between 5 or 10-minute breaks). Use these moments to stretch, hydrate, or simply give your eyes a break from staring at a screen.

8. Set Boundaries to Protect Personal Time

Establishing clear boundaries between work and personal life is essential to safeguard your mental health and prevent burnout.

For those who work from home or are entrepreneurs, it's hard not to bring your work home when it happens in the spare room. If you're one of the lucky few doing something you love, not allowing your work to infringe on your home and family life can be nearly impossible.

Define strict work hours and commit to stepping away from your laptop once the work day ends. If you're struggling, schedule a work-breaking activity like going to the gym or a dinner date with a friend.

9. Build Your Professional Network by Attending One Event

Expanding your professional network is a powerful way to unlock new opportunities. Commit to attending at least one networking event in 2026, whether it's a virtual meetup, local seminar, or industry conference.

Engaging with peers and industry leaders allows you to share ideas, gain fresh perspectives, and nurture mutually beneficial relationships. Networking also improves your visibility and positions you as an active participant in your field.

Read more: How to Create Trusting Relationships with Your Clients (and a More Satisfying Freelance Career)

10. Review Your Goals Quarterly for Better Adaptability

Goal-setting is not a one-time activity. It requires regular reflection and refinement if you want to achieve what you set out to do. Reviewing your work goals every quarter reminds you of what you're working towards, identifies challenges, and gives you the space to make necessary adjustments to stay on track.

For example, you may start the year off with the goal to increase your monthly income from $2000 to $3000. However, during your quarterly review, you realize your business is performing much better than expected, and it would make more sense to adjust the goal to $5000.

11. Automate Repetitive Tasks

Automation is a game-changer for freelancers and entrepreneurs, freeing up your valuable time for high-priority work.

For your 2026 New Year's Resolutions, spend time identifying where in your business and personal life automation can streamline your life.

For example:

Financial Management: Use tools like GrandTotal to automate invoicing, expense tracking, and bill payments. Email Organization: Automate inbox management with tools like Spark or Mimestream to manage emails effortlessly, working quicker and more efficiently. Calendar Organization: The right calendar app can help you organize your schedule, improve your productivity, and collaborate well with your team and clients. Social Media Scheduling: Platforms like Buffer or Hootsuite can schedule posts and monitor engagement, saving hours each week. Time Tracking: Timing helps track your work hours automatically, offering insights to optimize your time.

Read more: The 14 Best Mac Productivity Apps in 2024

12. Turn Off Notifications (and Deal With the FOMO)

Notifications are productivity's silent nemesis, constantly diverting focus and lengthening the time required to complete tasks. Whether it's emails, social media alerts, or flash sales, every interruption adds time not just for the distraction itself but also for refocusing.

Turn off non-essential notifications during work hours and set specific times to check your phone or inbox. By creating boundaries for these interruptions, you regain control over your time and attention, allowing you to stay immersed in deep work. The fear of missing out (FOMO) will fade as you see the positive impact on your focus and efficiency.

13. Create a Morning Routine and Stick to It

A consistent morning routine is a foundation for a productive day. Whether an early riser or a night owl, establishing habits like waking, eating, and working at set times improves your energy, focus, and productivity.

Start small. Ask yourself what the top three actions are that will set you up for a more productive day.

Try a mix of mental and physical activities like:

Going to the gym or stretching for 20 minutes. Meditating or practicing gratitude. Reading one chapter of a book. Listening to a podcast while walking your dog. Journaling and reviewing your to-do list. 14. Invest in a New Hobby

Rediscovering or exploring a new hobby brings joy, balance, and inspiration to your life outside work. Pursuing a passion (painting, gardening, playing a musical instrument, or hiking) can reduce stress, boost creativity, and provide a much-needed mental reset.

Make space in your schedule for your hobbies, even if it's just an hour a week. Prioritizing your hobbies alongside work ensures you cultivate a well-rounded life and lets you reap the rewards of your career.

15. Reduce Screen Time for Mental Clarity

Constant screen time can cloud your mind and drain your energy. Challenge yourself to limit non-essential use, especially during weekends or evenings, to recharge and refocus.

Combine tools like Apple's Screen Time and Timing to monitor and reduce your time spent on apps that don't align with your goals. Use App Limits and Downtime to create structure in your daily routine, and rely on Timing for detailed insights into the apps, documents, and websites you use. With these tools, you can make more intentional choices about how you spend your time, boosting your mental clarity and productivity.

Read more: Screen Time for Mac: Everything You Need to Know

16. Exercise 45 to 60 Minutes Everyday to Increase Your Brainpower

There are many reasons for getting fit this new year: weight loss, looks, lowered risk of heart disease, and diabetes. These are common motivations to get off your chair and onto a treadmill.

How about more brainpower, though? Studies done at Harvard show that being more active and getting 45 to 60 minutes of exercise daily lowers your stress levels, decreases anxiety, and increases your brainpower.

Make it a habit to leave your desk when you're not working, whether for a workout or simply a change of scenery. Regular movement refreshes your perspective and energizes your day, creating a positive feedback loop for productivity.

17. Start a Work Journal

Keeping a work journal can be particularly helpful for capturing insights and tracking your progress over time.

At the start of each month, set aside dedicated time to review your accomplishments and challenges from the previous weeks. Use this opportunity to refine your goals, remind yourself of the wins, and set intentions for the month ahead.

18. Keep Technology Out of Your Bedroom

Your bedroom should be a sanctuary for rest, not a workspace or social media hub. The blue light emitted by screens disrupts your circadian rhythm, delaying the release of melatonin and interfering with your sleep.

To protect your rest and recharge effectively, ban technology from your bedroom. Replace your phone with a classic alarm clock and wind down with a book instead of scrolling on your devices.

It's a simple shift with knock-on effects on your sleep quality, energy levels, and focus.

19. Master a New Productivity Method

The key to improving your productivity lies in adopting a system that aligns with your work style and goals. Experiment with proven methods like the Eisenhower Matrix, which helps prioritize tasks based on urgency and importance, or the Getting Things Done (GTD) approach, which organizes tasks into actionable steps.

Mastering a productivity method that works for you allows you to structure your workday more effectively and achieve greater results with less stress.

Read more: Top 10 Time Management Tips: Work Less, Achieve More

20. Experiment with the 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 Rule, or Pareto Principle, reveals that 80% of results often come from 20% of efforts. Apply this principle by analyzing your workload to identify the tasks, clients, or projects that deliver the most value.

Focus your energy on these high-impact activities and consider delegating or minimizing low-value tasks. Regularly reassess your priorities to make sure you're investing your time wisely towards your 2026 goals.

21. Practice "Time Well Spent"

The concept of "time well spent" revolves around ensuring that the hours in your day are allocated to activities that align with your goals, values, and personal fulfillment. It's about prioritizing what truly matters and avoiding the trap of wasting time on distractions or low-value tasks. The principle encourages mindful decision-making and thoughtful engagement with your work and personal life.

Start by identifying the activities that bring you the most satisfaction or yield the greatest results in your career and personal endeavors. Then, focus on structuring your day to prioritize those high-value tasks.

Using tools like Timing, you can gain clarity on where your time is going and make adjustments to maximize its impact. By optimizing your schedule for "time well spent," you'll boost productivity, enhance your overall sense of achievement, and live an intentional, purposeful life.

Why New Year Resolutions Fail

Image: Christin Hume

Despite the best intentions, many resolutions falter as the year progresses. Here's a breakdown of key challenges and how each one can undermine your success:

Setting Unrealistic 2026 Resolutions: Goals that are too ambitious or vague make it challenging to achieve or maintain progress, leading to frustration. Lack of Specific Planning: Without clear, actionable steps, resolutions can feel overwhelming and directionless. Over-Reliance on Willpower: Motivation is fleeting, and sustainable habits are necessary to stay on track long-term. Failure to Track Progress: Without tracking tools or benchmarks, it's easy to lose momentum and overlook achievements. Neglecting Accountability: Resolutions without support systems or accountability measures are more likely to drift off track. All-or-Nothing Mindset: Perfectionism often leads to abandonment after setbacks rather than adjustments and perseverance. Tips for Staying on Track with Your 2026 Resolutions

Image: Lauren Mancke

Setting 2026 resolutions is just the beginning. The real challenge lies in maintaining them throughout the year. Here's a recap of actionable tips to keep you on track and build sustainable habits:

Start Small and Be Specific: Break larger goals into smaller, manageable steps. Instead of "be more productive," try "spend 30 minutes each morning planning the day." Specificity makes goals less intimidating and more achievable. Create a Timeline with Milestones: Establish time-bound check-ins (weekly, monthly, or quarterly) to measure progress and stay motivated. Smaller milestones give you clear markers of achievement and keep momentum high. Track Your Time and Activities: Use tools like Timing to monitor how you're spending your time. Tracking reveals patterns, highlights inefficiencies, and helps you adjust your approach as needed. Build Your 2026 Resolutions into Daily Routines: Incorporate goals into your existing habits. For example, schedule a daily block for focused work or dedicate specific times for self-care. Focus on Progress, Not Perfection: Setbacks are inevitable, but they're not failures. Celebrate progress, no matter how small, and use challenges as opportunities to refine your approach. Seek Support and Accountability: Share your resolutions with a trusted friend, join a group, or use accountability apps to stay committed. Celebrate Milestones: Reward yourself for small victories along the way. Whether it's a treat or a day off, celebrating progress boosts motivation and keeps you inspired. Make Time Work for You in 2026

As we step into the new year, the best 2026 resolution you can make is one that aligns with your individual goals and values. While resolutions vary from person to person, mastering your time is a universal key to success. By becoming more productive and intentional with how you spend your time, you can achieve more in less time, creating space for both personal growth and balance.

Start your journey today by taking control of your schedule, tracking your progress, and staying adaptable. An automatic timer, like Timing, empowers you to understand where your time is going and what adjustments to make that will drive tangible results. For deeper planning, explore our guides to Mac time tracking apps, developer time tracking, and the time management matrix.

Ready to turn your 2026 resolutions into reality? Download Timing's free 30-day trial and make 2026 your most productive year yet.

Frequently Asked Questions: New Year Resolutions Ideas What are the best productivity resolutions for 2026?

Focus on leverage: schedule two weekly deep‑work blocks, run a 30‑minute weekly review, and adopt AI‑assisted planning to estimate tasks and plan the week. Track effort automatically with Timing so you can course‑correct quickly.

How can I stick to my New Year's goals?

Keep goals small, measurable, and time‑bound. Create monthly micro‑goals, review progress every week, and add light accountability (share goals with a peer or use reminders). Build habits into existing routines and use data to adjust instead of relying on willpower.

What resolutions help with time management in 2026?

Try time‑blocking, a daily shutdown routine, and a weekly planning session. Pair these with automatic time tracking to spot time sinks, reduce context switching, and protect focus hours. These time management resolutions make it easier to deliver on your work goals for 2026. more