When you aren't at home for a days or weeks at a time, the hotel room quickly stops become an escape from the ordinary and instead become a stuffy, uncomfortable room. The mattress, pillow, lights, and shower aren't on the settings you prefer. I travel over 50% of the time for my job and a hotel room can be tough to get used to and still feel refreshed in the morning. I've learned some tricks of the trade that hopefully you can use too!
  1. Charging your tech gadgets
    • One of the grossest things is looking behind furniture for an outlet. A tip is to look to the gadgets that are already in use in the room. In particular, the TV. These days most modern TVs have HDMI and USB ports on the back of them. Just swivel it to the side and plug in your phone. 
  2. Privacy from housekeeping
    • It makes me nervous having people clean my stuff for me. I've come back at the end of the day to my makeup meticulously organized on the bathroom counter. Did they use it before placing it like that? I'll never know. Instead of wondering if they do something strange out of curiosity or intentional, just hang the "Do not disturb" sign on the door knob when you leave for the day. It will keep housekeeping out and your stuff untouched. Just remember to hang up your towel and reuse it (you do that at home anyways!).
  3. Ask for the minifridge
    • I do not like hotel breakfasts. I'd rather eat granola bars in the morning, even at home. If I'm in a new place for a week though, I prefer to go to the neighborhood grocery store and grab breakfast (and/or lunch and/or dinner) for the week. Most hotel chains have a fridge (with microwave combos) that are on rolling carts. Sometimes there is a fee associated with it, but often there isn't. Then you can keep your juice cold until morning. :-)
This week I'm inspired by this picture: an overrun forest with a path blocked by a fallen tree. Sometimes you feel like this, in that the obvious route is not the easy one. In your career, there can be many cases you feel like this: market competitor, money, career path. How do you deal with it?

  1. Find another path
    • Often in life, the path you're on isn't the one you set out on or thought it would be. Why would this time be different? Maybe you wanted the path to go up the mountain, but instead it is winding around it leading you to a different destination further from view. It's okay to take a detour adventure; it's better than going back down the known path and not getting anywhere.
  2. Wait for the tree to rot
    • Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but sometimes playing the waiting game is not the worst choice. Now there is a limit to how long you should put your goals on hold, but conditions will change even if you don't. Maybe the rain comes and washes away the dirt causing erosion and the tree falls out of your path! It can happen when you least expect it, and you can continue forward even more determined.
  3. Blaze your own way around
    • Why wait for someone to go before you and lead the way? Go around the fallen tree any way you can. Be creative. Be a risk taker. Be an entrepreneur and show the trail who's boss.
Disclaimer: When hiking in parks, stay on the designated trail! Taking shortcuts (especially on steep slopes) causes erosion that can harm the area long term for animals, plants, and other hikers. Be smart about going off on your own and know your surroundings before jumping into them.
A resume needs to be easy to read. It needs to be simple. It needs to be fast to identify who's resume it is. That means the first thing on the page is your own name. It is the one thing that doesn't require an expert to wordsmith it to make you stand out. You are unique and your name calls attention to just that. Show the world what you are made of!
Here are three simple tips to understand why your name on your resume can send such a powerful message on it's own.
  1. Your Name
    • It may seem silly, but your name should be the largest thing on your resume. Truly it is the most important because they can forget everything else about you but if they forget your name, then you will never win. And you never want the recruiter to have to look for your phone number or email address. If you want the job, they have to contact you and use your name so make it as easy for them to find as possible.
  2. Middle Name
    • Should you put your full name on your resume? A good test for this is to do a Google search or a Facebook search. How many other people share your name? If it is a common name, or a name that returns negative connotation results, make yourself unique by including your full given name. You know that recruiters will search you on social media so know what is out there about you, whether you are the one that put it out there or not.
  3. Called by Name
    • A pro tip is to use your nickname on your resume. Still use something professional, but if you prefer a shortened version like John or Rich to Jonathan or Richard, then share that in your profiled resume. You can include both your full and shortened name if you want with parenthesis. For example: James (Jack) Frost. Write down what you want your desk name tag to say on your first day when you get hired!
It's summer! And that means mowing the lawn in a routine weekend activity. I actually enjoy spending the time outside making my backyard pretty, but like any homeowner, there is a constant struggle against....

Oh, the dreaded dandelion. It holds such fond memories as a child of blowing wishes with friends but now to the one striving for a well manicured lawn, it is just a weed. What can we learn from the dandelion?
  1. Appeal to the kid in you
    • Everyone likes to have a good time whether it's playing Frisbee, laughing at a joke, or solving a problem together. So if your silly behavior is detrimental to your surroundings (i.e. not helping the work get done) then make sure you're making those that are working hard enjoy their work that much more.
  2. Move fast
    • Dandelions grow fast. One day they're green buds, quickly opening to yellow flowers, and the next day they're seeds blowing in the wind all over your lawn. If you screw up in the work environment, don't dawdle; move quickly onto the next lawn and the next project. Beat the gardener (or manager)!
  3. Find opportunity in everything
    • Dandelions aren't poisonous. Actually, dandelions leaves can be eaten and there are recipes to brew dandelion tea or dandelion wine. So a flower becomes a weed can become a vegetable! Be optomistic and turn challenges into opportunities. :-)
UNDO UNDO! Unfortunately, not everything has an undo button. If you delete something, sometimes it is gone for good. If you cut something too short, you can't make it longer! I'm inspired this week by a home project that I'm working on that definitely depends on precise measurements: crown molding!

  1. Double check yourself
    • Literally, "measure twice, cut once". In project management, the first assessment of a timeline can seem reasonable and correct, but then upon a second inspection, you find a dependency that you missed that changes your initial estimate. In crown molding, you might notice your design doesn't quite line up right on a flush joint. Better try again!
  2. Ask for a second opinion
    • I am a big fan of inviting a second pair of eyes to look over your work from a fresh perspective. They may notice something you didn't. Whether it's a missed paint spot or something more serious like a corner alignment, grab a friend and ask for their help. A department manager of the team members on your project might have more insight to schedule conflicts that you didn't know about. For example, vacation times or key financial periods of your client stakeholders that you'd want to avoid.
  3. Prepare extras
    • For precision projects, you just can't skimp by buying only what you need. You will need extra because you will mess up, intentionally or not. I bought many extra pieces and am very glad I did for my molding project. It is better to plan with some "wiggle room" (a technical term for a contingency plan) than to have to scrap it and go to a Plan B with all new material.

About Me



So if you want to be happy at work like I am, then thanks for being a reader! I am a consultant that travels constantly and is always working with new people. I love what I do! I'm formally trained with an MBA and BS Engineering. At home and in my free time, I like to drink beer, travel, garden, read, hike with my dog, and play board games.

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