Category: Career

Talking To Your Boss About Leaving Your Job :: My Experience

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

leaving your jobIf you read my last post about knowing when it was time to leave a job then you know what decision I made.  I have been with this company for over 5 years and have worked my way up from a part-time receptionist to full-time office manager and bookkeeper and then came full circle to a full-time paralegal.  I had signs that showed me this job wasn’t the one for me, but when I realized that then I also knew it was time to talk to my boss.

leaving your job
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It’s hard to sit down with someone that you’ve gotten to know over the past few years to have a hard discussion with.  Luckily for me, I can have a pretty open conversation with my boss and walk away feeling that it was productive.  Here’s how I went about talking to my boss about wanting to leave:

1) start the dialogue and letting him know that you want to talk.
2) be honest with how you are currently feeling.  Some may say that the workplace is not the place for feelings, but when you know someone for over 5 years and he’s seen a lot from you then it’s okay.
3) do not back down from what you want.
4) tell him the issues you are having – some may be personal and some may be the office procedures.
5) be flexible about leaving.

For me, there were some cases that we needed to finish up.  Yes, I could have left him without any help, but that wouldn’t have been very nice.  Plus, he’s been there for me in the past and the least I could do was be there.  I sat down and had this conversation about a month before wanting to leave.  That way we both had a specific date in mind and the chance to wind up some cases.

It’s never easy to start a new chapter in your life, but sometimes it’s a necessity.  Do not let being miserable at your job make you an unhappy person.  Life is too short to be angry and sad.  Only you have the ability to make change happen.

If you dream of having a different life or a different career then realize that you might be standing in our own way.  I had so many supportive people around me telling me it was okay to make a switch, but I had to finally believe it to make it happen.

Signs It’s Time For A New Job :: My Experience

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

signs it's time for a new jobThe end of the year has come and I can finally make a big announcement that I’ve been keeping from you.  The title probably gave it away, but I have decided that I want to change jobs.  It’s been a long time coming and a pretty hard decision.  I don’t love my job, but I am absolutely crazy about the people I work with.  It makes it so hard when you dread going into the office each morning, but know that you are making a difference with the people you work for.
signs it's time for a new jobWhat happens when you think you are ready for a career change?  There has to be some signs that lead you along your way, right?  Well, I had a few signs it’s time for a new job:

1) I dreaded going into the office.  I am never one to dread talking to people and helping people.  So when I started to hate it, I knew I was in the wrong field.

2) It’s not where I saw myself in 5 years or even 1 one year from now.

3) I want to own a business some day and there was no potential for me to own a part this one.

4) I was tired of complaining.

A few simple and direct signs is all it took, well that and about 3 months.  The next step was talking to my boss.  I’ll go more into that in another post.

Image via behappy

10 Tips To Start Your Day Off Right

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

ImageChef Word Mosaic - ImageChef.com

I love advice from others, but sometimes you just have to learn things the hard way.  Most of the time when it comes to sleeping, or not sleeping enough, you come across ideas that tend to stick out.  At this point in my life with everything I am striving for, such as working hard to start a career, having this lovely blog that I post on, being married, loving two dogs unconditionally, and having a passion for DIY projects it’s hard to get enough sleep.

But the biggest tip I ever received was never to get more sleep, but it was to start your day off right.  So, here are my 10 tips to start your day off right:

1) wait to check your email
2) give yourself time to decompress in the morning
3) plan the night before – what is the biggest thing you have to get done tomorrow?
4) know what you are going to wear before you get out of bed
5) pack your lunch the night before – saves money and stress of having to do it before you leave
6) eat breakfast
7) take care of urgent tasks as soon as you get to the office
8) pick 3 things to get done for the day whether it be work related or personal – what will you be the most upset with if it doesn’t get done?
9) say good morning to your coworkers – it won’t kill you to be nice and it might be recipricated
10) leave in plenty of time to get to work on time

Cheers!

Learning to Deal With Others

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

 

dealing with othersI like to think of myself as a pretty easy going, likeable person that can see the good in just about everyone and every situation.  And most of the time… I really am like this, it’s no lie.  However, there are people and moments in my life that catch me off guard or rub the wrong way.  Usually my eyes are a dead giveaway to these type of people and moments.  You know, the deer in headlights gaze that is undeniable.  My eyes cannot tell a lie, no matter how hard I try.

I usually ask myself “is it even worth getting along with this person?  Will they even be in my life in the next few months or years?”  Most of the time I think the answer is “NO”.  But as I get older I realize the value of relationships and connections.  Just because there are some people in the world that you do not get along with does not mean you need to instantly alienate them.  You never know when you might need their help.

Now it’s about learning how to cope with people that I do not like.  Putting on that smile and grinning to make it through the moment I have to share with them.

Getting older does have some benefits, but I sure do miss the days on the playground when you could ignore the mean girl on the jungle gym.

Cheers!

What I Would Do Differently As A College Student

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®
college advice
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In college you have friends, professors, advisors and mentors that you follow and look up to.  With all of that help and guidance it’s hard to say that you ‘missed’ anything.  But for me there a few things that I wish I could have done differently.  Now that I am older and maybe a little wiser I would like to pass down that infinite wisdom to other college students.  I wrote a letter to incoming freshmen a few months ago, but there are always new areas to learn from.

First, take more pictures.  Back in my day I didn’t start college off with some fancy iPhone that could snap video and pictures with a click of a button.  Nope, I had to carry around a digital camera in my clutch.  Sometimes that oversized wristlet did not go with my outfit and I wasn’t about to leave my ID, money or phone at home so the camera was left behind.  Man, if I could go back to some of my favorite memories and just have a camera in my hands – that would be awesome!  I would love to have documentation of those crazy, awesome, never happening again moments.  Mainly for proof that it actually happened and then secondly so that I don’t forget 30 years from now.

college adivce
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Second, intern more.  I had one real intern throughout college.  It was for a local advertising firm.  I liked it just fine.  It was not what I dreamed of, which is probably why I am not pursuing advertising today.  I learned the hard way, real fast about office politics and why Ms. Big Client’s kid got all of the good assignments even though they were a complete screw up and had no idea what responsibility was.  While I sat at the front desk answering calls and designing the boss’ personal Christmas party invite.

If I could go back, I would have found an internship each semester to do and possibly a second one during the summer months.  I would have not worked so much at a job I no longer have so that I could have experienced more in fields I was interested in.  I could have built my resume to be pretty strong and made a lot of connections in the real world.

That’s it.  Two simple pieces of advice for today’s college students.  Read it, learn it, and then go do it.  Don’t regret your actions so that you can not move forward, but simply learn from others so that you can better yourself.

Cheers!

Faking It

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

faking it

Does faking it work?

It’s no lie that there are days that I just do not have my stuff together, like the other day.  I wake up late or I just cannot seem to wake up.  I have zero motivation to get things done.  It happens to us all, well at least that is what I’m telling myself – days like these happen to everyone, not just me.  But when you are trying to start a career these days need to be rare.

How do you get over the blah feeling?  Fake it.  When you leave the house and step into the workplace, you leave that blah feeling at the door.  You plaster a smile on your face and carry a notepad with you so you do not forget anything in the fog.

I know faking it will not always get you to the place you want to be in your career or will it completely erase that blah feeling.

Take lots and lots of notes.

 I have always loved to-do lists, even at a young age.  So, on the days that you just aren’t feeling it carry around a notepad.  That way you are prepared when your boss calls you into his office to give you a jumbled to-do list that deals with 8 separate clients and a few administrative tasks sprinkled in.  Make details so when you come back to the office the next day your notes make sense and you can remember what you are suppose to be doing.

Wake up early.

If you are like me and like to hit your snooze a few times, then set your alarm earlier.  That way when you finally roll out of bed you will still have time to wake up, get your bearings, and not be rushed.  I feel fierce the mornings that I take time putting makeup on, picking out an outfit and finding jewelry to wear.  I know the days that I leave the house fully dressed I feel good about myself and I rock it at work.

Wait until you get to work to check e-mails.

I get distracted when the first thing I do in the morning is grab my  phone to check  e-mails.  That is the worst mistake I can do.  An e-mail  can get me all worked up then I spend too much time thinking about it and not enough time getting out of bed.  I have started waiting until the workday has began to check e-mails and it has made a difference.

Let’s be honest, my work does not care one bit if I am “out of it,” the clients do not understand when I say that my head is just not in it .  That screams I am unprofessional.  So, faking it the days that you need just a little push will help.

Cheers!

Quarter Life Opportunity

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

Quarter Life Opportunity

Ever read something that just hits you like a ton of bricks?  And you’re left standing (or in my case sitting) there like “wow, that is so me.”  That happened to me the other day when I ran across fellow blogger Cat’s article in the Huffington Post called “Quarter Life Crisis or Quarter Life Opportunity.”

I have been following Catsince she started, but those days I had another blog and was pretty quiet on the blogosphere.  I’ve seen her grow into this great blogger with great posts and this article is no different.

I have been saying for years (well at least the past 2) that I am going through a Quarter Life Crisis.  I do not know which way my life is going to turn, I am panicked that I do not have a “career” yet, and I do not own a home.  My “crisis” hit on my 25th birthday, I went out with my best friend and got rip roaring drunk.  I woke up with not only a headache, but also a knot on my forehead.  I only remember bits and pieces of the night including the start, the middle and a random 40+ year old lady telling me that she’s been clubbing for over 20 years.

Since that night, I have worked to find a purpose in my life.  I did not want to be someone who had been clubbing for 20+ years, and as a girl that hardly went out in my early twenties I highly doubted it, but still – it was scary folks!  I am lucky that I found someone to share my life with, someone that deals with my panic moments of being an adult with no career who thinks that defines my purpose.

I work hard, I do.  I am willing to be the first one in the door and the last one out.  I am willing to take all the responsibility that I can for my workplace.  I take calls from angry clients that do not understand something, I make the hard calls that need to be made, I get more stuff done in an 8-hour period compared to majority of people I know; however, it does not feel like a career.  I am not where I wanted or more importantly, where I thought I would be by my late twenties.

However, I need to stop looking at it as a “crisis.”  The position I am in is good.  I am still young, I do not have small children to feed or shelter, just two furry dogs that I think are my children.  I am educated and love school so the idea of furthering my education always makes me happy.  I have family and a fiance that will support me.  I love all aspects of business and being creative, so the window is wide open for me to pursue a plethora of options.

Why do we, as mid to late twenty-somethings think that we are not living up to our potential when our lives are not what we dreamed when we were 12?  This, my friends, is not a bad thing.  It’s an opportunity to create the life that we want, even if you are like me and are not sure what that life looks like.

There is not one job or one career out there that will satisfy every aspect of what makes me happy.  Maybe that is what the world is evolving into, individuals with multiple jobs and not the typical 8-5, Monday through Friday.  Perhaps our generation will be much more fulfilled than the previous generation.  Our generation will be able to have a healthy balance between family, work, and play because we will design the jobs that we WANT to work around the life that we WANT to live.

I know that when I go to work each day and feel that I have a made a difference, am happy with my overall performance, and have moderate amounts of stress (because I am weird and like some stress) then I know that I will have found my calling.  Until that moment, I will continue working hard at my 9-5, designing prints for my beloved Etsy shop, and creating for this little blog of mine.

Cheers to the opportunity that is in front of us!