Saturday, December 28, 2019

Advantages of Working for a Small Business

Advantages of Working for a Small BusinessAdvantages of Working for a Small BusinessYoure trying to find a job, and youre excited about the prospect of a working for a new company. Youve done your homework on top employers and have read about the cool perks and benefits that bigger companies are touting. Youre thinking, big pay, big benefits, big opportunity But are you missing the big picture when you leave out small business?Sure, big companies have a lot to offer, but small firms can offer many appealing benefits that you may not have considered. In fact, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses have added 8 million new jobs since 1990. So when it comes time to find a job, remember that small can be big. Here are five advantages of working for a small business1. Get direct access to the big anfhrerSmall businesses have fewer layers of management. Translation You may get the ears of the CEO, or your boss may even be the owner. Greater visibility allows you to learn firsthand from their experience and showcase your abilities directly to the people who matter. You can build valuable relationships and job skills that benefit you throughout your career.2. Acquire entrepreneurial experienceIt takes a well-oiled machine to run a large corporation, which means you may only operate a tiny part of the engine. But at a small business, it can be the opposite. You could be chief cook and bottle washer at the same time, allowing you to see many aspects of running a business. Youll gain some amazing insight and hands-on experience. And who knows, you may get the entrepreneurial bug and launch your own business some dayVisit the Robert Half Career Center and get tips, tools and advice on conducting a successful job search.3. Be the big fishIts easy to get lost in the shuffle at a large company. You cant always make a big impact, or your work may be overshadowed by others. Working your way up the ranks may take longer, too. If you like being mora visible and making a direct impact, working for a small business can give you the opportunity to take on more responsibility, and its more likely your hard work will be noticed.4. Discover what you do bestWorking for a small business often means its all-hands-on-deck. The upside is you may get to try something completely new and, in the process, learn something unexpected about yourself. You might find that you really love interacting with clients directly. Perhaps you are happiest managing the financial side of the business or taking on the role of social media ambassador. What better way to identify your strengths and talents and discover what you enjoy most and do best?5. Benefit from less red tape and more flexibilityHave an idea and want to implement it fast? You might have to push it through many channels and levels at large company. Smaller firms simply have less red tape and protocol to wade through. This flexibility often means projects are completed more quickly and with less frustration. You likely wont need to seek approval every step of the way.As youre trying to find a job, dont focus only on the larger companies. Your next big break could be at a small business.Robert Half works with small businesses across the country and may be able to help you find the right opportunity with the right company. Submit your resume to start your search.Send Us Your Resume

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Cool office spaces are based on a once-exploitative model

Cool office spaces are based on a once-exploitative modelCool office spaces are based on a once-exploitative modelMere photos of the Googleplex in Mountain View, California, inspire admiration. The colorful decor, looming glass windows, toy-like bike stations, and gigantic baked goods statues make the campus seem more like a futuristic Disneyland than an office building filled with worker bees churning out the companys latest products.But behind these new-age corporate campuses lies the haunting legacy of industrialization, and with it the models created to attract employees tied to their corporate institutions. Though offices with craft beer on tap and masseuses on call may seem a far cry from the company towns that defined corporate life into the 20th century,according to Quartz, the two business strategies share structural similarities that may make us cringe when we consider the implications.Living at workAs the Industrial Revolution pioneered new factory models that used game-ch anging technology, workers began to move to industrial centers for jobs in a newly minted workforce. But, as evinced by the insights of famed theorists such as Karl Marx, the contemporary urban landscape had not modernized enough to accommodate an influx, and workers rights and benefits were concepts foreign to a society that had barely distanced itself from feudalism.Company towns were a solution to a still dependent workforce that relied on employers to provide necessities such as healthcare and food. Nestled near industrial hotbeds such as coal mines or chocolate factories, the employer-run towns harbored everything a worker could need but still tended to benefit the business owner.Some of the company towns were downright exploitative, charging workers inordinate sums for basic goods and plunging them into a lifetime of debt. But others were at least intended to improve quality of life for employees.Regardless, they were all based on the same principles Centrality, or keeping wor k central to life enclosure, or isolation from other communities insularity, or seclusion based on a fully functioning internal community and completeness, or lack of need for anything beyond work.Sound familiar?Work/life balance todayRide in a WeWork elevator, and youll notice a calendar with the months events. Perhaps theres an exercise class one morning or a comedy show at night. The opportunities are endless.In fact, the schedule sounds so fun that it would seem silly to ever leave. Why go somewhere to pay for the things you love when you can stay put and do them for free?To a certain degree, these perks are an upgrade for the workforce. For example, some companies have started catering meals for their employees, which saves untold sums for people trying to live in the countrys most competitive real estate markets. These accommodations show consideration and care from discerning CEOs who understand the needs of people who work around them.But as major companies such as Amazon an d Facebook increasingly gravitate toward campuses that go far beyond free food, a disconcerting pattern emerges Their offices use centrality, enclosure, insularity, and completeness to justify long, late hours at the office and a precarious relationship between work and life.The logical extreme of these worker trends lands somewhere along the lines ofDave Eggers book The Circle, which shows how the personal and professional can become one blurred entity as employees live at work. But even in less dystopian circumstances, the new environments and their similarities to company towns beg the question, Is this really healthy?As eye-catching as the Googleplex may be, its stunning facade cannot mask all of the power dynamics its very design implies. So maybe its time to reconsider what we, as workers, want from our jobs, and how much independence were willing to give up for a seemingly utopian workplace.

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Quantify, Justify Your ROI

Quantify, Justify Your ROIQuantify, Justify Your ROISelling yourself means demonstrating your value. Use these simple tips to make your case.Common wisdom from almost every resume writer, career coach, recruiter and hiring manager Your resume should focus less on listing the jobs youve had than demonstrating the value you brought to each.Its great advice, but not always easy to follow. If youre in schlussverkauf, you can expound on how you performed against quota. In accounting, you can cite return on capital in operations, you can enumerate reductions in cost for manufacturing or distribution.Many other corporate jobs, however, are harder to quantify. Nevertheless, to command a senior executive salary, its essential you can justify your return on investment in dollars and cents.In fact, there are cost justifications for even the most non-quant job and non-numerical credentials that both hiring managers and recruiters will recognize, according to Sharon Jautz, an HR consultant specia lizing in online and digital media after mora than 20 years as an HR executive at companies such as Forbes Inc. and Playboy Enterprises Inc.The first step is quantification.Every job is quantifiable to some degree, even if thats not the only thing you use to judge it, Jautz said. At Forbes, I hired more than 100 people in a given year without using a recruiter. Theres a (budget) number for hiring dividing by the number I hired gives you a cost per hire. Even facilities management has that kind of quantification if you switch from one water supplier to another, thats a demonstrable impact on cost.Use common process-management or efficiency-modeling techniques to quantify the non-quantifiable parts of your job.Read up on goals or performance reviews youve received in your career, and convert your personal priorities or accomplishments into financial metrics that show how they would have benefitted the company thats why you were rated on them in the first place.There are three categor ies you can use to quantify your accomplishments revenue, personal or staff productivity, and process efficiency.RevenueEvery job verstndigung im strafverfahrens with numbers to some degree if yours involves cash flow in any way, focus on that first. Talk about the number of prospects you reeled in, deals you closed or any increase in the volume of business for which you were responsible.Even if your job had nothing directly do to with landing the business or making a sale, talk about your accomplishments in the context of revenue. Note your accomplishment as a key part of the effort. Adapting Jautzs example above, you might try Slashed hiring expenses and cost-effectively built top-flight staff in a division that increased revenue xx percent over two years.Personal and staff productivityTime is money literally. The company had to pay for your salary and benefits and those of your staff. Thus, anything you did to make them more effective reduced the amount of time they required to a ccomplish tasks whether it was the design of a product, marketing, closing the books or any other corporate function and afforded the company a quantifiable increase in productivity.As a manager, did you have to absorb the workload of another department without adding staff? Did you have to demonstrate increases in workload or the amount of work your staff did without increasing hours or pay? Convert that to cash and claim it as productivity increases that go straight to the bottom line with a direct reduction in SGA.To make it easer, estimate the salaries of the people that work with or for you and break it down by the hour. If you worked in a department of 10 people, each of whom made an average of $100,000 per year, working eight hours per day, five days per week, 52 weeks per year, each hour you saved for the staff was worth $480.77 to the company(8*5*52)/(10*100,000)A full day is $3,846. Cut the length of a weekly staff meeting by 30 minutes (480.77/2 *52), and youve saved th e company $12,500.02.Did you figure out how to handle a trade show or other group trip with two people rather than four? Figure in the travel and full-day pay of the people who didnt go as savings you created.Process efficiencyProcess efficiency is productivity on steroids. Rather than reducing the amount of time it takes a department to do things, you reduce the time it takes a whole company or several departments to do things. A lawyer who reduced the amount of time it takes for several departments to sign off on a particular deal or complete a set of process requirements made each of those departments more efficient.Multiply the single department above by the number of departments and the number of people in each, and youve got a number that gets impressive pretty quickly. Even if youre only saving time for the top managers of each division, there are a lot more zeros in their salaries than those of their employees saving their time adds up even faster.If a deal or product or eve nt cant go forward without the process you completed, look at the total cost of the development of that whole process and estimate how much time you saved.Making sure a product could be launched two days earlier gave the company two extra days to sell it reduced the downtime of manufacturing and distribution networks and gave every department involved in its launch, promotion or sale two extra days to do other productive work.Put a dollar sign in front of those numbers, and youve given a prospective employer a quick and easy way to understand the benefit of hiring you.Other numbersEven if you cant correlate revenue to your specific job, provide the numbers you can. In customer service, put in the number of customers your department was responsible for and the increases in customer satisfaction. In distribution, put in the volume of shipping and reductions in time or cost of transport, breakage or returns.No matter the job, there are a number of cases, number of customers, number of hours, number of applications or RFPs or payroll cycles for which you were responsible for. Put in some digits to give a hiring manager an idea of how busy you were or how big the division was that you supported.Putting ROI into practiceHRLadder member Suzanne Frawley had to translate what she had done (in past jobs) into value numbers and savings during the resume revamp that eventually landed her a job as learning and development manager an office of German pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim.Sales is especially numbers-heavy when it comes to hiring, according to Russell Watkins, principal of Executive Search Professionals, a search firm in Texas. That makes it easier to use hard data to justify your compensation, but means you have to use a lot more detail and be prepared for more verification than people in less measurable jobs.Without giving away competitive information about who the customers were or even how they landed one, candidates for sales jobs have to list as muc h detail as they can about quotas and sales growth, Watkins said. That includes details like how much monthly recurring revenue they generate, the number of new customers per quarter and the amount of new sales per quarter.I hate to say this, but if they dont put enough information on their resumes, theyre not going to get looked at, Watkins said. They should explain all the tools they used and the systems they worked on, whether they were in direct or channel sales, the type of vertical market, what percentage of plan they were under or over. Without that detail, some people just wont call you.

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Is Bad Advice Killing Your Job Search

Is Bad Advice Killing Your Job SearchIs Bad Advice Killing Your Job SearchIt seems like everyone (and their well-meaning cousin) has a piece of career advice when it comes to job hunting. As one of the leading resume writing agencies in Houston, ResumeSpice has seen firsthand how the advice of even the best-intentioned friends, family members, and trusted colleagues can actually foil your job search and prevent you from landing a new position.So what advice should you toss out of the window? Lets take a lookMyth 1 A Resume Must be One Page Sure, this was the standard practice years ago, but not anymora. Your resume can be and should be, if youre highly experienced, more than one page. Its better to have an easy-to-read and well-formatted resume thats two pages long, than an unreadable and poorly formatted resume thats crammed into one page. That said, dont go overboard and submit a resume thats longer than it needs to be to reflect your experience. The one page resume myth is so perv asive, we wrote a blog post about it.Myth 2 You Should Apply to As Many Jobs as You Can Hiring managers can quickly identify whether or not youre right for the job. So if youre sending your resume like spam mail just because hey, you never know youre only wasting your time and the hiring managers by applying to every position under the sun. Instead, spend your time crafting customized resumes and cover letters for the few positions you truly are a great fit for.Myth 3 Companies Post All Openings If theres a company youre interested in working for say you love their product or youre a loyal user of their tafelgeschirr reach out to them, even if they havent posted a position. In your cover letter, be sure to communicate why you are passionate about working for the company and what you plan on bringing to the table to create a positive impact there. The fact that there isnt a job posted can actually help your chances, as theres likely to be less competition. Companys love hearing f rom candidates who have a true passion and desire to work for them. Myth 4 Staffing Agencies Dont Help Back in the day, staffing agencies were used to fill administrative and industrial type positions. Todays staffing agencies place highly skilled professionals in fields ranging from accounting to IT to human resources. If youre someone with plenty of experience under your belt, and youd like some professional help finding your next job, a staffing agency can help get you there.If youre ready to begin your job hunt and need a resume that works for you let us help As one of the countrys leading professional resume writing services,ResumeSpicecan help you produce a winning resume.Contact us today to learn moreat832.930.7378.

Monday, December 9, 2019

The Leaked Secrets to Resume Presentation Uncovered

The Leaked Secrets to Resume Presentation Uncovered Your resume ought to be focused, concise and emphasize achievements and abilities that fit the job that youre applying for. You understand that your resume must stick out from your competition. Therefore, portfolios can be utilized in school, work or for hobbies. Include examples of particular accomplishments from preceding jobs. Also, bear in mind that theres a high probability you resume will be scanned electronically as a growing number of companies utilize special software to index resumes. Dont believe that youve got to list every exam youve ever taken or every activity youve ever been involved in. Microsoft PowerPoint is a highly effective program which may seem intimidating in the beginning. The format you select will be dependent on various factors, including your work history and degree of experience. Employers complain when resumes arent named to recognize the applicant. Resumes are made to highlight the best si de of an individual. For instance, if youre still in school and are seeking your very first job, you might want to skip the work experience section from your CV and set a great deal of focus on your abilities and education. By then, youll have used Big Interview to prepare and practice so which you can speak about your reasons in a constructive and professional way. If you dont believe you possess a great deal of that, then maybe you should locate a job that is more relevant to your experience. So if youre looking to receive a job ( not only any job, no matter how the job that you want), be certain to do things correct and learn how to make an outstanding resume. Next, if additional study or job experience looks integral to qualifying for employment or field you may desire to pursue, you can develop an interim plan to receive there. Too many candidates make the error of including a thorough job description rather than emphasizing individual contributions. If public speaking is pa ramount to a single position, you might set the section directly below your work experience section. At the start of your primary interview, state that youve got a resume portfolio to leave with the employer for more review. Specifically, you must be aware of how to answer questions. The very first question is frequently an ice-breaker. For many individuals, the toughest portion of keeping a job is understanding how to appropriately communicate, socialize, and cope in the job environment. In fact, theres not anything wrong with saying youre enthusiastic about getting the job. When it has to do with your resume, you truly cant be too perfect. Ensure your resume is well-written. Therefore, be certain to sign up only after youre told to achieve that. Sometimes you need to do what you could to get noticed. Ok, I Think I Understand Resume Presentation, Now Tell Me About Resume Presentation The plan is still organized and simple to read a terrific instance of balancing creati vity with readability. If youre on the lookout for PowerPoint resume templates, Envato Elements ought to be your very first stop. When you own a presentation on career-related theme, you will be sure to require related visuals. In case you have any comments or suggestions please dont hesitate to get in touch with us. Look at never to attempt to obtain a congrats if youre unemployed. Additionally, the unusual layout enables the information to stand out well while still keeping a skilled and organized appearance. Due to its simplicity, it is simple to customize the template to your requirements. The 5-Minute Rule for Resume Presentation In addition, the custom fonts add an extremely nice, original touch to the whole design. So, PowerPoint should become your option. If youre on the lookout for a simple resume, the Banoe template is a significant option. The template also includes over 5000 slides that you are able to use to make an attractive resume. LiveCareers Resume Build er provides a number of document templates and tools which will help you organize your info in a sleek, professional fashion that adheres to professional small business standards. Its always preferable to make a new emaille address thats somewhat professional. It is impossible to have a whole CV that hasnt got a personal information section at the very top.

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Top Choices of Medium.com Resume Writing Guide

Top Choices of Medium.com Resume Writing Guide Developing an expert CV isnt really as difficult as you think if you understand how to get through it. Writing such things isnt professional. Writing about Medium is nothing like writing for different platforms. Writing a good resume is extremely crucial for securing work. What You Dont Know About Medium.com Resume Writing Guide Before you can start to design your resume on paper, you must have the words. A cover letter may be the most significant part your resume. Resume writing is an intimidating undertaking for everybody. Medium.com Resume Writing Guide Secrets Include who is acquainted with your work as it is related to the position. Depending on the kind of businesses youre targeting and the way youre finding your job leads, you might never encounter an ATS in your job search. Possessing a well-formatted, clean and professional resume will make a terrific first impression and pave the best way to landing a job which yo u truly want. There is no explanation as to why your resume must binnenseem amateurish. Applying for employment isnt a way different You want to advertise yourself properly to have the job. Things that can be not strongly related the work really shouldnt be mentioned. Your very first job might not be your dream job. While writing the resume, you may use the overview of your qualifications at the start. An excessive amount of narrative and the story appears to be a summary. Though it is probable your prospective employer is going to have already printed a copy of your resume from your on-line application in preparation for the interview its a very good rule of practice to bring a clean expert copy alongside you. Possessing an executive level curriculum vitae samples readily available, you find it possible to construct an application for this dream job that you desire. Medium.com Resume Writing Guide Secrets That No One Else Knows About Career builder CV samples supply you with many formats out there. It might be hard to acquire good resume format for freshers. The Ideal Approach for Medium.com Resume Writing Guide Look close, and youre going to see it is a how-to guide for white people within the workplace. Alternatively, you can visit the interview prepared to deal with any questions associated with the gap in a confident way. The author might have just wrote 7 strategies for handling insults but by framing the tips around Steve Jobs, the author taps into a significantly bigger audience. Your resume should be formatted in an easy, professional way. What You Should Do to Find Out About Medium.com Resume Writing Guide Before Youre Left Behind Professionals are now able to make and email a resume to a number of different prospective employers simultaneously. Sales resumes have to show what sort of salesperson you are and how well youve performed before. The information has to be relevant to the position youre applying for. Correct informati on is of utmost importance especially in the event the interviewer makes the decision to have a look at your information. Make sure that you have written correct and up-to-date contact details. Top Medium.com Resume Writing Guide Choices Finding a great job can be rough. Even if it is a somewhat related skill for this job include it in the resume. Discussing irrelevant abilities and achievements wouldnt benefit to you.

Friday, November 29, 2019

History, Uses, and Skills Surrounding SQL

History, Uses, and Skills Surrounding SQLHistory, Uses, and Skills Surrounding SQLStructured Query Language (SQL) isthe fruchtwein widely implemented database language, and knowing it is of value to anyone involved in computer programming or who uses databases to collect and organize information. SQL can beused to share and manage data, particularly data that is found in relational database management systems, which include data organized into tables. Multiple files, each containing tables of data, also may be related together by a common field. Using SQL, you can query, update, and reorganize data, as well as create and modify the schema (structure) of a database system and control access to its data. Much of this sounds like information that can be compiled in a spreadsheet, such as Microsoft Excel, but SQL is intended to compile and manage data in much greater volumes. While spreadsheets can become cumbersome with too much information filling too many cells, SQL databases can hand le millions, or even billions, of cells of data. Using SQL, you could store data on every client your business ever worked with, from key contacts to details about sales. So, for example, if you wanted to search for every client that spent at least $5,000 with your business over the past decade, an SQL database could retrieve that information for you instantly. SQL Skills in Demand Most organizationsneed someone with SQL knowledge. According toGooroo, nearly 20,000 such jobs are advertised monthly, and the median salary for a sttte that requires SQL knowledge is about $84,000, as of 2018. Some positions that require SQL skills include Back-end developer A person in this positionmanages the inner workings of web applications, as opposed to a front-end developer, who manages what the application looks like and how it functions for users. Back-end developers work under the floorboards, so to speak, making sure the application is designed and functioning properly.Database administra tor (DBA) This is someone who specializes in making sure data is being stored and managed properly and efficiently. Databases are most valuable when they allow users to retrieve desired combinations of data quickly and easily. For that work, someone needs to make sure all data is stored properly. Data analyst Someone in this position analyzes data, perhaps looking for relevant trends in a particular industry. An analyst might be presented with a particular question and tasked with finding the answer. A simple example might include identifying which clients historically spend the most money on advertising during the third quarter of a fiscal year. That knowledge would allow a sales department to efficiently target clients at the right time.Data scientist This is a position very similar to that of a data analyst, but data scientists typically are tasked with handling data in far greater volumes and accumulating it at much higher speeds. MySQL Common software used for SQL servers includes Oracles MySQL, perhaps the most popular program for managing SQL databases. MySQL is open-source software, which means it is free to use and is important for web developers because so much of the web and so many applications are built on databases. For example, a music program such as iTunes stores music by artist, song, album, playlist, and more. As a user, you can search for music by any of those parameters and more to find what youre seeking. In order to build an app like that, you need software to manage your SQL database, and thats what MySQL does. History of SQL In 1969, IBM researcher Edgar F. Codd defined the relational database model, which became the basis for developing the SQL language. This model is built oncommon pieces of information (or keys) being associated with various data. For example, a useranthroponym might be associated with an actual name and a telephone number. A few years later, IBM began working on a new language for relational database manag ement systems based on Codds findings. The language was originally called SEQUEL, or Structured English Query Language. Dubbed System/R, the project went through a few implementations and revisions, and the name of the language changed several times before finally landing on SQL. After beginning testing in 1978, IBM started developing commercial products, including SQL/DS (1981) and DB2 (1983). Other vendors followed suit, announcing their own commercial SQL-based offerings. These included Oracle, which released its first product in 1979, as well as Sybase and Ingres. Learning SQL It typically is easier for beginners to learn SQL than it is for them to pick up programming languages like Java, C, PHP, or C. Several online resources- including free tutorials and paid distance learning courses- are available for those who have little programming experience but want to learn SQL. Formal university or community college courses also will provide a deeper understanding of the language. Some of the free tutorials includeW3Schools SQL Tutorial,SQLcourse.com, and CodecademysLearn SQL and a course onanalyzing SQL business metrics. Options for paid distance-learning courses include the International Webmasters Associations (IWA) Introduction to SQL (Using Access) or Introduction to SQL (Using MySQL). IWAs SQL courses are only four weeks long, but the presence of instructors and weekly assignments make them more structured than self-learning tutorials. Useful books on SQL for beginners include SQL A Beginners Guideand SQL in a Nutshell.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Law Firm Management Skills Legal

Law Firm Management Skills LegalLaw Firm Management Skills LegalRunning a successful law practice requires not only the right legal talent, but top management skills as well. Great leadership is key to an efficient, highly productive legal kollektiv. Staff loyalty, an invaluable asset in such a competitive profession, also needs the nurturing of a good manager.So what makes a successful leader? Inspiration and intuition can be part of effective law firm management. But developing these skills also requires time, commitment and engagement.1. Keep your feet on the groundDont let yourself become detached from the steps needed to build strong teams of people and maximize their value to your organization. You can strengthen your firms health by placing a priority on retention, reduced hiring costs and training. Another way to be a better manager is to think creatively and try new methods of professional development and training. Consider establishing a mentoring program at your firm. Show ing a younger law professional the importance of client and employee relationships keeps you fresh and anchored to the personal elements of law firm managementand can instill a better sense of teamwork among your staff.2. Delegate moraUltimately, practicing theart of delegationcan build confidence and morale in your law office. Empowering your legal team members to handle more duties can free up more of your time to focus on big-picture matters crucial to your firms goals. Delegation is tricky for some. It requires a level of trust in your team that may feel uncomfortable at first, but stick with it. When you realize how much your up-and-coming stars have to offer the team as a whole, youll be glad you shared the burden.3. Get educated about law firm managementLeadership training courses and othercontinuing legal education (CLE) opportunities aregreat ways to develop your management acumen. Youll learn about subjects ranging fromemployee conflict resolutionto managing growth, all in a way thats tailored to your schedule and needs. Many schools even offer group ratesif you know other partners or managers who may be interested.Remember, its up to you to choose the path of building strong teams of lawyers and maximizing their value to your firm. Even in an extremely stressful environment, you can opt to improve your law firm management skills andreapthe rewards of growth as you go. A little investment in your management technique now can propel your firm to being a more efficient, effective and satisfying place to work.FIND YOUR NEXT GREAT HIRE

Thursday, November 21, 2019

5 Brand New TED Talks That Will Inspire You to Do Better Work This Year

5 Brand New TED Talks That Will Inspire You to Do Better Work This Year5 Brand New TED Talks That Will Inspire You to Do Better Work This YearTED talks can inspire you to do your best work, reach for the stars, or even try a new way of tying your shoes. With the 2016 TED Conference wrapped up belastung month, the folks at TED have gone to work putting some of the best talks theyve hosted recently online. Delivered by a TV mogul, the leader of a study on happiness thats been running more than 75 years, even the creator of yarn bombing, their talks are filled with ideas for upping your game for the rest of 2016. Theyll improve everything you do, from your relationships to your job wertzuwachs to your creativity to your ability to converse, especially about politics. They can even add years to your life.Here are five guaranteed to make you feel motivated, energized, and ready to take on the world 1. Taking Time to Play Makes You More Inspired at WorkThe legendary Shonda Rhimes created the TV hits Greys Anatomy and Scandal, and is involved with three or four network series every season. Thats a lot of work, and when its going well- when she feels engaged and enthusiastic and at zu sich creative peak- she calls that the hum. But one day the hum stopped, and try as she might, she couldnt get it to start again, she explains in this deeply honest talk.Rhimes was bereft. But she was also a single mother whod promised herself to say yes to everything asked of her that year. So when her toddler asked her to play as she was on her way out the door, instead of leaving she said yes and stopped to play for a while. And she promised herself that from then on, if humanly possible, she would stop and play whenever her children asked her. (As she points out, any child will get bored in 15 minutes or less, so it wasnt a schedule-crusher.)It was a great thing for her family, and to her surprise, by taking the time to play for a few minutes with her children, Rhimes brought the hu m back to her work, as well. Its a great lesson for our overworked, overcommitted, always-in-the-zone times.2. Good Relationships Make You Happier- and Healthier- Than Wealth or FameWhat makes people happiest? To find out, Harvard University began tracking a group of its male students- and a comparable group of young men from Bostons poorest neighborhood- and it continued studying them for 75 years, taking medical tests to determine their health and asking detailed questions about their lives. In this thought-provoking talk, Robert Waldinger, the studys current head, says the evidence is in and its incontrovertible. Although most of us (including the studys subjects) believe achieving wealth and fame will make us happiest, its actually the quality of our relationships that determine both our well-being and our longevity.3. Frustration Inspires CreativityWhat should you do when your creativity flags and youre feeling really stuck? Try tying your dominant hand behind your back. This l ogic (although not this specific advice) comes from a fascinating talk by economist Tim Harford, who notes that the best-selling solo piano doppel-lp of all time came about when a brilliant pianist was obliged to play on a really terrible piano.The legendary musician and producer Brian Eno uses this knowledge to his advantage too, forcing musicians to do things like play each others instruments when they get creatively stuck. Apparently, the tougher things are, the more we rise to the occasion.4. Doing What You Love Can Become a Career When You Least Expect ItMagda Sayeg is a textile artist, but she didnt set out to be one, she explains in this brief and colorful talk. In fact, she was a math major, but one day, out of a desire to relieve the endless gray and hardness of a modern urban environment with something colorful, soft, and fuzzy, she wrapped a steel door handle in knitted fabric. Then came a stop sign post that proved to be highly popular.Before she knew it, the yarn bombin g movement was born, and she had started it. And given her life a whole new direction in the process.5. You May Have Less Time Than You Think to Do What You Care About MostMaster procrastinator and Wait But Why blogger Tim Urban knows a lot about leaving things until the last minute. But when it comes to the most important things in our lives, which often come with no deadlines, this habit can really harm us, as Tim explains in this funny and thoughtful talk. Starting a business, making your relationship better, getting out of a relationship that isnt working, and spending time with the people we care about most are just a few examples of things we might never get around to because they have no deadlines.That would be a real shame.So spend a little time watching these powerful talks, and use them as inspiration to make 2016 the year that you create the life you really want.More From Inc.5 Traits of Incredibly Inspiring LeadersThe Surprising Source of Inspiration for Brilliant IdeasT hese Are the Most Inspirational Videos Ever Made