Our Best Blogs of December posts includes stories on how to stay productive during the holidays, how tech companies are giving to charity and the “compounding” effect of good habits. That’s a lot of great stuff to read between going to holiday parties!
Staying focused during the holiday season
From December until January, it is extremely tough to stay focused on your career. There are a lot of distractions and obligations that can pull you away from work, or a job search. There are presents to buy, family members to visit and social events to attend. Many people also take vacations, leaving those who don’t to pick up the slack.
In addition to all that, concentrating is difficult when you are thinking about getting out of work to handle obligations or attend various events. There’s also the pressure to enjoy yourself before the rat race fires up again in January.
There are a few tried-and-true things you can do to stay focused. After writing out your gift list, write down work or career goals you would like to accomplish during the holiday period. Then, schedule a little time each day to take care of your list items.
Also, try to steer clear of excessive drinking and eating, or else you risk starting 2019 with a few regrets.
Tech industry giving through Tipping Point
The tech industry grabs a lot of headline for its potential to change lives of everyday people. However, it doesn’t grab as many headlines for its philanthropic efforts to change the lives of those most in need.
Tipping Point is a non-profit San Francisco organization that is heavily backed by the tech industry. Bay Area native Daniel Lurie returned from New York to launch Tipping Point more than a decade ago. At the organization’s recent annual awards event, Lurie urged attendees to speak out for and help those in need.
Providing for the less fortunate require money and insight, both of which Tipping Point has in spades.
Compounding good habits
When we consider the term ‘compounding’, we normally associated it with interest on a loan. However, we can also think of compounding as the reinforcement of a trend, for better or worse. So, while interest can compound in a financial sense, we can also compound our habits and results.
The agnostic nature of ‘compounding’ means it can work for us, or against us. If a compounding bad habit is replaced with one that’s positive, we ‘stop the bleeding’ and start compounding in the opposite direction. Minor, almost imperceptible alterations can make a massive difference over time. So, if you can improve your situation by 1 percent each day for a year, you’ll end up with thirty-seven-fold improvement. On the other hand, if you get 1 percent worse at the same rate for a year, your outcomes will fall to zero.
For professionals, the implications of this idea are clear. You can make yourself much more valuable in a relatively short period of time with just a bit of awareness and persistence.
