Work Habits To Master For Your Career

Some of the most successful people in the world attribute their success to consistency and good habits. Developing good work habits helps create a strong foundation for your career. It takes discipline to get rid of bad habits and create new ones. It’s hard but it is not impossible.

 In an experiment conducted by Wendy Wood, she states that “there are three main principles to consider when effectively changing habitual behavior.” First you “must derail existing habits and create a window of opportunity to act on new intentions.” The second principle focuses on repetition because the more you practice a habit, you will learn to master it and become accustomed to it. The last principle is to establish stable context clues “in order to trigger a new pattern because it's easier to maintain the behavior if it's repeated in a specific context.” Keep these principles in mind when practicing new work habits. 

 Whether you're reading this article to better your everyday work life, striving for a promotion or trying to kick bad habits to the curb here are three great habits that will help you out in your journey. 

Fix Your Sleep Schedule

 Adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep to function at full capacity. Dr. Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology, states that sleep preps the brain for information input and facilitates information storage. Humans have a biological need for sleep and lack of sleep inhibits the ability to learn. Your sleep habits are essential to your work performance. This habit will enhance your learning abilities and allow your brain to function at its best at work. 

Take Action 

 Be an action-oriented individual at your workplace, we all know that actions speak louder than words. Develop a habit of taking action on your ideas and tasks. Taking action is the only way to advance, improve, and solve problems. Those who do take action and do the work will receive credit for it. This is a great habit to practice when climbing the career ladder.

Get Organized

 Clutter is in no way beneficial to you. It wastes time, brings stress, and negatively affect your job performance. Develop a habit of being organized to ensure that you always prepared and a reliable asset to your workplace. Planners and other organization tools will bring clarity and allow you to focus on your duties. 

 Work habits and learning processes will be different for each individual. There is no magic number of days to break or develop new habits so, don’t give up. Remember that you have the willpower to decide and commit to success. 

Source:

 D. T. Neal, W. Wood, M. Wu, D. Kurlander. The Pull of the Past: When Do Habits Persist Despite Conflict With Motives? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2011

Dr. Matthew Walker on Sleep for Enhancing Learning, Creativity, Immunity, and Glymphatic System. (2019, February 28) https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/matthew-walker.

Work and Progress

In the year 2019, do you ever wonder if women are climbing up the ladder in corporate America?

 My answer is, "yes." Let's stop and think about something for a moment, hmm. In 1973 Katharine Graham was the only female CEO of a Fortune 500 company. That was not that long ago and it's even more mind-boggling since women were awarded voting rights 100 years ago. Why has it taken so long for women to start holding the same jobs as men? Well, hard labor jobs such as construction workers and miners tend to let just about anyone advance at their job. Now careers in corporate America, that's a whole different thing.

 Back in the early 20's through the 60's and even part of the 70's, over 80% of women were stay-at-home moms. So, if they were a stay-at-home mom, how could they climb the corporate ladder in that era? They couldn't because they were home raising children, not going to college to earn a degree. Now as the cost of living goes up, more and more women are forced to earn a degree and establish a career. Hence, the more that earn a degree, the more that enter the “work world.”

 So, before you go bashing the leaders and CEO's in corporate America, make sure you learn about the history of women and when they started earning degrees and working. Now in 2019, 16.9% of all fortune 500 company board seats are occupied by women. That's an astounding difference than some 40 years ago. The percentage rate of women CEO's has not decreased, there has been a steady incline since the 1970's. 

The outdated myths about women being CEO's has been carried further than it should.




"Katharine Graham." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 21 Sep. 2019. Web. 11 Oct. 2019.

Directing Change

 For years, women have been gaining the media’s attention by coming forward publicly about issues in their work environment. Since 1992, there has been an increase in the number of sexual harassment cases against women in the workplace.

 Do you think that bringing these issues to the surface has caused this issue to worsen? Many people believe that the issue hasn’t gotten worse and that the rising number of sexual harassment cases has only included because more women are coming forward than they were years ago.

 In a private survey, 46% of women say that they have experienced some sort of harassment in the workplace. Only 17% of those women have reported their sexual harassment experiences. Another 14% refused to answer the survey completely.

 If women continue to come forward, do you think these numbers will decrease in the next 15 years? With the evolution of technology and the increase in security monitoring being placed in the workplace, you would think these numbers would decrease. Some people believe that women are too sensitive and can’t take a joke. Those same people believe that some women are exaggerating and they are not to be believed entirely.

 If these people are sounding too convincing to others, there may be an issue for women in the future who come forward. Many of these cases are not proven because women don’t report it right away. Do you think that people would believe women more often if the women reported sexual harassment immediately? Do you think that these reports would direct change for women’s rights in the workplace?

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

 In the year 2019, women throughout America agreed on the top 15 issues they are forced to deal within the workplace. The number 1 issue that women face in the workplace is "sexual harassment." For years, women have been mistreated by their male coworkers. Sadly, some women have even been sexually assaulted by their bosses and coworkers. If sexual harassment is a crime, then why does it still exist? Are women afraid to come forward to address this behavior because they fear they could lose their job? This is an ever-lasting issue and I think more women should come forward if this is something they have/are dealing with.

 Sexual harassment is not just flashing someone their goods, it comes in many forms. Sexual harassment can be comments that someone makes about parts of your body. Coworkers may write a dirty note and leave it on your desk in hopes of you falling for their tricks. Some women think that a guy making sexual advances at them, is just a guy flirting but it's not. These are just some of the most common forms of sexual harassment in the workplace.

 This abominable behavior is disturbingly too common. A study released by EEOC claims that “anywhere from 25% to 85% of women report having experienced sexual harassment in the workplace.” This reveals that approximately one in four people have experienced some form of sexual harassment while working. Their total number of complaints included 44% alleged harassment based on sex. These are alarming numbers and data that show just how prevalent this issue is in society.

 A National Study on Sexual Harassment by SSH, also reported that about 81% of women had been affected by this widespread problem. When researching where it occurs, they discovered that “38% of women reported experiencing sexual harassment in their workplace.” The location of the first experience of sexual assault in the workplace reported by women was 8% and “respondent’s workplace was the third most frequent lifetime location (13% women)” of suffering sexual harassment. Lamentably, public spaces are not entirely safe for women being that they are often violated in their very own work environment.

 Worse still, a Cosmopolitan survey showed that 71% of women do not report sexual harassment. They most likely remain silent in fear of retaliation. To no surprise, an EEOC report found that “75% of employees who spoke out against workplace mistreatment faced some form of retaliation." It is evident that many women have yet to come forward out of fear and the number of sexual harassment cases is possibly higher than perceived.

 There are laws and ethic codes put into place to protect women and men from sexual harassment. It is against the law and the punishment balances with the severity of the crime. Some people get fired, some go to court and pay a fine, and some are sentenced to jail, probation, and even prison in some cases. Not to mention the expensive lawsuits that the victims may file against the company. To avoid a tarnished reputation and costs of legal action, companies should continue to stand by their ethic codes and enforce consequences to protect the victims.

 We must continue to talk about sexual harassment to shed more light on the issue. People who are educated about sexual harassment should not be afraid to talk about the issue. People need to speak up when they are being mistreated. It is also good to talk to your coworkers to see how they feel about the issue. You never know when someone is ready to get something off their back. Maybe they have been scared for a long time and now they are ready to talk.

 My advice to anyone reading this post is, to not be ashamed to come forward when someone is mistreating you. You have the right to remain anonymous, no one will mention your name if you don’t want them to. That is your privacy right and your employer must abide by that. You will also be helping your company and protecting yourself from further abuse.

 Not everyone reports their sexual harassment story. Luckily, some brave people are willing to tell their stories. I am going to include some stories below from Huffpost.com of women that have experienced sexual harassment at their jobs:

 “This happened when I was about 23 and working in a popular retail store that sells tea and tea accessories. I was alone in the store for a moment and a man comes in. He starts talking to me and I go into my usual sales pitch. Then he randomly gets really close to me and tells me that: “my t**s are really great.” He had gotten so close, almost touching me. After he left I was still shocked and shaking. I still remember that as one of the most humiliating things that has ever happened to me, and it makes me cringe every time I think about it.” — Yvonne, 27

“I’ve had to deal with male customers who stop and comment on the fact that I rest on my knees while stocking our warehouse. My favorite is, “ you need to get up off those knees, girl.” All while they stand and leer while licking their lips. I’m at work. I don’t want to flirt with you. I want to do my job and go home. Unmolested and unbothered. I recently had a male coworker slap my behind with a flyswatter. One guy I work with offered to hold my hand because “I was blushing and clearly like getting my butt spanked.” I wasn’t blushing. My ears and cheeks were red because I was mortified and angry.” — K, 24 

“I was used to how the guys acted… but being cornered in the small produce color by a rather large coworker, was not something I was looking forward to. [He] would not let me pass and believe me there was no way around him, he began putting his hands on me and pulling me towards him as if to kiss, then he showed me his p***s. I had to show him I was carrying a pocket knife so that he would leave me be…” —SJ, 49 

 From these stories we can see that it does not matter in what industry you work in, there is still a chance of being subjected to sexual harassment. These women are all different ages, so it does not matter if you are young or not. Women all over have to realize the severity of this issue and report the sexual harassment they experience at work.

When I was 18, I experienced a moment where I was at work and a male coworker slapped my butt and ran off. I stood there shocked. I didn’t know what to do. I felt violated, but I did not report it because I did not want to start any drama at work. I do not know why he thought that was okay, or maybe he just did not care. It is clear we need to educate both men and women on how to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, or anywhere for that matter.

If you feel comfortable sharing an experience at work, leave a comment explaining what happened and if you reported it. Or, you can leave an anonymous comment. 

Source:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/21-harrowing-stories-of-sexual-harassment-on-the-job_n_566f39b1e4b0fccee16f84d8

https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/task_force/harassment/upload/report.pdf

http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Full-Report-2018-National-Study-on-Sexual-Harassment-and-Assault.pdf

https://hbr.org/2016/10/why-we-fail-to-report-sexual-harassment

How to Empower Women

Women empowerment has been a popular topic recently, as more women continue to speak up and demand equality in all areas of life. It’s no secret, that women all over the world face injustices and gender discrimination. It’s a universal issue, that requires everyone’s support to create great change.

 Empowering women consists of supporting women in fully claiming their rights, owning their power, and ensuring equality by all means. Most men are clueless as to how to properly help and some women forget how important it is to practice uplifting other women. Either way, women deserve more which, is why we’ve rounded up a couple ways of how you can contribute.

 How can you help empower women?

1. Do not be an innocent bystander instead, be an ally and speak up for women. Your voice is powerful, remaining silent will only reward unjust practices directed at women. Speaking up in support of them can produce a chain reaction and most importantly inspire real change. 

1.  Be a mentor and advocate for equal rights and provide guidance for them to master their skills. This kind of support will help build trust as well as encourage women to realize their full potential and dreams.

1. Create an accepting atmosphere to help women feel welcomed and safe. Such space will allow women to freely express themselves and make decisions. This will help combat against the custom of always listening and following the lead of male colleagues.

1. Celebrate and cheer them on during their wins and accomplishments. This will help women regain their confidence, feel acknowledged, and valued for their efforts. Women are often denied opportunities and uncredited in the workplace so, for some it a huge deal. Don’t let their achievement go unnoticed!

1. Listen and pay attention to what they have to say. Every woman is different so practicing good communication skills will assist you in understanding the best approach that will effectively help empower her.

Women empowerment is imperative to breaking the cycle and inspiring change for the generations to come. The restrictions and limitations enforced on women had significant effects on them as a population. Thus, the empowerment of women is the key to rebuild.