Seven Pleasures They've Wrested From Us

Life is not easy. More may be expected from us at work. In relationships, we may be expected to do it all, as the jingle went, “Bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan....”  We’re told we’re not saving the zillion dollars we’ll need for the ever more absurd cost of college, let alone for retirement.

We’re hamsters on an ever faster-spinning wheel, like when the faster Lucy boxed the chocolates, the faster the conveyer belt went until she just couldn't do it all.

Indeed that’s what’s happening. Many people are breaking. Some drop out and become homeless while others anesthetize with alcohol or drugs. I believe that’s part of the national impetus to legalize marijuana despite it being more dangerous, physically and mentally than the Big Tobacco-driven messaging would have us believe.

Not surprisingly, the U.S. suicide rate is at a 30-year high  And it’s epidemic among middle-aged white men: NBC News cites the Centers for Disease Control findings: “Victims of death by suicide are overwhelmingly white (7 out of 10), male, and between the ages of 45 and 65. “

At the same time, many of life’s soothers have been wrested from us. My PsychologyToday.com article today offers seven examples. It argues that their loss is an underdiscussed cause of modern-day stress.

'I'd Rather Retire But.... Advice for Older Job Seekers

My PsychologyToday.com article today offers advice to older job seekers. 

Saving the Best for Last?

At some point, people’s awareness of their mortality grows, maybe even dominates one’s thoughts.

For the hedonistic, that triggers more desire to travel and otherwise have fun. Doable.

For the relational, it means wanting to spend more time with friends, grandkids, and other relatives. Doable.

For the work-centric, it’s more difficult. As we get older, we’re increasingly passed over for the opportunity to do significant work. It’s often believed that our experience is outweighed by lack of currency, our decreased physical vigor as proxy for decreased intellectual vigor.

My PsychologyToday.com article today offers some relatively accessible ways for the work-centric to have a last hurrah or three.

Disappointment

As my PsychologyToday.com post today, I offer a poem that doesn't rhyme but attempts to distill best advice and radical honesty about responding to disappointment.

THE Gap

We speak of income inequality gaps too symptomatically: We may speak of an achievement gap, income gap,  and digital divide.

But there’s a more foundational gap that society must first address if it expects to close the others: the efficacy gap.

There's consensus that ever more repetitive jobs will be automated, and that ever more of the remaining decent-paying jobs will require technical chops, people skills, and emotional solidity strong enough to handle the accelerating pace of change, not to mention life's timeless slings and arrows. Alas, too many people cannot be expected to solidly possess that amalgam.

What to do? I offer an approach in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

My Next Book is Coming: Careers for Dummies

I'm pleased to say that I just signed the contract to write the flagship book in the for Dummies career series. It's Careers for Dummies.
Aimed at people starting out, it's designed to offer fresh, best ideas for choosing a career, getting well-trained, and landing a good job or becoming successful self-employed.  It also offers advice on how to succeed, even become beloved. 

Careers for Dummies' major elements:

• The Careers Catalog: a much improved version of what was the most popular part of my previous for Dummies book, Cool Careers for Dummies.  It contains punchy but authoritative introductions to 340 popular and viable under-the-radar careers and self-employment ideas.
• The DIY Under-the-Radar Career Finder
• The DIY Under-the-Radar Business Idea Finder
• Landing a good job, step-by-step. The world has changed. This will offer advice on what works now.
• The Un-MBA: Why one- and few-person businesses should usually do the opposite of what's taught in business school. This will offer a collection of specific business ideas plus step-by-step advice on succeeding.
• The Career Changer:  This will help in choosing your next career, including a collection of rewarding yet easier-to-transition-to options. Plus, it will help you choose your best-fit from among four approaches to changing careers. 
• You U: Getting well trained for a career without a time-consuming, expensive degree. Plus, convincing an employer you're worthy of getting hired.
• The Trends: Eleven major trends you should understand to thrive in our changing work world.
•  What Matters to You? Questions to unearth your life's foundational principles.

Here's the Amazon link to pre-order.

Thoughts on Action vs Reflection

A relative of mine, now 50, has always struggled careerwise. He occasionally emails me a question. Yesterday, he asked me if spirituality and personal reflection are important parts of my worklife. 

I thought my readers might find my response of value so I posted it as my PsychologyToday.com article today.
 

Foiling Dishonest Job Seekers

Whether you’re an honest job seeker or an employer, you’re hurt by dishonest job seekers. The honest job seekers ends up losing jobs to inferior liars. And employers get worse employees, which hurts coworkers, customers, and themselves.

Alas, having been a career counselor to thousands of job seekers and consultants to dozens of employers, I can tell you first-hand that there are a lot of dishonest job seekers who manage to bamboozle employers.

I consider writing my PsychologyToday.com article today, Foiling Dishonest Job Seekers, a bit of penance for remaining silent, occasionally condoning, and even very occasionally, in moments of sympathy for that struggling job seeker sitting in front of me, abetting tactics I wouldn’t be proud to tell my daughter about.

A Fresh Start Yet Again

Here's another of my PsychologyToday.com short-short stories embedding a life lesson or two. This one's about a passive person.