Modern Day Manners

I have always been a huge manners person. And in my experience so far, I would say politeness will get you far. People love to be appreciated. I think my good etiquette savviness comes from my lovely grandmother. She is someone I would describe as graceful in every sense of the word.

My wonderful grandparents.

But as a 22-year-old "adult", proper etiquette can get a little tricky. So when I stumbled across The Grown Up Guide to Modern Manners on Pinterest this evening, I had to share it! 

Check it out and let me know what you think. The author mentions the proper protocol for tips, cell phones, weddings, and parties. All good things for a young professional to brush up on! 

What are your go-to "modern" manners? Comment below! 

PTT: Fake It 'Til You Become It!

Professional Tip Tuesday
As a part of my Lazy Sunday afternoon, I decided to indulge in a little couch time. Unfortunately, I recently finished my latest television show binge on Netflix.

...On that subject, I have decided Netflix is best compared to my closet. I have so many clothes, yet I feel like I never have anything to wear. And similarly, there are so many options on Netflix, yet I can't ever find anything to watch.

But on this particular day, my "Top 10 for Anna"on Netflix suggested I check out "Ted Talks: Life Hacks". I love TED Talks! So I clicked on it.

And now all of my Top 10 are TED Talks.

Today's Professional Tip Tuesday is a little gem I found thanks to that very suggestion. The very first video that played was a 20 minute presentation by Amy Cuddy called: Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are.

In her presentation, Cuddy talks how Power Dynamics are conveyed in nonverbal communication. Humans (and animals) express their power and dominance through their nonverbals.

Let's break it down:

• Feeling confident and powerful? This person tends to spread out and their nonverbals might be more exaggerated.
• Feeling insecure or nervous? This person's nonverbals tend to be small and enclosed, taking up very little space.

I don't think these two different power dynamics are mutually exclusive. I can think of scenarios where I have played both roles. Around my friends, I can be as animated as a cartoon character. But in classes I wasn't comfortable in, I might curl up in my desk and stay quiet.

The important part of all of this is Cuddy's findings. Through research she realized, the way you act out these power dynamics will influence the way you feel. She says, you can Fake it Until You Make It! ...Sound familiar? :)

Amy Cuddy says, "Stand like Super Woman"
Photo Credit: Poptech Flickr

If you want to appear confident in a job interview, when presenting a big idea in a meeting, or even just conversing in the break room - mimic the nonverbals of a confident person. Stand up straight, take up more space, and be strong! Cuddy says, "Don't just fake it til you make it. Fake it until you become it!"

So watch that TED Talk (linked above) and if you're still interested in this topic (like I totally am!) read this article from Cuddy on Wired.com.
What characteristics do you notice in people that appear more confident? Comment below!

Lazy Sundays

In college, Sundays were the worst. Instead of relaxing and enjoying the last day of the weekend - students everywhere are stressed about all the homework they should have done.

But being out of school, I can finally appreciate this beautiful day.

And this was a big weekend - my roommate and I have been in the process of making our own wine for weeks. ..I keep getting asked if we stomped grapes. Hah! No way. But I immediately think of this I Love Lucy episode when I hear that:

"Lucy's Italian Movie" Photo Credit: www.lucyfan.com

Our green apple riesling was just a kit - we just dumped the ingredients into a 6-gallon carboy, stored it for 5 weeks, and let the wine do it's thing! The hardest part of our job was drinking/collecting 30 bottles to bottle it.

But alas, yesterday was the day! We had a little get together with homemade pizza, wine, and brownies.. Can life get any better than that?

That was my weekend excitement! And after bottling (and sampling our fair share) today is an extra lazy Sunday :) 

So how do you appreciate your Sundays? Time by the pool, a Netflix binge, or maybe lounging on the couch? Those are all great options if you ask me! 

PTT: Think about the PLOT

Professional Tip Tuesday:

How do you PLOT your words to effectively communicate?

Yesterday during training at work we had a "Consultative Partnering" session. It was an workshop all about effective communication - my bread and butter. I loved it! One of the things we learned about was PLOT.. which is what I want to offer up today for a Professional Tip Tuesday.

PLOT is all about knowing your audience and making your communication efforts count. In my internship last year, someone described the role of a communicator as an interpreter. Basically, anyone utilizing their communication skills is trying to convey an idea from one person to another.

I don't know about you, but interpreter makes a lot more sense to me when I think about the purpose of communication. It's not necessarily all about leveraging my personal communication style to woo the person receiving the message. It is more about understanding how to cater that message and help the receiver make sense of it. 

And voila! Along comes the PLOT idea: A simple acronym that helps you figure out how to best deliver a message to a particular person. As you look at the example below, think about someone you know well and fill in their traits. Here is the breakdown:

PLOT: 

• P - Personality 
• How would you describe the person and their personality?
• i.e. Pragmatic and always multi-tasking
• L - Language 
• How does the person communicate? 
• i.e. Short and to the point
• O - Opinion or Frame of Reference
• How do they generally seem to view life?
• i.e. Realistic
• T - Task 
• How do they approach a task?
• i.e. Very structured, step-by-step, lots of details

The whole idea with PLOT is that it gives you the opportunity to quickly assess what your audience needs. It can make a world of difference when you are deciding how to deliver a message. 

For example, I am generally a relational gal. My communication style is full of rapport. But if I were talking to the person I used as an example above, they may hate that fluff. By mapping out their PLOT, I figured out I had better use more succinct and to the point communication with that person. 

If I were to ask this person to do something, I would want to think about the PLOT and how it comes into play. I would not spend as much time on the big picture - I would focus more on the details and the importance of their particular part. I would explain to them exactly what I need them to do and the significance to the project. 

So that is my example of PLOT. Use this next time you are trying to communicate an idea! Whether it's your roommate or a coworker, PLOT can help you establish a communication style that works on the individual level. 

It's also really interesting to PLOT yourself! It helps you breakdown your communication style in a whole new way. So what's yours? Comment below and tell me about it. 

PTT: An Open Forum on Work-Life Balance

My mom has a teenager and a postgrad.
The amount she does in a day is impressive.

Professional Tip Tuesday: 

Work-life balance is a huge topic right now. Especially for women because of all that ends up falling on their plates!

As a girl that has no responsibilities other than my job and my social calendar, this post is in honor of all those workin' mamas out there! I have gained an incredible amount of respect for all you do since I started my 40+ hours a week.

How my dear mother worked a full-time job, shopped for groceries, ran errands, and appeased the wants and wishes of two needy daughters - I don't know. She's a miracle worker, that's for sure.

Today's Professional Tip Tuesday short and sweet. I am doing it a little differently because I want to do some more research before I offer up any particular advice. But the topic is:

How to take control of your workday and embracing your personal time.

This is something I find really interesting. I will definitely post more on it soon. For now I just wanted to share this article posted on Inc.com that got me thinking about the subject. It's called "How to Work Less and Do More" and it's even written from the perspective of a female CEO!

It reminded me that "work-life balance" is a buzzword in our culture and we are figuring out what it all means slowly but surely. I am looking forward to seeing what research and studies comes out of this topic. How are we going to create that sense of balance? How do we get the most out of work and enjoy our personal lives?

This article is a quick read and is good for anyone - not just the ladies out there. The takeaway is: don't let other people run your workday! For example, I love the idea of only checking your email 2-3 times to try and keep other people from eating up your productivity. With emails coming at you nonstop, it's so easy for that to happen!

I wanted to open this week up to you all.. How do you best manage your daily tasks and still take advantage of personal time? Comment below with any feedback you have.

Speaking on behalf of my mom - I'd say she manages a busy workday with a positive attitude and at least one pot of coffee :) 

PTT: Email Hoarding

Professional Tip Tuesday

Let's hope it never gets this bad.
Photo Credit: www.aetv.com/hoarders

True confessions: I am a hoarder.. to the point that I am actually sort of surprised that A&E hasn't picked up my story yet. But then again, a special on email hoarding may not be top rated episode.

That's right, I am an email hoarder. And it becomes so overwhelming, that it just gets worse and worse.

One of my old email accounts has given up on me. It has completely stopped counting the number of emails in my inbox. It just says 1K+ where a number should appear. But to be fair, that is where I send all my promotional emails and I check it 3-4 times a year max.

Anyhow, I am working really hard to stop that unavoidable email clutter in my new personal email and work email inbox. But it's not an easy task! It seems like you really have to be on top of your game.. and that's not a guarantee. I still end up spending 15-20 minutes every few weeks deleting and filling old emails.

Today's Professional Tip Tuesday is for those of you out there that have more emails cluttering your inbox than hours in a day.

The  4 best tips for managing a case of email inbox clutter.

1. Make Folders

• Any organizational show I have ever watched have offered the same words of wisdom: There should be a place for everything! Belong to a club or an organization? Mom emailing you with family pics? Keeping in touch with your old manager? Make folders for easy access and a clean inbox. 
• Some examples of folders that help me keep my stuff organized - "Family", "Friends", and "Network". They can be even more specific than that too. If you really want to get fancy you can even have folders inside of folders!
• **A little bonus tip: Make sure you are saving those emails that are complimenting you and your work in a special folder. Those will come in handy when it's your annual review!

2. Create Rules! ..and use the folders! 

• This is fantastic thing that is a total inbox saver. In Outlook you can right click an email and "Create Rule". From three you can direct emails from a particular person or containing a certain subject line to go into the correct folder. 
• It will ask if you would like to "Run this task now.." Clicking this box will automatically move them into the indicated folders which makes your job even easier! 
• There are similar features in other email domains too. In gmail there are tags - but so far those haven't been quite as user friendly for me. 

3. Cut the ties - completely unsubscribe!

• Unsubscribing always seems like such a hassle. BUT do you know what is even more of a hassle? Receiving more junk email than I can handle. 
• Set aside 15 minutes from your day and unsubscribe from all those silly promotional emails you don't really care about. It will be so worth it in the end!

4. If you read it, delete it! 

• This is not a catchall rule. That's why it is number 4 on this list of 4 tips. Those folders will be your savior for keeping track of those important emails. But for those emails you deem unimportant - just click delete!
• Here's an example of the day in the life of an email hoarder: 
• I subscribe to HuffPost Women daily emails. I love the stories! I am infamous for not deleting them after I read it. For some reason I always think I might want to go back and read it again.. but will I? No. So I think it's safe to hit the delete button. 

Those are my quick and easy tips for cleaning out that inbox. What are your ideas for staying organized? Comment below!