PTT: A Pocket Full

Professional Tip Tuesday

Greetings from Utah! I am in Salt Lake City for the first of many business trips out here. It is an exciting change of pace from the typical 8-5 office routine! ...other than the 4:30AM alarm I had set Monday morning to catch an early flight. That was rough.

The trees aren't quite as green this time of year. But it's a beautiful city!
Photo Credit: Wikimedia by Garrett

I am not a pro at traveling yet. I realized that very quickly. Especially on those weekday flights - I felt the pressure of the frequent business travelers around me. They have their routine down to a science and do not appreciate when someone inexperienced (like me!) slows them down.

• So far, my lessons learned from the security line:
• When they say take your liquids out of your bag, they mean it. 
• ....Same with electronic devices.
• Scoot your carry-on luggage along until you are right up to the baggage scanner (or so the frustrated, "A-List Preferred Southwest" traveler behind me said, as I struggled to push all of my bins and suitcase onto the conveyor belt).

While I may have learned a few things from my travel experience - I was way more excited about an app a coworker told me about. So this week's Professional Tip Tuesday is a helpful gem that will make down time more productive - and is great for travel!

How many times have you found an interesting article but just don't have time to read it? 

I do it! All the time. I will be scrolling through my Facebook or Twitter feed and see something that I really want to read. I usually try and save it somehow, but there's no method to my madness - and I end up forgetting about it. 

Introducing, Pocket. 

- Pocket gives you a place to store articles and videos. You can even 'tag' the articles to categorize them within your pocket! Below you can see my "Professional Tips" tagged items.

Pocket even caters the format to the device youare using!

This app is available on your smart phone, tablet, and computer. It automatically syncs to all of your devices and allows you to read articles offline - so everything you put in your 'pocket' is available whenever and wherever!

So what do you think? Pretty cool, huh? I just got this app, but I already love the features and easy to use functionality!

What apps have you found that you couldn't live without? Comment below!

PTT: LinkedIn- To Accept or Not to Accept?

Professional Tip Tuesday
Today, I received an email question:  "Someone invited me to connect on LinkedIn that went to my college - but other than that I don't know them. Should I accept or decline?" 

LinkedIn is a really interesting social network - it's a great way to establish professional relationships. But since it's a new concept for interacting professionally, the actual rules of how to use it effectively are still up in the air.

So this week's Professional Tip Tuesday is all about when to accept invites and add people as connections - How to effectively connect with the right people on LinkedIn.

 The way I see it, there are two reasons to connect with someone you don't really know on LinkedIn. ...But if I do add someone 'out of the blue', I typically send a brief "HEY this is how we know each other!" message along with it. So here's the scoop:

1. You met in a professional setting.
• If you met through a networking event, interview situation, or something like that - you might connect on LinkedIn to reiterate that brief interaction. 
• "Hi there, it was great to meet you yesterday at Organization A's get together. -Anna"
2. You have a similar past/present involvement.

• If you have never met the person, but share an experience (i.e. an organization, program, or job) - you might use that as an 'in' to connect and ask them a common professional interest.
• "Hi there, I saw you were in my University of Iowa network (Go Hawks!) and you work at Company X now. I will be graduating in May and want to apply. Could you tell me a little more about the application process? Thank you! -Anna"

The best part is, LinkedIn is not like Facebook. As long as you have a reason to connect to someone, there really isn't much of a downside. You won't see too many 'over-sharing' posts with baby-mama-drama. 

LinkedIn is used as a platform to share interesting articles and cool things that they are doing with their careers. You never know when you might see something that interests you on your feed! 

So the bottom line is: LinkedIn is used to reach out and make valuable, professional connections. I received several invites to connect on LinkedIn that seemed random. But I saw that we had a few things in common and decided to accept. A couple of days later I got a message asking if I would be interested in interviewing for their company! 

How do you determine who to connect to on LinkedIn? Comment below! 

PTT: Never-too-Late New Year's Resolutions

Professional Tip Tuesday
I went to the dentist yesterday for a checkup appointment. First of all, I decided that no matter what you do, you cannot be graceful at the dentist. I tried to make jokes, but in the dentist's chair there's no chance.

Anyway I had a super bubbly hygienist that had a true passion for flossing. My typical flossing routine is - every couple of months I think "I should do better!" And then I floss for 2-3 weeks max. But my adorable hygienist mentioned flossing at least 50 times. Her enthusiasm convinced me. So when she asked if I would make it a more constant habit, I responded: It's not too late for a New Year's Resolution, is it? 

It's not too late! Figuring out those resolutions by January 1st is way too much pressure. Instead, I am figuring out my goals as they come to me.

My list of goals so far, 1) Floss everyday - make that hygienist proud!

I totally believe in the value of personal and professional goals. I read here that setting career goals is like "consulting at a map before a trip" (..more like typing the address into your phone and checking the steps so Siri doesn't lead you astray in today's world). So I want to give my list a little boost.

While I haven't hammered out the details, I came up with three major professional 'themes' I want to focus on. This is just a start - but hopefully jotting them down will be a kickstart to make for a better 2014!

Professionally in 2014, I want to… 
1. Show my gratitude and give recognition. I want to give more thanks to those co-workers that ask my (seemingly endless) questions and never act like I am bothering them.

2. Be more confident in the value I offer. I want to stop undermining my skills. With this, I need to realize and articulate what I bring to the table. This article is a good example of how to do that!

3. Volunteer for more things out of my comfort zone. Maybe it's just helping out with a big client presentation, or being a part of a new project - use the confidence from #2 and just do it!


What are your 2014 personal or professional goals? Comment below!

Holiday Hiatus

I would like to extend my sincerest of apologies for my holiday hiatus. I hope everyone had a wonderful couple of weeks.. weeks! That's how long it's been since the last post. I took full advantage of the time with lots of relaxation and holiday cheer. 

I took a break from my computer screen and spent the time doing arts and crafts, and watching more sports than I ever have before! …Speaking of, my guest writer/boyfriend is so proud. Stay tuned for a future Water Cooler Sports Talk, pt. 2!

To ease back into this blogging thing, today is going to be more of a "Let's catch up!" Tuesday… 

So today's post is all about how I spent my precious time over the holidays and what I am looking forward to in 2014! Here's the highlights of the last two weeks in pictures :)

My roomie and I took a BYOB of wine and painting class in December. We had a ton of fun and are planning on being regulars at the gallery. The real question is, how many Anna/Laura originals can we fit on our living room wall?! 

Feeling artistically inspired, I went home for Christmas and was all about the craftiness. I became a knitting fool and made two scarves in a week! Since then, I went a little yarn crazy and stocked up on enough to keep me busy for a while. 

So this is 23 - a knitting fiend and loving it!

I even taught a mini-knitting lesson when I was home!

I came back to Kansas City with big New Years Eve plans with a group of friends! I had some people over before a night on the town. And of course I had to sneak in a picture with my New Year's date…

Finally I cheered on my teams, only to watch a few heartbreaking losses. But that's life, I guess. I still love my Hawks and Chiefs!!

Well, that's what I have been up to over the holidays. I am excited for craftiness, good sports games (believe it or not), and more Professional Tip Tuesday posts in 2014!!