When you're working a full-time job, finding time to enjoy the warm, bright summer weather can be a challenge. This is especially true for young professionals, as many of them are used to having summers off (or, at the very least, having a flexible summer schedule). But there's no need to feel trapped behind your cubicle walls. Go out and enjoy summer!
Here are a few tips for making the most of your summer while working full time.
1. Grab Some Foldable Chairs
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Keep a couple of foldable camping chairs at the office so you and a co-worker can catch some rays during lunch—whether it's in the park or the parking lot.
2. Keep A Beach Bag In Your Car
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Keep a bag full of summer supplies for your favorite summer activities. Having a bag (or, in my case, a backseat) full of towels, sunscreen, and swimwear keeps you prepared for anything. Friends hitting up the pool after work? You're covered. Once the clock strikes five, you can head to your destination of choice immediately.
3. Plan An Office Outing
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Plan an office field trip to the beach, the park, or the pool. Just do something fun so your brain can recharge and refresh!
4. Organize Group Walks
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Get a bunch of co-workers together and go on regular walks around town during lunch. (Or you could suggest a quick jaunt over to the ice cream shop.) This is a great way to get some fresh air, sunshine, and exercise.
5. Eat Lunch At The Park
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When you find yourself eating out, hit up places with a deck, porch, or patio of some sort. Obviously, eating out every day isn't really a feasible option for most of us, so look into alternative ideas as well. Pack a lunch and hit the park for your own little picnic.
6. Organize Office Sports
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Whether it's setting up an official office sports team or just hanging out with your colleagues a few times a week, playing sports is a great way to get out and enjoy the weather. Have a field nearby? Try setting up some slow-pitch softball games. Or see if you can get a basketball hoop for the office so you and a few co-workers can shoot some hoops at lunch.
7. Join A Professional Group
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During the summer, professional networking groups often have fun events like harbor cruises, pub crawls, and outdoor mixers. Find a professional group in your area and make networking fun this summer.
8. Have An Office BBQ
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Get your grill on! Talk to your boss about setting up an office BBQ. Ask everyone to contribute their favorite dish, side, or drink. Fire up the grill and relax! Hey, it's summer after all.
9. Wake Up Early
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Yes, yes, I know...waking up early is an incredibly painful and unbearable experience for some of us, but waking up even an hour earlier has its benefits—especially in the summer. Go for a morning run, putter around in the garden, or watch the sunrise with a loved one. Talk about starting the day off right!
10. Strategically Use Your Time Off
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Strategically use your vacation days around holidays. This way, you can make a potentially long weekend longer without having to use too much of your precious vacation time. Half days are also pretty awesome. It's amazing how much you can do with four extra hours! If you want an early weekend but don't want to burn up your vacation days too quickly, try taking a half day on a Friday instead of using a full day off.
11. Bike To Work
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If you're one of the lucky few who live within walking or biking distance of work, take advantage of it! Not only will you get plenty of fresh air, but you'll also save money on gas, which is always a plus!
There are plenty of easy ways to enjoy summer when you work a full-time job. So this summer, try out a few of these ideas and make the most of the sunshine and warm weather—while they're still around!
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It’s an interesting dilemma for new grads these days. Assuming you’re lucky enough to score a job, you’ll find yourself thrown into a workforce for which you’ve (probably) received little or no formal training. Sadder still, you probably won’t receive much on-the-job training either. If you work for a large corporation, my guess is they’ll send you to an off-site orientation with other new hires where you will get a condensed overview of company culture and operations. These programs are usually pretty good and you should go with the mindset of learning all you can.
However, if you start in a small business or an organization without a training program (like I did), you have to be a bit scrappier about how you acquire knowledge. Either way, there’s a few things you must understand about the workforce before you can really hit the ground running.
Let’s start with wardrobe malfunctions. At the beginning of my career, I made some choices that were regrettable to say the least. (The knee-high patent leather boots come to mind… ) In a continuation of my college mindset, I chose outfits based on what “looked cute” rather than what “looked credible,” and I paid a price for it at the time. Clients and colleagues didn’t take me seriously, so I stumbled a bit coming out of the gate. These days, however, I’m very careful about the impression I want to make and I use clothes – strategically – to reinforce that image. You should too.
Moving on from something you can control (your clothes) to something you can’t, let’s talk about how to prepare for the inevitable information overload. Ever heard of the phrase “sipping through a fire hydrant?” If not - get ready - because as a new professional, that pretty much sums up your life for the next couple months. From the location of the supply closet to the details of the Topeka Project, you are going to have A TON of information thrown at you in a very short period of time. In fact, for most of you this will be your only training. So don’t get flustered or visibly overwhelmed by the avalanche. Just expect it, hunker down, take good notes, and bring your A-game. Everyday.
Finally, The Wall Street Journal recently surveyed 479 college recruiters to discover what new grads needed to improve most these days. The result? Critical thinking skills. In a recent article, the WSJ stated new grads are being held back professionally because they “can't turn their isolated observations about a client's business into a strategy.” Right or wrong, it seems the consensus is today’s grads are adept at completing tasks, but many lack the ability to tie those tasks back to their organization’s big-picture goals.
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For advice on how to sharpen your own critical thinking, plus six other skills you’ll need to shrink the learning curve at work, I hope you’ll join me for the upcoming webinar, “7 Things Your First Boss Wants You to Know on Day One.”
We’re going to dive deep into what you’re expected to know when you show up for work on the first day… but no one ever told you until now. So if you’re a student thinking ahead to your first job or even a recent grad who feels “held back” at work, this webinar is a must-attend.
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Emily Bennington is coauthor of "Effective Immediately: How to Fit In, Stand Out, and Move Up at Your First Real Job" (Ten Speed Press, 2010). She is a contributor to The Huffington Post, Monster.com, and a frequent speaker to college students and organizations on the topic of career success. Bennington also hosts the Professional Studio 365 blog, which helps new professionals successfully navigate their first year in the workforce. She can be reached via email at ebennington@msn.com or on Twitter @EmilyBennington.The photo for this article is provided by Shutterstock.
