6 ways youre bringing unwanted germs into your apartment

6 ways youre bringing unwanted germs into your apartment6 ways youre bringing unwanted germs into your apartmentThere are people who take pride in keeping their homes perfectly clean and tidy, and then there are people who couldnt care less if clutter begins to stack up in the corners of their living room, bedroomandoffice. If youre a member of the latter group, cool.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreIf youre a member of the former group, we have some upsetting nachrichtensendung for you - even if youre a self-proclaimed neat freak, there are probably a few ways that germs are sneaking into your apartment. But instead of losing it and running around spraying a can of Lysol everywhere, check out where exactly those ick factors are hiding and learn more about how you can handle them.1. Your ShoesSurprise, surprise - the things on your feet that carry you down dirty sidewalks, onto public transportation, into public restrooms and virtually everywhere else arecovered in germs and bacteria. Some are harmless, and some honestly help boost your immune system a little bit. But others can get you or your loved ones sick as theyre tracked around your carpets and hardwood floors. So designate a shoe storage spot near the front door (it doesnt have to look like a haphazard mess) and ditch those babies the second you walk in. It also wouldnt hurt to wipe them down with antibacterial wipes from time to time.2. Your Purse (And Luggage)So yeah, your purse is literallyone of the most germ-infested things you own. Similar to your shoes, the outside of the bag touches all sorts of icky places when you set it down rather thanhangit up. And the inside is constantly bombarded by used tissues, dirty pocket change, andwell-handled receipts. Considering all of the places your luggage gets stowed as you travel, were not surprised that those bags are icky, too. So rather than throwi ng your bag on the kitchen counter or sofa, designate a hallway hook for it and clean that thing regularly.3. Your CoatIts surprisinghow filthy outerwear like coats, gloves, hats, andscarves can get. But just think about how often you wear them and expose them to the elements (like how they start on bar benches but eventually fall on the floor), and then think about how infrequently you toss them in the washing machine or drop them off at the dry cleaners.Blegh. These are also items you dont want to leave chilling on your couch - or even hanging up in your closet next to your other clean clothes. Use a coat rack in your entryway, and be mindful of how many times you get them cleaned.4. Your PhoneJust because youre the only one who typically touches your phone doesnt mean its not covered in germs and bacteria. In fact, most mobile phones have18 times more bacteria than a toilet handle. So imagine what happens when you chuck your phone on your bed, rest it next to your pillow at nigh t or even place it next to your food on the kitchen counter as you cook. We know, we dont want to think about it, either. So do yourself a favor and wipe down your phone at least once a week with a simple, tech-safe cleaning solution (we use an isopropyl alcohol-based one).5. Your Reusable Grocery BagsYes, reusable shopping bags are a wonderful way to reduce your personal paper and plastic waste. But no,they are not as hygienic as you probably think they are. Again, think about how many times you take them to the store, place in them in the carts everyone else uses, fill them with foods that can leak (like trays of fresh fish and poultry) and drop them in your car. Now ask yourself how many times youve wiped them down or run them through a rinse cycle. If the answer is Um, never, nows the time to change that. Otherwise, youre exposing your new groceries to old germs and bacteria, and youre consistently exposing your kitchen space to more and more ick.6. Your PetsWe know how much you love Fido, but we bet you wont love to learn aboutall of the potential parasites, fecal bacteria and morehe can track into your home on the bottoms of his paws and even in his pretty coat. While some exposure is good for your immune system, you probably dont want a lot of the things he finds in your backyard to end up in your blankets on your bed (or even on your carpet). So make a point to bathe your pup as often as is safe for his skin and coat (check withyourvet) so your home can keep its germ count under control.Sign up forDaily Fit by Swirled, our newsletter featuring a wellness tip of the day and must-read health news from around the web Youll be one step closer to living a healthy, balanced life.This article first appeared on Swirled.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

Managers and employees have different ideas on whats a breach of etiquette

Managers and employees have different ideas on whats a breach of etiquetteManagers and employees have different ideas on whats a breach of etiquetteDoing the simple step of showing up on time can go a long way in the eyes of your manager. Unfortunately, too many of us are running late to work. Tardiness was the the most common breach of etiquette managers noticed in employees, a new Accountemps survey of 1,000 employees and 300 senior managers concluded.It goes without saying that you should show respect toward your colleagues, yet etiquette blunders happen every day,Michael Steinitz, executive director of Accountemps, said. Showing up on time for meetings and paying attention when youre there demonstrates that you value the time and efforts of others. Just being polite goes a long way toward creating a better work environment.Managers dont want you to be late employees dont want you to gossipHere were the most common etiquette breaches managers saw in their employees1. Running late to meetings (34%)2. Not responding to calls or emails in a timely manner (26%)3. Gossiping about others in the office (23%)Manners also mattered to employees, but they had a slightly different idea of what was the biggest offense of etiquette. Here were the rude coworker behaviors that they noticed the most1. Gossiping about colleagues (24%)2. Distracted during meetings (18%)3. Not responding to work communication in a timely fashion (17%)Employees appear to be more concerned with how their behavior is perceived by others. And they are right to be concerned about being seen as absent-minded or as a gossip. Common courtesy can make the difference between you getting that promotion or you being told that there is no room for advancement. Sixty-five percent of managers and 46% of workers said being courteous can accelerate advancement. So if youre habitually late, this is your wake-up call. Showing up on time, paying attention to meetings and keeping your mouth shut when you hear gossi p are all behaviors that are entirely in our control to fix.

How to Make a Career Pivot Get The Job You Deserve

How to Make a Career Pivot Get The Job You DeserveHow to Make a Career Pivot Get The Job You Deserve Although it would make life so much easier to have one of those fabled dream jobs youve known about your whole life, and eventually move through with joy, most peoples career paths arent so linear.In zu sich book, Fearless and Free How Smart Women Pivot - And Relaunch Their Careers , writer and content strategist Wendy skramasax explains how to move out of your work slump with a little more grace and intention. We asked skramasax to share some nuggets of advice for women looking to take the next step in their careers. Ahead, five pro tips that just might help you make your own career pivot .Whether youre applying for a new dream job , a better role within the company where you already work or simply looking to take the next natural step in your career, youll need to talk about your experience in a way that feels relevant. Sachs suggests using LinkedIn as a cheat s heet. Find someone in your immediate or close network who currently holds the type of position you want, read through their profile and pay attention to the language that they use to talk about their skills. When you look at a job description, you want to match your skills to what the parteie hiring is looking for and position it that way, Sachs says.Dont feel the need to downplay past positions that youre genuinely proud of, even if you think they might seem like a detour. In Fearless and Free , Sachs tells the story of one woman who took time out of the workforce after becoming a mom and volunteered to raise money for a local playground. When she started interviewing again, people would ask her what job she welches most proud of, and she would say Hippo Playground, Sachs says. She didnt position it as, Yeah, I helped raise money for some swings. She spoke about it in the terms that the industry she was looking to get into were looking for - raising X amount of money, bringing in programming and new partners, and it didnt matter that it was volunteer work .Its tempting to follow the latest trend in business or technology, especially when people make it seem like all your hopes for landing a job zusammenge on the skill du jour. Dont feel the need to mindlessly follow that advice. Case in point Not everyone needs to be a coder, Sachs says. In her book, she interviews Tami Pardee, a woman who went from fundraising and party planning for the Muscular Dystrophy Association to becoming the CEO of a small tech company. She had no tech background, but realized all those skills of development, working across teams and event planning actually fit beautifully into a project manager position, and that happened to be at a tech company.If there are certain skills that align with the industry youre trying to break into, learning them can absolutely be a boon. But theres no need to derail everything based on the smaller picture. Other people will tell you that not everyo ne needs to be a social media expert. Should you know about Snapchat and maybe pay attention to things happening there? For sure - if your job is in online publishing, or in entertainment, or in retail, or in fashion, or in any of these industries that spend a lot of time posting things. But does that mean that you need to be the go-to expert in it - or that everyone needs to be an expert in everything? Absolutely not.Most jobs these days will want employees who can wear many hats, Sachs says, but its possible to utilize the skills you already have in new fields, and grow into a job at the same time. Case in point Pardee launched the Just Not Sorry Gmail plug-in after she made her foray into tech, simply to gain a little more street cred. She told Sachs that she still has no plans to learn how to code, and is still moving along just fine.This is easier said than done, of course. Its also subjective What feels like a risk for you may be a breeze for someone else. But its hard to break through stagnation by doing the same things, over and over again, so you need to find a middle ground.The more risks you take, the faster your confidence will grow, so the through line is to do whatever feels risky for you, Sachs explains. Maybe thats going into a networking event, signing up for a class online , showing up in person to go take a class or reaching out to that more senior-level person in an industry youre hoping to move into.Most people usually know what gives them that sinking, but slightly excited feeling - or they can figure it out pretty easily. Whatever it is for you, dip your smallest toe in to start, and see where it takes you.If your risk involves asking someone else for something, make it easier on both of you and come prepared. Dont ask to pick someones brain, Sachs warns. No one wants or has time to have their brain picked. Be very strategic in what your ask is.If youre hoping for an introduction, be forthright about that - but not rude - and als o explain what youd like an intro for. You might say, Im interested in launching my own jewelry company and I know that youre friends with someone who has an Etsy store. Can you connect me to your friend who does this? suggests Sachs. You need to do that research so you dont waste your one chance with that person.Its also okay to have more than one person youd like to reach out to. Humans are complex with varied interests, and you might want to look into a few areas. Just dont bombard one person with all of your hopes and dreams.When you sit down with someone who is well-connected that you want to network with, dont throw all 10 ideas you have out there, says Sachs. No one knows what to do with that and frankly, they cant really help you - thats a conversation to have with a career counselor, your therapist, your mother or your best friend. Instead, pick a lane when you have a networking opportunity , and make it the one thing that is relevant to the person youre talking to. Sta rting small will be less overwhelming for both the other person and you, so that you can start taking small steps forward.Our career lives are long and mistakes will inevitably be made, Sachs says. Those mistakes can include picking a job you hate , doing something that gets you fired, even staying in a job too long, way past the point of when you learned something new. (Not to mention the possibility that at some point in your career, you may face layoffs, which is beyond your control.)Look at all of this stuff as very much part of the journey and part of the learning experience, says Sachs. When you leave a job, the most important thing is - even if it was a bad fit or you werent getting along with your boss - to leave on good terms. These people remain part of your network, and you would be surprised how youll circle around similar people over time, even when you switch things up.Sachs experienced that firsthand after accepting a job that met most of her criteria on paper - a well-respected company, great coworkers and a wonderful boss - but turned out to be a place where she would stagnate. I had interviewed five or six times and we talked about the creativity and innovation that I would bring to the job, but the reality was that the agency just wasnt ready for that. They had their own ways, and for me, it was taking five steps back and doing a job that I had already done for years.Sachs didnt leave immediately quitting a job in a huff isnt a luxury most people have . But she did try to make the most of it while she looked for a way out. I stuck with it for nine months because you dont want to let people down, and you think maybe itll work out , she explains. Now Im a lot smarter when it comes to thinking about my next move.Within reason (in terms of how much wiggle room you have when it comes to your work situation), think about what matters to you, whether thats making a certain wage, working in a particular atmosphere or having a certain kind of r elationship with your coworkers. Then, before you say your final goodbyes, make sure that youve at least learned something new, or built a few relationships that you can take with you.Youd be surprised at how much experience youve really accumulated along the way. So dont beat yourself up over it, Sachs says.This article was originally published by Refinery29 . It is reprinted with permission.

This is how to resist distraction 4 proven secrets

This is how to resist distraction 4 proven secretsThis is how to resist distraction 4 proven secretsHave you said any of these recently?I get distracted and procrastinate.I make plans but I dont follow through on them.I get things done but not the right things.The problem oftencomes down to just one word reactive.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreMaybe that wasnt the word you were expecting. But reactivity isa problem people have been contemplating for thousands of years. And, yes, its a bigger issue now than ever.What is it? What can we do about it? Neuroscience and ancient wisdom from Buddhism and Stoicism haveanswers.Lets get to itYour ReactiveBrainMaybe youre lazy, maybe youre not lazy. But one thing is for certain yourbrain is.Research shows that even in our free time we often dont do what we enjoy fruchtwein - we do what is easy. Your brain doesnt want to waste energy. So i ts always a bit lazy.Problem is, the world is not lazy. These days its constantly shouting at you.Sometimes its the siren song of entertaining things like text messages from friends and other times its scary things like work emails - but its shouting.Everything is demanding our attention. Wed like to make a plan and follow through or accomplish goals undistracted but the worldseems to be working against you.When I spoke to Duke professor Dan Ariely, he said exactly that the world is working against you.Heres DanThe world is not acting in our long-term benefit. Imagine you walk down the street and every store is trying to get your money right now in your pocket you have a phone and every app wants to control your attention right now. Most of the entities in our lives really want us to make mistakes in their favor. So the world is making things very, very difficult.Your lazy brain is happy to just react to that relentless bombardment of stimuli coming its way.But when youjust react, youdont usually make the best choices. And while youredefinitely doing something, yourerarely achieving your goals.Thats because when youre reacting, youre not in control of your life. In fact, reacting is the opposite of control. You see something fun and you chase it. You see something scary and you run away. Either way, your environment is determining your behavior.Its ironic that we so often say to others, Dont tell me what to do And yet, all too often, were letting the world around us determine our actions. Were not departureing from plans and decisions, were reacting.And these days were often sitting there hoping we get a new text,email, update or notification. Were all but saying, Please, tell me what to do.And while technology has made the problem worse, this issuehas been around forever. About 2000 years ago the Stoic philosopher Epictetus said thisIf a person gave away your body to some passerby, youd be furious. Yet, you hand over your mind to anyone who comes along, so t hey may abuse you, leaving it disturbed and troubled - have you no shame in that?(To learn the 7 step morning zeremoniell that will keep you happy all day, click here.)More often we need to step back rather than dive in. But how do we do that? First, we need to prepareControl Your ContextBrian Wansink is a professor at Cornell who studies eating behavior. And one of the main things hes found about overeating is that its rarely due to hunger. Its usually due to context.FromMindless Eating Why We Eat More Than We ThinkEveryone - every single one of us - eats how much we eat largely because of whats around us.Youeat less when food is farther away and more when its closer. Heres BrianPeople ate half as much if we simply moved the candy dish off their desk andplaced it six feet away.So when you need to get work done, put your phone on the other side of the room. Make distractions harder to reach.When you have fewer things to react to or you make it harder to react to them, youll be le ss reactive.(To learn the 4 rituals neuroscience says will make you happy, click here.)Preparation is great but thats just the first line of defense. What do youneed to do when youre face to face with something thats pulling you into reactive mode?Stay CalmTake a unterbruch. Something fun is saying Come play with me Or something scary is in front of you and you want to run away and procrastinate. So just pause for a second.As Marcus Aurelius said a long time agoThe first thing to do - dont get worked up The next thing to do - consider carefully the task at hand for what it is, while remembering your purpose is to be a good human being.And modern science agrees. All that emotion is not going to help.Albert Bernstein, a clinical psychiatrist, says staying calm is key to making good decisions in the heat of the momentthe basic idea is that in many situations, youre reacting with instincts programmed into your dinosaur brain, rather than thinking through a situation. If youre in your dinosaur brain, youre going to play out a 6 million-year-old program, and nothing goodis going to happen.Neuroscientistssay stress takes your prefrontal cortex - the rational part of your brain - offline. Quite simply, stress makes you stupid. And thats why just reacting often makes you do stupid things.(To learn how astronauts, Samurai, and Navy SEALs stay calm and make good decisions, click here.)Okay, you paused. But you cant just freeze every time something tempting comes up. So whats next?Think About Your GoalsMake sure the most important thing staysthe most important thing.Even the ancient Stoics knew that.Epictetus saidFirst tell yourself what kind of person you want to be, then do what you have to do. For in nearly every pursuit we see this to be the case. Those in athletic pursuit first choose the sport they want, and then do that work.Not big on Stoicism?The ancient Buddhist practice of mindfulness is on the same page. Joseph Goldstein, one of the leading experts in the field, told me something very similarWhere is this action leading? Do I want to go there? This thought which has arisen, is it helpful? Is it serving me or others in some way or is it not? Is it just playing out perhaps old conditions of fear or judgment or things that are not very helpful for ourselves or others?And modern neuroscience researchagrees with both.Thinking about your long-term goals when youre tempted by distraction gives your brain a sense of control and can release dopamine which will make you feel better and more motivated.Alex Korb, a neuroscientist at UCLA, told me thisBy thinking, Okay, what is my long-term goal? What am I trying to accomplish? Calling that to mind can actually make it feel rewarding to be doing homework instead of going to the party because then your brain is like, Oh yeah. Im working towards that goal. Im accomplishing something thats meaningful to me. Then that can start to release dopamine in the nucleus accumbens and that can start to make y ou feel better about what youre doing.(To learn more aboutthe six rituals that ancient wisdom says can make you happy, click here.)Youre calm and youre thinking about your goals. Now comes the hard partMake A DeliberateDecisionTurning down fun distractionsis hard. Resisting the urge to procrastinate is really hard.Sotake a second and deliberatelydecide not to give in. I know,that sounds waaaaay too easy to be helpfulWrong.Neuroscience shows pausing andtaking the time to make adecision actually helps stop you from engaging in bad behavior.Via The Upward SpiralMaking decisions also helps overcome striatum activity, which usually pulls you toward negative impulses and routines.And then, finally, act on that decision. Follow your long-term goals. Heres neuroscientist Alex KorbWhen the prefrontal cortex is taken offlineby stress we end up doing things that are immediately pleasurable.Instead of getting overwhelmed, ask yourself, Whats one little thing that I could do now that would move me toward this goal Im trying to accomplish?Taking one small step toward it can make it start to feel more manageable.(To learn more about the neuroscience behind mindfulness, click here.)Okay, weve learned a lot. Lets round it up and see what happens when we put it into actionSum UpHeres how to resist distraction and be less reactiveControl your context You cant react to whats not there.Stay calm Stress makes you dumb. Stress and reacting leads to dumb behavior.Think about your goals Get Stoicism, mindfulness and dopamine on your side.Make adeliberate decision When you do, your brain is betterable to resist no-nos.You dont have to react and answer that text immediately. You dont have to react to that delicious smell and eat all the cookies. You can pause, stay calm, think about your goals and decide to do the right thing.Were all so afraid of being bored that we run to any distraction that presents itself. But when we truly engage with the world and focus on our goals, were never b ored.And as David Foster Wallace said, If you are immune to boredom, there is literally nothing you cannot accomplish.Join over 271,000 readers.Get a free weekly update via emailhere.This article first appeared on Barking Up the Wrong Tree.

4 Steps to Speak Better in Interviews

4 Steps to Speak Better in Interviews4 Steps to Speak Better in InterviewsFiller words like um, ahh, so, like and you know can reduce your credibility as a speaker and hurt your chances in a job interview.Recently I attended a panel discussion with three speakers. One of the speakers was a well-spoken young woman, but she used filler words excessively and to her detriment. In her first two minutes speaking to the audience she used 10 filler words - most prolifically, um.After the panel discussion I turned and asked the people sitting with me if they noticed the excessive use of the word um. They responded, Notice? I couldnt concentrate on a word she said. All I heard was um. What are filler words? Theyre tics of speech such as um, ahh, so, like and you know that we use to fill gaps and pauses in our speech. Most of use too many of them, and they can reduce your credibility as a speaker and hurt your chances in a job interview.At Corporate Speech Solutions, we recommend speakers try to maintain a limit of two filler words in every two minutes of speech. Any more than that and you begin to sound less professional and less qualified.During a job interview, you may be asked questions that you are not prepared to answer. Dont fill your answer with excessive ums. Even worse, be careful of like and you know. These speech patterns may stand between you and the job.Filler words can dilute the message and make you sound timid. When you use them excessively, it makes you sound unsure of yourself and uncertain of your answer. You want the interviewer to see you as a confident executive and a subject-matter expert.The key to reducing filler words is a relatively easy, four-step process. Like anything, it takes practice.1. AwarenessListen to yourself on tape during a telephone conversation and count the use of uh, um, like or you know. Remember, if they occur more frequently than two times in two minutes, you need to work on modifying the habit.2. Recognize your patterns.I have noticed that many of my clients habitually start sentences with um. Others may use the word and as a connector instead of using a period. totenstill others have a tendency to add you know? at the end of a sentence as confirmation of what they said. Recognize your own personal pattern if you want to address it.3. Anticipate that you are about to use a filler wordOnce you are aware of your pattern, you will recognize when you are about to use a filler word in your speech.4. Pause.Once you know it is coming, take a pause. We call it strategic pausing. Strategic pausing will give you the time to think of what you want to say, say it and move on without inserting the filler word. Strategic pausing does not just give you time to think it adds impact to your message. Resist the urge to fill the time with a filler word and you will automatically sound more impressive.Practice these techniques every day until the filler words are no longer a part of your working speech pattern. Remember not to use the filler words when leaving voicemail messages. Notice how and when others use filler words. Does it sound professional?Learning to eliminate your filler words will enhance the effectiveness of your speech and the professionalism of your interviews.

What You Dont Know About Resume Thank You Letter Could Be Costing to More Than You Think

What You Dont Know About Resume Thank You Letter Could Be Costing to More Than You Think You are going to be able to assess from the tone of the interview should you need to be more formal. If anything, it might enable you to get negative attention, as it might annoy them. If want to get the job, its well worth the opportunity to make an in-depth, effective notenzeichen to inspire the reader to want to find out more about you. Taking the opportunity to accomplish this, can help you depart from your interviewer with a good impression. Composing a 500 words essay is essentially an excellent wait to apply all of your current knowledge on academic writing. Delaying serves no beneficial purpose, and also raises the mglichkeit that you will neglect to compose the note. You dont wish to be caught on plagiarism. To grab readers attention from the beginning, the author has to bring a hook into the very first paragraph. Therefore, even when you are writing the entire piece all by you rself, think about using special tools to look at each piece for plagiarism. What Resume Thank You Letter Is - and What it Is Not Our experienced writers understand how to make thank-you letters that get noticed and read by means of an employer. In case you had an interview with over 1 person, you should send letters to every individual with whom you spoke. Be clear of what youre thanking the person for. Even if you begin a geschftsleben of your own, you might want to send thank you letters to certain clients. Cover letters are made to complement your resume. For more conventional businesses and professions, a letter might be more appropriate. Your letter needs to be put to use as a gentle reminder. Send thank you letters whenever possible. You will receive the finest professional resume help out there on earth. The best kind of card and stamp are plain, nor express your own personal or religious beliefs. The hardest job on earth is searching for employment. You should always work to leave a great impression. The choice you make depends upon your very own individual needs. The excess attention will reflect positively on the standing of your company. Even in the event that you dont get work offer, it leaves a great impression. Resume Thank You Letter Can Be Fun for Everyone Instead, show that you know a bit about the organization. If youre not sure, Google the business name, and search for business directories. What are the best internet job sites when looking for medical billing coding jobs. What to think about when starting a health billing service enterprise. Top Choices of Resume Thank You Letter Below, youll discover tips and data that will allow you to make a favorable impression on any employer. If you opt to get a gift, make certain you send a card too. Just follow the straightforward instructions provided on this website. Add your small business card or contact info. Thank you again for the chance to interview with you and yo ur business and please contact me should you want any more information. Find out more about the practice or hospital youre interviewing with. If youre going on multiple nurse interviews, make certain you re-write your thank-you letters and tailor them to the particular facility youre interviewing with. Even though the primary purpose is providing you a sample of the way to compose a thank you letter after your work interview, youll find also, other ones. Above all, consider what youd love to see in a work interview thank-you note. One of the very first things your thank-you letter ought to do is stress your interest in the employer and the job which you are trying to find. Please dont hesitate to call me if you require additional info, have any questions or would love to offer me the job Your thank you note ought to be sent within 24-hours following your interview.

Managing the Future of Your Career Why Retirement Is Harder Than Ever

Managing the Future of Your Career Why Retirement Is Harder Than Ever We are job-search campaign managers, which means we frequently work with senior leaders who are experts in wearing their public masks of confidence. But often, beneath those veneers is a profound despair.There are two variations of this despairMy college roommate welches able to retire at 64. I cant afford to retire. I feel like such a failure. What did I do wrong?I am looking for employment but cant find full-time work. My neighbor flits from full-time job to full-time job. The recruiters are always calling this neighbor. But the recruiters do elend return my calls. When I was young, they pursued me. The only opportunities I get are for interim assignments. I must be a failure. What did I do wrong?This article is based on interviews with fifty senior executives who have been successful in managing their careers during difficult economic times. unterstellungcorporate leaders have le arned the difficult lesson that success often involves the painful process of unlearning old frames of reference that once worked.As it turns out, unlearning old ideas that have been successful in the past is often far more difficult than learning new ideas.What are some of the lessons our leaders had to unlearn on their roads to eventual success? Lets take a look at a fewShort Job Tenure and Long Middle AgeThe individual complaints with which we began this piece are but symptoms of two larger and more well-known trends impacting all who work in developed countries.The first trend is a shortening of traditional job tenures in line with the collapsing time frames of product life cycles and corporate life cycles.Technology has been a main driver behind the speeding up of business cycles. What economists call creative destruction is taking place at a faster pace, andconscientious, qualified employees are often its victims.In other words, job tenures within jobs and career tenureswithin companies are decreasing.Short job tenures play havoc onretirementsavings because retirement savings are foundedon slow and consistent contributions. Short job tenures explode that assumption.At the same time, life spans are increasing. You can thank the same technological factors that contribute to lowering job tenure. The average life span within industrial societies has increased by about 12 years since Social Security was adopted in the U.S.It is important, however, to remember that this additional 12 years is not an additional 12 years of old age. It is an elongation of middle age. The old career model was based on long job tenure and death within 10-15 years of retirement. The new career model is based on short job tenure and death within 25 years of retirement.Implication Do not be critical of yourself if you do not have enough saved for a retirement that will support you for 25 years. It is not your fault. Unlearn your framework for retirement.The Free Agent Model Never Val id for AllIn the last ten years of the 20th century, economists like Robert Reich and popular business magazines like Business 2.0 began to write about the so-called Free Agent Nation. Under the free-agent framework, executives have careers that more closely resemble the careers of professionalsportsstars, who smoothly shift from one major leaguegruppeto another through the work of third-party agents. In the world of business, agents are often called retained search executives.But heres the thing Professional sports players represent an elite segment of the general population, and withinthis already elite group, only the top 10-15 percent can count on the free-agent model to work for them.What happens to the other 85 percent? When their contracts with major league teams are not renewed, it is the beginning of the end of their professional sports careers.And even for the elite 10-15 percent,free agency will cease to be valid as they age or become injured.In other words, free agency i s valid for a few athletes some of the time and for no athlete all of the time.Free Agency as a Career Model in BusinessFree agency says that winners smoothly move from full-time job to full-time job with the help of recruiters. As inprofessional sports, free agency works for a small group of leaders some of the time and it works for all leaders none of them time.Unless you unlearn the free-agency mindset, you doom yourself to individual feelings of failure. Moving from a good corporate job that you were placed in by a recruiter to a temporary help role as a consultant or an interim executive can make you feel humiliated as long as you retain that free-agency mindset.The Case of JackThere is a new model that can now replace free agency traversing from full-time assignments or W-2 relationships to project assignments or 1099 relationships and then back again.Failure to grasp the realities of this traversalcan make a complex professional life even more painful. Consider the case of J ackJack was CFO of a company in a declining industry. A larger player acquired Jacks company, and he received a one-year severance agreement as part of his exit package. Jack spent the first nine months aggressivelynetworkingfor a full-time CFO job in his geographic area while making it clear that an interim or project-oriented role was beneath him. By month ten, Jack became concerned about his familys cash flow. He began looking for interim assignments. Jack found his network unresponsive, and the reason was obvious He had clearly signaled early in his job search that interim assignments were second choice. Jack is now approaching month 24 withneitheremployment assignments nor project assignments within reach.Jacks story is both unhappy and common. It need not have ended this way.Jack needed to understand and accept that his career may have begun as an employee but it would most certainly end as a consultant. And he is going to have to support himself on consulting earnings once hi s full-time W-2 period is over.Should I Go Into Freelance Work?We tell our clients the question should not be, Should I go into consulting? The question should be, When I go into consulting, will I make enough money?Think of todays leaders as managing two distinct professional lives. One life focuses on full-time employment, and the other life focuses on project assignments, also known as interim freelance or consulting assignments.In a world of short job tenures, even full-time jobs need to be thought of as assignments, rather than as long-term career slots you will occupy.Your mission in managing your career is to manage these two professional lives so that you will be successful in both becauseyou will be careening from one to the other over a period of years.In the next articleof this series, we will address why you need to unlearn the notion of climbing the ladder of success.Maryanne Peabody and Larry Stybel are cofounders of Stybel Peabody, an Arbora Global Company. This artic le is adaptedfrom their book,Navigating the Waterfall Your Guide to Job Search and Career Management.