Since it’s a long holiday weekend, due to Memorial Day on Monday, AZTB has some books to help you kick back, relax and learn a few things along the way. These books offer tips on improving your workplace environment, improving your workplace demeanor, and…well…improving yourself.
You just bought the perfect item. It was just the right size and color, a good fit, and a decent price. It spoke to you the minute you saw it, whispering promises of confidence and prestige. You already own lots of things – so why buy more? In Spent: Exposing Our Complicated Relationship with Shopping, edited by Kerry Cohen, you’ll read essays about shopping and the possible reasons behind it. The thirty-one women who contributed to this book each offer different viewpoints on their feelings toward money and what it buys. Their stories come from various walks of life, economic realities, and long-held attitudes, which is entertaining enough without having to be instructional. Purchase Spent here.
Are you happy at work? Does your office environment make you feel happy and productive? Every so often, on a regular schedule, you get a paycheck. Not long ago, that was the extent of what an employer offered: you got paid, and if you weren’t happy with that, well, you had one option. Then big-tech companies began offering big perks and the realization hit: “Happy employees mean bigger profits.” Author Ron Friedman, PhD, explains in his book “The Best Place to Work,” that bonuses, trips, and company t-shirts can all backfire, so instead offer employees a change in corporate attitude, and let them fail. When employees know they won’t be penalized for messing up, they tend to be more creative and innovative – therefore, happier. Friedman continues with various tips for employers to ensure a comfortable and inviting work environment with suggestions like a “cave and campfire” atmosphere or allowing employees to work from home one day a week. So find and read “The Best Place to Work,” and then picture your employees’ smiles. Purchase The Best Place to Work here.
Does it seem like you rarely have five minutes a day to yourself? Like, good sleep is an acquaintance you haven’t seen in ages? Then you need what’s inside Work Simply by Carson Tate. You really hate turning people down, but there’s just no other way; you’re too busy. Tate offers a quick, easy quiz to analyze your productivity style. Are you a planner, prioritizer, arranger, or a visualizer? Knowing where you stand will tell you where your strengths and weaknesses lie in organizational skills, which helps you work more efficiently, alone and with others. Work Simply gives you a different way of looking at your “working style.” Purchase Work Simply here.
You’ve decided that you’re going to change a lot of things this New Year – love, finances, and work, for starters. Especially work, because you’re fed up and frustrated. And that is the biggest catalyst, says author and entrepreneur Ben Arment. Frustration is “the fuel” that really lights an entrepreneurial fire – and in the new book “Dream Year,” he explains how you can nurture your spark. You’ve decided to bring your dream to the world and that’s good because, today, “nothing is stopping you from constructing your own system to sustain your livelihood.” “You,” says Arment, “…are the only gatekeeper for your dream.” Even though starting a new business or taking an idea from its infancy to a full-fledged sustainable business can be hard, it’s your dream – so make it happen! Purchase Dream Year here.
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Contributions by Terri Schlichenmeyer
