http://jobs.aol.com/articles AOL Jobs http://o.aolcdn.com/os/careers/images/AOL_jobs_logo.png http://jobs.aol.com/articles en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/04/26/vacation-unplug-time-off/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/04/26/vacation-unplug-time-off/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/04/26/vacation-unplug-time-off/#commentsI woke up one morning about four weeks ago and realized in a flash that I'd hit a wall. Most days I can't wait to get to work. On this day, I struggled to get myself out of the house.

The first three months of the year had been intensely demanding, between hiring a series of new employees for a rapidly growing business, working with colleagues to develop several new products, traveling frequently, and taking on multiple writing assignments.

One of the primary principles of the work we teach at The Energy Project is that the greater the performance demand, the greater the need for recovery. I needed a vacation, but what I needed most of all was a period of total digital disconnection. My brain felt overloaded and I needed time to clear it out.]]>confessionsexhaustionmedia dietoverworkrelaxingunplugvacationworkaholicTony Schwartz2013-04-26T07:48:00+00:00http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/04/09/conscious-capitalism-profits/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/04/09/conscious-capitalism-profits/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/04/09/conscious-capitalism-profits/#comments If you had told me, when I was attending college during the height of the Vietnam War, and the heyday of the counterculture, that several of the most inspiring days of my life would someday be spent with a group of CEOs of large companies, I would have said you were nuts. But that's exactly what I experienced last week, at a small gathering sponsored by an organization called Conscious Capitalism Inc. and held at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, Calif.

Even today, "conscious" and "capitalism" remain unlikely bedfellows. Both are freighted words that have come to stand for fundamentally different worldviews. Capitalism is associated with individualism, personal ambition, the accumulation of wealth and power, and an identity grounded in external accomplishment. The word conscious, or more specifically consciousness, is associated with self-awareness, personal development, the greater good, and a worldview that eschews competition, hierarchy and materialism.]]>Best bossesceosconscious capitalismContainer Storecorporate Americasocial responsibilityworker payworker productivityTony Schwartz2013-04-09T07:30:00+00:00http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/03/18/memo-to-bosses-stop-treating-employees-like-children/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/03/18/memo-to-bosses-stop-treating-employees-like-children/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/03/18/memo-to-bosses-stop-treating-employees-like-children/#commentsFor more than a decade now, I've struggled to define what fuels the most sustainably productive work environment -- not just on behalf of the large corporate clients we serve, but also for my own employees at The Energy Project. Perhaps nothing I've uncovered is as important as trust.

As much as employers understandably hunger for one-size-fits-all policies and practices, what motivates human beings remains stubbornly complex, opaque and difficult to unravel. Perhaps that's why I felt so viscerally the shortsightedness and futility of Marissa Mayer's decision to order Yahoo employees who had been working from home to move back to the office, and Hubert Joly's to do the same at Best Buy.]]>Best BuyMarissa Mayerproductivityteleworkwork environmentwork from homeYahooTony Schwartz2013-03-18T08:14:00+00:00http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/11/16/what-could-your-employer-do-to-make-you-happier-at-work/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/11/16/what-could-your-employer-do-to-make-you-happier-at-work/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/11/16/what-could-your-employer-do-to-make-you-happier-at-work/#comments

This article originally appeared on HBR.org.


What would contribute most to your being both happier and more productive at work? How about feeling truly taken care of, appreciated, and trusted by your employer?

More than 100 studies have affirmed the connection between employee engagement and performance, but the Towers Watson 2012 Global Workforce Study - 32,000 employees across 30 countries - makes the most powerful, bottom line case yet for the connection between how we feel at work and how we perform.]]>be happier at workgood leadershiphappy at workhate my joblove my jobTony Schwartz2012-11-16T09:20:00+00:00http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/11/06/hurricane-sandy-can-teach-you-how-replace-fear-with-resilience/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/11/06/hurricane-sandy-can-teach-you-how-replace-fear-with-resilience/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/11/06/hurricane-sandy-can-teach-you-how-replace-fear-with-resilience/#comments

By Tony Schwartz, The Energy Project

This article originally appeared on HBR.org, with exclusive updates provided to AOL Jobs.


When I began writing this post, I was sitting in a hotel room with my wife and dog. We've had no electricity at our home, and therefore no lights, heat or hot water since Monday, and we've been told that it could be another week or more before power is restored. As the temperature dropped steadily, we decided to move to a hotel and were incredibly fortunate. We could afford one, and we somehow got a room. Every hotel within 50 miles of us is now sold out.

Until yesterday, the street in front of my company's office was flooded -- the Hudson River literally poured into downtown Yonkers. I plan to go to the office later today, but it still has no phone or internet service.]]>climate changedealing with changefinding gas in New JerseyHurricane Sandyrebuilding New Yorkresilienceresilience-changeworking after Hurricane SandyTony Schwartz2012-11-06T08:59:00+00:00http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/06/29/women-and-men-can-have-it-all/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/06/29/women-and-men-can-have-it-all/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/06/29/women-and-men-can-have-it-all/#comments

Annie Marie Slaughter's article in the current Atlantic titled "Why Women Still Can't Have It All" had a familiar ring - hauntingly so.

More than two decades ago, the Harvard Business Review published an article titled "Management Women and the New Facts of Life," which made many of the same arguments that Slaughter does - most notably that the structure of organizational life makes it nearly impossible for a woman to have both a high-powered full-time career and to feel fully involved as a mother.]]>&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&ved=0cgiqfjaf&url=http://jobs.aol.com/arfamilyhours workedhow+to+write+a+post+mommy+track+resumehowtowriteapostmommytrackresumeMommy Trackmommy trackedMommyTrackMommyTrackedtime managementwomenwork life balanceworking momsworking mothersTony Schwartz2012-06-29T13:29:00+00:00http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/06/18/running-on-empty-6-ways-to-get-your-energy-back/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/06/18/running-on-empty-6-ways-to-get-your-energy-back/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/06/18/running-on-empty-6-ways-to-get-your-energy-back/#commentsRecently, I was giving a talk to 160 senior executives at a large bank. As part of the talk, I asked them to fill out something we call "The Energy Audit," as a way of assessing how well they are managing their own energy. It happened that they had access to individual polling devices, so we were able to aggregate their answers and show them on the screen in the front of the room.]]>energyfind+energy+backfindenergybackfocusimpatiencemultitaskingrunners+with+low+energyrunnerswithlowenergysleeptime managementtiredTony Schwartz2012-06-18T15:47:00+00:00http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/06/12/the-art-of-letting-go/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/06/12/the-art-of-letting-go/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/06/12/the-art-of-letting-go/#commentsIt's one of the hardest things in the world to do, probably because it runs so counter to our powerful and primal need to feel safe, loved, and successful.

For most of my life, I prided myself on relentless perseverance in the face of obstacles, and a refusal to give up on any goal or client I was pursuing. Letting go felt like failure or rejection, and both were nearly unbearable to me.]]>business opportunitiescommitmenthard workersHardWorkersovercommittedperseverancesuccesstime managementworking too hardWorkingTooHardTony Schwartz2012-06-12T11:46:00+00:00http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/05/31/take-back-your-life-in-seven-simple-steps/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/05/31/take-back-your-life-in-seven-simple-steps/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/05/31/take-back-your-life-in-seven-simple-steps/#commentsIt's no secret that American workers have allowed technology take a pernicious toll on their attention, and in turn, their creativity, resilience, relationships and, ultimately, productivity. But how do you take back your life? The key is to make conscious choices that provide long-term satisfaction rather than instant but fleeting gratification.]]>attentioninternetlife skillslistspointlessrules+to.taking+back+your+life+aolrulesto.takingbackyourlifeaoltaming technologyTamingTechnologytime managementtime wasting technologyTimeWastingTechnologywasting timeTony Schwartz2012-05-31T09:31:00+00:00