So here’s something that I’m curious about and thought we’d discuss… what magazines do you guys read on a regular basis?  Do you feel like the Internet has changed the time you spend with a magazine — or is a hot bath or a long flight still not the same without your favorite pile of mags?  Does anyone use the iPad apps? Which magazines do you enjoy the most?

For my own $.02… you’re talking to someone whose major was magazine journalism, so I always have and always will love the medium.  One of my favorite scenes in Working Girl is when Tess describes how her reading two wildly different publications gave her a great idea related to business, and I’ve always tried to take that approach.  I remember in college, going to Barnes and Noble, getting a huge stack of magazines, and sitting down to pore over them.  In my early 20s, when I worked for Family Circle, the editor in chief had me read about 30 magazines a week and flag things of interest to her, either in terms of story ideas for the magazine or things she ought to know generally as the editor of a major magazine. When I left for law school that dwindled to personally reading about 15 a month… and now I’m down to about 5 a month, maybe. I hate recycling unread magazines, and I’m just not in a place anymore where I want to keep large unread piles of magazines anymore, so I keep unsubscribing. (Pictured: Magazine Logos by Jim Parkinson, originally uploaded from FontShop.)  I still subscribe to the following:

Entrepreneurial reads:  Inc.  Love the magazine — but they have a lot of content available online. I also get Fast Company; lots of great reads. I always recommend these magazines to women who think they might have an entrepreneurial bent — it’s one of the cheapest and easiest ways to encourage yourself. I subscribed to Forbes for a while, but I ultimately felt like I preferred the servicey, how-to vibe from Inc. far better than the “profiles of titans of industry” feel to Forbes. Wired isn’t really an entrepreneurial read, but I loved that one because I always felt very inspired by all that talk of the tech world.  They have a lot of content online as well, though, so I unsubscribed.

Healthy Lifestyle Reads: Self. I prefer this one to Women’s Health, but with any eat-right-work-out-more magazine the stories are going to repeat, often… I signed up for Men’s Health for my husband, and found that is a really excellent magazine — I’m currently trying to figure out whether or not to keep my subscription.  I also get Weight Watchers Magazine (lots of good recipes).  For a while I got Cooking Light, as well as Taste of Home’s lower-calorie magazine (Light & Tasty, maybe?) — both are excellent, but I primarily use the Internet for my source of new recipes, now.  Oh!  And Nutrition Action Newsletter — I love this one, which contains lots of scientific-y looks at what the best cereal is, whether vitamins are really bad for you, etc.

Women’s Magazines:  I love Real Simple and O, The Oprah Magazine — I feel like both have reasonable fashion choices, solid self-help advice, and that both are beautiful to look at.

Shopping/Fashion Magazines:  I still subscribe to Lucky, which I have always liked, even when it swung too far in the boho direction.  I also try to look through Elle, which I get sent every month because I’m part of the Elle/Style Coalition ad network, and I’m always amazed at the good reads in it.  I always think of Vanity Fair as the fashion magazine with the best reads — that’s my splurge at the airport newstand.  I love to look at Vogue but in all my years subscribing to it I found exactly one spread of clothes that I might want to wear, and unsubscribed after I realized that.  I liked Marie Claire for a while — that is supposedly the thinking woman’s fashion magazine — but I never found anything that was a “must read” and so I wound up unsubscribing to that one also.

Career Advice Magazines.  I get Working Mother, and highly recommend it to those of you with kids or thinking of having kids.  I signed up for this before I got pregnant, in part to keep an eye on it for this blog, and it is an excellent magazine.  At least at this point in my parenting journey, the advice is fresh and new, and they address a lot of great things about the juggle between motherhood and working.   I must say, I also like subscribing to the men’s magazines, if only to see the career and money advice that the guys are getting.  I loved, loved, loved Esquire, but I finally unsubscribed since I just never got to all the lengthy, beautifully written articles in it.  I got Pink magazine for a while also, but it just felt like it was geared for much older women.  Men’s Health (mentioned above) had a bunch of great advice columns, a few of which I’ve linked to here.

Local Magazines: We still get New York magazine, but at this point we’re just recycling them almost as soon as they come.  We started because we felt like Time Out New York was too “young” for us; New York feels too old for us.  I suppose it’s probably time that we subscribe to Time Out Kids or something like that.  Sigh.  I got The New Yorker for years and years and years and loved it, but always had huge piles of it whenever I moved… and I always felt like a pseudo-intellectual if I just read just the Shouts & Murmurs section and the comics and then recycled it.  I finally stopped getting it when I decided to get Business Week, which I had always loved — but the weeklies really kill you in terms of paper, so I could only keep one.  (I no longer get either!)

Others Magazines:  I no longer get any design magazines.  In the past I’ve gotten Elle Decor (love), Dwell (a wee bit highbrow for me), another highbrow one I’m totally blanking on, and Domino (may it rest in peace).  I end up watching a lot of property/redesign shows on television as background noise, though, so maybe I’m getting my fill of it there.  We also don’t get any entertainment magazines anymore.  I love Entertainment Weekly, Us Magazine, and Rolling Stone, but I just don’t have the time to read them! So I tend to be pretty woefully informed about what movie is coming out or what hot new show I should watch.  Oh, and I’m also liking my subscription to Parenting Early Years.

So there you have it — I’m kind of a magazine nerd.  How about you guys — what are your must-reads every month? How have your tastes changed over the years?

(L-#)

Do people look down on professional women whose husbands have “blue collar” jobs? Reader C worries about her fiance, a mechanic…

My question is this: I am an aspiring law student who comes from a poor background. I really have no idea how educated people *truly* look at those who have less of an education than them. I am looking at T14 law schools and am very excited, with hopes for southern Biglaw (Richmond, VA). My fiance is a mechanic – he loves his career and would not change it for the world, however, I am worried – will my colleagues judge me because of this? Have you ever seen it be a problem? I hope I don’t sound shallow but I feel like it’s a legitimate concern. I want to know if I should expect anything out of the ordinary, or if the occupation of spouses is nil when it comes to things like raises, promotions, assignments, etc.

First, congratulations to you and your fiance! Whatever I or anyone else may say about this topic, the bottom line here is that as long as you love each other, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. If, when you start work, you find it’s a problem, chances are you’re not with the right employer for you anyway. (Pictured: Grease monkey, originally uploaded to Flickr by Rowan Peter.)

That said, you are likely to encounter some differing views on your husband’s profession. Readers have joked a lot that they would love to be electricians (set your own hours and prices, always in demand, etc.), and my own first thought was, “that’ll be great, because when you start to make real money you and he can buy a franchise or set up his own shop and really start to pave your own way.” But that may assume an ambition that isn’t there on the part of your fiance — maybe he has no desire to ever run his own shop or be a boss/manager. So let’s say he is just a mechanic — does it matter?

I say no, his profession does not matter: a happy spouse is a good thing. (Some bosses may even be more open to hiring a woman who definitely makes more money than her husband because they may see “stay at home dad” written all over him, whether or not that’s true.)

However, other things may have an impact on your career — for example, can you picture him in a tuxedo at a gala dinner? Will he refuse to wear a suit or more business-type clothes when you go to “bring-a-date” firm events? Can he make dinner conversation with people on “educated” topics? On a more basic level, are his table manners and his grammar good (or is he open to improving them)? Will he be understanding of the social games you may have to play, and be willing to support your social requirements at these events? These are the kinds of things that will alienate him (and you) at firm events, and they really come down to one of the main questions (IMHO) of marriage: are you both team players?  Is he a true partner?  If he is, then there should be no problem.  If he isn’t — well, you have bigger problems than what people think of his profession.

Readers, what do you think?  How do people view women with husbands in “blue collar” professions?

Something I’ve been thinking a lot about since I read it is this Mint article on “The Value of Tax-Deferred Savings.” According to the article, “[u]nless you make enough money to max out all of your tax-advantaged accounts (401(k), IRA, 529, HSA, and the like), it rarely makes sense to do any investing outside them.”  (Please note, I am not a financial adviser — this is all just my personal knowledge, so take it with a grain of salt.) (Pictured: Marc by Marc Jacobs – Turnlock Shine Long Tri-fold (Electric Teal) – Bags and Luggage, on sale at Zappos from $198 down to $150 today. Lots of great sales on Marc by Marc Jacobs stuff on Zappos today, actually.)

To be honest, the value of tax-deferred investing isn’t something I understood until really, really recently. So I thought we’d review some of the main vehicles for tax-savvy savings here, answering — for each, the main questions on everyone’s mind:

• What’s the advantage?
• How much can you put into it?
• Who can use it?
• Can you use it to put a downpayment on a house, or pay for something else big (wedding, car, schooling, etc)?
• When can you take it out?

Oh, and all of these vehicles aren’t the “end” of the story; you still have to figure out what fund or bond or stock you want your money to go into once it’s into that tax-deferred account.  If you don’t have time to research the different options, here’s my tip:  look for a “lifecycle” fund, such as a “Retire in 2040″ or “Retire in 2050″ fund — the idea is that the fund manager reallocates the fund over time, so right now it’ll be heavy in aggressive investments like stocks, whereas when you’re closer to retirement they’re in safer investments like bonds.  (N.B., though: I have heard that you have to really pay attention to these when you get closer to retirement to make sure they’re conservative enough for your blood.)  Where possible, I’ve linked to different articles written in plain English to back up my assertions; I’ve also linked to the non-fun IRS pages.  Oh, and note that all of these deal with earned income only — so, for example, you can’t open an IRA in your child’s name and gift him $5K to put into it every year (unless s/he has somehow earned the money — child modeling, anyone?).  And one other note: can I just say I am stunned at how hard it was to “source” this article — for example, MyMoney.gov has a whole page on “saving for retirement” with “helpful” advice such as “don’t eat out a lot,” but next to no information on IRAs.  Thanks, government!

401K

• What’s the tax advantage? Money goes in before it is taxed, and grows tax-free.  Even though the money will be taxed when you take it out, the idea is that your tax rate will be much lower when you are at retirement age.  Furthermore, because it grows tax-free, you’ll save thousands of dollars over the long run.  Very noteworthy bonus:  many employers “match” — if you put in $3,000, they put in $3,000.  Everyone agrees that if you don’t at least contribute up to the match, you are throwing away free money. That said, I have never had the pleasure of working for an employer who matched.
• How much? If you’re under 50, as of 2012 the maximum you can contribute every year is $17,000.
• Who?  You have to contribute to your 401K through your employer — so if you aren’t a permanent employee, you’re out of luck.
• Can you use it to put a downpayment on a house? No.  This is the big drawback to 401Ks — instead of being able to use the money for something right now (house, wedding, car, school), it is Retirement Money.  Sometimes you can take a 401k loan out, but that can be tricky.
• When can you take it out? Age 59 and a half.  If you take it out before age 59.5, you will pay income tax as well as an additional 10% early distribution penalty tax (although there are some fun exceptions, such as disability or death).

Roth IRA

• What’s the tax advantage? The money you put into a Roth IRA comes after it’s already been taxed — but you don’t pay taxes on it once you withdraw it.  Furthermore, the money grows tax-free over the years. Technically, this is tax-exempt saving rather than tax-deferred saving.
  
• How much? You can put $5,000 into a Roth IRA and/or a traditional IRA every year.
• Who? You can only contribute to a Roth IRA if your adjusted gross income is below $125,000 (for singletons) or $183,000 if you’re married and filing jointly. (See also.)  Note that unlike other vehicles, there are no mandatory withdrawals at age 70.5 — and you can continue contributing to it for as long as you are working.
  
• Can you use it to put a downpayment on a house? After you’ve held the account for 5 years, you can withdraw up to $10K in earnings without penalty or tax for the purchase, repair, or remodel of a first home. (See also.)
• When can you take it out? While there are some exceptions (such as first time home buyer, significant unreimbursed medical expenses, etc), the normal age at which you can take it out is at 59.5.

Traditional IRA

• What’s the tax advantage? Like a 401K, money placed in these accounts grow tax-deferred.
  
• How much? For 2012, you can contribute up to $5K annually.
  
• Who? You can contribute to a traditional IRA even if you participate in an employer-sponsored 401k. Note, however, that if you or your spouse is covered by an employer retirement plan such as a 401K, that will affect how much of your contribution is tax-deductible.  Depending on your income, you may only be able to take a partial deduction (if you make between $56-$66K and you’re single, or $90K-$110K if you’re married filing jointly), or no deduction at all if you make more than those amounts.
  
• Can you use it to put a downpayment on a house?  You can withdraw $10K for the purchase of a first home without paying the 10% penalty tax.
  
• When can you take it out? 59.5, generally.  If you are under age 59.5, you must pay a 10% additional tax on the distribution of any assets (in addition to any regular income tax) unless you meet some of the exceptions, such as for higher education or the purchase of a first home ($10K limit, though).
  

I’ll take a look at other investment vehicles (such as 529s and HSAs) in a later post.  Oh, and Forbes just had an interesting article on a “back-door Roth” strategy, noting that if you make too much for a Roth IRA but have the cash to save, you can open a traditional IRA and then go to the trouble of converting it to a Roth IRA, where it can grow tax-free.

Readers, how much are you saving for retirement each year (versus saving for specific events such as a wedding or the purchase of your first home) — and which of these vehicles are your favorites?

Self defense is not the most fun subject, but it’s been on my mind a bit and I thought it would be a good topic to talk about. As I’ve been getting back into running, I finally got a Road ID (which is every bit as awesome as I thought it was when I first heard about it). If you missed the post, it’s a simple bracelet you wear on your wrist that has your name and some “in case of emergency” contact numbers. I was telling a male friend about my Road ID, and he was incredulous about it — “That’s such a dark way to go through life, always worried about being attacked!” He continued to chide me about it, and after thinking a second or two I said, “Dude. You’re saying this because you’re a guy. This is kind of what it’s like for chicks all the time — you always have to be aware of your surroundings, and make sure you’re parking in a well-lit spot, and have your keys out before you get to your apartment, and so forth.” (Pictured: Hiyah, originally uploaded to Flickr by DRSPIEGEL14.)

Maybe my parents were extra dark and overprotective to raise me that way. I remember when I first moved to New York (in 1997!!) they advised me to “never get on an elevator with a man, alone.” That one seemed a little crazy and hard to follow anyway (if a guy got on mid-ride, was I supposed to get out of the elevator and wait for the next car?), but that rule totally went out the window when I went to my first sample sale. Sketchy freight elevator to go up to a warehouse-type loft? Well, I thought, as long as there’s a good sale behind it it’s fine. After all, the fashion editors I worked for heard about it by fax — what could possibly go wrong?

Dumb decisions like that aside, I’ve mostly practiced the “constant vigilence” method of self-defense. I’ve also taken a self-defense class (albeit a while ago). That said, these are some of my top tips — readers, what are your best tips for self-defense?

• Don’t tune out and listen to music if it’s late at night or you’re in an unfamiliar area.
• Be aware of desolate areas that you encounter often, and do what you can to minimize your exposure.  For example, if your office building has two exits, one near a 24-hour deli and the other near a parking garage, use the one near the deli if you’re leaving at a time when foot traffic is low. Similarly, the most direct path from the subway stop to my apartment takes me past a parking lot, a parking garage, and two buildings under construction — so I go the slightly longer route so I’m near shops and restaurants.
• If you’re home alone and someone you don’t know (or aren’t expecting) rings your buzzer, query who it is, and possibly even pretend to be on the phone when answering the door.  (I’m sure I do a great job of faking a conversation with my mother — but hopefully it’s enough to deter someone.)
• If you have to go to a desolate or sketchy area, tell someone before you go.  For example, one of my old cases required me to take numerous trips to the file archives, a labyrinthine and unpopulated floor — it seemed like a great setting for a murder mystery.  I always emailed a friend before I went!
• If you ever get a funny feeling about something, trust your gut.  Don’t worry about etiquette (e.g., is it rude to stop walking and turn around?) — just do it.  Then cross the street or get somewhere that feels safe.
• If you drive and expect to be out past dark somewhere, do your best to park close to a parking light.  If you can, check the undercarriage of the car as you approach.
• You should have your keys in hand as you approach your car or front door — no fumbling in your purse!  Something a friend told me years ago is to take one key and put it between your second and third finger and make a fist around the rest of the keys — it becomes a great weapon if needed.
• In general, don’t make yourself a target.  My engagement ring isn’t huge, but I turn it around so the diamond is against my palm when I’m on the subway; I do the same if I’m wearing any of my cocktail rings.  I do play with my Android on the subway, though, which I probably shouldn’t do.

If you’re actually attacked…

• SHOUT.  If you don’t know what to shout, try “BACK OFF.” Something else that I’ve heard you should shout is “I DON’T KNOW YOU.” If you have time to see something kind of awesome, watch this woman shout down a man who flashed his penis at her on the subway (close your door first — her language is, um, NSFW.)
• Kick the side of their knee if you can — you don’t have to get too close to do this.
• If they’re already close… Go for the eyes.  Put your thumbs over his eyes and start pushing, as hard as you can. If you can’t do that, claw and scratch as best you can.
• If you can, memorize details about your attacker’s face — you want to be able to identify him later.

Lifehacker had an excellent article on self-defense with a lot of videos that show specific moves — such as “how to maximize damage” and how to get out of common holds.  I highly recommend you read it.

Ok, readers, those are my tips — what are yours?  How often do you think of self defense?

Reader L wonders “how nice is too nice” for an office…

I will be moving into an corporate environment soon after being a teacher for several years. I have a fabulous office and would like to really make it a place I enjoy being, however I have noticed that the other women in the office (including my boss) don’t personalize their spaces much. Would it be a faux pas to put more effort into my office than they do? Help!

I’ve worked with some people — both women as well as men — who hired a decorator to come in and “do” their office, and I’ve worked with people who seemed totally content to work amidst a flurry of papers, brown file boxes, and the occasional book strewn about. So for my $.02, it is totally personality-based and you should decorate your office how you want. (Pictured: IMG_5626, originally uploaded to Flickr by invent.)  That said, however, there are a few limits that you should consider…

- Focus first on what will make the space a productive space for you. For some people (myself included) that means it should be a “happy” space — I’ve never had an office that didn’t include pictures of my loved ones and (viewable on my side of the desk) a small piece of artwork or two. At some places it was just a colorful postcard I liked hung behind my monitor — at other places I had framed artwork on the wall my desk faced.  Some of my friends have even gone so far as to bring colorful rugs to the office, on the theory that it brightens up the space and makes it more enjoyable for them to be there.  I think all of these are well within your bounds.

- If your job involves outsiders visiting your office — clients, customers, whatever — then think about their comfort when purchasing items for your office as well.  For example, if having a more comfortable visitor’s chair also involves buying a chair that’s more pleasant for you to look at, it’s a win-win.  I’ve heard of people who keep antique tea sets in their office for this purpose also; even purchasing a nice card holder can be a mini-way to personalize your office in a way that makes it more appealing to visitors.

- Avoid purchasing anything too “young.”  For example, I once worked with a man who had a giant, sports-themed beanbag chair in the corner of his office — and that pretty much said all it needed to say about his personality and workstyle.  For women, similarly, there are right ways to do pink office accessories and wrong ways (such as, ahem, the above), and I think most of the “wrong ways” start with “purchasing desk accessories meant for a teenage girl.”

- Finally, consider ways that your office decor might encroach on your coworkers’ space.  For example:

• Nothing smelly. Commenters continually mention how much they hate to smell perfume on people, and I think the same would go for any office fragrance. When I first started work I bought a “room spray” that I thought would be great for work — a lemony, slightly spicy scent from Anne Fontaine — and I would spray it occasionally, late at night, before leaving my office. A few times people commented something along the lines of “oh, your office smells nice” — which probably is enough to tell me that it was too much scent. Similarly, don’t do any decor that is going to smell for a few days (such as paint).
• Reconsider window dressings or other treatments that “darken” the space considerably.  (In fact — when we’ve talked about office decor in the past, readers questioned my inclusion of window dressing as one way to liven up your office walls. Like I said above, I’ve seen people who went all out with the decorator, but perhaps it’s best to say you should leave any serious decoration until you’re a partner or owner of the the business.)

Readers, what do you think is “too nice” for office decor? What are some ways you’ve seen office decor fail entirely?

Reader S wonders what to do about an ill officemate she doesn’t know very well…

I have an office etiquette question. I work in a large office suite and am on nodding acquaintance with a woman on the other side of the floor. Recently she has started wearing a head scarf, and once I saw her without one, and she has lost all her hair.

Should I just ignore this? Or a general “everything OK?” and let her disclose what she’d like?

Hmmn. I think this really depends both on the office as well as what you know of this woman. My gut is telling me to continue your relationship as normal rather than say anything — smile, make chitchat, and see if she brings it up. I think my reasoning is going like this: if you don’t talk to the woman much now, and then you start this conversation and she says something like “well yes, actually, I have cancer and have six months to live,” then what are you going to do with that information? Be her best friend? Go back to not talking to her? It seems selfish to bring it up to satisfy your own curiosity.  (Pictured: Scarves, originally uploaded to Flickr by theqspeaks.)

On the other hand, if it’s a smaller office and the woman doesn’t have many people to talk to, you may want to broach the subject if you’re ready to be the person she can lean on at the office. The next time I saw her — in the coffee room, washing your hands in the ladies room, whatever — I might go one of two routes, and say something like “How are you feeling?” — or something very casual, such as “that’s a beautiful scarf — is it silk?” Or something like that, and see where the conversation goes.

I’m curious, readers — what do you think? Do you think the coworker should know Reader S is concerned and has noticed — or that Reader S should mind her own business?

Have you ever been denied a promotion because you were too good at your current job?  Reader N suspects this may be what’s at play at her workplace, and wonders what she can do about it.

I just read your article “Getting the Work You Want” and I wanted to ask a follow up question. I’ve found myself in a position of getting passed over for moving into a complex litigation team, despite having openly expressed my interest, and my superior agreeing that I would be better used in that area. (I’ve had this reinforced by rave reviews for my senior attorneys and from fellow co-workers who I’ve helped out.)

From what I can tell, it seems that my superiors (and theirs) place more value in the fact that I can manage my workload and simultaneously back up three to four people at a time. I’ve backed up coworkers in the complex team, too, but as for moving up with them permanently… nothing.

So what’s a girl to do when I have spoken up and asked… and nothing happens? Have I shot myself in the foot by having quality and quantity? Should I just take the rave reviews and recommendations and look for work elsewhere?

Fabulous question. There are a million reasons why people don’t get jobs and promotions — including not being right for them.  That said, something I’ve seen happen is when a boss keeps a “good worker” in the trenches because his or her own life is made so much easier by the worker.  The boss knows the job will get done, and done well. He or she doesn’t have to hire or train anyone new.  It’s great!  For the boss, that is.  For the worker (which may be Reader N, here) you don’t grow at all.  For a particularly selfish boss, he or she may also try to restrain you from working with other people, give you lackluster reviews or recommendations to keep you with them, and maybe even talk down to you to make you question whether or not you “deserve” better than your current job.  (Pictured: Held back, originaly uploaded to Flickr by Matthew Wilkinson.)

This is one of the reasons why it’s so important to be the master of your own career.  You need to be the one constantly assessing where you are — and speaking up until you get to where you should be, even if that makes you feel pushy.  If you do find yourself in a situation where a boss is holding you back, in my opinion, there isn’t much you can do about it beyond getting away from the the toxic personality. And if that means taking a new job, so be it.

However, I would give every boss the benefit of the doubt — once.  For example, here, Reader N says “from what I can tell” — N, have you spoken to your superiors about why you didn’t get moved to the area you wanted?  This is a 100% valid question. Approach it with a learning mindset — be as far from “entitled” as you can be. Frustrated is fine — exacerbated even — but be careful about crossing into “angry and emotional.” Sit down with your superiors, show the different ways that you made your preference known, the positive feedback you got, and then express your confusion over the lack of movement that followed. I’d also ask when you can next expect to be moved to your preferred area.

Once you have their official answer, look at it objectively.  Maybe you were lacking a certain skill.  Maybe Person X had more of the skills needed.  Maybe they wanted to keep you in your current department until a particular big project finished.  Maybe a more formal process is required for a move like the one you want.  Whatever they say, try to make sense of it.  It’s still fair for you to get angry, and it’s still fair for you to look for a new job — but it’s also fair to say “Oh, that’s what happened,” and then sit tight until the next window of opportunity arrives.

Readers, have you ever been held back because you were doing too good of a job?  What did you do about it?  What is your general approach if you don’t get a promotion you’ve lobbied for?

Are you feeling burned out by your career — even if you’ve only been at it for a few years? A month or so ago a reader sent me a link to this article on career burnout for the under 30 set, and it seemed to generate a lot of discussion on Twitter/Facebook — and my link last Friday to the Men’s Health article on how to recognize and cure career fatigue (including some, er, interesting advice, such as “get laid more”) seemed to generate even more discussion. So let’s talk about this — have you felt burned out? What have you done to correct the issue, if anything? We’ve talked about this a bit before in my post about how I got my own groove back after feeling out of sync with my career and life, but let’s discuss more today. (Pictured: Burn Out, originally uploaded to Flickr by mikecogh.)

If your career exhausts you, here are some of my top tips to help start the journey back from burnout…

1) Recognize that your job is not your career, and your career is not your life.  This is a mantra I repeat to myself sometimes when I’m feeling burned out.  Whatever you’re doing right now, it’s just a job — maybe it’s a piece in your overall career, maybe not.  And if you’re really depressed, remember — neither your job nor your career are your life.  Still, try to see the value in your current job.  For example, it helps you meet your financial obligations.  At least ten other people would be thrilled to have it.  You’d be even more depressed if you were out of work.

2) If your job is the problem… Figure out what about your job bores you or makes you unhappy.  Is it a personality conflict?  A particular task that you dread?  Or are you just not excited by anything you do?  If you can narrow down what stinks, it helps you assess what you need to do to make it better.  Would a new job help matters?  Or can you reconnect with this job in a way that would excite you, such as by taking on new responsibilities or working with different people?  You can also revamp your routine, restyle your office, or reengage with your profession again, as I’ve advised before.

3) If your career is the problem… Advice I’ve gotten myself (and agree with) is that you don’t get to say your career is the problem until you’ve held at least 2 or 3 jobs in your career.  Maybe that’s more than you want to invest in a career that you know is wrong for you, but — particularly if you have spent money on education for this career — then you owe it to yourself to try other aspects of the career.  If you’re absolutely, definitely sure it’s your overall profession that’s making you unhappy, figure out what you need to take the next step towards Plan B.

4) If you know what Plan B is… start moving towards it.  Start meeting people.  Come up with an action plan.  What’s the next step?  Is it another degree?  A new job?  A “bridge” job?  One friend knew she wanted to leave the law and work in public relations, and she found her first job doing public relations for a law firm.  Another friend of mine recently decided she wants to open a gourmet barbecue business, and she and her husband have a five-year plan mapped out (starting with trying out lots of different barbecue recipes and visiting big barbecue cities).

5) If you have no idea what Plan B is (beyond “not this”)… you need to assess your finances and your life to figure out how adventurous you can be.  How much debt do you have — and how much can you knock out if you buckle down and save?  How much do you have in savings — could you take six months to yourself to figure out what you might want to do in life (and then enough in savings to hold you over until you find a new job in that career)?  (With today’s economic climate, this probably means having about two years of living expenses.  (In some circles, you’ll hear this referred to as “F-you money” — how much money do you need before you can say “F-you” to your current boss?)  Could you take a job that requires less time of you (but allows you to meet your financial obligations) until you figure out what Plan B is?  If none of these seem likely, I can think of two things you might try to speed along the process of figuring out Plan B:

- Reconnect with yourself.  This is what I was getting at when I wrote about how I took a humor writing class that helped me get my groove back.  You may regain some of the self-respect you may have lost over the years, or you may get in touch with a more optimistic or hopeful version of yourself.  (This kind of gets back to the idea that your job is not your life — make your life outside of work as excellent as it can be by doing the things you love.  It may lead to a Plan B or it may not, but at least you’ll be enjoying your life again.)

- Start thinking like an entrepreneur.  One of my favorite suggestions here is to start subscribing to the magazine Inc. — even before I knew what kind of business I wanted to start, I subscribed to the magazine and found myself looking at the world with fresh eyes.  Even now, I’m always inspired to hear about how someone launched a multi-million dollar company with no more than $3,000, and I love a recurring feature where they take a snapshot of daily life (e.g., the tennis court) and point out all the different businesses involved backstage.  There are lots of women-centric groups out there if you’re more comfortable with that, too, such as Ladies Who Launch, Savor the Success, or MomInventors.

6) Whatever you do, at least the very least, fake interest in your current job (as the Men’s Health article also advised). Arrive on time.  Be sociable.  Look as professional as possible.  Smile.

 Readers, what have you done when you’re suffering burnout?  How have you battled burnout?

Today, reader D wonders if she has to make her own Franken-planner to find the absolute best planner out there…

I realize this may be a bit too late to be useful for the upcoming new year, I would love to see a post regarding the various paper calendars/planners Corporette users prefer.  I was digging through archives and read the entire post/comment thread regarding notebook and legal pad preferences, and I thought a similar thread about planners would be just as interesting.  A girlfriend and I struggle every year with finding the “perfect” planner, to the point we try to cobble together some sort of Franken-planner on our own.  We’ve actually discussed starting our own company to remedy this problem.

• Daily planning: As I mentioned, I recently gave up my Palm Pilot and switched to an Android phone. I looked around for a good calendar program, and came up with the following solution: I use Google Calendar (for free) and sync it with Pimlical (which cost about $25 if I remember correctly).  Google Calendar is great because it gives me notifications on my Android, my iPad, by email, and more — it’s very hard for me to forget appointments or whatnot with the system!  Pimlical is great, though, for a more permanent record of what I was doing and when.  I tend to take a lot of notes in my calendar program — for example, every time I see a doctor I record my vitals and any topics discussed on the appointment in Google Calendar. Oh: another thing that’s nice about Google Calendar is that I can invite Outlook users to events — so when we book an airline flight, for example, I can instantly give my husband the details and put those on his calendar as well.
• Longer distance planning:  Something I’ve done for a few years now is to use my Palm Pilot software to print a yearly calendar, with each month getting its own page.  I liked Palm because each day was a big enough block that you could write in it, but with only 12 pages the whole “packet” wasn’t too huge or crazy to actually use.  I always put all vacation days on it — federal holidays and the like — and would primarily use the packet to plan vacations.  (When vacation details are finally set I put everything relevant into the Google Calendar.)  When I was planning my “maternity leave” for Corporette I used the planner to keep an eye on which posts I had scheduled for which day, which needed more editing, which days still needed a post or two.
• I also have a big monthly calendar (for 2012 I used Snapfish to make baby-centric ones and then gave them as gifts to my parents, my in-laws, my grandmother, and my brother) that we hang on the wall — I also write friends’ birthdays on that one (and, um, decorate it with stickers, because I like to indulge my inner 8-year-old).  It’s great for glancing at the calendar occasionally to see whose birthday is coming up, what the date will be next Wednesday, etc, etc.  Something I really liked about Snapfish was that I could select individual dates to recognize — and so, for example, I have a picture from our wedding album on May 30 to commemorate our wedding anniversary… for each grandparent’s birthday I have a picture of him or her holding my son… it came out really nice.  (After coupons and the promotions they had going on, each calendar only cost about $9, so it was more about the time invested to make it… but I’m really glad I did.)
• Finally: I have a little teeny calendar at my desk that I got through Vistaprint — basically each day just shows me the monthly calendar (just the big numbers) and a picture (of course this one is baby-themed as well).  (Just an FYI: Vistaprint is offering 50% off all custom-printed calendars, including little desk-sized ones like the one I got.)

New Year’s Resolutions:  love ‘em or hate ‘em, everyone kind of makes them.  You take stock of your life, you resolve to “be better”… what are your goals for 2012?  What do you want to do better? (Pictured: New Year Sunrise, originally uploaded to Flickr by joka2000.)

For me the answer to that question is to “get fit.”  I’m unfortunately at my highest weight ever after the baby, but what really bugs me is how much my muscles deteriorated — due to some pregnancy aches and pains I couldn’t do much more than swim during the last 5 weeks of the pregnancy for cardio, and you’re not supposed to exercise before 6 weeks postpartum… which took me more like 12 weeks because every time I started to exercise I felt so off I thought, “this can’t possibly be right,” and would make another doctor’s appointment.  Having now been cleared by my OB/gyn, my primary, and my podiatrist, I have no excuses left… so I’ve started Couch to 5K again.

And oh: it hurts.  But I love, love, love this program.  The first time I did it, in 2006 or so, I was pretty fit from DVD workouts, but was under the impression that I could never, ever run because my lungs just couldn’t handle it.  Someone suggested Couch to 5K, and I remember eyeing the program warily — it’s basically just a 9-week schedule that tells you how much to run and how much to walk during 3 30-minute workouts a week.  There is no way it could possibly be true, I thought.  I will never run.  But I did it — my lungs burned, and I remember coughing for hours after some of my runs, but I finally figured out how to breathe and run at the same time.

This time around, my lungs are fine — but it’s my leg muscles that are killing me.  After the first very mild workout, I tried to do 15 minutes of leg exercises in addition to the run — and the next day I could barely walk.  Ouch.  OK, lesson learned.  But still: starting the program as someone who literally has been on the couch for far too long, I’m here to tell you: everything that the Plan asks of me, I’ve been able to do.  I love the challenge of each workout… and I love the built-in impetus with the program, the mild fear that if I skip a few days or even a week that I’ll be losing ground and have to repeat a week or two.  I also love that it’s only 30 minutes — perfect for busy women with no time.

Readers, what are your resolutions? Has anyone else done Couch to 5K, or do you have any other fitness goals?