The Best Way To Read Online

The best way to read online is not to visit your favorite blogs or websites daily to check for updates. The best way to read online is to have your favorite sources delivered directly to you.

Photo courtesy of Feedly.com (my reader of choice today)

If you are visiting sites or trolling your social networks in search of updates, stop that right now. You have better things to do with your time. You can subscribe to have updates delivered to your to reader via RSS or sign-up to have an email delivered to your inbox. You get to decide how you want your news delivered to you. 

Both are free.  

I started using Google Reader for fun in January 2007 when I was following six blogs. Now, with over 150 blogs and websites followed, a reader is a necessity.

Find your favorite reads, pick a newsreader or subscribe by email, and be sure to never miss an update. Google Reader will be retired on July 1 so you should download your reader data now or lose it forever. 

Thank you for reading along with me each week. I am all about easy so if you are not yet using a reader or email to keep up with me, subscribe now or sign up to receive weekly email updates. 

The Right Way to Transition to a New Career

Is there a right way to transition to a new career?

No, there is not. Oh, everyone will have an opinion on what you should do and how you should do it but the only "right" way is the way that works for you and your family.

Here's how the husband is going about it . . . 

He is exercising more, reconnecting with family and friends on Facebook, planning a mid-week winter fishing trip and preparing to return the favor of care he received during his heart surgery as a volunteer with Mended Hearts.

But, it's not all fun and games.

He's writing resumes, reaching out to references and tweaking his LinkedIn profile. He's attending classes with the Minnesota Workforce Center where he is developing a Career Performance Portfolio, completing a vocational profile, taking the MBTI, and acing the assessments for a top-graded National Career Readiness Certificate.

His confidence is building and he's got his feet firmly planted on the ground as he is unwinding, relaxing and preparing himself for his next career move. It's interesting to watch.

I never had a job loss of my own but, if I did, this is not how I would have gone about it.

I would have had my resume out there the day I received the layoff notice and would have been doing anything and everything I could to find a job. I would have went with a job I know because it would have been a sure bet and I would have found a position before my last day ever came.

And it would have been a mistake.

When in our adult lives do we ever give ourselves permission to step off the hamster wheel? To assess where we've been and to reassess where we want to go? To stop and actually see what we have and to appreciate it for what it is - nothing more and nothing less?

When I make my next career move, I am taking a page from my husband's book and am going to take the time to stop and smell the roses.

It's the right way to transition to a new career.

<It's my blog, I can say that. I can also tell the husband to can the roses for Valentines Day and pocket the cash for our vacation to the lands of butter beer and quirky boutiques>

Photo credit iStockphoto