ResidentialBusiness

Refinancing indicators recorded muted gains as home sales challenges persisted ahead of a period when politics may change the market outlook. View the full article

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. As fall creeps toward winter, we know we’ll have to turn on the heat. But when is the right time? If you’re arguing with your partner or roommate about the thermostat, we’re happy to be able to end that argument for you. (They’ll probably never admit they’re wrong, though.) The easiest answer, which is not necessarily the correct answer, is to look for nighttime lows falling below 55 degrees Fahrenheit. That said, neither the calendar nor the weather forecast can give you very good advice here. The temperature inside your house is what matters. If your house occupies a sunny spot in a warm climate, you may be able to delay turning on your heat until it’s nearly the dead of winter. On the other hand, if your house is poorly insulated, sits in a shady area, or your local climate is on the chilly side, you may need to turn it on sooner. So while you can ask your neighbors what date or what outdoor temperature they usually use as their guideline, you’ll need to look at your own thermostat to know when it’s time. Keep the indoor temperature above 64 degrees for your healthA report from the World Health Organization points out that temperatures below 18 degrees Celsius (about 64 Fahrenheit) may cause issues for smokers, people with asthma, and people with cardiovascular disease. Warmer temperatures are associated with better lung function and better blood pressure in these people. They conclude that 64 is a good minimum for most of us, but that people with these conditions—and people who are 65 or older—should be especially sure to keep their house at 64 degrees or warmer. That said, if you’re under 65 years old and don’t have lung or heart conditions, the WHO is fine with you putting on a sweater and dealing with it. They say lower temperatures aren’t a health risk for healthy people who are moving around enough to generate plenty of body heat. You can also safely use clothing, bedding, or heating devices to stay warm at those lower temperatures—say, snuggling up in flannel pajamas with a hot water bottle under a warm duvet. Set your programmable thermostat to turn on the heat when the temperature dropsSo that’s the general rule, but what if you have a thermostat that lets you program different temperatures for different times of day? Energy Star suggests setting your thermostat to kick on the heat when the temperature drops to 70 degrees in the morning or evening. If you have a programmable thermostat, you can set a “setback” to allow the house to cool down a bit at night and when you’re not home. An eight-degree setback is recommended for when you’re out of the house during the day (at the office, for example) and then again for nighttime, since cool temperatures help us sleep, and we can use blankets if we’re too cold. That eight-degree setback would give us an indoor temperature that could fall as low as 62 degrees. Try that and see how the house feels. If it’s too cold, consider bumping up to at least 64. If you want to wait as long as possible, at least do a test runNo matter what I say here, I know that some of you will want to wait as long as possible to turn on the heat for the first time. Just do yourself a favor: Turn on the heat at some point in the early fall just to make sure everything is working OK. When it finally gets too cold to go without the heat, you don't want that day to be the day you learn something isn't working properly. View the full article

Google Ads’ Demand Gen campaigns – once thought of as mid-funnel discovery tools – are evolving into full-funnel, conversion-focused campaigns, with YouTube at the core. Why we care. Marketers are under pressure to prove ROI across channels. Demand Gen now blends social-style ad formats with Google’s AI-driven targeting, giving advertisers new ways to drive sales, leads, and app installs from audiences they can’t reach elsewhere. What’s new: Target CPC bidding: Advertisers can now align Demand Gen with social campaigns for apples-to-apples budget comparisons. Channel controls. Run ads only on YouTube, or expand to Display, Discover, Gmail, and even Maps. Creative tools. Features like trimming and flipping help repurpose social assets for Shorts and other placements, lowering barriers to entry. Feeds + app support. Product feeds in Merchant Center show a 33% conversion lift; Web-to-App Connect now extends to iOS for smoother in-app conversions. By the numbers. According to Google advertisers using Demand Gen have seen on average: 26% YoY increase in conversions per dollar 33% uplift when attaching product feeds Between the lines. Google says Demand Gen’s shift from contextual matching to predicting user intent and purchase propensity has made it a contender for bottom-funnel performance. In short: YouTube is no longer just discovery – it’s decision-making. What’s next. Expect more AI-driven creative tools, expanded shoppable formats, and deeper integrations across channels. The takeaway. Don’t wait for “perfect” YouTube creative. Lift, adapt, and test now — Demand Gen is no longer a mid-funnel experiment, it’s a performance channel. View the full article

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in a speech Tuesday that the central bank's policy stance is "modestly restrictive," a stance that will give the central bank flexibility to react to an uncertain economic future. View the full article

Marcel Petitpas, CEO of Parakeeto, is using AI as a core driver of delivery excellence—simplifying workflows, enforcing data discipline, and empowering every team member (even non‑technical ones) to leverage AI in their daily work. The post Inside This CEO’s Bold Push to Use AI for Cleaner Data, Faster Delivery, and Simpler PM Workflows appeared first on The Digital Project Manager. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. Walmart has jumped on the October Prime Day bandwagon in an attempt to sway you away from the biggest online sale of the fall. The main event is Amazon's two-day Prime Big Deal Days promotion, aka October Prime Day. This week, Walmart officially announced its own "Prime Day"-esque promotion, and there's some good news for those of you who balk at the idea of paying for a membership to take advantage of a sale—it's free to everyone. What is Walmart Deals?Walmart Deals is meant to be the answer to Amazon's Prime Day sales. It is both an in-store and online sale with deals on most things that Walmart sells (food being arguably the biggest omission). The sale happens every year around spring, summer, fall, and winter, revolving around Prime Day sales. When does Walmart Deals start?Walmart Deals kicks off Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. ET for Walmart+ members (a five-hour head start) and Oct. 7 for everyone else. It runs until Oct. 12, both online and in stores at local opening times. Do you need to be a Walmart+ member to shop during Walmart Deals?No. But, if you are a Walmart+ member, you'll get early access to the sales beginning Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. ET, the evening before the event opens to the public. You can sign up for a free 30-day Walmart+ subscription or get the annual plan for $98 ($8.17/month). What you can expect from Walmart DealsWalmart says its sale will include many different categories, including deals on electronics, home, toys, travel, and many other categories—similar to the deals we found last year. The sale will be on Walmart.com, the Walmart app, and in stores. You can already see the landing page, even though the sale hasn't started. Here are some deals Walmart says will be available: Electronics ASUS 16” R7 4050 16/512 Gaming Laptop – $400 (Walmart exclusive) Proscan Elite, 14.1” Wi-Fi Digital Picture Frame – $25 Savings VIZIO 50" Class Quantum 4K QLED HDR Smart TV – $100 Savings Home Better Homes & Gardens Farm Apple Pumpkin Scented 1-Wick 16.1oz Ribbed Jar Candle – $7 Savings (Walmart exclusive) Dyson Ball Animal Origin Upright Vacuum – $80 Savings Lasko Oscillating 1500W Electric Motion Heat Whole Room Ceramic Heater with Remote Control – $30 Savings HART 215-piece Mechanics Tool Set, Chrome finish – $52 Savings (Walmart exclusive) Seasonal Decor 5Ft Halloween Inflatable Pumpkin Ghost with 360° Rotating Colorful LED Lights – $102 Savings 4' Pre-Lit Starburst Gold Artificial Christmas Tree – $42.97 (Walmart exclusive) Govee Christmas LED Net Lights – $30 Savings Mr. Christmas Santa's Magical Telephone – $59.88 (Walmart exclusive) Toys Hot Wheels Mario Kart Bowser’s Castle Track Set – $36.42 Savings LEGO Harry Potter Buckbeak – $24.99 Savings Monster High Frankie Stein Make-A-Monser Pet Doll – $20 Savings Pokemon Scarlet & Violet - Prismatic Evolutions Elite Trainer Box – $60 Savings Fashion Free Assembly Women's and Women's Plus Cozy Yarn Welt Pocket Cable Cardigan Sweater – $11 Savings (Walmart exclusive) Chaps Men's Stretch Regular-Fit Denim Jeans, Sizes 30-42 - $10 savings Madden Girl Women's Bells Slide-on Strappy Heeled Mule - $25 savings Beauty Calvin Klein Eternity, Eau de Parfum, 3.4 oz – $55.02 Savings Oral-B iO Series 2 Rechargeable Electric Powered Toothbrush, Peach – $15.03 Savings Food Frito Lay Flamin' Hot Mix 6 Flavor Variety Pack 40 Ct – $6.73 Savings Sanpellegrino CIAO Lime Sparkling Flavored Water – $2.88 Savings Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino 13.7oz 12ct – $30.40 Savings You can choose between in-store pickup and different delivery options, including early-morning delivery, late-night express delivery, and next- and two-day shipping. All of the other competing sales for October Prime DayYou can always expect major retailers to have their own competitive sales, the big ones being Best Buy, Target, and, of course, Amazon. Target has been the only other retailer to officially announce their October competition sale. Like in previous years, the dates for these sales will start earlier, overlap, and run longer than October Prime Day. There are usually a couple of deals that are better than Amazon's Prime Day from each of the retailers, but the majority of the good deals will be on Amazon. I will be updating this post with details on those offerings as soon as they've been announced. View the full article

Earlier this month, we talked about corporate gifts that went terribly wrong. You shared so many outrageous stories that I had to split my favorites into two parts. Part one was here, and here’s part two. 1. The fire hazard After college I spent some time temping for a cargo airline. When someone had been with the company for five years, they were given a little glass globe paperweight. Part of my job was sending them out – a lot of the company’s employees were pilots and flight crew, so they didn’t come in to an office, and we mailed the gifts to their homes. After a while we got an email from one of the pilots. He had placed his globe on his desk by the window and walked away from it. He came back to the smell of smoke. Apparently, the globe had acted like a magnifying glass and focused the sunlight onto a pile of papers on his desk, and those papers had started to burn. So yeah, perfectly fine gift, as long as it doesn’t burn down your house. 2. The shared yoga mat We were once given 1 yoga mat to share between 7 employees. I guess the idea was that we could use it at work when we needed time to decompress. I have been tempted to steal it and take it home so many times, because no one has ever used it at work, and I could use a new yoga mat. 3. The clock I manage a global ambassador program and we wanted to gift our ambassadors a small token of appreciation. We worked with a local vendor to create a lovely desk piece that opened to have a small clock dial on one side and some traditional ethnic art on the other. Sent the packages out and a few weeks later I got a distressed email from a Chinese ambassador. The postal service was asking her to pay to get the package and she wanted to know what was in it. Told her it was a decorative piece with a clock and she absolutely refused to accept it. Apparently sending clocks to people in China (and maybe other East Asian countries) was bad luck and a way to wish them dead – like your time’s up! We told her to return to sender and we sent her an alternative design minus clock. Lesson learnt — check with local team before making decisions about gifting. 4. The Oreos At an old job at a major research university, we got $5 Panera gift cards and two Oreos. Only two; three would have been breaking the bank. 5. The laptop bags The gift in itself was not bad but no one had thought through the context. I went to a conference where on registration we were given our conference pack and a complementary laptop bag. I’d love to know the thought process that came up with having with everyone at the conference carry identical laptop bags, what could possibly go wrong? 6. The single cookie My company touted a “big surprise”for three weeks before a big reveal at a 1,000-person company “all hands.” Ladies and gentlemen, the surprise was a single cookie that we had to have shipped to us. We all got ONE cookie to enjoy in 5-8 business days. It was insulting to many of us, plus all the packaging included in that choice made it difficult to defend our B-corp status later. Genuinely, would’ve taken the ole pizza party over that situation. 7. The seeds of appreciation For Administrative Professionals Day, HR would give out plants for our desks and called it “seeds of appreciation.” Except most of us had offices and desk locations with no access to natural light, and took public transit to and from work, so it was difficult to transport a plant home during rush hour. Worse, the plants would usually attract bugs (or already have them to start) causing our managers to ask us to throw out the plants after a week or two. 8. The oblivious CEO My husband used to work at JCPenney when he was a teenager and it was announced one Christmas that everyone would be getting gifts from the CEO. This was after they made all employees work through Thanksgiving afternoon/evening for Black Friday. Most people expected JCPenney giftcards or something similar. Instead, they got little bags with toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, and best of all, a postcard with a picture of the CEO and his family in Hawaii for the holidays. So basically, “Thanks for the vacation, you all stink, by the way.” 9. The “gift bags” When I was a Teach for America corps member, they (somewhat out of nowhere) decided to start mandatory Saturday all-day trainings, and advertised “gift bags for your classroom” as one of the perks. First, we live in an area with horrible weekend traffic so it took me over an hour to get to the site they picked and more than two hours to get home. Second, the “gift bags” were tiny dime bags (the little mini clear ziplock) with: a rubber band, a cotton ball, a lifesaver, a single piece of very stale Halloween candy, and a tiny poem that desperately tried to tie the garbage together in a coherent narrative. It was a while ago but it was something like, “A little chocolate can save your life and as a teacher you hold everything together like a rubber band.” Couldn’t tell you what the cotton ball was for. If I’m remembering correctly that was also the meeting where it poured so hard the whole cafeteria we were supposed to do the training in flooded, so we couldn’t do most of the planned activities. 10. The questionable hams I remember years ago that everyone in the office was given a ham as a Christmas gift. I was a vegetarian at the time so it wasn’t my favorite thing to receive, plus I’m fairly certain we had several Jewish employees as well. The real kicker was that they gave us the hams in the morning, with nowhere to store them all day. They told us that it was cold enough outside that leaving them in our cars would probably keep them at a safe temperature all day. Probably. 11. The bobblehead doll So, in the years after the dot-com bubble burst, tech companies fell on hard times. One of the largest decided to cut back on the annual Christmas gift to employees. Instead of gift cards or gourmet food baskets, they gave a bobblehead doll of the company’s notoriously arrogant founder. Quite a few of the dolls wound up in the urinals at work. 12. The ornaments Company branded and in company color (orange!!) Christmas tree ornaments. The tree in the lobby fell over from the weight of so many employees abandoning their “gift” onto the company tree. I believe there bets on how many ornaments it would take before the fake tree collapsed! 13. The hoodies Flashing back to when they gave every employee a mens XL windbreaker hoodie and then the leadership team thought that women were being petty when they spoke up about being given a hoodie that came down to their knees. The post the shared yoga mat, the fire hazard, and other tales of poorly thought-out corporate gifts appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

Your office can be anywhere you choose to set up your laptop. Traditional employees may remain stuck in whatever city their employer chooses, but you have something invaluable: complete geographic freedom. Moving opens doors to lower living costs, fresh creative inspiration, and access to markets that might remain out of reach from your current spot. Whether you're seeking financial relief from rising local expenses, craving a change of scenery to spark new ideas, or hoping to position yourself closer to ideal clients, your next ZIP code could become your smartest business move. Writing, makeup artistry, photography, event coordination, and tour guide work represent just a few freelance careers that allow travel, and all can flourish from virtually any home base. Why Location Flexibility Is a Built-In Advantage for Independent WorkersYou operate without the constraints that keep traditional employees anchored to specific metropolitan areas. Your client base exists online, your meetings happen through video calls, and your deliverables travel through digital channels. You can choose your location based on what serves your business and personal goals best, rather than accepting whatever housing market or cost structure happens to surround someone else's headquarters. Location becomes a business decision when you work for yourself. You can position yourself in markets with lower overhead costs, giving you more room to invest in professional development, better equipment, or simply building a stronger financial safety net. Alternatively, you might choose locations that offer networking opportunities, industry events, or access to potential clients who prefer working with local talent. Many professionals have discovered that freelancing provides the perfect answer for those seeking location independence after extensive travel experiences. Modern technology supports your flexibility through cloud-based project management tools, high-speed internet access in remote areas, and mobile banking systems that keep your finances accessible regardless of your physical location. Signs It May Be Time To Rethink Your BaseRising living expenses can quietly eat into your freelance income without you realizing the full impact. Housing costs that consume an increasing percentage of your earnings leave you with less capital for business growth, professional development, or building emergency reserves. High local costs can also pressure you to accept lower-paying projects or work longer hours to maintain your current lifestyle. Creating a step-by-step strategy becomes essential when considering whether a career-inspired move makes sense and helps guide you through planning to relocate as a freelancer. Professional isolation signals another major reason to consider relocation. If your current area lacks networking opportunities, industry meetups, or collaborative spaces, you might find yourself cut off from the professional community that could fuel your career growth. Limited local opportunity can also mean fewer chances for in-person client meetings or face-to-face collaborations that sometimes lead to bigger projects. How a New Location Can Support Business GrowthCutting your living costs gives you breathing room that keeps getting better over time. Pay less for rent, gas, and groceries, and suddenly you have money to spend on courses, better marketing, or a decent emergency fund. Having more financial wiggle room takes pressure off and helps you think more clearly about where you want your business to go. Some places just make freelancing easier. You need reliable internet, but you also want spots where you can work alongside other people when you're tired of your kitchen table. Business-friendly local policies help too. Certain areas put you closer to the kinds of clients you want to work with, especially if your field has geographic clusters. Moving somewhere new can shake up how you think about work and life. Different surroundings often lead to different routines, and you start noticing things that might spark ideas for your business. Maybe you discover a gap in the local market or find inspiration from how people do things differently. Learning to navigate a new place builds your confidence and problem-solving muscles, which carry over into your work. Where To Go: Regions That Support Freelance-Friendly LifestylesStaying in the U.S. keeps things simple with familiar banking and legal systems while cutting your costs significantly. Nashville, Austin, and Columbus stand out as some of the best cities for freelancers because they combine low state taxes with affordable housing. Mid-sized cities hit the sweet spot where you pay less but still get good restaurants, cultural events, and chances to meet other professionals. Going international opens up way more possibilities, especially if you rarely need face-to-face client meetings. Countries with digital nomad programs have built infrastructure just for remote workers, making visas easier to get and creating communities where you can meet other expats doing similar work. Europe offers some great combinations of affordability, culture, and solid internet. If you aren’t sure where to travel, Andalusia and Sicily are worth considering if you want lower costs without giving up access to major European markets. They also offer seasonal timing and regional highlights that could give independent workers the perfect mix of affordability, infrastructure, and inspiration. Just make sure to check local business customs and internet speeds before making any big commitments. Practical Tools and Planning Tips for a Smooth TransitionTreat your move like any other major business decision. Make a real budget that includes moving costs, temporary housing, and the time you'll need to get settled into new routines. Do your homework on internet speeds, local taxes, and how close you'll be to things you need. Logistics matter more when you're moving to a new location for work, covering everything from transporting belongings and updating legal information to potentially shipping a car as part of your professional transition. Set up new banking relationships and figure out visa requirements and tax obligations well ahead of time for international moves. You'll need cloud storage to keep your files accessible from anywhere, backup internet options when your main connection fails, and banking apps that work no matter where you are. Buy equipment that travels well and still looks professional on video calls. Tell your existing clients about your move upfront, including how you'll handle time zone differences and keep your usual response times. Building new networks takes effort. Look up professional groups, co-working spaces, and industry events before you arrive. Facebook groups and online communities can give you the inside scoop on local business culture and where to meet people in your field. Final ThoughtsMost freelancers never use their biggest advantage: the ability to live anywhere. Your location affects your monthly bills, daily inspiration, and business growth potential. Instead of accepting whatever your current ZIP code costs and limits, you can pick places that actually support your goals and lifestyle. If rising costs are eating your profits, limited opportunities are holding you back, or your environment is killing your creativity, moving might give your business the reset it needs and pay off for years to come. View the full article

Your office can be anywhere you choose to set up your laptop. Traditional employees may remain stuck in whatever city their employer chooses, but you have something invaluable: complete geographic freedom. Moving opens doors to lower living costs, fresh creative inspiration, and access to markets that might remain out of reach from your current spot. Whether you're seeking financial relief from rising local expenses, craving a change of scenery to spark new ideas, or hoping to position yourself closer to ideal clients, your next ZIP code could become your smartest business move. Writing, makeup artistry, photography, event coordination, and tour guide work represent just a few freelance careers that allow travel, and all can flourish from virtually any home base. Why Location Flexibility Is a Built-In Advantage for Independent WorkersYou operate without the constraints that keep traditional employees anchored to specific metropolitan areas. Your client base exists online, your meetings happen through video calls, and your deliverables travel through digital channels. You can choose your location based on what serves your business and personal goals best, rather than accepting whatever housing market or cost structure happens to surround someone else's headquarters. Location becomes a business decision when you work for yourself. You can position yourself in markets with lower overhead costs, giving you more room to invest in professional development, better equipment, or simply building a stronger financial safety net. Alternatively, you might choose locations that offer networking opportunities, industry events, or access to potential clients who prefer working with local talent. Many professionals have discovered that freelancing provides the perfect answer for those seeking location independence after extensive travel experiences. Modern technology supports your flexibility through cloud-based project management tools, high-speed internet access in remote areas, and mobile banking systems that keep your finances accessible regardless of your physical location. Signs It May Be Time To Rethink Your BaseRising living expenses can quietly eat into your freelance income without you realizing the full impact. Housing costs that consume an increasing percentage of your earnings leave you with less capital for business growth, professional development, or building emergency reserves. High local costs can also pressure you to accept lower-paying projects or work longer hours to maintain your current lifestyle. Creating a step-by-step strategy becomes essential when considering whether a career-inspired move makes sense and helps guide you through planning to relocate as a freelancer. Professional isolation signals another major reason to consider relocation. If your current area lacks networking opportunities, industry meetups, or collaborative spaces, you might find yourself cut off from the professional community that could fuel your career growth. Limited local opportunity can also mean fewer chances for in-person client meetings or face-to-face collaborations that sometimes lead to bigger projects. How a New Location Can Support Business GrowthCutting your living costs gives you breathing room that keeps getting better over time. Pay less for rent, gas, and groceries, and suddenly you have money to spend on courses, better marketing, or a decent emergency fund. Having more financial wiggle room takes pressure off and helps you think more clearly about where you want your business to go. Some places just make freelancing easier. You need reliable internet, but you also want spots where you can work alongside other people when you're tired of your kitchen table. Business-friendly local policies help too. Certain areas put you closer to the kinds of clients you want to work with, especially if your field has geographic clusters. Moving somewhere new can shake up how you think about work and life. Different surroundings often lead to different routines, and you start noticing things that might spark ideas for your business. Maybe you discover a gap in the local market or find inspiration from how people do things differently. Learning to navigate a new place builds your confidence and problem-solving muscles, which carry over into your work. Where To Go: Regions That Support Freelance-Friendly LifestylesStaying in the U.S. keeps things simple with familiar banking and legal systems while cutting your costs significantly. Nashville, Austin, and Columbus stand out as some of the best cities for freelancers because they combine low state taxes with affordable housing. Mid-sized cities hit the sweet spot where you pay less but still get good restaurants, cultural events, and chances to meet other professionals. Going international opens up way more possibilities, especially if you rarely need face-to-face client meetings. Countries with digital nomad programs have built infrastructure just for remote workers, making visas easier to get and creating communities where you can meet other expats doing similar work. Europe offers some great combinations of affordability, culture, and solid internet. If you aren’t sure where to travel, Andalusia and Sicily are worth considering if you want lower costs without giving up access to major European markets. They also offer seasonal timing and regional highlights that could give independent workers the perfect mix of affordability, infrastructure, and inspiration. Just make sure to check local business customs and internet speeds before making any big commitments. Practical Tools and Planning Tips for a Smooth TransitionTreat your move like any other major business decision. Make a real budget that includes moving costs, temporary housing, and the time you'll need to get settled into new routines. Do your homework on internet speeds, local taxes, and how close you'll be to things you need. Logistics matter more when you're moving to a new location for work, covering everything from transporting belongings and updating legal information to potentially shipping a car as part of your professional transition. Set up new banking relationships and figure out visa requirements and tax obligations well ahead of time for international moves. You'll need cloud storage to keep your files accessible from anywhere, backup internet options when your main connection fails, and banking apps that work no matter where you are. Buy equipment that travels well and still looks professional on video calls. Tell your existing clients about your move upfront, including how you'll handle time zone differences and keep your usual response times. Building new networks takes effort. Look up professional groups, co-working spaces, and industry events before you arrive. Facebook groups and online communities can give you the inside scoop on local business culture and where to meet people in your field. Final ThoughtsMost freelancers never use their biggest advantage: the ability to live anywhere. Your location affects your monthly bills, daily inspiration, and business growth potential. Instead of accepting whatever your current ZIP code costs and limits, you can pick places that actually support your goals and lifestyle. If rising costs are eating your profits, limited opportunities are holding you back, or your environment is killing your creativity, moving might give your business the reset it needs and pay off for years to come. View the full article

A good document lifecycle management system will make sure your team is working from the latest version of a file, help you track approvals, and reduce duplicate work and endless email chains. Here's what each stage of the lifecycle looks like and how to implement it at your org. The post What is Document Lifecycle Management & Key Stages appeared first on The Digital Project Manager. View the full article

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. In a press conference totally divorced from reality as scientists and doctors understand it, President The President announced yesterday that the FDA would be warning providers and patients away from acetaminophen (such as Tylenol) in pregnancy. There were some other unsubstantiated claims about vaccines and autism mixed in, so let me break down what’s actually known and understood here. What is acetaminophen? Acetaminophen is an over-the-counter medication used to relieve pain and fevers. The flagship products of the Tylenol company are acetaminophen pills and syrups, but Tylenol sells other products as well, including medicines with a mixture of active ingredients. (Always check the Drug Facts label when you take medications to know what you’re getting.) I’ll often use the word Tylenol, since it’s more commonly known, but acetaminophen is also available in other products, like Excedrin and NyQuil.. Outside the U.S., acetaminophen is often known as paracetamol: Same drug, different generic name, though The President seems to have stuck with the brand name Tylenol during the press conference. The Tylenol company now has a pop-up on its website pointing customers to this response, which correctly points out there is no credible link between Tylenol and autism. What the science actually says about acetaminophen and autism The short answer: There is no credible link between autism and the use of acetaminophen in pregnancy. But HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. sorta-kinda spoke correctly when, during the press conference, he said there were some studies that “suggest a potential” connection between acetaminophen and autism. For example, a review published this year (not a study itself, but an analysis of prior studies) found that some studies do in fact show a link between acetaminophen use in pregnancy and autism, although the evidence is mixed. A press release about the review noted, “While the study does not show that acetaminophen directly causes neurodevelopmental disorders [emphasis mine], the research team’s findings strengthen the evidence for a connection and raise concerns about current clinical practices.” That said, it seems most medical experts aren’t convinced that this review, or the studies that claimed to find a link, are strong enough to change clinical practice. (More in the next section on what medical experts are saying about these claims.) So why doesn’t this count as strong evidence? An association (two things tend to occur together) is not the same as causality (this thing definitively causes that thing). People who take acetaminophen during pregnancy tend to be different than those who don’t—for example, if somebody takes Tylenol during pregnancy because they are sick, it may be the sickness rather than the Tylenol that is the risk factor. Or the people who take Tylenol may be different from people who don’t in some other way. A large study published last year took this into account. The researchers looked at 2.5 million children in Sweden, and their initial analysis found an increase in risk of autism in children whose mothers had taken acetaminophen. But then they looked at whether this relationship held up between pairs of siblings, where one was exposed to acetaminophen in utero and the other was not. And the relationship disappeared. In other words, if acetaminophen increased autism risk, you’d expect the sibling exposed to the drug in utero to have a higher likelihood of autism than their sibling who wasn’t. But that wasn’t the case. Instead, it seems some families have a higher likelihood than others of having children with autism, and taking acetaminophen doesn’t increase the risk within that family. What medical experts say about acetaminophen in pregnancyAcetaminophen (including Tylenol) is generally considered the safest pain reliever for use in pregnancy. Other common alternatives, like ibuprofen, have known risks and are not recommended if you are able to take acetaminophen instead. Medical experts also agree that it’s dangerous to leave pain and fever untreated during pregnancy. Several medical organizations issued statements in response to the president’s press conference, all of which are worth reading in full, but here are some key quotes from each: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said in a statement: “Suggestions that acetaminophen use in pregnancy causes autism are not only highly concerning to clinicians but also irresponsible when considering the harmful and confusing message they send to pregnant patients, including those who may need to rely on this beneficial medicine during pregnancy.” The statement goes on to discuss the strength of the evidence, saying that “not a single reputable study has successfully concluded that the use of acetaminophen in any trimester of pregnancy causes neurodevelopmental disorders in children.” The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine said in their statement: “In response to today’s White House press conference announcement, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) reiterates its recommendation advising both physicians and patients that acetaminophen is an appropriate medication to treat pain and fever during pregnancy. Despite assertions to the contrary, a thorough review of existing research suggesting a potential link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and an increased risk of autism and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children has not established a causal relationship.” The American Academy of Pediatrics said in their statement: “Today’s White House event on autism was filled with dangerous claims and misleading information that sends a confusing message to parents and expecting parents and does a disservice to autistic individuals. … Families who have questions about their child’s medications, autism care plans or other health care should consult with their pediatrician or health care provider.” The Autism Science Foundation said in their statement: “Any association between acetaminophen and autism is based on limited, conflicting, and inconsistent science and is premature… Today’s announcement distracts from the urgent scientific work needed to understand the true causes of autism and to develop better supports and interventions for autistic people and their families.” The European Medicines Agency, which plays a similar role in Europe as the FDA does in the U.S., issued a statement that there is no new evidence that would require reevaluating the status or labeling for acetaminophen, which they call paracetamol. “Paracetamol remains an important option to treat pain or fever in pregnant women. Our advice is based on a rigorous assessment of the available scientific data and we have found no evidence that taking paracetamol during pregnancy causes autism in children.” There is no evidence that vaccines cause autism, either The press conference also repeated long-debunked myths about vaccines and autism. There’s no credible link here, either to vaccines in general, to specific vaccine ingredients like mercury, or to combined vaccines like the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella vaccine). And I shouldn’t have to tell any parent this, but babies are not in fact “pumped” with a “vat” of “80 different vaccines” at “one visit,” as The President claimed. Babies see the pediatrician every few months during their first year of life, getting a few shots each time, many of which are combination vaccines (not just the MMR). Many of these vaccines need to be given in multiple doses—it’s not a one-and-done shot for each one. So it’s not true that separating the MMR into its components has “no downside.” Splitting the shots means kids are getting more needle sticks and delaying the date at which they’ll get their last dose of each and be fully protected. (The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, which was gutted of its longtime experts and filled with controversial replacements handpicked by the HHS secretary, who has long been an anti-vaccine activist himself, has already voted to remove the combined MMR-chickenpox vaccine as a standard option for young children.) The President also repeated the myth that there’s no reason for babies to get hepatitis B shots at birth. Hepatitis B can be sexually transmitted, sure, but it’s not only sexually transmitted. Babies can get it at birth from a parent who doesn’t know they have it; they can also get it during childhood from various non-sexual, non-drug exposures. Hepatitis B is a more severe disease the younger you get it, and it’s one of the vaccines babies’ immune systems can process even in those early days (not all vaccines will work that early) so the risk-benefit calculation is an easy one: this vaccine, like others, offers children real protection. View the full article

Remember the letter-writer whose building was being plagued by human waste outside it? Here’s the update. The pooping has stopped! It was actually just a small group of six people who were causing the biggest problems. There were mental health issues at play as well. Our boss had several conversations with the police and created a plan that involved him monitoring the security cameras at night and calling the police non-emergency number any nights that group was sleeping under our awning. The police would send the homeless outreach team to give resources and ask the individuals to move on. If they didn’t move on, they were given no trespassing orders. There is a public park with a small covered area near our building, so the group was welcome to stay there instead, just not under our building’s canopy. We’re also within a few blocks of a shelter and resource center- although they don’t have open public restrooms at night. It took a couple of weeks before the cycle was broken, but now it’s been a month without any poop. We also had a power washer come out and clean things once. And our boss has cleaned things since then. After I talked with my manager about how much the poop was bothering me, it seemed to spur faster action. Working from home until it was cleaned up really helped give me some physical and mental distance from the issue. I also changed our home setup so all shoes stay at the back door. The post update: there’s human waste outside my building appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

Discover the best project tracker template options to organize tasks, track progress, and keep your team’s projects on schedule. The post Top 7 Project Tracker Templates to Manage and Track Workflows in 2025 appeared first on project-management.com. View the full article

Plus 13 ways to screw up a merger. By Marc Rosenberg CPA Firm Mergers: Your Complete Guide Go PRO for members-only access to more Marc Rosenberg. View the full article

Plus 13 ways to screw up a merger. By Marc Rosenberg CPA Firm Mergers: Your Complete Guide Go PRO for members-only access to more Marc Rosenberg. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. When I first reviewed Fitbod (which you can read here), I approached it with the skepticism of someone whose idea of strength training was lifting my water bottle during long runs. Well, that's an exaggeration, but there's some truth in my inability to squeeze proper strength training into my schedule. The big promise of Fitbod is that your strength program is AI-powered to be perfect for you personally. For me, that means a strength program that works around my limited free time and already fatigued muscles. Like many endurance athletes, I usually fall into the trap of "not having time" for anything but running. My weekly routine has easy runs, tempo runs, long runs, and maybe some yoga if I'm feeling fancy. And when minor injuries started creeping in—IT band tightness here, some knee discomfort there—I just take a few days off and get back to pounding the pavement. The truth is, I can be pretty afraid of strength training. Not just afraid of looking foolish in the gym (though that's part of it), but genuinely convinced that building muscle would slow me down. Wouldn't all that extra weight just make running harder? Fast forward a few months, and I'm writing this after completing a deadlift set that would have terrified past-me. Here's how Fitbod transformed my relationship with strength training and, unsurprisingly, made me a better distance runner. How Fitbod works with a running-focused scheduleWhat drew me to Fitbod initially was its promise of efficient, customized workouts. As someone juggling 30+ mile weeks with a full-time job, I didn't have hours to spend in the gym figuring out what exercises to do or how many sets and reps were optimal. Fitbod's interface impressed me from day one. After inputting my goals (I selected "gain muscle"), available equipment, and time constraints, it generated 30-45 minute workouts that felt manageable alongside my running schedule. Fitbod's customization options. Credit: Meredith Dietz Another major factor to understand about Fitbod's programming is its "non-linear" approach. A ton of beginner strength programs go by linear progression. This means you add small, consistent increments of weight to a given lift each workout or week, keeping the exercises, sets, and reps the same. Fitbod doesn’t go by this linear "add 5 pounds every session" approach of traditional programs. The whole AI-powered promise here is that Fitbod pushes you to increase weights when it deems you ready, not according to an arbitrary schedule. So, during my peak mileage weeks, either Fitbod automatically adjusted to lighter loads and fewer sets, or I could easily adjust this manually. Then, in recovery weeks, Fitbod's program knew to ramp up the intensity. This intelligent programming meant I wasn't trying to PR my squat the day before a 22-mile long run. What I like about Fitbod's approachAfter a few weeks of testing, I can report that Fitbod really doesn't just throw random exercises at you. And if you say you're a runner, then tts selections make sense for runners—lots of single-leg work, core stability, and posterior chain strengthening. That posterior chain strengthening that Fitbod prioritized (deadlifts, hip thrusts, rows) is so, so important to complement all the forward-focused motion of running. The app's algorithm seemed to understand that I needed functional strength, not just bigger muscles. On its website, Fitbod explains its algorithm and how the app generates workouts, but simply put, it starts by analyzing multiple factors: previous workout data, muscle recovery status, available time, and your feedback on individual exercises. As you keep using the app, it analyzes your logged data, calculates muscle recovery, measures training volume for progressive overload, adjusts for your specific goals (hypertrophy vs. strength), applies intelligent variation to prevent plateaus, and generates your next customized workout. This process repeats with every session, allegedly making your program increasingly personalized over time. Going into this, most important for me were two factors: Schedule flexibility and education. For the latter, the built-in video demonstrations and form cues are solid as can be. They helped me feel confident with movements I'd always avoided. (Shamefully, this includes deadlifts. I'm terrified of injuring myself during marathon season!) For schedule flexibility: Some days I only had 20 minutes, other days I could spare 45. Fitbod easily adapts without making me feel like I was shortchanging my workout. Of course, integrating Fitbod into marathon training required some strategic planning. I timed strength sessions on easy run days or rest days, never the day before hard running workouts or long runs. Personally, I found Fitbod's workout intensity aligned perfectly with this approach. Plus, Fitbod is a highly visual app, and that can give it a serious edge over pen-and-paper tracking. Like with Strava or Nike Run Club, the app's visual progress tracking turned strength training into a game I actually wanted to win. Hey, I'm a simple man. The bottom lineIf you're reading this as someone who lives and breathes cardio, but has been strength-training-curious, here's my advice: start small, be consistent, and trust the process. Fitbod makes this leap less intimidating by handling all the programming complexity while you focus on just showing up and doing the work. As a runner, I always view my body through the lens of performance—how fast, how far, how efficient. I think strength training introduces a different kind of body awareness focused on power, stability, and resilience. Still: The proof needs to be in the pudding. That's the saying, right? I'll report back with my upcoming marathon time to see if Fitbod's strength program ends up having a tangible impact on my time. View the full article

Who is observing? By Martin Bissett Passport to Partnership Go PRO for members-only access to more Martin Bissett. View the full article

Who is observing? By Martin Bissett Passport to Partnership Go PRO for members-only access to more Martin Bissett. View the full article

New data on over 3,000 Google Business Profiles finds proximity drives visibility, but review volume and keyword relevance are most influential near the top. The post Review Signals Gain Influence In Top Google Local Rankings appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. TCL makes good non-OLED TVs (arguably some of the best when compared to the cost), as is the case with last year's QM7 that I got my hands on, which is still a bargain in 2025. There are plenty of differences between QLEDs and OLEDs, but unless you're planning on dropping thousands of dollars, a QLED will do just fine. TCL 75-Inch Class QM6K Series $749.99 at Amazon $999.99 Save $250.00 Get Deal Get Deal $749.99 at Amazon $999.99 Save $250.00 SEE -2 MORE Consider TCL's new QM6K QLED, going for $749.99 (originally $999.99) for the 75-inch model. This is the lowest price this TV has been, according to price-tracking tools. I've had mine for a couple of months and have been surprised by its value for the price. If you're looking for different sizes, the 55-inch is $497.99 (originally $599.99), and the 85-inch is currently $999.99 (originally $1,499.99) TCL's QM lineup offers a good value regardless of which size you pick. The QM6K is much better than last year's rendition, now with local dimming zones (500 of them, according to CNET's review) and a mini LED panel, improving contrast dramatically. The color accuracy is also surprisingly accurate out of the box for HDR content, which is great for people who don't like to mess with settings. With the QM6K you get 144Hz native refresh rate, HDR formats like HDR ULTRA with Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+, HDR10, & HLG, Dolby Atmos Audio, an anti-glare screen, 4 HDMI Inputs (one of which is an eARC), and the Google TV Smart OS (my favorite OS) with Chromecast built in, meaning you can cast your phone to it. You also get Apple AirPlay 2 and Alexa built in, according to ZDNet's review. If you're a gamer, there's a lot to like in the QM6K, according to IGN's review. The Game Bar feature lets you adjust settings on the fly. There's also a VRR accelerator that doubles the refresh rate to a perceived 288Hz. It also has AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, so you can experience smooth gameplay on a PC or console. Truly a lot to offer for a budget QLED TV. Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 2 Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds — $199.00 (List Price $249.00) Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge 256GB Unlocked AI Phone (Titanium JetBlack) — $699.99 (List Price $1,099.99) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00) Roku Streaming Stick Plus — $29.00 (List Price $39.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news. In the years since the launch of ChatGPT, AI tools have developed a bad reputation in the academic world for how easy they make it for students to cheat, passing off the work of a large language model as their own. Even if an LLM can produce writing for you that doesn't come off as unnatural and riddled with hallucinations, you'll be shortchanging yourself, because you won't actually absorb any of the material. But that's not to say these tools serve no purpose in the academic world. If used correctly, they can actually help you study more efficiently. Here are five ways you can use AI in your schoolwork without cheating—or cheating yourself. Use ChatGPT to discuss conceptsOne study technique I've previously recommended is simply having a conversation with another person who doesn’t know anything about the topic you’re studying, to identify areas where your own understanding is lacking. It's a great option because it helps you make connections between concepts as you're working out how to explain them to someone else, and it boosts your confidence in the subject matter when you are able to present it as the expert. But you might not always have someone around to serve as the uninformed rube in your roleplaying, which is when ChatGPT can help you out. When I was in grad school, I asked ChatGPT to allow me to "teach" it about a topic I was studying—community-based health interventions—and we “discussed” different levels of community engagement. ChatGPT actually had interesting questions that helped me think of creative solutions I could investigate in the course of my work. As the American Psychological Association notes, going back and forth with the language model like this not only helps you think critically and creatively, it also helps you practice managing technology in our changing world—a win-win. Use AI to summarize articlesIf you have to read a ton of articles or reports, try getting an AI tool to summarize them for you. This is great when you need to compare similarities or differences between pieces of research or get top-line bullet points to help you round out a paper. I fed ChatGPT an old article and asked for a summary and the language model took about 30 seconds to condense 61 pages into one key paragraph, highlighting the study design, the study goals, its findings, and its recommendations. This gave me a good idea of whether it was worth further study. If you've only got a few documents to read, it's still best to do it yourself, but this trick that can come in handy if you've got a large number of them you're looking to sort through quickly. Just make sure you double-check the summary against the source document before you take anything in it as gospel. My favorite tool for doing this is Google's NotebookLM. Despite my broader hesitancy about AI, I use this free software frequently because I find it's more like a personal assistant than a source of knowledge. It is similar to ChatGPT and other language models in that you can ask it questions via text-entry box, but dissimilar in that it only pulls answers from resources you've provided it. You upload PDFs, links, YouTube videos, and whatever else you want to serve as source material, then NotebookLM helps you sort through that material. When you're using ChatGPT, it pulls answers from the entire internet, and can make serious mistakes as a result. With NotebookLM, anything it generates includes a citation you can click that reveals the exact spot it pulled the info from in your cache of resources. Instead of doing the work for you, this tool just helps you make sense of and organize all your materials. Use ChatGPT to streamline your notesIf your notes are difficult to read or sort through, ChatGPT can help. In grad school, I assigned each of my classes a Google Doc and took notes in it all semester, but inevitably, each document eventually got disorganized, chaotic, and nearly impossible to navigate. As a test, I put my entire semester’s worth of notes for Research Methods into ChatGPT and asked it to pull out the most important information. Not only did it extract the nine steps of research planning and implementation and the principals of the Belmont Report (which were major parts of the midterm), but it reminded me how much of my grade was determined by each test, a fact I had apparently jotted down somewhere in that mess of words. It particularly emphasized things I had written down multiple times, creating a perfect study guide. Use AI to create flashcards and quiz yourselfFlashcards and practice quizzes are excellent ways to study because they force you to use active recall to pull information from your memory. Making these materials yourself is smart, because even by sorting through your notes and writing down your practice questions, you're studying. But I'll be the first to admit that when I'm in charge of making my own quiz, I tend to go a little easy on myself. (When I'm both the student and the teacher, I somehow always get an A+. Funny how that works.) It's better to outsource the creation of these materials to an unbiased third party, and here's another area where AI can be helpful. You can ask ChatGPT to make flashcards and quizzes, but its interface isn't really designed for that, so what it will spit back is an outline of what your flashcards should include based on the notes or resources you upload. From there, you can make the cards yourself, and get to studying (I recommend drilling flashcards using the Leitner system, which is better for helping you retain information over the long-term). You can also ask ChatGPT to quiz you, but you have to be specific with your instructions: Ask ChatGPT to quiz you one question at a time, and to not move on to a new question until you've answered the previous one correctly. But again, here's where I recommend NotebookLM. It has built-in flashcard and quiz features that are much more interactive and easy to use. You can click a button to generate a multiple-choice quiz or flashcard deck based on the materials you uploaded. The quizzes and cards it creates are clickable, like a quiz you would take in an online class, and are based only on what you upload. Use AI to outline essays and suggest sourcesYou definitely don't want ChatGPT or similar language models to "write" your whole essay—more than cheating yourself out of the learning experience, consider the fact that your teacher may run your assignment through a tool like ZeroGPT to get a report on how much of it was likely written by AI, which probably won't do wonders for your grade. Instead, you can use AI tools to help you plan and organize your essays. I've already assembled a list of the best AI essay-helping tools, but here's the gist: You can ask ChatGPT to help you brainstorm a topic or create an essay outline. You can also ask for suggestions for sources you can then research and add into your work that you wouldn't have considered otherwise. Two notes of caution: ChatGPT is sometimes known to make up citations, inventing a convincing article title and attributing it to a well-known source. This is why you don't want to rely on it to fully do the work for you, whether writing or research—just use it to source suggestions that you can hunt down and evaluate on your own. It won't take long to realize a source you've been given just doesn't exist. Likewise, when ChatGPT gives you a link to a source, it adds a little code at the end of the URL that says "/?utm_source=chatgpt.com." Even if you're being as ethical as possible and clicking every link to read the material fully and consider its merits, it's a very bad look to have a bibliography full of links that make it clear you used ChatGPT for your research—a reader might even assume you had the AI write everything for you. So before turning in work, I recommend searching your documents for mentions of "chatgpt," and deleting that sneaky bit of code from any URL where you find it. Snip out everything from the question mark onward and link will still work, but won't make you look like you're doing something untoward. View the full article

A reader writes: I have a coworker who is making me do her work, I asked my boss for help but I feel like he’s being really laissez faire about the whole thing. What should I do? How should I set boundaries with her, healthily? I work for a small research lab, and I’m rather new (hired four months ago). I have a coworker, Amanda, who doesn’t do her job. Examples include: missing a meeting because she was napping, coming into work only to use the printer/computer to plan a surprise party for her husband, spending “all day” replying to two emails, and most egregiously having her friend take a data analysis assessment for her when she was hired. She apparently has a history of not pulling her weight and was almost fired the same month that I was hired. About a month ago, Amanda requested my assistance for a presentation because she said she had too much on her plate to do the data analysis. I love data analysis so I agreed and helped her out. She asked me some questions about how I did the analysis and how I created the tables and charts, and I was happy to show her! This one request turned into me doing all of the data pulls, cleaning, analysis, and creating slides and speaker notes for each of her eight next presentations (taking two to four hours per presentation). Each time, I showed her how I did everything and explained the data to her so she could present it. However, she kept saying she doesn’t know how, and that she’s “heavily relying” on me to help her out. Our boss, Charles, noticed that I was doing the bulk of Amanda’s work and told her to give me credit. She did for one presentation, but did not for the rest. Charles wanted me to figure out how to share the workload with her because she had more presentations coming up and he didn’t want me to be doing everything for her. Since she said Amanda didn’t know how, I wrote out instructions for her. I wrote out each step of the analysis — from data export to execution of the slides and sent it in a group chat with her and Charles. She still refused to do the work, and I ended up doing it for the rest of the presentations. Each of those presentations led into one “big” project that she is going to be presenting at the end of this week. She was supposed to just take the data from the other smaller presentations and summarize it into one big presentation. She complained, saying that since I had done the original analyses she couldn’t do it. (Side note: she compared it to when her husband picks out a recipe and buys the ingredients and asks if she can make it. She said that she’s unable to do that because she wasn’t the one that planned it. The metaphor doesn’t make sense to me; it just sounds like weaponized incompetence.) But I ended up doing all of the work again, creating a deck of 45 slides in total. Doing Amanda’s work has eaten into the time I should be spending on my own projects, so I finally reached out to our boss for help. He asked me what has been happening and how much work I have actually been doing for her. (Apparently she told him that she couldn’t do her other work because she was spending “all her time” on the big presentation that I made. But she told me that she couldn’t help me with the presentation because she was spending her time on the other things. Basically: she was doing nothing.) I told Charles all I want is clarity of my role in helping Amanda — since at first it was just supposed to be running the analyses, but it really turned into doing everything. He said it might be simpler to just tell her that I won’t do anything else for her — but I don’t want to come across as not a “team player.” I feel like I’m perceived as the problem because I’m the new person. But it’s taking my all not to blow up on her. To be honest, I feel resentful for having to do her work and not receiving credit. I also feel resentful because she is being paid significantly more than me, but I feel like I am doing everything for her (save for the presentation itself). How do I go about confronting her? I can’t exactly avoid her (my desk is right next to hers), and we will have to collaborate on projects in the future because our team is so small. Is there a way to set boundaries with her healthily? Wait, what? Your boss gave you the solution that will fix this: tell Amanda you won’t do anything else for her and then stop. You said you don’t want to do that because as don’t want to be perceived as “not a team player” — but if anything, you’re not being a team player right now because you’re directly ignoring what your boss told you to do, undermining his ability to effectively assess Amanda’s work (inadvertently, yes, but that’s the outcome), and eating into the time you’re supposed to be spending on your own projects. I am very curious why your boss telling you that it’s okay to stop helping Amanda hasn’t convinced you that it really is! Did you have a previous job where you were unfairly penalized for not helping coworkers or that instilled weird ideas about teamwork in you? Do you have a broader pattern of being nervous about asserting boundaries with people and not caving to unreasonable requests? I don’t know what’s behind it, but I want to flag that something in your thinking about this is disordered and worth exploring more. I would be really frustrated if I were your boss and I asked you to stop doing someone else’s job, I thought we’d agreed, and then you continued doing it anyway. At that point, you’d be a problem too! Definitely not as big of a problem as Amanda but … a problem. Because I’d have to worry that I couldn’t trust you to carry out reasonable plans we’d agreed to, even on something that had bothered you enough to bring it to me in the first place, and I’d worry you might have people-pleasing tendencies that would get in the way of your job’s priorities. You’d also be preventing me from seeing what was actually going on with Amanda. So the next move here is to listen to your boss and tell Amanda that you can’t help her anymore. All you need to say is, “I’m sorry, I can’t help you any further — I have my hands full with my own projects.” Or if you’re more comfortable citing Charles: “Charles told me that I can’t keep helping you and need to focus on my own work.” If she complains that she doesn’t know how to do her work herself, you can say, “You should talk to Charles about what to do, because he told me that I can’t keep helping.” You might need to keep repeating that, but she can’t make you do her work, and your boss sounds like he has your back. So as much as necessary: “Sorry, I can’t help” and “You should talk to Charles.” That’s it. The post my coworker is making me do all her work appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

Google is rolling out AI features in the Chrome address bar that make AI Mode more accessible to users. View the full article

One client conflict led to better boundaries, processes, and growth. The Disruptors With Liz Farr Go PRO for members-only access to more Liz Farr. View the full article

One client conflict led to better boundaries, processes, and growth. The Disruptors With Liz Farr Go PRO for members-only access to more Liz Farr. View the full article