jilleduffy

jilleduffy, 4 months ago to random

Reading people's layoff notes the last few days, I would like to share some reminders:

1. Work will never love you back.

2. "It isn't personal." Ignore people who say that. Your salary, your sense of purpose and work integrity are personal, and when they are taken away without warning, it affects you personally, even if the decision to cut your position was only about money.

3. Thinking about your emotions through a job loss as grieving can be helpful.

4. Work will never love you back.

jilleduffy, 7 months ago to random

Microsoft's current plan for Windows 10 will end up being an environmental disaster, with 1 billion perfectly good PCs either headed for recycling/landfill or completely vulnerable to attack. This multi-billion dollar company HAS to change its stance.

https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/microsoft-windows-10-upgrade-problem

jilleduffy, 11 months ago to random

Mad respect for Marie Kondo who had her third kid and was like, "Nope, I don't do 'organized' anymore. That phase of my life is over."

jilleduffy, 1 month ago to random

Would you like your workers to feel burned out, like they don't matter and that only capitalism matters? Then try enforcing a six-day workweek on your leadership team! The effects will trickle down!

https://www.pcmag.com/news/samsung-imposes-6-day-workweeks-for-execs-to-combat-crisis

jilleduffy, 6 months ago to random

Washington Post workers are on strike today (Dec 7)

Please don't read the Washington Post, visit the website, download its podcasts

jilleduffy, 1 year ago to random

Our societal problems rooted in capitalism and profit are not going to be solved by capitalism and profit

jilleduffy, 10 months ago to random

Well THIS IS INSANITY

According to The Street, Google is offering employees a "special" rate of $99 per night at a hotel on or near its work campus so that employees forced to return to office have an option of sleeping closer and not commuting

That's $99 out of pocket per night...to sleep at work...when you can do your job remotely from anywhere.

https://www.thestreet.com/employment/google-return-to-the-office-program

jilleduffy, 9 months ago to random

https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/remote-work-employers-role

jilleduffy, 7 months ago to random

In my life now, I'm financially stable, but as an American and as someone who grew up without financial security, I never truly believe it. A medical diagnosis or an accident to me or someone close to me, could easily set me back to the point of insecurity.

Reading this story about a woman who is employed as a social worker and earns $72,000/yr and had to live out of her car for a while is both heartbreaking all too real a threat for many of us

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/17/realestate/car-homeless-rent-debt-mortgage.html?unlocked_article_code=1.5Ew.ovd1.uDQwvqWUX2De&smid=url-share

jilleduffy, 8 months ago to random

What an absolute failure that we have no legislation or an agreement between car makers to have standardized charging specifications.

Could you imagine if every gas station had different pumps that might not work for your vehicle unless you had the right adapter on hand?

jilleduffy, 8 months ago to random

Just learned that in Arlington, Virginia, bus fare (on the ART busses) is FREE in peak directions during commute hours.

"starting Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, and going through Dec. 25, 2023"

Public transit should be FREE. We let drivers drive on roads for free, paid for by taxes. Why shouldn't public transit be funded similarly? This is an excellent initiative and test in Arlington!

https://www.arlingtonva.us/About-Arlington/Newsroom/Articles/2023/ART-Features-Free-Fares-for-Fall

Please boost for reach
#PublicTransit #Arlington #ArlingtonVirginia #StrongTowns

jilleduffy, 11 months ago to random

Given the number of years I've worn contact lenses, you'd think by now it would be impossible to put them into the wrong eyes, not be able to see clearly, and spend 10 minutes wondering what's wrong

But you'd be incorrect

jilleduffy, 22 days ago to random

Do you work remotely?
Guess what? You don't have to be the house manager

https://www.pcmag.com/articles/remote-workers-are-not-house-managers

jilleduffy, 10 months ago to random

Did you follow the news last week about the hearings held by U.S. Congress about UFOs?

To me it represents a news story used to downplay other news stories. For example, a media organization that does not want to talk about Trump's trial date being set might have nonstop coverage of the hearings to shift focus.

Sure, every major media outlet covered the "non-human biologics" story, but very few covered it as page 1 news or dedicated hours of television programming to it

jilleduffy, 3 months ago (edited 3 months ago) to random

If your system for doing anything requires perfection, it's not a usable system.

A good system is one that works well enough as long as you follow it at least 80% of the time. That's something I keep in mind when I write advice columns about the boring stuff we all have to do, like organize our tax documents.

https://www.pcmag.com/explainers/how-to-organize-tax-documents

jilleduffy, 2 months ago to random

Don't trash or trade-in a perfectly good PC just because Windows 10 won't be supported much longer. You have 5 ways to continue using it, with some of those options being much better than others!

https://www.pcmag.com/explainers/keep-windows-10-pc-alive

jilleduffy, 2 months ago to random

Remote employees in a recent study were promoted "31% less frequently" than in-person/hybrid staff. At Dell, a new policy prevents remote employees from being promoted at all. Even in 2012, "remote employees were prone to lower performance evaluations, smaller raises, and fewer promotions" (MIT Sloan Management Review).

The problem of being passed over for promotion is real, but you can take action to make yourself better seen and heard at work—if that's what you want.
https://www.pcmag.com/explainers/get-noticed-remote-job

jilleduffy, 2 months ago to random

"The male midlife crisis is well-documented and parodied, but we have no concept of what a deep reckoning with the female self looks like."

I wrote a deeply personal essay for a new website for Gen X and elder Millennial women

This one is a little scary to put out there! Hope you enjoy it.
https://jennymag.com/2024/03/27/what-is-a-female-midlife-crisis/

jilleduffy, 8 months ago to random

Of all the people who say they want to "punch Nazis," a whole hell of a lot of them are hanging onto the Nazi birdsite or sharing posts from it because "how else will I get my news?"

Leave, you cowards

jilleduffy, 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago) to random

A thread of the stories I'm most proud of this year!

I'm most proud of my ongoing work to gently push the message that workers should not bend over backward for their employers. And I'm especially proud for getting this headline through, though an exclamation point may have been lost in the battle:

Go On, F*ck Around at Your Desk Job. You Deserve It.

https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/fck-around-at-your-job

jilleduffy, 1 month ago to random

I do think there are times when a business or organizations needs to inject a sense of urgency and importance in their workers, but it can't be to get out of a hole, which is what Samsung is doing.

If it's a race to a meaningful innovation, such as a medical treatment/cure or an environmental discovery, then I can see motivating staff and asking them to work overtime.

But to mandate it from leadership to get out of a hole? No

jilleduffy, 1 month ago to random

3 rules of real estate success:
location, location, location

3 rules to being organized and productive:
simplicity, simplicity, simplicity

If it is not simple, you will not do it
If it is not simple, you will not do it well
If it is not simple, you will not be consistent with it

https://www.pcmag.com/explainers/get-organized-5-productive-habits-to-start-your-day

jilleduffy, 1 month ago to random

Timeboxing really isn't a bad productivity method, but it has such limited use case for normal people that you have to understand when it doesn't work

https://www.pcmag.com/articles/timeboxing-works-but-watch-pitfalls

jilleduffy, 29 days ago to random

Did you see that Pinterest's stock price surged last week? I wrote a quick article about 5 uses cases when it is a fantastic tool. What I didn't say is this:

Pinterest is repeatedly overlooked as a social network because its user base is overwhelmingly female. Gen Z has been picking it up more and more the last year. Do not discount women, especially young women, and their spending power

https://www.pcmag.com/articles/pinterest-surprisingly-good-for-these-things

jilleduffy, 25 days ago to random

Why is the plural
paper towels
but
toilet paper
?

I demand "toilet papers"