Niki's Notes

For Elevating to Your Best Self

Thank you to everyone who completed the survey to help improve the value of Niki’s Notes. For each completed survey, I donated $5 to Feeding America and appreciate everyone who took the time to respond.

Over the next few issues you may notice Niki’s Notes focusing on the whole you rather than just the workplace you. If we can strive to be our best selves and model better behaviors for others, we’ll not only make our workplaces better, the world will shift to meet us where we are, too.

So, with that in mind, here are my shares for this week… oh wait, first I want to share a random act of kindness a reader shared with me:

🥰 Kindness is Contagious, Pass it Around!

Ilona Goanos shared a story of kindness: “I was taking the scenic route on my 2-hour trip home one evening and hit a pothole before I had a chance to see it. I pulled into a public park and surveyed the damage. Definitely a flat. I called AAA but they said it would be 2 hours before someone could come to help me. I tried getting the tire off, but it wouldn’t budge. Reluctant to ask for help, I called a friend who lived in the area and he arrived within five minutes! During that time, I laid out the tire and the jack and searched YouTube videos on how to loosen a lug. He, too, had trouble loosening the lug nuts, so I didn’t feel so bad about my attempt. He finally resorted to standing on the tire iron, jumping on it with full body weight. Each lug nut begrudgingly gave way in its own time. My spare was on, and I was on my way. I am so grateful for my friend’s kindness in helping me change the tire.

Sometimes, the most ordinary Monday evenings become the ones we remember—not because of the flat tire or the two-hour wait that never happened, but because someone chose to show up. In a world that often feels disconnected, my friend reminded me we’re still looking out for each other, one lug nut at a time.”

How about you? Do you have a story of kindness to share? Tell me about it, and I’ll share it here. If you want to share it confidentially, let me know and I’ll pass the story along but keep your deets hush hush.

🦋 Content Shares to Inspire Change

• As another school year draws to a close, new research is showing boys in the US tend to be less prepared than girls for kindergarten and it impacts them throughout their lives. Worth reading—and considering if there are things you can do to help the little guys in your sphere of influence.

• I haven’t tried it yet, but I wanted to share in case you are intrigued and have some time before I do. There’s an app called Sandbox designed to work towards closing the political divide in the U.S. It connects people with opposing views and facilitates them listening to and talking WITH each other. Here’s a summary from the app store: “Sandbox is for politically curious people who want to find out what they’re missing. It’s the place for productive, structured, one-on-one conversations between people who disagree on some things, and agree on others.” Learn more here. (It’s available for Apple & Android devices.)

• Are you in an “And” job? They have their pros and cons, learn about them via Chief.

• 🌟 Do Good Spotlight: Bags Without Barriers. The vision? Provide bags of essential items to underserved communities. Whether giving kids school supplies, new moms with necessities, or high school grads with what they need for their post-grad dreams, Bags Without Barriers serves underserved communities in a unique and loving way!

• Change is the constant of our times. If you know someone whose company is in reorg mode, you may want to share this from Anna Burgess Yang in Fast Company. If you can’t see the whole article, here are a few highlights:

  • “One of the biggest impacts on your day-to-day might be changes in your job responsibilities. As soon as possible, you’ll want to discuss any changes with your boss. Ask directly, ‘Do I have any new responsibilities?’ and ‘How will my performance be evaluated now?’

  • Get the information in writing, if you can, even if it’s just a follow-up email you send after a discussion with your boss that says: ‘Based on our conversation, I understand that my role now includes X, Y, and Z.’”

• It’s not your imagination, this job market sucks for pretty much everyone not in healthcare. Nitish Pahwa explains via Slate.

• CBS News asks us to take another look at unemployment data. Did you know we’re counting the “functionally unemployed” as employed?

• Is it a management problem or an employee issue? This post has a great net/net guide for us.

• If you did just one thing this week to help someone who is in job search mode, what would it be? I believe one of the most helpful things we can do is to understand the positions they’re open to and make introductions—not necessarily to someone who is hiring (though of course that’s awesome) but to people who know people. Sometimes, the energy that comes from knowing people are trying to help that gives job seekers that “law of attraction” energy they need to succeed. IYKYK 😉

⏳Until Next Time…

Be the person your younger self would have turned to for good advice. 😊

Niki