1st Quarter Refresh

The 1st Quarter Refresh is a 15 day challenge in helping you start off the year right. These daily challenges will give you focus and inspiration for the year. You can join any time, catch up on assignments here, and use the help of the printable 1st Quarter Refresh calendar. You can also catch up with fellow participants on Twitter using the hashtag #1stQuarterRefresh.

Sign up for the 1st Quarter Refresh!

Sign up for (free) 15 days of mini-challenges – designed to give you a professional head start into the New Year.

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The Power of Calendars for Achieving Year-Long Goals

Calendars. I live by them. If it’s not in my calendar I probably won’t remember. “Mom brain” is not joke. I have a shared digital calendar with my husband (it’s the only way we can keep our schedules straight) and I have a traditional wall calendar posted up at home. Traditionally, I used my calendar […]

3 Little Steps to a Cleaner Inbox

I get it. This one’s a doozy. I started with over 1,000 emails in my inbox. There were old purchase confirmations, newsletters, email subscriptions I never read, and blog notifications to name a few. Productivity experts say to ignore email. However, think of the benefits of an empty inbox. It’s a clean slate and what’s […]

How to Make a Bucket List for Your Professional Goals

Bucket lists often take the same track as New Year Resolutions and ambiguous goals. If they’re met, that’s great! But bucket list items usually only appear in our day dreams. Make your professional bucket list a reality with today’s challenge. Is there a project you want to work do? A specific team you want to […]

Goal-Setting

Use These Declutter Tips To Stay Sane At Your Desk

A messy desk might mean you’re a creative thinker but that doesn’t mean we don’t all have that one drawer that could be cleaned out or that area behind the computer that could be dusted. Take a few minutes to clean and re-organize a drawer or toss old papers and wipe down the surface (especially […]

Why You Should Introduce Yourself To Everyone At Work

My friend’s work recently switched to rolling desks and an open floor plan. No longer assigned to a specific seat, my friend has the opportunity to sit next to someone new each day. Try introducing yourself officially to that person you pass in the hallway or maybe you see a new employee, say “hello”! Today’s […]

How to Create Habits that Stick

The first quarter of the New Year is a perfect time to knix a bad habit or try something new. Forming or breaking habits isn’t as easy as sticking to something for set number of days. Habits are behavioral and usually have triggers. Let’s say you want to start a positive habit, say going for […]

All The Reasons Why You Should Have A Year Long Reading Goal

There are lots of reasons to read. We read for fun. We read to appease our curiosities and learn about topics we’re interested in. Sometimes we have to read for work and sometimes we read to change the work we do. It’s for this reason everyone should have a year long reading goal. All the […]

Use this Phone Exercise to Strengthen Your Network

When I started consulting I flew out to Seattle for the first time with my new coworker, Joel. I was the business analyst, he was the developer. We were put on all the MES projects together. Soon, two other developers joined our new-to-consulting-but-soon-to-dominate MES group, Karthik and Camille. Since we were all new to Seattle […]

Try this formula to make more connections on LinkedIn

Networking is everything. Whether you have a job, are looking for one, or are content where you’re at, nothing beats having that A+ network at your fingertips. Remember that saying, “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re probably in the wrong room.”? That goes for your professional network as well. I think that’s why people are so picky when […]

Introducing the 1st Quarter Refresh

We’re well into January but we’re still at the start of the beginning of the new year. I wanted to switch things up this year by starting with a challenge to set this year up for professional success. I created the 1st Quarter Refresh, a daily challenge for 15 days to set your intentions, mindset, […]

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