Thanksgiving drama on steroids: Adding a family business to the mix
I think its safe to say that for the majority of people, Thanksgiving is not about goodness and gratitude, but rather, family drama. Until now, I have been pretty much on the outside of this American tradition: The tradition of building up Thanksgiving to be a great family moment and then the family not living up to it. But everyone still does Thanksgiving basically because they love their parents. I’m not gonna say here that I don’t love my parents. But it’s a special kind of love that does not involve being with them for holidays. But this year is a big switch for me, because I’m doing Thanksgiving family drama—with the farmer.  There is family drama becaus

Asperger's at work: 5 ways to be less annoying
The first step to growing a good career in the face of Asperger's Syndrome is to recognize that this is a social skills deficit, by definition, and work, by definition, is a social skills decathlon. I have written before that for me, the biggest problem at work stems from my own sensory integration dysfunction – something that typically tags along with an Asperger's diagnosis. But for someone with Asperger's, it's not enough to deal with sensory integration dysfunction; in order to succeed at the workplace, you need some

This is what it looks like to have a hard time making a change
Some days I look through old posts, reminding myself of posts that I’ve written that I like and that I should link to. Often, this process serves to let me procrastinate writing while pretending to be engaged in writing. If I were a body builder, this would be me looking in the mirror instead of lifting weights. Yesterday I was trolling for posts, and I remembered this one. I never link to it because I can’t read it. I get physically ill. It was a short, stinging moment during an absolutely terrible time in my life. But a part of me lik

How to know if you'll be good at sales
It’s clear to me that emotional intelligence is the most important skill for success in adult life. And the consummate career application of emotional intelligence is the sales department. So I’m fascinated by sales. I used to think I’m not that good at sales. For example, I’m an open book—I have very little ability to bluff or play my hand close to my—actually, what is that expression? I don’t even know the expression. But then, when I told one of my mentors that I’m not good at sales, he said, “Of course you’re good at sales. You’ve gotte

What makes a blog successful?
I have always thought that blogging is a way to reach your career goals. It’s hard to write a blog if you don’t have a goal. You need to know what blogging success looks like to you, so you know what you're aiming for. Like most goals in life, my definition of blogging success has shifted as the circumstances of my life have shifted. 1. Post regularly without messing anything up. My first goal was simply to understand how to get my writing onto the Internet. All the buzzwords overwhelmed me: feeds, trackbacks, SEO. I understood none of it, and it too