U-Turn Ahead » Coryan Recommends

Best Blogs and Websites for Midlifers

Coryan — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 05:54:08 +0000

Given that this blog is about midlife career change, I decided to share a bit on midlife and skip the career change angle for a moment. These blogs and websites are some that I regularly read (or friends and family read) on the topic of midlife. A few of the blogs are simply interesting personal journals about a midlifer’s own journeys and others have advice and guidance for those in midlife.

Midlife Gals – By their own description, this blog contains the “Daily irreverent observations by two twisted middle-aged sisters in Texas. ” Put your own midlife miseries on the shelf for an hour and read the humorous, insightful and often quirky adventures of Lizbet and Mayrie. Recommended Reading: Please Hold…For the Next Available Representative.

Midlife and Treachery – This longtime blog covers a variety of topics ranging from Medicaid to Monty Python. Viewing life as a midlifer with a disability is often not all that different from many of our own experiences. And when it is different, you can expect to find an interesting post about it at Midlife and Treachery. Recommended Reading: At Home in Summer.

Midlife Mysteries – When I first started blogging last November, this was the first midlifer blog that I read. Actually, it was one of the blogs that sparked my own interest in blogging. Cathy’s blog is not just an interesting read, but it is also one of the best designed blogs I know…love that header! Recommended Reading: My Double Life.

LifeTwo – LifeTwo is a magazine style website for those of us just getting our second wind in life. Just read the tabs at the top of the page to get an idea of the variety of topics covered at this site. Since I’ve been getting into listening to podcasts, I have really enjoyed the podcasts at LifeTwo. Recommended Reading: What’s Your Calling?

Mid-Life Rider – Maybe it’s a midlife crisis, and maybe not. But regardless of what it is, Kevin’s motivation to create a blog about midlife and motorcycling is a success. I read the blog just to feed my own desire to get away sometimes. I love the photos and the journal entries describing Kevin’s biking journeys. Recommended Reading: The Long Road Home.

Confessions of a Mid-life Trucker’s Wife – This is a new blog that is popular with my wife. She describes the stories and images as heartwarming. I’ve even been know to read a post or two from the rambling trucker’s wife. Recommended Reading: Supper Table Discussions.

The Boomer Chronicles – If midlife blogs have one thing in common, it’s probably that they cover nearly every topic imaginable. The Boomer Chronicles is another great blog that is as likely to have you laughing as grabbing a pen to jot down some great information you can use later. Recommended Reading: Another Bigfoot Sighting that Blew Me Away.

TeeBeeDee - TeeBeeDee, as in To Be Determined, is a growing community of midlifers and beyond who share in discussions on popular topics like politics, careers and family. I try to drop in at least once a week to read a few discussions and post in the UTurnAhead career change group. Membership is free. Recommended Reading: Dysfunctional Bosses.

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Coryan Recommends: The Bob Sutton Blog – Work Matters

Coryan — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 07:43:49 +0000

When preparing to write this post, I didn’t know if I should recommend Sutton’s book, The No Asshole Rule, or his blog, Work Matters. The No Asshole Rule, subtitled, “Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One that Isn’t” simply and effectively describes the challenge of assholes in the workplace and why they have to go. But you can find the same crisp and informative writing about workplace jerks on Sutton’s blog and much more. Although, I recommend reading both, the subject of this post will be Bob Sutton’s blog, Work Matters.

Sutton is a professor at Stanford Engineering School, PhD in Organizational Psychology, and advocate/teacher of design thinking. So it is no surprise that his blog is intelligent. But one might be surprised to find that his writing is also sharp, friendly and entertaining. Here are a list of some of my favorite things on Bob Sutton’s Work Matters blog.

15 Things I Believe - On my first visit to Sutton’s blog, I found this list on the left column of the home page. Sutton lists the 15 things he believes about work, organizations and management, things like, “Work is an overrated activity.”

Asshole Rating Self-Exam (ARSE) - Even though this exam doesn’t reside on the Work Matters blog, it was written by Sutton and is linked from his blog. Take the test and see if you are a workplace asshole. Sutton also wrote an adaptation to help you identify if your client is an asshole.

Arse Tips - The Arse Tips are found on the blog homepage. Among the tips you will find a list of workplaces that are asshole free and tips for surviving workplaces infested with assholes.

Why Creativity and Innovation Suck -This post, which borrows significantly from the closing chapter of Sutton’s book Weird Ideas That Work, presents some of the problems with creativity in the workplace. He wrote an intriguing follow up post titled, James March’s Quote on Innovation: One More Time.

Fortune Story on The Trouble With Steve Jobs: Asshole, Genius, or Both? - This is the most recent post on Work Matters. Sutton briefly examines the leader/designer/manager Steve Jobs and shares some stories to help answer the question, “Steve Jobs: asshole, genius, or both?”

I recommend you drop by the blog today and discover the talent and intellect of Bob Sutton. For midlife career changers, or just everyday office slaves, this blog will spark a new way of looking at work, management, and the business world.

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Coryan Recommends: Posts for Midlife Career Changers

Coryan — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 07:54:58 +0000

I found some excellent reading on the Internet this week for all you midlife career changers. So here’s my recommended reading list for today:

Creating Brand You – Have you considered how important it is to market yourself? Paul Brown examines the importance of seeing yourself as a brand to be marketed and valued in this New York Times article.

The Answer to the Toughest Interview Question – Penelope Trunk from Brazen Careerist helps you answer the trickiest question a potential employee will ask: “What salary are you looking for?”

Authenticity in Business and Other Lies – I love this blog. Catherine Lawson offers great advice for business, and this time she exposes some of the more common lies told in the business arena.

Overcome Your Fear of Career Change Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 – Maret McCoy has a wonderful website for women called Compass Life Designs. But this series of articles is relevant to anyone frustrated with their current employment.

Tips to Fine-Tune Your Resume for a Career Change (Podcast) – If you’re looking to start a new career, here’s a podcast interview with Kim Isaac’s, Monster.com’s Resume Expert, talking about creating a resume design just for the career changer. It’s worth a listen.

I will try to keep you informed of the best career change information on the Web at least every couple weeks. So be sure to check back for great original posts and the Coryan Recommends reading lists.

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Coryan Recommends: Five Articles on Midlife Career Change

Coryan — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 06:10:19 +0000

I like to keep a list of informative, inspiring, and intriguing articles that I find while reading up on midlife career changes. Here’s a list of five articles on the Internet that are worth reading.

10 Reasons I Won’t Accept a Job Counter Offer – An excellent post about why it’s not a good idea to accept a counter offer from your current employer when you’ve decided to leave.

How to Manage Your Boss, Part 1, Part 2 – This two part series offers great advice on how to manage your boss for personal success.

Use the Entrepreneurship Boom to Improve Your Corporate Job – This post is from a blog in my blogroll, Brazen Careerist. It talks about being an entrepreneur with your own business or on the job.

Happiness at Work: Does It Matter? – I read this one right away just because of the title. The guest post by Gretchen Rubin appears on the Shifting Careers blog. Rubin explores the issue of happiness at work and asks challenging questions about the role of happiness in some very profitable industries.

What’s Your Calling? – An interesting article about the progression from job to career to vocation. It about how our concept of work changes as we mature.

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Best of UTurnAhead – Three Month Anniversary

Coryan — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:40:14 +0000

Wow, it’s already been three months since the first U-Turn blog was posted. And I feel like we are just getting started. Given that readership in the early days on Blogger (where this blog started) was a paltry 3-5 readers a day, I figure that many of you have not read some of the early blogs…and a couple of them were worth reading.

So here is my list of the top twelve posts since we started three months ago:

When is it Time for a Career Change? – Answering the question of when you should make a career change.
CEO or Employee Series: Part One / Part Two / Part Three – A three-part series exploring the pros and cons of being employed or running your own business.
How About Some Career Humor? – Time for a break with a bit of career related humor.
8 Tips for New Year’s Resolution Success – This post was a precursor to my new blog, SevenActions.com about achieving personal goals.
What the Hell is a Jobrepreneur? – I define my new term for starting a business while still employed.
Best Jobs for 2008 – A summary of and link to the U.S. News article touting the best (and worse) jobs of 2008.
Midlife Career Change: What Not to Forget! – Three important things that should be remembered during a midlife career change.
Short Timers: Making the Best of Your Last Days – My recommendations for what to do (and not do) after you’ve announced you are leaving your job.
Seven Advantages of Being a Jobrepreneur – Here I list some key advantages of being a jobrepreneur.
Strange But True Facts About Coryan (that’s me) – A fun post where I share some interesting jobs I have held in the past.

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Coryan Recommends: Social Networking at TeeBeeDee

Coryan — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 05:43:29 +0000

A few years ago I was amazed at the hours my sons would spend on the computer cruising MySpace. I even threw up my own MySpace page just to try and be cool. But it never really caught on for me…guess its not my generation.

But TeeBeeDee at TBD.com is for my generation. This new social network was developed specifically for the 40+ crowd. I’ve been watching the site develop over the past several months and recently signed up for the free membership to learn a little more. My review in one word – FINALLY.

The first thing you notice at TeeBeeDee is the clean, uncluttered design. A lot of thought has gone into making the site work for those of us who didn’t grow up with a laptop in our crib. After signing up, I made some quick edits to my profile and stepped out for a look around.

My first visit was to something called real life scripts. Real life scripts are somewhat like a forum where you pose a question and members post their script of how they would answer the question. For example, one situation was, “I need to convince my boss that it’s okay to work from home.” The scripts that were offered ranged from telling your boss, “Wouldn’t it be nice not to have to see me everyday?” to a more helpful response from career coach Gordon Miller.

Like a number of social networking sites, TeeBeeDee has member organized groups on just about any topic. A quick scan of the popular groups include Sex Talk, Go Back to College, Spirituality and Consciousness, and Career Change Workshop (hosted by none other than Gordon Miller). The latest addition to the TeeBeeDee groups is a U-Turn Ahead group for sharing career change experiences (guess who hosts that one).

So, if you are looking to network with other midlifers, grab a free membership and spend some time over at TeeBeeDee. While you are there, sign up for the U-Turn Ahead group. And be careful, it can become as additive.

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Coryan Recommends: The Shifting Careers Blog

Coryan — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:39:58 +0000

I’m starting a new feature on U-Turn Ahead called “Coryan Recommends.” Every week or so I will point you to one of the many great resources on the Net for those considering a midlife career change. This week’s recommendation is the New York Times Shifting Careers Blog at http://shiftingcareers.blogs.nytimes.com.

Located in the small business section of the New York Times online, the Shifting Careers blog showcases the knowledge and writing talents of Marci Alboher. If it is true that great content is critical to creating a great blog, then Marci’s posts pass the test. Her style is engaging while the information she shares in insightful and resourceful. And, like any good blogger, she is alert to the wealth of information around the blogosphere as can be seen in today’s post, “Friday’s Links: Dads Go Back to Work, Freelancers Name Their Rates.”

The Shifting Careers blog is a regular read on my stingy RSS list. I suggest you give it a visit.

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