Time is one of our greatest resources. Used wisely it can enable you to do the things in life that are important to you. Decisions about how you spend your time will determine many things in your lifestyle including: stress levels and the pace of your day, whether you have time for exercise and wellness, how much time you can devote to family, how much you are able to accomplish in your work.

“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.”
~ Carl Sandburg

Time management is one of the greatest skills you can develop. Being able to manage your time effectively can mean being successful in your career or reaching important life goals like running a marathon or writing a book. In the big picture, time management may determine whether you look back on your life one day and reflect on the wonderful things you in your life you have done, or whether those dreams you had were just that, dreams.

DISCUSSION
How do you manage your time?
Do you always have a hectic schedule?
Do you like to be busy, or do you like to have an easy schedule?
How do you give yourself a quality time even if you have a hectic schedule?
What are your schedules for the day?
Do you schedule out what you have to do every week? What do you do if you forget an appointment?
What time do you usually go home?
Is there a difference between your work and when you were still studying? When it comes to time management?
Do you still have time for yourself? To your family?

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Employees need vacations to stay productive and recuperate from stresses and pressures at the office. Some countries fully agree with this philosophy. Take France as an example, which has a work week that is only thirty-five hours to improve the quality of life there. And the Germans almost believe that their one month vacations are a sacred right.

Other countries have opposite practices, though. Japanese employees use only a small fraction of their yearly vacation time because they want to be seen as full contributors to the team. In the US, work habits continue to change. Fewer employees take all their entitled vacation days, which equals about nine days per year. The worsening economy is partly to blame for the change. Many employees fear layoffs as companies post weaker profits, and so they want to be viewed as hard workers.

But a growing number of people support mini-retirements. Rather than take short vacations every year, or no vacation whatsoever, the mini-retirement can be viewed as an extended vacation. Mini-retirements advocate an active youth instead of working until old age and then taking a "macro" retirement. Several months away from work allows employees to pursue personal goals and dreams. And if the person travels abroad, then he can immerse himself in the foreign country and culture. With remote technology, Internet cafes, and free Wi-Fi services, it's even possible to stay up to date of developments at the office, too.
Life should be more than work, money, and savings. Hopefully more offices around the world will not only encourage vacation, but take up the mini-retirement concept, too.

Do you agree or disagree? Why?

1. I work too much!
2. I look forward to my retirement. (Or I'm already retired and I really enjoy it.)
3. Employees shouldn't take long vacations because there could be problems at the office.
4. I would be much happier and enjoy life much more if I could take at least one long vacation every year.
5. Vacations don't have much benefit.

Talk about the following questions.

1. Have you ever canceled, postponed, or limited your vacation because of work? Please explain.
2. What do you think about the idea of mini-retirements versus regular vacations? Please explain.
3. What are the pluses and minuses of mini-retirements from an employer's point of view? Please explain.
4. What are the pluses and minuses of mini-retirements from an employee's point of view? Please explain.
5. What will the balance between work, vacations, and retirement be in the future? Please explain.

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All it takes is one bad apple to spoil the bunch. Like many maxims, it can be applied to many facets of every day life. A recent research report indicates that "one bad apple" can quickly ruin the atmosphere of the office. A negative employee brings conflict and stress to the workplace. A problem employee usually doesn't do an equal amount of work, is always unhappy and complaining, and bullies or intimidates others.

Negative behavior, the researchers found, far outweighs any positive behavior, so that several positive employees aren't able to offset one negative teammate. In fact, it often leads to a downward spiral, with more and more employees becoming unhappier and unhappier as time progresses. The news comes out of the University of Washington.

In order to take care of the problem, companies need to deal with the negative influence immediately. One solution is to have the employee work alone as much as possible. In effect, he should be cordoned off from other team members work-wise. Better yet, ensure that effective hiring practices prevent the problem from entering the building. Training managers to better screen potential hires helps, as do personality tests. These can easily weed out emotionally unstable or disagreeable people.

Case in point: The wife of the report's lead author observed that when a problem employee at her office was sick for several days, the atmosphere quickly changed. People began to help one another. They played classical music on their radios. Many went out for drinks after work to form closer bonds. However, once the problem returned, the toxic atmosphere returned, too.

Talk about the following questions.
1. Do you agree, that "one bad apple spoils the bunch?" Why/not?
2. Have you ever had a similar experience as the example? What happened when the negative person was away?
3. If your office were "toxic," would you consider quitting? Why/not?
4. What other solutions do you think might work with a bad apple? Why?
5. Do you think that a bad apple usually knows he creates a negative atmosphere? Why/not?

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