People often ask me if it's better to be an early bird or a procrastinator. An early bird aims to do things well in advance -- whether it's pay bills before they're due, book flights, complete a project weeks before the deadline, and so forth. A procrastinator , on the other hand, habitually leaves everything for the last minute. Many might say the answer is obvious -- that being an early bird is more favorable in that you get things done early.  My answer to them is that either extreme is bad. All the way through high school, I was the king of procrastination, sometimes waiting until the day before a paper was due to write it. Once I got to college, I did a 180 degree turn and aimed to finish projects days, if not weeks, ahead of time. This seeped into my personal life as well; for example, it became the norm to pay bills the very day I received them in the mail. The problem with being too much of an early bird -- much like being a procrastinator -- is that it t...

If you feel unfulfilled at work and reason that your lack of friendships in the workplace is the culprit, think again. Mixing business and pleasure is ill-advised. It's appalling how many of my coworkers open up about their personal lives to other people in the department. For example, a young woman who sits in the cubicle next to me recently broke up with her boyfriend and has made it a habit of hers to spill her guts about the breakup every day. I understand human beings have an inherent need to bond with and seek consolation from those in their immediate environment, but that's what parents, spouses, siblings, and friends outside of work are for. Relating details of your personal life to coworkers has the potential to blow up in your face. You never know who you can really trust out there, especially when dealing with people in the workplace whom you may not know all that well. Perhaps you feel comfortable enough to do this with coworkers whom you've been worki...