Author: Danielle Clark

Dr. Danielle Clark is a witty heart-centered millennial. She wears many hats in this beautiful + crazy thing we call life. She is a proud wife, and cat, dog and human mama who works as a psychic medium, intuitive life coach, spiritual teacher and business professor. Dr. Danielle’s life work is focused on helping people heal from self-judgement, trauma and grief so that they can release their suffering and tap into the highest version of themselves. Danielle’s been blessed to do that for herself and that’s why she’s made it her mission to pass along her wisdom to others. Danielle is from just north of Boston. She currently lives in the Tampa Bay area. She believes with a little love, grace and humor anything is possible. She invites you to join her blog Onwards at drdanielleclark.com and to connect with her on social media.

3 manageable steps that help battle stress and avoid burnout

Last month was one of my most stressful months this year. Work was tense, my home life was chaotic, and my personal and professional calendar was jam-packed. Looking back on the month, I have to give myself some well-deserved kudos.

Although I was faced with a lot of challenges and commitments, I endured and did so gracefully. I never lost my cool, I never got run-down and I never missed a beat. If this had been five years ago, I would have been burnt out and sick in bed writing out sorry cards to all the people who had to deal with my frazzled, angry and impatient behavior. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating, but you get my point.

In the event you are ever faced with a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, week, or month you may benefit from learning about some of the steps I took to get ready.

Continue reading “3 manageable steps that help battle stress and avoid burnout”

Why being too confident is a bad thing—and how you can fix it

Recently, my son Aaron finally learned how to ride a bike on his own. He was so proud! Every time he made it down the street and back he became more confident—but unfortunately, that confidence quickly morphed into cockiness.

Not even an hour after he learned to ride a bike, he attempted to ride it one-handed all in an effort to show off in front of our neighbors. Needless to say, that didn’t work out, and within seconds of raising his hand he (and his bike) fell to the ground.

That day, my son not only learned how to ride his bike, but he also learned a valuable lesson—don’t be overconfident. Continue reading “Why being too confident is a bad thing—and how you can fix it”

3 awesome networking tips to help you reach your goals

Last week, I opened my tea bag and read the inspirational quote attached to it as I always do—only this time instead of feeling inspired, I felt aggravated. The quote read, “Don’t ask and everything will come.”

I felt, and still feel, this is lousy advice and cringe at the idea of people believing it. If you want to succeed, especially in the workplace, you have to advocate for yourself, get support from others and ask for help.

Rather than sitting around and waiting for things to happen (as my tea bag brilliantly suggests), these networking tips will actually help you make things happen. Continue reading “3 awesome networking tips to help you reach your goals”

4 easy ways managers can beat year-end work stress before it starts

Believe it or not, the year is almost over and the holiday season is right around the corner. While the holidays bring cheer, fun and togetherness they can also bring stress and a poor work-life balance.

Before you know it, you will find yourself with aggressive end-of-year work deadlines all while trying to spend time with family, prepare for the holidays, and squeeze in your last few vacations days.

Fortunately, it’s early enough in the year to mitigate some of the craziness to come. Continue reading “4 easy ways managers can beat year-end work stress before it starts”

3 simple ways managers can foster a positive work environment

When trying to improve employee job satisfaction, many managers focus on training, communication, and recognition. While these tactics can be helpful, they won’t make much of an impact if employees don’t feel respected.

A Society for Human Resource Management study found 72 percent of employees feel being respected at work is the most important aspect of their job satisfaction. Yet, only 33 percent of employees report being “very satisfied” with respectful treatment of employees at all levels.

As a manager, you can help infuse more respect in the workplace by being clear, holding people accountable and leading by example.

Here are practical steps that can help you accomplish all three and create a positive work environment for both you and your employees. Continue reading “3 simple ways managers can foster a positive work environment”

4 simple steps for getting your employees to use their vacation time

Time away from the office is critical to employee health, engagement, creativity and productivity—yet, workers are letting millions of vacation days go unused. That’s 429 million days a year to be exact.

Project: Time Off reports American workers are taking the least amount of vacation in nearly 40 years, just 16 days in 2013, almost a workweek less of vacation compared to the pre-2000 average of 20.3 days each year.

Why aren’t employees taking time off? The report found:

40 percent of employees didn’t use their vacation because they didn’t want to return to a mountain of work.
35 percent of workers feel that nobody else can do their job.
22 percent of employees express concern that they do not want to be seen as replaceable.

These employee fears are concerning. Fortunately, there are actions you can take to help encourage your staff to take the vacation they so desperately deserve. Continue reading “4 simple steps for getting your employees to use their vacation time”

Have a good boss? Don’t forget to recognize them in these 3 ways

Bad bosses are now an epidemic—and they’re sending employees running.

A Gallup study found 50 percent of employees surveyed left a job just to get away from their manager. These bad bosses aren’t defined by the things they do, but rather, by the critical things they don’t do.

That list includes failing to inspire, lacking a clear vision and direction, demonstrating an inability to lead change, and displaying bad judgment according to a study by the Harvard Business Review.

A good boss needs to be approachable, transparent, fair, passionate, and collaborative. In order to retain employees and keep them engaged, bosses need to openly communicate, effectively performance manage, and promote a strengths-based culture, reports Gallup.

Continue reading “Have a good boss? Don’t forget to recognize them in these 3 ways”

How to handle constructive criticism from your boss like a champ

Constructive criticism can be hard to hear—and even harder to react to the right way. In fact, 1 in 4 employees say they dread performance reviews more than anything else in their working lives, according to the Harvard Business Review.

As much as we’d like to think that we’d respond to negative feedback in a calm and productive manner, constructive criticism can often feel like a personal attack, ultimately clouding our judgment and eliciting a defensive response.

Douglas Stone, co-author of “Thanks for the Feedback,” told The Wall Street Journal that we react poorly to criticism—everything from crying to walking out—because of three reasons: Continue reading “How to handle constructive criticism from your boss like a champ”

4 ways managers and HR professionals can help reduce workplace stress

High stress levels in the workplace can lead to employee health problems, loss of productivity (or employees for that matter) bullying, and even violence.

A work stress survey found that 83 percent of Americans are stressed by at least one thing at work. Low pay, an unreasonable workload, annoying co-workers, and commuting are among the top stressors.

As managers and HR professionals, it is our responsibility to work together and do what we can to minimize and mitigate employee stress whenever possible.

Although this is easier said than done, there are steps we can take. Continue reading “4 ways managers and HR professionals can help reduce workplace stress”

3 ways to make yourself more memorable at work

I attribute a lot of my professional success to being memorable—and that comes with leaving people with a lasting impression. When you can become the topic of conversation because of your “memorability factor,” you’ll find yourself being introduced to a lot of new people and getting invited to a lot of new meetings, work projects and events.

My memorability factor has allowed me to grow, develop and network—helping me to become the supported and accomplished leader I am today.

You can achieve this too. Here’s how.

Continue reading “3 ways to make yourself more memorable at work”