Happy Friday, dear readers! I hope you had a good week and are ready for a lovely weekend. Today I just want to share a few articles I’ve read that I thought were good on helping to make work better. We spend so much time at work, that who doesn’t want to make their time at work better? So dive in for some tips and ways to change your perspective to make work, well, work for you.

I’m a big believer that your perspective and attitude make a large difference in how much fun and enjoyment you get from work. I really appreicated this article from Lifehacker on how to optimize for happiness at work. Being happy at work doesn’t have to be an oxymoron! I have found over the last, crazy, start-of-school week that by consciously bringing calmness and my most caring self to my work at the reference desk that my interactions seem to be less stressful than last year and that the students walk away calmer. It’s good to find a happy place at work, even when it gets crazy. Let me know what works best for you in comments.

As long-time readers know, I’m a bit of an introvert so small talk can be difficult at times. (Though if you want to have an in-depth conversation about teaching, letterpress, or any number of topics, I’m totally the one to talk to at parties.) And no one ever wants awkwardness in conversations, so check out how to avoid the most common awkward conversations mistakes.

Also, I have to give a shout-out for Online Northwest’s call for proposals. I really enjoyed this conference when I went a few years ago. (I’m also probably a little biased because I love Oregon and it was my first professional conference after moving back to the West Coast.) I learned a lot from the conference and recommend putting in a proposal.

Finally, I wanted to share this lovely comic from Stephen’s Lighthouse, 12 types of procrastinators. Enjoy!

Have a wonderful weekend and I’ll be back next week with more tips, news, and fun. Allons-y!