Hello, dear readers. I hope you are all well. I wanted to share a bit of a different post today than my usual tech, library, and archives related findings from around the web. Today I want to let you in on a secret of success; there is no secret. I feel the need to elaborate on this a bit after another year of teaching and also talking with undergraduates, graduate students, recent graduates, and early career librarians. There is no secret, only intelligent, efficient hours of work that create success. And I promise to only stand on my soapbox for a little while and leave you with something fun at the end.

Now we could talk about nepotism or how favoritism undermines a true meritocracy, but I don’t want to. Life isn’t fair and sometimes people get to ride on other’s coat-tails or seemingly get all the luck with finding jobs or being successful. But I believe the majority of people in our professions, speaking specifically about libraries and archives because they are what I know best, become successful because of hard work, grit, and an ability to see past the day-to-day grind and use what they are doing today to create the opportunities for growth in the coming years. Not to mention they have these two qualities in spades: a simple recipe: empathy and generosity.

I think that sometimes people have the false assumption that they have to be mean or unkind to get ahead at work, but I don’t believe that is necessary. It hasn’t been the case in my career thus far. Showing genuine empathy for others, being generous with sharing expertise and sharing the workload for getting things done at my work have helped me far more than being negative and unwilling to help out when needed. Being generous and kind almost assuredly makes me a more pleasant person to be around as well.

Also, putting your head down and getting work done that is important for the entire department is integral to success. You can’t just do the flashy projects, and you probably won’t get much chance to do the flashy projects, if you don’t first show that you can be counted on to get the work done that keeps the department moving along. I do a lot of scheduling and coordinating for our teaching program that isn’t flashy work, but it is incredibly important work so we can serve our students and make sure they get the classes they need. Follow-through is a key ingredient to success and that takes time and commitment.

This year has been a great year so far, with lots of long-term projects finally coming to fruition, which has been lovely. But none of it would have been possible without years of hard work and persistence for my long-term goals.

So basically what I’m trying to say is keep doing your work, keep helping others, and do make sure to tell people about what you are doing sometimes, too (while hard work will eventually get noticed, you do need to let your supervisors know what you are doing, too). It’s not an overnight way to success, but it is a lasting way to build success.

And for fun, check out this lovely TARDIS Easter Egg courtesy of Google Maps via Gizmodo.

Have a wonderful weekend! Allons-y!

Happy Friday, dear readers! I hope you have had a good week and have a lovely weekend to look forward to, too. Today I just wanted to share some good links on advice for trying to find and maintain some semblance of a work life balance. I think it is really important to do more than just work and to also understand how to try to create boundaries, especially with the ease of being connected all the time to work. So let’s get into the work advice.

I think this article on Lifehacker is fantastic, Don’t be a work hero. It is so important to have boundaries and be firm about those boundaries so you don’t allow work to swallow your entire day. Balance, however you define it personally, is a very good thing.

Even though you don’t want to be a work hero, you might want more responsibility so you can advance your career. Lifehacker has another good article on how to take on more responsibility at work without being a pushover. It’s important to figure out how to take on more when you are ready for growth, but avoid taking on others’ workloads. Again, boundaries are a good thing.

Finally, as long-time readers of this blog know, I am a huge fan of productivity and efficiency. One of the best ways to get more done is to be organized. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that I like this article on the top 10 ways to organize and streamline your workspace. Yay for organized workspaces! I always think better with an organized and clean workspace.

So enjoy your work, but do find a balance that works for you. I truly believe that there isn’t a one size fits all for people, but remember that burning out at work does no one any good. Doing so much that you are constantly stressed and frazzled is bad for you and bad for your colleagues, too. So remember to work well and relax well. What do you do for balance, dear readers? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

And now, I’ll leave you with a lovely photo from the Great Ocean Road:

12 Apostles on the Great Ocean Road

Have a great weekend, full of whatever balance of play, work, fun, and productivity works for you! Allons-y!