5 Stories of Social Media Hurting Careers

5 Stories of Social Media Hurting Careers5 Stories of Social Media Hurting Careers2From politics to popular celebrities, you have an opinion on everything, and you have no problem sharing it. You like to voice your thoughts on social media, wzu siche others often join in on the conversation. But while deutsche bundesposting what you really think of Kim Kardashian on Facebook might seem innocuous, it can potentially hurt your chances of finding a job- or worse, get you fired from your current one. Dont believe us? Here are five stories of social media hurting careers and what you can learn from it.In the New York Times article, How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Saccos Life, writer Jon Ronson warned of the perils of bedrngnis thinking before posting/tweeting.1) One Tweet Leads to Public BacklashOne of the biggest social media gaffes welches committed by Justine Sacco, a then-senior director of corporate communications at IAC. On a trip to South Africa, she began tweeting what she mu st have thought were funny tweets. Chilly- cucumber sandwiches- bad teeth. Back in LondonBut it was this next tweet, as she began the last leg of her trip to Cape Town, South Africa, that really caused a stir Going to Africa. Hope I dont get AIDS. Just kidding. Im whiteWhen she got off the 11-hour flight, her phone blew up with texts, tweets, and phone calls. Within a few hours, Sacco went from having 170 Twitter followers to becoming the 1 worldwide trend on Twitter. The backlash was swift and fierce, with people eager to see Sacco get fired in real time. One person even went to the airport to capture the moment when Sacco got off the plane and turned on her phone to discover her sudden fame. Her friend, Hannah, deleted the tweet- and Justines account completely- but it was already too late. As one Twitter user wrote, Your tweet lives on forever.2) A Pictures Worth a Thousand Words?Another social media mishap was had by Lindsey Stone, who often took pictures in front of signs doing the opposite of what the sign said. Most were harmless- smoking in front of No Smoking signs- but then she took a picture at Arlington National Cemeterys Tomb of the Unknowns. Standing in front of a sign that read Silence and Respect, Stone pretended to scream and flipped the bird. She posted the pic, without realizing that her mobile uploads platzdeckchenting was set to public, not just friends.A few weeks later, someone found the photo, which led to a popular Fire Lindsey Stone Facebook page. News crews were outside her home, and she was immediately fired from her job, working with developmentally disabled adults. She admitted that she barely left her house for the following year, both depressed and horrified by the intense backlash and hatred she experienced online.3) A Halloween Costume Gone WrongAt a Halloween party, Alicia Ann Lynch dressed as a Boston Marathon bombing victim, complete with a running outfit and fake blood smeared all over her arms and legs. Pictures were publ ished on social media, including on Twitter where Lynch was known as SomeSKANKinMI and her personal information was discovered. She was sent threatening messages, and was also fired from her job.4) Crude Joke Gets Outed on TwitterThe New York Times Ronson also interviewed a man who worked at a tech company back in 2013. During a meeting, he made a crude joke and was surprised when a woman sitting in front of him turned around to take a picture. She then tweeted the pic to her 9,000+ followers with the caption Not cool. Jokes aboutbig dongles right behind me. A few minutes later, he and his friend were taken aside to explain the comment. Two days later, the man- married with three children- was let go.5) Turns Out, the Joke Was On YouThe story of the crude joke didnt end there. The woman who posted the pic, Adria Richards, soon experienced an immense backlash from people working within the same industry of developers. She received death threats on both Twitter and Facebook, and someo ne went so far as to tweet her home address along with a photo of a beheaded woman with duct tape over her mouth. Richards wound up sleeping on friends couches for the rest of that year. When her employers website was taken down (and her employers told the attacks would stop if she were fired), Richards was publicly let go the same day.Learning from Stories of Social Media Hurting CareersWhether youre job searching or planning to ask your boss to give you a flexible schedule, its very, very important to be careful what you post online. One innocent tweet can cause chaos online- and possibly destroy your reputation as a professional. You might even end up in the New York Times.So be sure to keep your Facebook profile (and all subsequent posts) private. You should even consider setting up a second profile as a professional page to highlight all of your previous successes in your industry. Try to stay away from anything controversial, such as politics or hot button topics.But that does nt mean you shouldnt ever post anything online, either. Instead, comment on topics that relate to your industry that show off your expertise. That way, youll show your professionalism, and be one step closer to a job interview, promotion, or that flexible schedule youre after.Readers, have you heard of these stories of social media hurting careers? Have you been more careful of what youve posted online since you started your job search? Let us know in the comments section below

Isaac Newton and the process of meaning-making

Isaac Newton and the process of meaning-makingIsaac Newton and the process of meaning-makingAfter studying Isaac Newton, the 20th-century economist John Maynard Keynes once claimed Newton was not the first of the age of reason, he was the last of the magicians.This reference has to do with the work Newton did on occult and alchemy, the latter of which took up mora than one million of his words out of the ten million in total that we have today.Its a strange thing, knowing that perhaps the greatest scientist in history, the man who first detailed gravity, mechanics, optics, and calculus in his Philosophi Naturalis Principia Mathematica, lived a life with a level of superstition that would make it easy to discredit him.Keynes, in fact, even argued that knowing this about him, we cant make the claim that the Newtonian worldview is fully mechanical, as the man himself may not have seen it as such.Nonetheless, his famous Principia is one of the most important documents ever produced by a single person in our history. Without it, the shape of the current world would be different.Its difficult to quantify exactly how different it would be, but given the foundation it laid for subsequent works of science, its not hard to see how those pages harbor real meaning.Every moment in history is caused by a confluence of factors not all valuable. Some moments, however, like every time Newton sat down to write his book, have enormous influence, one that ripples through the currents of culture to reshape everything we know.But what exactly was it about Newtons contributions that brought meaning into the world?Meaning as an actionWhen the question of meaning is usually brought up, we often find ourselves talking about one of the two different modes in which we assume it exists the objective and the subjective.The objective is the it, the world, the universe that exists independently of what we say about it. The subjective, however, is the I, the me, the person who lives to experie nce this universe.If meaning is objective, then there is a grand purpose to it all, one we either know through God or a supernatural force of reason, or one that we dont know but can sense in a way.If meaning is subjective, then its up to us and our own experience to construct this meaning based on whatever it is that we happen to fill our mind with as we go through life in time.This dichotomy is helpful in analyzing the world, to see its different masks, but when it comes to understanding it, ignoring the interactions that exist between the two is a mistake.Newtons science didnt bring meaning into the world because it existed out there (although thats part of it) but also because Newton himself was there, with his unique brand of experience to uncover it, acting to embody it into the fabric of reality with his work.Meaning is an action. Its created when a subject with a certain function or purpose acts in such a way as to move matter about in the physical world so that they fit the environment.Every outer environment has boundaries based on what is relevant to a specific subject with a particular function. Meaning, in this sense, is the process of harmonizing these two things.You cant create meaning in your mind entirely subjectively, nor is it about finding what is already out there its a process of coordination, one moment at a time.The vitality of lifeThe architect Christopher Alexander has a philosophy of design which roughly states that the purpose of design is to give form to an object so that it better fits the context of its use.This is similar to meaning being an action, where you zone in on a particular and relevant environmental area to consider how a thing matches it when given a shape (or acted out).Over the years, Alexander has created what he calls a pattern language, a mathematical approach to best capture what makes a good fit with an environment and what doesnt.One of his conclusions is that, in a sense, life is everywhere. If we look at nat ure, and the way it interacts, the patterns that it creates, we can see that some interactions make more sense than others, because theyre more beautiful, they fit better, and they have a vitality.Even in our own human designs, its clear that certain buildings, certain ecologies, and certain cities have a zest that is lacking in other, more poorly-fitted places we have built.Good design, then, and we can argue the creation of meaning, too is about combining the different elements you are working with so that it creates a pattern of universal harmony.This pattern isnt static, and it cant be captured by a subject or an object alone, but its secret lies in how its interactions evolve, in each moment, with each new shape, with each action.If life is a container, meaning is the vitality that you fill it with. If meaning is an action, then there is such a thing as a right and a wrong action at any given moment that correlates with the quality of your life with how much you can give to and get from whats around you.Design provides a good analogy for life because, in a way, design is how we discover life.The takeawayWe live in a reality of matter, but we also live in a reality of mind. If mind didnt move matter, we wouldnt have civilization. If matter didnt influence mind, life would be a vacant dream.For Newtons laws of motion to exist, and for them to have the historical impact that they have had in reality, its not enough to just know that there is something like them out there.Newton, the man, is just as important for grasping the mysteries of the universe as the laws of physics. And more importantly, there would be no written laws of physics if it wasnt for the fact that Newton took the right actions, from day to day, when creating his body of work.Meaning isnt externally found or internally created, but its more like a real-life drama acted out, in one space and another, over the course of one period and another, as we live.Every contextual environment provid es an opportunity that is unique to a subject with a particular function and purpose, and meaning emerges when there is a fit between the two.Nature exemplifies this harmony better than we often do. It creates a life of vitality in the patterns and connections that it places together, organically growing out of its constituents.At the end of the day, we are animals, living in a particular ecology, with internal drives and motivations, and meaning-making is the process by which we design our own reality.To leave meaning to either the supernatural or the imagination is limited. Meaning is an act.Want to think and live smarter? Zat Rana publishes a free weekly newsletter for 30,000+ readers atDesign Luck.Thisarticlewas originally published onDesign Luck.

How to Stay Focused at Work During the Busy Holiday Season

How to Stay Focused at Work During the Busy Holiday SeasonHow to Stay Focused at Work During the Busy Holiday SeasonHow to Stay Focused at Work During the HolidaysStaying focused at work during the holidays can get difficu- look, jingle bellsamtsstube parties, shopping for relatives, hosting events at home, planning travel arrangements the holidays bring about an abundance of activities and keeping track of everything can be difficult. Staying focused at work while youre juggling all of these responsibilities? Youd have better luck wrapping gifts with your eyes closed.Holiday stress can often lead to distractions at work and loss of productivity. For one thing, many employees try to cram their personal holiday tasks into their workday schedule. On top of that, the holiday season is one of the biggest vacation times of the year for managers and C-level executives. Typical oversight and supervision are limited, often making it difficult for employees to stay motivated and maintain a high level of productivity.If you find your motivation slipping away or youre having trouble keeping your head in the game, these simple ways to stay focused at work should help you get back on track.Leave your personal responsibilities at home.The most distracting element during the season is your personal holiday errands, so dont bring them to work. Lets be real no one can completely focus on two important areas at once. Eventually one or the other will suffer, affecting your work productivity. To use your time most efficiently, you have to separate the two areas. Instead of using company time to plan personal events, consider taking a PTO day or two to wholeheartedly tackle your holiday preparations.Try to avoid multitasking.Yes, it is true that professionals need to be able to work on several projects at once, but in the same vein as separating your professional and personals tasks, you have to choose which projects are multitask-friendly. Its never worth trying to cram two or three projects into one workday. You may think this saves time for holiday planning, but in the end, rushing through work only increases the likelihood that youll make a mistake. If that happens and you have to redo the work, youll ultimately waste mora time. So if you have major projects coming up, tackle them one by one for maximum productivity.Organize your tasks.Before the holiday rush begins and youre desperate for ways to stay focused at work, sit down with a pen and paper, draw two columns, and outline the things you have to accomplish. Next, take those ideas and schedule a few items for each day. Having a comprehensive list of tasks will help put your mind at ease, and breaking up your to-do list into small pieces will make it more manageable. Nothing looks as bad on paper as in your mind.Start each day fresh and with a clear mind.Stress builds up rather fast, so dont drag baggage from one day to the next. Each night, mark off your completed activities and take time to breat he enjoy the satisfaction that comes with completing your goals. The following morning, think about your plans for the day. Instead of worrying about the days to come, focus on the immediate tasks at hand. Taking things one day at a time reduces anxiety and stress, and that will ultimately help you stay focused.Related Holiday Overload Steps for Balancing Work and LifeLimit your distractions.How many times have you caught yourself looking out the window, daydreaming about an upcoming holiday party? Or maybe you get sidetracked by trying to figure out how to both meet your Wednesday deadline and make it to your sons winter concert. We all face distractions in the office, especially when the stress of the holidays comes around, but one of the easiest ways to stay focused at work is to limit them.Remove anything from your work area that has distracted you in the past. Whether its a photo of your children that lets your mind drift to old memories or the fidget spinner that you play wit h just a little too much, put those items away in your desk during the holiday season and save them for January. Do you spend too much time responding to emailles? Block off a specific time each day to open up your email and check your inbox. If youre concerned about missing an email from your boss or important clients, set up desktop alerts for those people.Ask your family and friends to respect your working hours.Another way to stay focused at work is to keep your workday free from personal calls, texts, and emails. Co-workers understand this our professional friends get it. However, familymembers tend to have more difficulty seeing the boundaries, children and parents in particular. And because of the planning and gifts that need to be discussed, the number of calls and texts tends to increase during the holidays.Put your phone in a desk drawer and leave it there until after work. Ask your loved ones to not call or text you during working hours. Explain to them that it distracts from your work, sends the wrong message to co-workers, and hurts your professional image. Ask them to call your office if there is an emergency. Of course, this doesnt mean you dont love them it means you must set professional boundaries so you can ensure your productivity.Unplug from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram during your office hours as well. Social media and texting are two of the largest distractions to employees, and many companies have even instituted rules around social media usage while at work. Even if your company hasnt taken those measures, resist the urge to log in to social media at work if it isnt a job requirement save your posts, tweets, likes, follows, etc. for home or your commute. If you must use social media as part of your work, set aside time each day to update feeds and reply to comments so you can ignore it while doing the rest of your work.Take care of yourself in mind and body.Exercising is a great way to clear your mind, helping to limit distractio ns while youre at work. If your holiday responsibilities are keeping you away from the gym, you can still find ways to be active in your daily routine Take a walk around the office building or have lunch in the park. Park your car further from the door and use the stairs instead of the elevator. Test out the standing desk at the office. Look for any opportunity to get on your feet and move around.Dont forget to take care of your mind as well. Consider meditation or yoga. These activities are great tools to help reduce stress and keep you focused. Dont stay up until the wee hours of the morning try to force yourself to get at least six hours of sleep every night, even if that means you wont finish wrapping gifts until the next day. Adequate sleep leaves you feeling more alert and re-energized in the morning, which will help you stay productive when you get into the office.Resist the urge to overcommit.Its a good thing to volunteer to take on new projects at work it shows kampagne a nd flexibility. However, now may not be the best time of year to overwhelm your schedule with extra work. Resist the urge to take on new tasks. Explain to your co-workers that youve committed a certain number of hours to work-related projects, and you need theremaining time to accomplish your holiday responsibilities. Apologize for not being able to help and offer to pick up the slack after the holidays. Most team members understand that the holidays are hectic and everyones schedule is a little overloaded, so hopefully, you can find a balance as a team and accomplish everything that needs to get done.Keep in mind that not overcommitting applies to holiday activities as well, whether theyre personal or organized by your company. Just like you may have to pass on taking on new tasks at work, its okay to decline an invitation to an extra holiday party or cookie exchange. The time youll gain can be used to tackle some of the responsibilities you already have or get some extra sleep, bo th of which will help you stay focused when you get to work the next morning.Click on the following link for more workplace advice.Get a free resume critique so you dont have to stress about your resume this holiday season.Recommended ReadingWhy the Holidays May Be the Best Time Time of Year to Look for a JobHow to Stay Motivated at WorkRules for Office Holiday Gifts