The reunion is over and the photos posted on online profiles. Now comes the really hard part – nurturing relationships with old friends and former co-workers that could benefit everyone.

To do that, you need to develop “progressive reciprocity.” This crucial approach from Gordon Curtis, author of Well Connected  (Wiley, $26.95, 230 pages). means giving the other person something of value before you expect their aid. It is especially important when so many people are job hunting and so much of the world has raised the bar on assisting others.

So “loosen up” the person so they genuinely feel motivated to help you, Curtis told me in an interview. This might have happened at the reunion – a great conversation where you really learned a lot about that person – or it may occur a week later in her office. There you’re going to provide information, connections or expertise, based on her profile, comments posted online or needs and interests gleaned earlier.

Even if you’ve been jobless for months, you must believe you can offer something – perhaps a referral to another unemployed person who exactly matches an opening they need to fill. Or perhaps an introduction to someone on a nonprofit board you’ve been on for years.

“We all suffer from some degree of I have nothing to offer syndrome,” Curtis said. Change your perspective to ” I’m making it my business to help as many people along the way” and you gain  a position of strength, he said.

Be creative and sincere in your offer of assistance and  “that reciprocity bar that people have to hold up so high these days is suddenly lowered a bit.”

Another post-reunion move could benefit your career: Write a handful of emails to people who couldn’t make the event and tell them a little about it.  Share funny moments or news about friends who were there. Give them inside information or a something relevant to their careers or lives. Tell only a tiny bit about yourself.

Use the reunion as a reason to re connect – and make the second reason build up their connection to you.

After my Newsday reunion (Facebook page here) I sent emails to a few friends who didn’t show up expressing my appreciation for their efforts when we worked together and my hope that they are thriving now. I also made it clear that I considered them a lifelong friend and would be glad to collaborate or assist them anytime. I’m still reaching out to a few people who I missed and am developing a list of those I want to see on my next visit to Long Island. It’s a long one!

If you really connected with a few people at the reunion but like me, didn’t bring along business cards, take time to send a follow-up email giving them your coordinates. Send along information and leads you promised promptly too, and your goodwill bank will be fuller than a Facebook page after a photographers reunion.

More information:

If you’re heading to your reunion soon, please check out my Glassdoor.com blog post for advice on preparing for it.

To learn more about Gordon Curtis and his book, Well Connected, check out this website.

Want to arrange a reunion for some college chums or your sorority sisters?  Queensland University of Technology has some suggestions.

END OF ITEM

Exceed expectations.
It’s the easiest recipe for success around, yet it’s not as simple in practice as in theory. Instead, you could get so caught up in workplace drama, social media connections or personal dreams that you forget the advice of  Dale Carnegie, the author of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” and the creator of a huge training company. Said Carnegie: “Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.”
The persistence especially paired with critical thinking and creativity really can raise you up. My latest article in the Washington Post offers pointers to recent graduates and others who are stuck in a barista job when they know they should be the coffee shop’s marketing director. Turning a basic job into something better starts with your ability to excel.
So how do you do that, especially if you’re 23 and worried about your college loans and career path?  Here’s five approaches to help you “underpromise and over deliver” no matter what job you landed:
UNDERSTAND WHAT’S EXPECTED. Know the basic requirements of the job – and the measures of success that will be applied to you and your boss. Sometimes these are not what they seem:  Pizza sales may be the mainstay of the business, but if your shop owner has decided to diversify into salads and sandwiches, those may be the measures that really count.
Ask for a written job description. Ask coworkers for the real story. Ask questions about expectations – “What are the best ways to spend any extra time when things are slow?”  “What’s a benchmark of sales you’d like me to hit?” and “What else is expected of me?”  Then after you’ve been working for a few weeks, ask them again – and different ones again.
A CAN-DO, CREATIVE ATTITUDE.  Your attitude determines your altitude, as the saying goes. So choose one that will help you fly. Among the best: enthusiasm and energy, confidence, creativity, a willingness to take on new work, a willingness to do the dirty work, persistence, good humor and helpfulness.
Now you may not have these as natural parts of your personality. Then fake it. Put them on like you put on your comfortable sneakers or your apron.
INTENSE FOCUS.  Some young people think because they have an easy job – scooping Italian ice and selling lemonade for example – they can just take it easy, chat with friends and go with the flow or just hang out and daydream. They forget instructions; don’t watch the weather or disappoint customers. They forget to focus. It’s a big mistake.
To impress your boss, concentrate on all the big and little details of the job. Focus on making things run smoothly and making your mark.  By paying careful attention, you may come up with some great ideas to improve sales, or engage customers or organize the shop. By focusing on your job like a professional soccer player focuses on the game (World Cup or regional league), you will improve your game – and eventually be a star.
EXTRA HOURS.  You may have a 7 hour 15 hour a week job. Yet you know that if you could work 20 hours, you’d really shine.  So do it – even if you aren’t paid for most of the extra time.
That’s how my former Newsday intern Julie managed herself – and managed to write more cover stories and feature articles than anyone else on an academic internship ever had. She chased stories on the weekends and stayed late to come up with better examples and quotes. She was amazing and impressed us with her efforts and her results. At the end of the internship, she had an excellent portfolio, some great experience – and excellent references.  (Julie now works for a National Public Radio station and from what I can tell still is a star.)
AMAZE THE BOSS. And if you can, impress the boss’ boss while you’re at it.
This is the most difficult to do, especially if you work for a boss who’s been around a while, or who has a cynical perspective or who has very high expectations, as I do. Small things – like bringing her coffee with the right amount of cream or a chocolate truffle – won’t work. Big things – like landing a new six-figure client or solving a situation that has dogged her for a month – will.
As a boss of Mity Nice, the Italian ice cart business I co-own, I’d be amazed if one of my teen employees hit $50 an hour in sales for two or three shifts in a row. And I’d be amazed if someone spent a couple of hours recruiting friends and others to our Facebook page – and doubled or tripled our count. And I’d be thrilled if someone discovered shortcuts for opening more quickly and efficiently, and taught everyone how to manage this feat.
In summary, you need to be a star in your starter job while reaching up for the step-up job and demonstrating your stellar talents for it. You need to exceed expectations.

It’s 3:51 a.m. and I’m wide awake. I’ve answered two questions on LinkedIn and done some work on my Brazen Careerist profile. Now I’m ready to find another task to undertake.

Insomnia comes into my nights fairly regularly. So I’m starting to make use of the time – often two or three hours that always seem to start around 3 a.m.

This is the first time I’ve written a blog post, but I have written a lot of emails and provided some Answers on LinkedIn. As I hope you know, the Answers section is a great place to showcase your expertise and provide someone some insights, information, connections and well, answers.

If you’re actively managing your career, you  too can use this night time window of time to your advantage. Here’s seven ideas for insomniac career success:

1. Build your network. Send requests to connect to five former colleagues on LinkedIn or Facebook. (I’m actively building my LinkedIn profile and presence so if you already know me, please be in touch.)
2. Upload a new photo of yourself to your profiles. Your old one may not be professional enough, or give the vibe you want.
3. If you’re worried about something, do some research and reading so you feel more prepared. I’ve done this lately on my seasonal teen-jobs and Italian ice business Mity Nice, and I always feel better when I’ve done some due diligence.
4. Write a couple of Twitter posts. Send one and save a couple for tomorrow, when you’re tired and can’t think of anything worthwhile to say. Better yet, answer someone’s Twitter query with something helpful or funny.
5. Update your Success file with a few recent accomplishments, praise notes, etc.  If you don’t have one of these, it’s so worthwhile. It is similar to a resume but more eclectic: Use it to record and recall your successes – very useful when you’re asked to tell about yourself or need to boost your confidence.
6. Set up a Google alert on a career topic that’s crucial right now. And if you haven’t already, set up another to watch for any mentions of yourself. (If you have a common name, come up with a second or third term to make sure it’s not the woman across the country or in the next city who shares your name.)
7. Write a thank you note to two people who helped you recently. Yes, I mean pen to note card and while you’re at it, send your Mom or Aunt Lil a card telling them how much you love them.

And if you’re still not feeling ready to return to bed, read a chapter in a a career or self-help book. I like Adaptability by M.J. Ryan and just finished Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years and appreciate his message of changing your life like you’d revise a manuscript or story. These books may not put you to sleep, but they will put you in a better frame of mind.

And yes, when the yawns come, give into the need for sleep. First though, set your alarm back 20 minutes, and add a few extra spoonfuls of coffee to your machine.

The new $100 bills was unveiled by the Treasury Department on Wednesday, complete with its anti-counterfeiting stripes, hidden images and copper bell.

The debut of the Ben Franklin bill gives me an excuse to write about professions that pay $100 an hour – or more – to their top practitioners.  I’m not talking about people who make $100 an hour once or twice a year. I mean those who earn $100 an hour for just about every hour they work.

That means they make around $200,000 a year – more if they win a bonus or take on extra consulting gigs, less if they take a six-week leave to explore India with their mother or daughter.  Some 3.9 million Americans earned $200,000 to $1 million a year in adjusted gross income, according to the Internal Revenue Service,  counting individuals and many dual income earning families. That means almost 9 percent of all  households — or at least those who filed tax returns — are bringing in a C-note an hour (though that includes investment and other taxable income).

My lists of occupations comes straight from the government, as will those cool new $100 bills. These are drawn from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates for May 2008, the most recent data available.

The first list is those professions that definitely have plenty of $100 an hour people, even though the job category’s average pay doesn’t approach that.

Definitely $100 and up jobs:

1. Surgeons,  average $207,000 or $99.41 an hour

2. Anesthesiologists,  $198,000

3. Orthodontists,   $195,000

4. Chief executives,  $160,000 or $77.13 an hour

5. Dentists,  $154,000

6. Natural sciences managers, $123,000 or $59.30 an hour

7. Lawyers, $124,000 or $53.17 an hour

The BLS also gives some details on people’s income if they’re in the 90th percentile of their occupation or if they work in a city where their skillsets are sought after. So engineering managers in San Jose earn more than their counterparts in any other city, while dentists in Anchorage get some of the highest paychecks.

Also on that list are a variety of other doctors – from obstetricians to internists to psychiatrists. Despite being in short supply for years, nurses don’t even come close – they average around $65,000 and the top 10 percent earn maybe $50 an hour or less.

My second list, also drawn from the BLS data, includes occupations where it seems very likely some people reap pay of $100 an hour, either for consulting or project work or where their tenure and value reaches its zenith. Besides the BLS data, I’m relying on my 20-plus years as a business writer or editor.

Here’s’ probably $100 an hour types,with their average income

1. Airline pilots, $119,700

2.  Securities broker / sales person  $92,000

3. Petroleum engineers  $119,000

4. Physicists  $106,000

5. Engineering managers, $121,000

6. Computer, information systems managers $119,000

7. Management consultants  N/A

9. Professors, law or medical $101,000 and $102,000

10. Producers and directors, $83,000

All the salary figures are average annual earnings, from the BLS. So while one producer earns $19,000 a year running a small town theater company part-time, another one earns $205,000 for some big New York troupe or movie production company.

So how can you bring up your earnings so those new $100 bills will show up more often in your wallet? That sounds like a good subject for another blog post sometime soon. Or maybe a series of posts. So if you have great ideas on adding to your earnings, please send them my way.

Meanwhile, check out the amazing BLS document that is the statistical source for this. It’s chock full of data on 800 occupations, including quite a few that don’t earn $100 a day and a handful that earn $100 an hour but only in some locations.  Dentists in Alaska, for example, earn the highest average wage – and average $97.30 an hour, or $203,000 a year.  Anesthesiologists in Maryland and Kentucky earn $103 an hour or more, and they earn still higher wages in New Jersey and Washington state, though the BLS tables don’t give specifics.

As for me, I’d be happy to earn $100 an hour for my writing -  and hope to achieve that some day and for more than a few days. Just don’t expect me to don a surgical gown or wear a power tie or move to Alaska to collect it.

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If you want to see more on the new $100 bills, which debut to the public in February, check out the New York Times Bucks blog, or a video showing all the security details  and some music that would be right at home on the 4th of July. My prefered paper, The Washington Post , ran the Associated Press account on the new big bill.

It could be title inflation or education’s advantage. Or executive privilege. Or more responsibilities.

Whatever the reasons, an executive assistant makes a lot more than a secretary – about 60 percent more last year, according to Compensation Data annual pay survey

As they celebrate Administrative Professionals Week, the secretary has little to celebrate on the wage front. She averages just $31,300 a year  – or about $602 a week – according to Compensation Data’s 2009 survey of 5,300 employers.

Administrative assistants fares a bit better, earning $35,700 on average, or $687 a week.

Better still to work as an executive assistant , who makes an average of $49,600, or $954 a week.

Of course, the executive assistant job generally requires a bachelor’s degree and at least three years experience as an admin, while many secretaries can get hired with a high school diploma and a good recommendation.

The pay gap between the three sisters of admin jobs has existed for years, since at least 2004, Compensation Data’s surveys show.

The federal government’s Occupational Outlook Handbook also acknowledges the wide variety of salaries, reflecting varied skill levels and responsibilities. It shows a $11,000 median pay difference between secretary and executive secretary and administrative assistant  (who are joined in one group in the Labor Department reports). That gap grew by $1,000 or more in recent years.

Secretaries and administrative assistants are still one of the largest occupations in the United States, with 4.3 million workers in 2008. Of that, 1.59 million serve in higher paying executive and administrative assistants jobs, an increase of more than 10 percent over three or so years.

The fastest growing administrative job through 2018 will be medical secretaries, which will add 125,000 jobs for a 27 percent gain. Some of the openings, the government report notes, will result from admins leaving their profession, or getting promoted to higher and better paying jobs.

The best paying admin jobs are found at music / recording companies, securities exchange or brokerage houses or the executive branch of the federal government. Their annual paycheck tops others by a $11,000 a year or more, or more than 30 percent, the government reported.

So if you’re taking your secretary or admin to lunch this week, use the time to discuss her career goals and ways to build her skills. Or give her a professional membership or some educational reimbursement instead of flowers, OfficeTeam suggests. (It has a downloadable report called 25 Ways to Recognize Your Staff .)

Just don’t call her a secretary in handing out an assignment, a gift – or a raise.

This posting was adapted and updated from a Washington Post Working from three years ago. I hold the copyright on this article and all my blog posts.

If you want lots of vacation time for kayaking or hiking in India or Indiana, try to win a job at Great Harvest Bread, Clif Bar or New Belgium Brewery. After a year, their lucky workers earn 24 days or more of paid time off, according to Outside magazine.

Better yet, land at Livestrong, which encourages those with cancer to live well. and you’ll have unlimited paid vacation as long as you don’t abuse the privilege.

These companies make Outside magazine’s third annual best places to work list – 50 employers that understand work-life balance provides time for mountain climbing, extreme sports or travel to see untouched beaches or bayous.

The No. 1 company this year is Natural Habitat Adventures in Boulder, Colo., which grants 15 vacation days and profit sharing among other perks.  The company hires field staff and adventure travel guides who the company boasts, bring guests “face-to-face with a giant polar bear, reach out and pet a friendly gray whale, and sit amongst a family of mountain gorillas.”

Natural Habitat offers staffers free “site inspection travel,” Outside reports, and discounts of up to 80 percent for family members who want to see “wild and ancient China” or the shrines and elephants of Nepal. Neither staff nor customers are expected to rough it; they stay at hotels and lodges the company says are “specially chosen to bring you closer to nature and offer you an intimate look at the area without sacrificing comfort.”

Travel is a perk and a reward at several top companies. Staffers went whale watching days (at MindBody) or on a team-building white water rafting trip (Dominion Digital) while Realeflow took its crew on an all-expense paid cruise to the Bahamas last year.

If you’re thinking a vacation is just what you need, remember that one-quarter of American workers do not get paid vacations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Vacation time for a worker with one year’s tenure varies from nothing to 19 days, with four in ten receiving 10 to 14 paid leisure days, the BLS reported.

Unlike most other best places to work lists, almost two-thirds of the Outside employers are small – fewer than 100 total workers. Many have 20 or fewer total staffers – enough to field a really good soccer team with a few colleagues to cheer from the sidelines. Only a handful qualify as big businesses with thousands of crew members- they are W.L. Gore and Associates, Eddie Bauer, Cheaseapeake Energy and Aspen Skiing Co.

Many of the best employers are clustered in Colorado, California or Oregon, and only a smattering are found in my home region of the Midwest. (Minneapolis has two – advertising/PR firm Carmichael Lynch and Quality Bicycle Products.)

Nearly two-thirds of the employers are in the outdoors industry, and many sound like fabulous places with great practices and values. Yet I could really see myself working at Paradigm Group, a Nashville, Tenn., employee benefits consultancy, or The Dream Program, a nonprofit youth mentoring organization, and at Natural Habitat, when they’re ready to have a full-time writer / blogger aboard.

The article and list are not posted yet, but eventually you’ll be able to see all 50 workplaces on Outside’s website.

For now, I’ll share this list of the top 10 best employers from Outside:

1. Natural Habitat Adventures Boulder, CO, travel  tour operator

2. NewBelgium Brewing Fort Collins, CO, brewery

3. Clif Bar & Company Berkeley, CA, organic food manufacturer

4. Smith Optics Ketchum, ID, sunglass manufacturer and goggles

5. Amer Sports Winter & Outdoor Co. Ogden, UT, outdoor gear and apparel

6. Rally Software Boulder, CO, project-management-software developer

7. Tabar, Inc. Bethel, CT, glove manufacturer

8.  LeBoot Camp Dover, DE, online diet and weight-loss program

9.  Seventh Generation Burlington, VT, earth-friendly household products

10. Paradigm Group Nashville, TN, employee-benefits consulting

Outside’s third annual list of best places is chosen using confidential employee-satisfaction surveys and other materials chosen and analyzed by Best Companies Group of Harrisburg, Pa. The companies were ranked based on their ability to balance worker productivity with an active, eco-friendly lifestyle.

And if you don’t see a company on the list that suits you or is in your geographic boundaries,  you still can find a potential employer with high quality of worker life. A while ago, I wrote a piece about ways to scope out workplaces for the Washington Post.

And I wrote about an array of employers who make Fortune magazine’s best places to work list year after year in a blog post in January. I’m reposting it here (after a web hacker took out all my earlier posts).

If you’ve been dreaming or praying for a second career that will help others, consider becoming a teacher or a religious leader.

Educators and medical personnel are among the sectors that will offer the most new encore career opportunities this decade, according to a new report from Northeastern University and Boston Redevelopment Authority. Ministers and clergy also will be in demand. The report, called “After the Recovery: Help Needed,” predicts labor shortages by 2018 when an estimated 5 to 6 million jobs will be created but unfilled.

“When the nation comes out of the current jobs recession – and this may take two to three years – we will begin to see spot shortages in labor markets,” writes co-author Barry Bluestone, dean of Northeastern’s School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs. “By 2018, with no change in current labor force participation rates and immigration rates and an expected return to healthy economic growth, we will have more jobs than people to fill them. That’s true within the entire economy and particularly true of the fast-growing social sector.”

The social sector consists of health care, education, social assistance, nonprofits, the arts and government. Though it accounts for one-third of all current U.S. jobs, it will represent 47 percent of the jobs growth through 2018, Bluestone’s report predicts.

Social sector jobs also will represent about half of the 5.0 to 5.7 million new jobs that will go begging in 2018.

To be practical, here’s the 15  job titles offering the most encore career opportunities, and the projected increases through 2018:

1. Teachers, primary, secondary, special ed          647,300

2. Registered nurses 581,500

3. Home health care aides 460,900

4. Personal and home care aides 375,800

5. Nursing aides, orderlies, attendants 276,000

6. Medical assistants 163,900

7. Practical and vocational nurses, licensed          155,600

8. Business operations specialists 143,200

9. Managers, general and operations 143,200

10. Child care workers                   142,100

11. Teacher assistants 134,900

12. Receptionists and information clerks   132,700

13.  Managers, medical and health services   100,800

14.  Clergy       85,100

15.  Social and human service assistants       79,400

If you want to know more about any of these jobs – including pay, educational requirements and what the work entails – check out the government’s incredible resource called the Occupational Outlook Handbook.

The full report lists another 15 encore careers from the social and government sector that won’t have as many openings (Table 9)

To be sure, about half of these jobs are low-paying — anything with an assistant in it will earn a smaller wage. Some may not appeal to a 60-year-old who does not have the strength to lift patients into wheelchairs or push five or seven babies in strollers.  They may not find the exact job that uses their passions and talents. Instead, trends outlined in this report are valuable as they consider the right path and the better sectors to target. (Near the end are four pages of industry sectors, including some obscure ones that you may otherwise never even consider.)

Plus, MetLife Foundation and Civic Ventures have packaged this report with others that focus on green jobs, education jobs and health jobs. In those separate reports, some emerging jobs are identified, including teacher coach, chronic illness coach, energy auditor, patient navigator, sustainability consultant and home modification specialist.

If teaching sounds like a career track for you, you may want to check out the real case studies of people who moved into teaching and tutoring jobs, as well as some resources and how-tos for getting started down the education path. The organizations offer similar resources on health care and green jobs.

If you’re still unsure what your second career will be, join the club. Reading these reports may open up some new ideas, and so will some informational interviews and conversations with friends already in jobs you are considering.  The key is: Start your journey now and be sure to pack your curiosity and experience.

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The Northeastern – Boston Redevelopment report is based on data from the Census Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Boston Redevelopment Authority and Northeastern University’s specific occupational forecasts. You can read it online at encore.org .

If you want to learn more about education, green or health care jobs, three shorter reports are also available online. They each contain a lot of other resources, so it may be easier to read one a day and consider it.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook has a wealth of information on hundreds of careers. To learn more about it and how it forecasts job changes, read this article in its quarterly publication. Or check out the BLS list of high-employment, high-wage jobs - including several found on the Northeastern list.

If you want to read about a wide array of jobs – from game developer to pharmacy technicial to sand sculptor – the BLS has published an array of articles over the last decade. (Scroll down a ways to the section titled Occupations and Industries.)

The New York Times published an article on encore careers that looks at patient advocates, health care mediator and green entrepreneurs.

“Better late than never” doesn’t work in tight economic times. And it especially doesn’t work for anyone whose paycheck comes from a retailer, a hotel or other hospitality employer.

Punctuality is preferable when jobs are scarce – and  more workers are arriving on time, a new CareerBuilder.com survey shows. Yet a few inventive staffers come up with crazy explanations for showing up late. Among the examples collected by CareerBuilder.com from hiring managers:

-”I dreamt I was at work already.”

-”I had an early morning gig as a clown.”

-”I had to go to the hospital because I drank anti-freeze.”

-”My dog swallowed my cell phone.”

And this one, clearly offered by someone who’s living on subsistance wages: “My car door fell off.”

The biggest reasons for running late: traffic and lack of sleep. Seven percent of the tardy types blamed their children’s preparations, or drop off at school or day care, and another seven percent blamed weather.

Overall though, fewer workers showed  up for work late in the last year, CareerBuilder reports, based on a HarrisInteractive survey of 5,231 full-time employees.

Some 16 percent admit to tardiness at least once a week, down from 20 percent in 2008. The margin of error was 1.8 percent. CareerBuilder says the tighter job market may contribute to less lateness.

Or perhaps workers got the message when a colleague was fired for oversleeping a few times.  One-third (34 percent) of employers surveyed by CareerBuilder say they have let go someone for arriving late, up a bit from the previous latecomers survey.

But some sectors are more of a stickler for on-time staff. Nearly two-thirds of the leisure and hospitality managers and half of retail managers surveyed said they had dismissed someone who was late, CareerBuilder said. Least likely to fire slow pokes were government and IT managers.

It’s not just the repeat offender who’s late every day who’s at risk. Based on a survey two years ago, one-fifth of employers said they’d likely fire someone who was late only one to three times. Another 8 percent would take that drastic step after four to six late arrivals.

As one who has shown up after the usual start time at more than one newspaper, I’m hoping this punctuality trend loses  momentum as the economy gains some. And I wish that all my bosses and yours fall in the 43 percent who said arrival time doesn’t matter as long as the work is done on time, and with high quality.

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If you need help getting to work on time, start by looking for motivation and time saving steps.

Allen Teal’s blog post on Socyberty offers 10 common-sense tips for on-time arrivals. Among them: Raise the priority you put on your job.

And Deb Gebeke with North Dakota State University Extension offers some good advice, aimed mostly at working Moms or Dads, on avoiding the morning rush. Have children make their own lunches, if they’re old enough. And remember to reward yourself if you arrive to work on time.

I won’t add any suggestions here, but welcome your best tips to be on time for work.

“Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun.”  ~George Scialabba, book critic, essayist.

Imagine your life and work infused with creativity. It’s not only possible, it’s available to us with only a little effort.

Anyone can have more fun while increasing their creative and imaginative muscles. And it doesn’t take a trip to some fancy creativity camp in Sedona, Ariz., or any new software or hardware for our laptops.

All it requires is 15 minutes a day and embracing and acknowledging ourselves as creative people who are opening up to our ideas, interpretations and imaginative approaches to work and life.

Break out the poetry, the balloons, the games. Here’s my 15 ways to increase your creativity in 15 minutes or less:

1. Take a walk around the block. Take time to appreciate the beauty, the energy, the surprises there.

2. Brew a new flavor of tea, and then savor it away from your desk.

3. Meditate. If you are able, use a phrase that affirms your creativity.

4. Browse in your favorite shop for the brightest, the cheapest, the funniest item.

5. Play with your dog or cat — or child. A quick game or a run around the yard will revive your spirits.

6. List your creative projects and successes. Take a few minutes to look back at a favorite project, poem or piece of work – it will reinforce your talents and confidence — and encourage you to use them wisely today.

7. Watch the clouds go by your window. Better yet, go outside and locate the cloud dragon.

8.  Read three poems aloud. Or one chapter in some trashy novel or escapist book.

9.  Call an inspired or upbeat friend for a creativity chat.

10. Pull out your magic wand or your magic feather (ok, a colorful pencil will work too). Be a wizard for 10 minutes.

11.  Take a new route to work. Take a different street to go to the gym. Vary your way to the coffee shop. Enjoy the journey and don’t worry if you get a little lost. It’s part of your creative path.

12. If you work from home or an office with a locker room, take a shower and sing something silly.  Have notebook handy afterward for great thoughts ideas that show up.

13. Develop a daily ritual or mantra that underscores your creative abilities. Write it down. Post it on your desktop, bulletin board, mirror. Doodle it on your to do list or legal pad.

14.  Engage your brain in something frivolous. Here’s two possibilties:  A: Which cartoon character is most like me? My boss? My best friend?  And how could I make one cartoon show that captures what’s happening today, but more funny? B: Which super powers do I really really want?  And which super hero really is the one I most resemble? What would I be doing right now if I were X Man or Wonder Woman?

15. Sign up for a class at the Y, Parks & Rec, the local community college or elsewhere – something new and foreign and surprising. Something that will require effort and put you in new spaces with different kinds of people. (I admit: The class will take more tan 15 minutes – but it could bring you so much inspiration and newness, worth the time investment in creative dividends.)

Only a couple of these  ideas requires you to spend more time hunched over your computer and staring at the same piles and projects on your desk.  Instead, I’m focused on activities that encourage you to move out of  the workspace and into your new groove.

Leave work behind for 10 or 15 minutes and your brain opens up to fresh perspectives and possibilities.  That’s why my favorite creativity refresher means taking a walk outside and embracing whatever and whoever I find there.

Before I head out for a few blocks in the sunshine, I’ll close with this from PBS journalist and great thinker Bill Moyers: “Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.”

Skip lunches out or Starbucks on the way into the office to save some cash. The latest Harris Poll confirms it: More people are “brown bagging it” to cut costs.

The survey focuses on small ways Americans are saving money, by going to hair stylists or barber shops less frequently or buying refillable water bottles. The biggest way of saving: Almost two thirds of the 2,576 people surveyed say they’re buying more generic brand merchandise in the last six months.

One cutback though comes with substantial career concerns: We mean the 45 percent of Americans who stay in and eat peanut butter sandwiches or leftover spaghetti.  Make that 56 percent for Gen Xers, those ages 34-45. Clearly brown-bagging can bring real savings. If you spend even $5 or $6 a day for an affordable lunch out, you’re dropping $25 to $30 a week on meals. The adds up to $780 over six months on burgers and fries or veggie wraps and salads.

All that time, you may be insulated from important insights and information, as well as work friends. You could miss out on important gossip or details on changes coming in your department or organization. These are often shared outside the office – at lunch or over happy hours after work. Or you may miss out on new job possibilities, or start-ups or consulting gigs that could bring a second source of income.

So no matter how much we understand and embrace the new frugality, we also value camaraderie and celebrations – and those often happen over meals. Don’t risk damaging your reputation or developing one as a staid and unsociable sort over a few dollars.

In these tough times we cannot afford to become cut off from our work colleagues – both as a source of information and as supporters of our new projects, career goals or needs for personal development.

So if you’re one of the Americans who have been eating lunch at their desk – or sitting alone in a corner of the corporate cafeteria, a bit abashed by the boring brown bag, it’s time to break bread with your boss and coworkers.

Here’s five ways to be frugal and use food for professional fellowship:

• Plan an office party at your home. Come up with a reason for the gathering – sometimes a silly idea like your 1,000th day on the job or something serious like your best friend’s promotion or new baby. Then make sure you have all the food and drink organized before the event begins so you can concentrate on connecting with the crew.
• Get with the gang every other Friday. Your new scrimping and saving is laudable, but leave room for the occasional team gab fest in your favorite eatery or bar. Be smart and selective about when to show up – and make sure you have a sweet or smarmy answer to the “where have you been?” question.
• Create a souper star support group. This group is focused on frugality and career success. Heat up some soup – store bought or homemade – once a week or every other week and warm up your career prospects too. To take this beyond a chat and chew, look for career advancement articles or tools to share. Or ask each person to find one book that may be valuable to all and report on it. My current choice: The Power of Small / Why Little Things Make All the Difference by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval (Broadway Books, $17.95, 140 pages).
• Start a bagels and bargains group. This also could also be called bagels and bravery  or bagels and balance – depending on your focus and hopes. The point is: Build your network – and your reputation for creativity and community. Be sure to share career insights along with money-saving ideas. Make sure you rotate the bagel buying, and get buy-in from your HR Department and boss.
• Produce a monthly or quarterly office potluck. These can be great fun – and great for business. They strengthen the camaraderie and connections, and give workers a chance to show off their culinary talents too. One consulting firm even created a friendly competition for the best dish from the worker’s ethnic background – and then published a cookbook from their entries. Your office might not want to take it that far, but a quarterly shared meal may mean the folks in accounting are more likely to share their expertise with sweetness. A potluck can be a great way to stage a brainstorming session, a sales meeting or a meet the new staffers gathering. And if you organize this, you’re at the nexis of information and people – and you’re seen as someone who understands motivating staff and being frugal with corporate expense accounts, both pluses for your next performance review.

Of course, there’s other ways to stay attuned to the news and gossip besides noshing on noodles. Coffee, salads, dessert, wine and cheese or an ice cream social – something I used a few summers ago for my team.

So engage your creativity along with your appetite for career information and connections.

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If you’re interested in reading more on Americans frugality, as documented by The Harris Poll, go here.

If you want some recipes for your first office potluck, I’ve appreciated several luscious dishes from Susan at  Farmgirl Fare . Or make the first one a recipe you received from Mom or Dad (even if they never posted anything on a blog, they feed us for years).