5 signs your TV binge-watching habit is out of control

5 signs your TV binge-watching habit is out of control5 signs your TV binge-watching habit is out of controlBinge-watching TVis pretty much the best thing ever. You find ashowyou love, and you fall down the rabbit hole, enjoying it for hours upon hours, until youve finished the series and are ready to find your next obsession. Streaming platforms have offered us a safe haven away from thestresses of daily life- a place where we can easily cuddle up anywhere, anytime and indulge in some good, mindless fun.But, like any good thing, binge-watchingcango too far. Any time we have the word binge in a sentence, we should pause, whether were talking pizza, new shoes, wine, or TV, cautions clinical psychologist andInnovation360clinical directorDr. Kevin Gilliland. Like all the things in that sentence, there is bedrngnishing wrong with watching TV but all things in moderation Gilliland has identified five symptoms that your TV habit has spiraled just a little out of control, so you can be on the lookout for these signs in your own life. If they sound familiar, it may be time to start a self-imposed break from your current streaming addiction.1. Youre not sleeping as much as you need toSome of your best bingeing happens in the hours between when you get home from work and when you go to bed, and those sessions have been extending longer and longer into the evening. You get so caught up in your current show that you often find yourself pushing back your usual bedtime to allow for a few more eps, or even falling asleep on the couch and dragging yourself to bed well after midnight. And you wonder why youre exhausted during the day If you feel unusually tired, its worth examining the kinds of hours youve been keeping and evaluating whether or not your new TV obsession is responsible.2. Your diet has changedYoure so eager to start watching your show when you get home that you cant bring yourself to cook. Instead, you place an order for take-out or settle for a dinners worth o f snacks. This is totally fine occasionally - life is more fun when you can have snacks for dinner sometimes - but if its becoming a habit, you may need to ask yourself if television bingeing is to blame. A drastic change to your routines is an indication that there may be a bit of an issue at hand.3. Youre less active than usual.When you compare your activity level to a year ago, how has it changed? Gilliland asks. Has your time gone to your TV? ur bodies are meant to move. No ones suggesting that you run eight miles on a daily basis, but if youre regularly forgoing former physical activity to make time to burn through another show on Netflix or Hulu, things may have gone too far. (If youre looking for motivation to get to the gym this winter, only watching your fave when youre on your cardio machine of choice can be a great reason to drag yourself out the door.)4. Youre reluctant to make other plansYoure making excuses to skip happy hour with your coworkers, pass on weekly brunc h, leave friends birthday parties early all because you cant wait to get back to your couch and remote. Not a good sign When we start to choose TV over doing things with friends, it can end with us feeling isolated and disconnected, Gilliland tells us. Thats bad for humans.5. Youre avoiding peopleYour BFF has already finished the series youre bingeing, and youre so fixated on avoiding spoilers that you find yourself chatting with them less than usual. Youre also constantly craving the quiet of your own apartment and your own TV. Everyone needs - and is entitled to - their alone time, but if youre actively choosing to be alone more than would typically be comfortable for you, it might be time for you to go cold turkey on streaming until the balance is back to normal.This article was originally published on Brit + Co.

Sample Thank You Letters for Help With a Project

Sample Thank You Letters for Help With a ProjectSample Thank You Letters for Help With a ProjectJust as you would send a friend a thank you musiknote or email for lending a hand or doing you a favor, its also nice to send a quick note to colleagues when they help with something work-related. Whether its a coworker or someone you manage, a note of appreciation is always welcome. Your thank you note for help with a project does not need to be formal or lengthy, just make sure to include your gratitude. If you want to do something extra special- and its appropriate in your company- you can copy the persons manager on the note. That way, the manager (who most likely has the power to give raises, bonuses, and promotions) is aware of the colleagues help as well. Writing Thank You Notes Depending on the circumstances, you might want to send a card or note by mail to thank your colleague for the help they gave you on a project. This can be a nice touch. A card to put on a bulletin board or desk can be a lasting reminder of appreciation, as well as a hard copy record for their files. If you are handwriting your thank you, remember to include the date on the top right side of the note. However you decide to send your thanks, your letter will contain the same elements. You should begin with a salutation, and depending on your relationship, you might choose Dear or Hi since this is an informal note between colleagues. As in all business correspondence, dont use abbreviations or slang. The note can be informal, but all work-related correspondence needs to maintain aprofessional tone. The body of your letter should mention a few ways that their expertise was valuable to your project, and how much you appreciate the time they took out of their busy schedule to offer their assistance. In your closing, its always nice if you can offer to reciprocate in some way. Otherwise, you can just share your gratitude and pleasure with the opportunity to work with them on this particul ar project. Sample Thank You Letters for Help With a Project Here are sample email messages or letters that thank an employee for help with a project. Use these examples as a guideline when creating your own letter or message, and include specific details about how the person helped out. Thank You Letters for Help With a Project 1 (Text Version) Subject Thank YouDear Eloise,Thank you very much for offering your assistance on the upcoming Human Resources project. I really appreciate your willingness to help out outside your current position.It is helpful to have someone who has had experience with similar issues on previous projects to offer guidance and direction. I know HR is happy to have you assisting in this matter.Let me know if you need anything from me. I can make someone available to help your team out while you spend a few days with the Human Resources staff.Regards,Peter ExpandSample Thank You Letters for Help With a Project 2 (Text Version) Subject Thanks for Your Ass istanceHi Mike,I wanted to thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to help the Finance department get the year-end accounting completed.I know the work wasnt part of your normal responsibilities, but your assistance was invaluable in helping my department get everything done in a very timely manner.Your expertise and enthusiasm were both appreciated during a time which can be stressful for all concernedWe sincerely appreciate your efforts and thank your manager as well for sharing some of your schedule with the Finance department.Best regards,Bridget DolanCPAcc James Bridgton ExpandHandwritten Card Sample (Text Version) March 27, 2018Dear Sophie,Thank you so much for coming in all those extra hours last week to help me get the new shop set up. I cant believe how much more space we have for display, and the new kitchen is going to make it so much easier to meet the demand for wedding cakes this summerYou are always such a help, and I appreciate your support in every way. I am so happy to have you as my assistant, and Im looking forward to working with you as we move into the next phase with our growing business.Fond regards,Melissa Expand

Office Pet Peeves How do you tell a coworker they smell bad

Office Pet Peeves How do you tell a coworker they smell badOffice Pet Peeves How do you tell a coworker they smell badIf you work in an open office space, collaborating with your colleagues is as easy as leaning over from your desk and talking to them. But working in close quartersalso means getting up close and personal with all of your colleaguesquirks - and their sounds and smells.Office pet peeves are born from this cramped petri dish of people working closely together well-meaning co-workers can turn into your frenemies who chomp food with their mouth open, talkloudly on phones, humalong to their music, wear pungent perfumes, carry the medieval body odor of someone whos never worn deodorant, and will never, ever change their behavior on their own.If its a temporary situation, the best thing to do is remove yourself, bodily, from expoaya to the irritating behavior until its over. Buy headphones, move work stations, and suffer in silence until your trial is over.But if it keeps h appening, you face a choice deal with the co-worker directly or get over it. Here are different work environment scenarios we can work through to see what you can do and what you can ask your offending colleague to do.1. Your co-worker is tooloudMany of us are sensitive to our surrounding noise levels. For some of us, its even a condition calledmisophonia where certain innocuous noises, like sniffing or eating a banana, can trigger a fight-or-flight response in our bodies that makes us see red and want to punch our colleagues.Before you confront your colleague for loudly eating a banana, however, think what you yourself can do. Can you move desks? Can you get a noise machine? Or noise-cancelling headphones? binnensee if theres a way to establish quiet zones or a meeting where you can bring up noise etiquette to the entire office before you single anyone out.If your colleagues noisy behavior is particularly grating to your ears and is affecting your work, then we can go on to the nex t step of bringing it up with them.Be sensitive about how you do this. Asking your colleague to change their personal behavioris where it can get fraught. Recognize that however frustrating their behavior may be to you, the problem is yours, bedrngnis theirs. Trying to change someone elses behavior is a huge challenge for even experienced managers eventually we realize that we can only change our own. When you bring up your problem, be sure to focus on that.Do the conversation in a neutral space away from prying ears. You can be frank if youre also polite, but offer to compromise if you have afternoon deadlines and need peace and quiet, mention that youre fine with whatever noise rituals they do in the morning.Lifehacker recommends easing the blow by mentioning thin walls and enclosed spaces. And after you do make your request, be polite by reciprocating and asking if theres any way you can make your colleagues working environment better.If your colleague is loud on all fronts- they sniff loudly, wear jangly jewelry, and keep shouting on phones- Fast Company recommends sticking to the one thing thats really bugging you so that the problemfeels fixable, instead of launching a rant about their entire body and personality - which will not go over well.2. Your co-worker smellsOkay, this ones trickier. If your co-worker is consistently smelly, no headphones will make that smell go away.After all your individual attempts to physically get away from your stinky colleague have failed, you can either learn to tune out the odor or go the much dicier route of asking your co-worker about their smell. The people I talked to who have experienced this firsthand chose to stay silent with their smell request. But there are brave people who have attempted to resolve this and have come out the other side in one piece.The goal, as with all of these requests about your own pet peeves, is to resolve the problem without burning bridges. It can be helpful to bring your concerns to a manager, whos better-trained in how to handle difficult conversations. (Though weve never met the manager who would relish this conversation either).Halley Bock, CEO of Fierce Inc., told Jezebel that the main thing when bringing up someones body odor is to beclear, concise, and compassionate.What does that mean? Dont be passive aggressive and leave hintsabout someones personal hygiene, and dont drag out the conversation when you have it in person. Also dont gossip about it even if you think youre being subtle, people can always tell when theyre being gossiped about.Bock suggested telling them,Im sure youre not aware of it but thought youd like to know that Im noticing an odd odor. Then, briefly state why this is important, why you want to resolve it and then give your smelly colleague a chance to respond.Granted, this is a highly risky gambit. Tone is key you dont want the person to feel like theyre on trial.If youre a manager and your direct reports smell is affecting your client s and work, youre going to need to have this difficult conversation, no matter how much you dont want to have it.Ask a Managers Alison Green recommends telling them theres a problem directlywith as much respect as possible. Its awkward, and I hope I dont offend you. Youve had a noticeable odor lately. It might be a need to wash clothes more frequently or shower more, or it could be a medical problem. This is the kind of thing that people often dont realize about themselves, so I wanted to bring it to your attention and ask you to see what you can do about it.This is all very direct, and its understandable if you dont want to say those words and keep the peace instead.That said, youre not a hall monitor for other peoples hygiene. No need to bring up the potential consequences if they dont follow through. It can be a mortifying conversation for all parties involved and for most employees, it will be a one-time one. If your first attempt doesnt work, there really is no option to try ag ain.This conversation is not easy but if you do go to a manager, remember to make a business case. Their job is to make sure that direct reports best represent your company, including appropriate levels of personal hygiene.Oh, and if this could be you remember to give yourself a sniff before leaving the house, wear clean clothes to work, and keep a personal hygiene kit in your work bag, including deodorant and mouthwash or toothpaste and a toothbrush.