Author: Christina Bruni

Christina Bruni is the author of the new book Working Assets: A Career Guide for Peers. She contributed a chapter "Recovery is Within Reach" to Benessere Psicologico: Contemporary Thought on Italian American Mental Health.

7 Ways to Thrive in a Painful Job

I understand what it’s like to work at a painful job. Too I know what it’s like to love your job. Then to fall out of love and view the exit door as a great escape.

In my experience three prime reasons exist as to why a job can be painful:

The type of work. Robotic, boring, or monotonous.

The type of management. Abusive, money-hungry, inhuman.

The type of coworkers. Rude, nasty, back-stabbing.

Getting a new job might not be possible or necessary.

What to do when you’ve lost the loving feeling for what you do?

Prioritize seeking happiness.

What gives me joy is reading nonfiction books that help me achieve my life goals.

Research the firms in Fortune’s Yearly 100 Best Companies to Work For(r).

See what their hiring practices are and how you can sell yourself as an attractive future worker there.

Have an active social life.

Go on meetup.com to find a wealth of group events. In NYC you can join the #1 New York Shyness and Social Anxiety Network, for instance. They offer support groups, movie nights, and Zoom workshops.

Consider making a “lateral move” to a different position in the same company.

Here is where you can do new things. Years ago I transferred to a new location.

Volunteer to do new things in your current job.

Three years ago I signed on to mentor teen interns.

“Dress Your Best Life” like the title of the Dawnn Karen book.

Licensed therapist Karen has a practice focused on fashion psychology. According to her, how you dress can alter or amplify your mood. I try to dress extra sharp to rocket how I feel.

Fund your retirement as sky-high as possible.

This way you can afford to go out the exit door. Sooner rather than working into your old age.

Pre-Ordering Print Copy of Working Assets

Amazon has set up the pre-order sales page for Working Assets: A Career Guide for Peers.

The print copy goes on sale on October 9 of this year. You can pre-order the print copy by clicking on the above book title link.

If tons of people pre-order the print copy Amazon will keep more inventory of the book in stock.

It’s great if an author generates pre-order sales. You will then get the book shipped on October 9 to get the print copy right away when it goes on sale.

Today the e-book can be bought for $5.99 on Amazon to read with the free Kindle app on any device or computer.

You can also like I did use the Apple iBooks app to install the Working Assets e-book on an iPad.

Working Assets: A Career Guide for Peers contains competitive information that would benefit people who don’t have mental health issues.

The difference is I had the idea as the Visionary I am to create a book for individuals living with mental illnesses.

No one else thought peers could be a target market for a career book. What I’ve done has had no precedent in the marketplace.

I’m the author so I might be biased. However I think Working Assets is a brilliant book that fills a need.

I’m grateful to my blog readers for supporting me all these years.

Publishing Working Assets is a dream come true.

Thank you for your support.

Working Assets E Book is On Sale Today

Hi everyone,

Today Working Assets: A Career Guide for Peers has gone on sale on Amazon and Apple iBooks.

I installed my copy using iBooks on my iPad.

Working Assets is also available via Amazon Kindle.

The Career Guide has competitive information culled from my over 12 years as a professional librarian with a niche helping customer create resumes and conduct job searches.

Latest Career Corner Column

You can read my latest Career Corner column at City Voices Online.

The article contains advice culled from Working Assets: A Career Guide for Peers.

The e-book version of Working Assets is set to go on sale this Friday 7/15/22.

The column talks about creating an Action Grid to figure out the right job to work at.

Creative Mental Health Boosts

I’m happy to introduce this month’s Guest Blogger Jackie Cortez.

They are writing about techniques that are in the vanguard. Read on to get empowered.

Creative Ways to Boost Your Mental Health

No two people are exactly the same, so it’s no wonder that all people experience the world and even mental health challenges differently. With more people than ever reporting signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety, now is a great time to consider ways you can give your own mental health a boost in a way that’s unique to you. For a closer look at outside-the-box ways you might be able to raise your spirits and even help others, read on.

Brainstorming Ideas

As the world changes and advocates work hard to tear down the stigma around mental health, many would argue that the world is currently in a mental health crisis. People from all over the globe are taking a closer look at their habits, lifestyles, and routines in search of answers to ways to find balance and improve mental well-being. If you’re like many people, you’ve probably given some thought to ways you can help yourself feel more hopeful in uncertain times.

Try making a list of things, people, places, and causes you’re passionate about. Write down three words that describe the person you want to become and consider activities or changes that might help you get there. To get you started, here are 10 ways you could begin to take steps to improve your mental well-being in combination with professional help when applicable:

  1. Visit a place you’ve never been and keep a journal.
  2. Take a class where you can explore a new interest.
  3. Join an online mental wellness support group.
  4. Volunteer to support a cause you’re passionate about.
  5. Start a social media blog, vlog, or other platform to promote something that’s important to you.
  6. Start a new business.
  7. Change careers.
  8. Renovate your space in a way that better reflects you.
  9. Make changes in your relationships and begin to set better boundaries; keep positive people in your life and eliminate toxic ones.
  10. Engage in one random act of kindness for a stranger per week.

Teaming Up for Mental Wellness

No matter how many great ideas you have, it can be more fun to work in a united group. One of the best ways to improve your mental health is to make it a team effort. One way to do this could be to help others by starting your own nonprofit to meet a community need. It’s easier than you might think to apply for grants and public funding to form a nonprofit corporation. While you’ll need to create bylaws with details on how you’ll operate and govern this organization, the energy you put into making a difference in the world will likely help you, too.

Be Kind to Yourself

No matter how you decide to go about taking care of yourself, it’s important to go easy on yourself. Don’t hesitate to reach out to a friend or licensed professional on bad days. 

You Matter

At the end of the day, your mental health matters. Finding creative ways to honor your spirit and journey while helping the community is a great way to give yourself hope. Check out Christina Bruni’s website for more ideas on ways to improve your daily life and overall wellness.

The Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management system I instantly fell in love with. Its creator Francesco Cirillo is an Italian from Italy.

Pomodoro is Italian for tomato. The Pomodoro Technique sounds so much better than The Tomato Technique.

The author was a student studying for an exam in 1987 when he first used a kitchen timer like the tomato design one on the book cover.

You time-box the tasks you have to complete each day into multiple “Pomodoros.”

Set the kitchen timer for 25 minutes to allot for one task. At the sound of the timer going off at 25 minutes take a five-minute break.

Schedule each Pomodoro in 25-minute intervals.

This is a genius time management system. Up soon I plan to buy a kitchen timer for this purpose.

The timer will tick while you’re working and that’s okay if you are the only one in the room. Or if you work in an office where you can close the door.

In the book Cirillo gives tactics for using team Pomodoros.

25-minute intervals are the perfect length of the Pomodoros.

There’s no reason to warm a chair 10 hours a day at your desk at work. The trick is that you should be productive within a normal seven-hour workday.

The Pomodoro Technique is perfetto as Italians would say.

It’s the perfect solution to getting things done with more focus power and energy.

Dream first Details Later

Ellen Bennett wrote Dream First Details Later:

Her memoir and how-to-succeed in business guide.

The founder and owner of Hedley and Bennett she sells cook’s aprons (for chefs and at-home cooks).

The higher quality aprons cost $85 to $125.

A chef at Providence in Los Angeles she was frustrated with the ill-fitting poor-quality aprons the restaurant owner was going to buy.

“I have an apron company. I’ll sell you better aprons,” Bennett told him.

That was the right-then start of her own apron business.

She chronicles the evolution of Hedley and Bennett from first thought to ultimate sucess.

The trick is that most start-up businesses fail because the products being sold no one wants to buy. To become a Next Millionaire Next Door, you should be able to see a need in the market and capitalize on filling the need.

Today according to Sam Conniff Allende in Be More Pirate creating a business plan is Out. Drafting a Pirate’s Code is In.

A one-page business plan is all you might need. See the book The One Page Proposal by Patrick G. Riley for details. I’ve used this book to create a one-page sales pitch.

See the lovely Hedley and Bennett aprons for sale.

Coming up a review of another great book. It didn’t get listed in the book directory in the forthcoming print copy of Working Assets. Owing to the fact that the career book was already in production.

Click on the Career Resources header at the top of this blog for an updated list of books that are in the forefront.

Be More Pirate

The book below was a game-changer for me:

It’s shelved in the business section at the library. I recommend buying a copy and marking it up. Though I have a photographic memory so remembered the key integral points the author talked about.

Be More Pirate is the guide for taking on the world and winning. There’s no other book like it.

At the end of the book, I created my own Pirate’s Code using three of the author’s articles first and four of my own at the end. Each article contains one or two sentences that reinforce the ethic of that article.

My Pirate’s Code has these 7 Articles:

  1. Take Happiness Seriously.
  2. Embrace Diversity to Raise Your Game.
  3. Make the Citizen Shift.
  4. Celebrate Individuality.
  5. Commit to Truth-Telling.
  6. Use Storytelling to Create Empathy.
  7. Break Bread Together.

Toward the end of Be More Pirate the author told the story of a Black musician circa 1982 who started to have dinner with Klansmen. The three men gave the musician their white robes. Interacting with the Black man they realized the folly of their hate and no longer wanted to be a part of the Klan.

Whether predictably or not the NAACP castigated the Black musician for breaking bread with the enemy.

The fact is not all of us will have 1Million Instagram followers willing to do our bidding and buy the products we’re selling or the propaganda we’re peddling.

One person who is able to change the lives of only 1,000 individuals or 100 or even only 10 is making a veritable difference in the scheme of things.

I will end here with the 5 rules of How to Be More Pirate to encourage you to buy the book:

Pirates draw strength from standing up to the status quo.

Pirates bend, break, and ultimately rewrite the rules.

Pirates collaborate to achieve scale rather than growth.

Pirates fight for fairness and make enemies of exploitation.

Pirates weaponize stories then tell the hell out of them.

The Future is Today

In coming blog entries I’m going to review two cutting-edge how-to-get-ahead-in-business books.

It’s a fool’s errand to fake being someone you’re not to try to get ahead in life. You won’t get ahead unless you act true to yourself. I dream a day when a person doesn’t have to “code-switch” or whatever the term is for acting palatable to be taken seriously.

Any business that does not value diversity of thought, background, experience, and understanding is going to be left in the dust as the century rolls on.

With a Visionary archetype I see the direction society should be going in. And I’ll go in that direction before anyone else does to create the opportunities I want to see for myself and others.

The future is today. To live in the world that we want to see each of us must act collaboratively to create this world.

Already–though my career book Working Assets is set to be published this summer–I have the idea for a second radical career book geared to individuals with mental illnesses.

No business that wants to thrive make money and stay in business can afford to shut out of employment the very people who can ignite profits with our revolutionary thinking about how to design, create, market, and sell a product or service.

In fact, as job seekers we’re marketing ourselves as the ideal worker to come on board. Researching the companies that value diversity, equity, and inclusion should yield clues as to where to pitch ourselves.

In a future blog entry, I will write about the benefits of inclusion specifically. I have ideas for strategies that I will talk about.

In the coming blog entry, I will review the business book Be More Pirate, or How to Take on the World and Win.

The pirate way deserves a careful read in this environment.

The One Day One Job Approach

Five months ago, I read The Pretty One by Keah Brown. Her first-person account of living with cerebral palsy. How because she couldn’t walk fast crossing the street drivers in cars honked their horns at her.

One part of the memoir stood out to me. Kean Brown exposed the insanity of how able-bodied people rush-rush-rush places every day filling their lives with nonstop activities.

This week I decided to conserve my energy for doing only the things essential to maintaining my well-being.

This daily living habit I term the “one day one job” approach.

Even when I’m not at my job I consider the tasks I need to do “jobs.”

My one job might be posting this blog entry. Or doing the workout routine.

I’ve learned this life lesson about not taking on herculean tasks that derail my focus and energy.

It’s precisely because living with a disability gives us challenges that we are uniquely qualified to “opt out” of the busywork insanity.

Without feeling shame or regret for not living up to these impossible demands that the majority of Americans make on themselves.

I say let people who have a vested interest in living under the cover of what’s “normal” burn themselves out running around without stopping every day.

Easily 12 years ago I read a book by Leo Babauta. In it he talked about limiting the focus of your life to your “5 Commitments.”

My 5 passions are art music fashion books and exercise.

One other tactic I adopted is to KISS–Keep It Simple Sweetheart.

In 2003 I wrote in an online article: “If it doesn’t fit, I won’t commit.”

We have all the time we need to get done everything we need to do.

Taking the time to do what’s integral to our health and happiness. Discarding the things that numb us or distract us or divert our attention from our 5 commitments.

This is something to think about:

Daring to let go of the busywork.

Risking “missing out” when attending those events would not add benefit to our life.

Taking joy in being present and centered on the things we choose to do.