Here are this week’s Life Pro Tips.
1. When a job interviewer asks, “What’s your biggest weakness?”, interpret the question in practical terms rather than in terms of personality faults.
“Sometimes I let people take advantage of me”, or “I take criticism personally” are bad answers. “I’m too honest” or “I work too hard”, even if they believe you, make you sound like you’ll be irritating to be around or you’ll burn out.
Instead, say something like, “My biggest weakness with regards to this job is, I have no experience with [company’s database platform]” or “I don’t have much knowledge about [single specific aspect of job] yet, so it would take me some time to learn.”
These are real weaknesses that are relevant to the job, but they’re also fixable things that you’ll correct soon after being hired. Personality flaws are not (and they’re also none of the interviewer’s business).
2. The news will NEVER be positive. Even if there was a news network in heaven, it would find something negative to talk about. It can only make money by injecting you with negative emotions and riling you up. Avoiding the news is the cheapest and fastest way to improve your mental health.
3. If you can’t afford the vet, you can’t afford the pet.
When considering pet ownership, be aware that at some point in the animal’s life, there’s a good chance the animal will have an unexpected medical emergency that will cost you several hundred to several thousand dollars, in addition to the cost of annual checkups, grooming, and vaccinations. If you aren’t able to budget for that eventuality, don’t get the pet.
4. Googling “best places to hide a house key” and checking the top results will give you a list of places you should definitely not hide a house key.
5. If you can access water, a glass jar, a rubber band, and a piece of fabric, you can grow sprouts from virtually every non-roasted seed, nut, and legume at the bulk store. Knowing how to grow fresh tiny greens packed with nutrition on the cheap is a sweet skill in strange times.
You need to be careful with the seeds you use; no seeds treated with chemicals like the kind you’d find in a garden store, and the seeds must be clean and healthy. I’d suggest going online and researching thoroughly how to sprout safely as, like most things, there are risks if you jump in without doing due diligence. An excellent source of sprouting seed, equipment, and info is sproutpeople.
