“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” — John Wayne

How to be Smarter: One way to prevent a bad day at work from spiraling into a bad day at life is to have engaging interests and activities outside of work. If you have strong relationships, projects, and creative endeavors that make you feel proud outside of the 9-to-5, a bad moment at work stays there and you can still feel fulfilled elsewhere. Then you can use that outside fulfillment to bring back some joy to work.

How to be Prettier: Before putting your cold-weather coats away for the season, get them dry-cleaned. Then next winter when you reach for them on the first chilly day, they will be fresh, clean, and ready to wear.

How to be (less) Awkward: When introducing yourself on initial telephone calls, state both your first and last name (especially if your first name is common) to avoid confusion.

This was originally written for Parade magazine; you can read all my Parade columns here. xo, Molly