Years ago, Amin recommended ordering books from a site called Book Outlet, which sells books that publishers have overproduced at heavily discounted prices. I was chatting with a few friends recently who I was surprised hadn’t heard of it. It’s where I buy most of my books. Sometimes a bit of treasure hunting is required since they don’t carry all titles, but I generally can find what I need, particularly for non-fiction.

I thought I’d share the suggestion for those who might still enjoy reading physical paper books as much as I do and want a cheaper alternative to Amazon.

I was recently speaking with a friend who is negotiating a job offer. The discussions are going well and it’s highly likely they will reach an agreement. One of the discussion points is start date. The company is eager for him to start as soon as reasonably possible, though they have indicated a willingness to be flexible. Because they made a point of expressing their desire to have him start immediately, he’s not planning on taking any time off between jobs. So his plan is to take only a weekend off between finishing at his current company and starting his new job.

I did the exact same thing when I started at Avanti. I finished working at Onex on a Friday and began working at Avanti on a Monday. With the benefit of hindsight, I consider it a mistake worth learning from. There wasn’t even pressure on start date, but I had this self-imposed sense of obligation to begin immediately. My discussion with Amin about joining Avanti spanned several months so when it finally came time to start, I felt behind and was eager to begin immediately.

Nearly seven years later, I’ve come to look at a brief break between jobs as special time worth protecting. Unlike a vacation, you truly have zero professional responsibility and can relax and unwind in an unmatched way. Assuming you move jobs infrequently, it’s also a rare opportunity. Even a week off can feel meaningful. I’ve had the experience only once, in 2013, and remember it fondly.

Over the years, I’ve also negotiated start dates with numerous folks as the employer. I’m confident how well an individual has worked out and their impact on the company has never been determined by whether they started immediately or asked for a week or two of transition time. Especially for senior or executive roles, where ideally you expect to have a multi-year working relationship, I can say with confidence no one will remember the exact start date after a year has passed.

Always take some time between jobs when you have the opportunity to do so.

I was at an event earlier this year where an older woman (the boss) opened her speech by expressing gratitude to her Associate (the employee) for all the heavy lifting required to organize the event. It was intended to be a sincere thank you. And it mostly was… except, one of her talking points included a sarcastic joke about an error made on one of the printouts. It was meant to be a light tease but it did not land well at all. It came across as mean spirited and you could absolutely tell the employee was offended.

It reminded me of an important lesson my dad taught me a long time ago: in some situations, you need to focus exclusively on the good and ignore the bad. When I was around ten years old, I bought my mom a combo pack of scented perfume from Shoppers (good boy). It was some sort of 5-for-one pack, I think private label brand?, and probably intended for tweenage girls. Not my best gift, but I was young, so good intentions. My mom put it under her bathroom sink and it was never opened, which with the benefit of hindsight of course makes complete sense. But I noticed. And next year on her birthday, I was writing out her card and came to my dad to tell him I had come up with a witty comment to include. Something along the lines of “I hope you like this gift much more than the perfume that’s never been opened”. Fortunately, he pointed out that when you’re celebrating someone (e.g., it’s their birthday), you want to focus exclusively on the good. As simple and silly a story as that is, it really stuck with me.

Adding sarcasm, or a back-handed compliment, or even teasing (if done in poor taste) to a genuine and sincerely intended message will at best water it down. When you’re announcing someone’s promotion, or giving a toast at your friend’s birthday, focus on the good and best parts of that person. Don’t use it as a chance to bring up an issue you might be having with them. It’s not the time or place for that.