Of the many kinds of people in the workplace, one stands out to Shizu Okusa as a major red flag.

It’s someone who communicates poorly, especially during a conflict or disagreement, says Okusa, founder and CEO of New York-based wellness company Apothékary. She particularly dislikes when people publicly criticize their peers at work, because it rarely fosters constructive dialogue and can often lead to conflict, she says.

“When something bad happens, it could be really easy to hop on a meeting with many other people and [call someone out],” says Okusa, whose company brought in $20 million in revenue over nine months last year, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. Doing so “never goes well.”

You’ve probably seen this scenario play out before in a movie or in real life. A boss, dissatisfied with an employee’s work, makes an example out of them during the next team meeting. Your colleague calls out another employee for not contributing to a big project, right in the middle of the office.

DON’T MISS: How to use AI to be more productive and successful at work

Those situations can alienate employees — including non-participants who are simply uncomfortable witnessing the conflict — and potentially become an HR issue for creating a hostile work environment.

Instead, try “calling people in,” Okusa says: Invite them to talk more privately and address your concerns with them directly, so the two of you can discuss without fear of embarrassment or judgment from others.

“I think that most things fail because of poor communication,” says Okusa, adding that managers especially need to set a positive standard for culture and communication. “Either things could have been said better, things could have been shared better, or the context was off.”

The next time you and a coworker have a disagreement, don’t blow up at them in your next meeting or online. Take a step back and assess the situation, Carolyn Kleiman, a career expert at ResumeBuilder.com, told CNBC Make It in 2022. 

If you prefer to get things done in advance and your colleague waits until the last minute, for example, you can probably address your concern with a short one-on-one meeting, said Kleiman. If your issue is with a person’s character or personality, you may “want to try to limit your interactions,” said Kleiman. “Keep things brief, keep things surface, keep things professional.”

If your problem is with your boss, document it and bring it up in your next one-on-one, Kleiman said. Say something like: “I’ve noticed that you tend to [example of poor communication.] It would be helpful if you did this instead.”

Having a boss who lacks communication skills is difficult. Try to assume positive intent, and if their behavior still doesn’t change, consider escalating the issue to HR, especially if your colleagues have similar experiences, Harvard career advisor Gorick Ng told CNBC Make It in 2022.

“No manager wakes up in the morning thinking, ‘How can I make my team’s life as miserable as possible,’” said Ng. “It’s, ‘How can we get this work done and live a happy life?’”

Want to up your AI skills and be more productive? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Use AI to Be More Successful at Work. Expert instructors will teach you how to get started, practical uses, tips for effective prompt-writing, and mistakes to avoid. Pre-register now and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through February 11, 2025.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.

Living life without regrets is impossible, says bestselling author Daniel Pink.

Regrets are a fundamental part of life, and instead of running from or avoiding them, you should optimize them — using your mistakes as opportunities to learn, grow and teach others, Pink recently told “The Oprah Podcast.”

“Everybody has regrets. It’s one of the most common emotions that human beings have,” said Pink, in a podcast episode that published last month. “And yet, we’ve been sold such a bill of goods about positivity and being positive all the time that when we feel regret, we think we’re the only one.”

Pink combed through decades of research and surveyed more than 26,000 people from 130 countries about their biggest regrets for his 2022 book, “The Power of Regret,” according to his website. Most of those people struggled with four core regrets:

1. Foundation regrets are “small decisions people make early in life that accumulate to terrible consequences later on,” Pink said. For example: You didn’t contribute regularly to your 401(k), and now you don’t have as much in retirement savings as you’d hoped.
2. Boldness regrets are born from opportunities when you didn’t take a risk, and later on, you wish you did. For example: You wanted to start a business, but were scared it wouldn’t work. Now, you’re unfulfilled in your corporate role.
3. Moral regrets are the result of consciously making a bad decision instead of a good one. For example: You were mean to someone in college, and still feel guilty about it years later. 
4. Connection regrets occur when you lose a close connection with someone, either platonically or romantically. For example: You lose touch with your best friend, because your hectic career makes it hard to spend time together. 

The key is to not be stuck in regret,” said Pink, adding that ignoring these feelings or living in “seething denial” of the mistakes you’ve made is a “bad idea,” potentially leading to poor mental health and stagnancy in life.

Instead, you can turn these negative emotions into something meaningful, Pink said. Discuss them casually with other people, relieving the pent up guilt you’ve been holding on to. Teach someone else about your missteps so they can avoid them, or find a way to undo your misstep.

If you forgot your friend’s birthday, you could get them a thoughtful gift and card expressing your apologies, and make sure to log their birthday in your calendar. Other regrets are more complicated, like wishing you’d told a deceased loved one how much you appreciated them when they were alive. You can’t undo that, but you can always help the people around you avoid making that same mistake.

As people near the ends of their lives, they frequently say they wished they’d navigated their relationships better, showed more gratitude for small things or appreciated their health when they had it, hospice nurse and author Julie McFadden told CNBC Make It last year.

Getting ahead of those types of regrets takes some self-awareness — recognizing and reflecting on your past actions — and self-compassion, Pink said.

“It’s very simple,” he said. “Treat yourself with kindness rather than contempt.”

Want to up your AI skills and be more productive? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Use AI to Be More Successful at Work. Expert instructors will teach you how to get started, practical uses, tips for effective prompt-writing, and mistakes to avoid. Pre-register now and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off $67 (+ taxes and fees) through February 11, 2025.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.

Want your kids to get better grades, have a healthy social life, and just be happier? Give them chores.

Kids who were given household tasks in kindergarten, regardless of sex, family income, and parent education, reported getting higher math scores in third grade, according to a 2018 study published in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics. They also reported having more positive relationships with their peers and higher life satisfaction than kids who weren’t given chores.

The longitudinal study focused on about 10,000 children over a four year period.

In a recent post on LinkedIn, Wharton organizational psychologist Adam Grant said these findings show a “neglected predictor of success and happiness.”

There might be other factors at play, Grant notes. “Of course we don’t know if it’s causal or if chores are the sole active ingredient—these parents may be doing many other things right.”

But, parents can still take something from the results of the study, he wrote: “Giving kids responsibility shows trust and builds character.”

Other experts echo this sentiment. Margaret Machol Bisnow, author of “Raising an Entrepreneur: How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dream,” has interviewed 70 parents who raised highly successful kids and says one of their biggest regrets is not entrusting their kids with enough responsibility.

“Giving our children more chores not only helps them become responsible, it teaches them useful skills for when they’re on their own,” she wrote for CNBC Make It.

Kids ages four to five can do a number of chores by themselves, according to the Child Development Institute. Some suggestions include:

• Making their bed without supervision
• Watering flowers
• Putting away clean utensils
• Matching socks together
• Dusting with a cloth

Want to up your AI skills and be more productive? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Use AI to Be More Successful at Work. Expert instructors will teach you how to get started, practical uses, tips for effective prompt-writing, and mistakes to avoid. Pre-register now and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off $67 (+ taxes and fees) through February 11, 2025.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.

Americans are still flocking to Sun Belt states, but at a much slower pace than in previous years, according to new U.S. Census data.

All of the top destinations — Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida — saw a significant drop in domestic migration for the year ending July 1, 2024. To track state-to-state migration trends, the U.S. Census Bureau used data from the American Community Survey and anonymized IRS address changes.

Meanwhile, states that have consistently had a net loss of residents, such as New York and California, saw fewer people leaving — suggesting that fewer Americans are moving overall.

New York experienced a net loss of 176,893 residents for the year ending July 1, 2023 , which fell to 120,917 for the following year. California experienced a similar decline, with net losses dropping from 344,029 to 239,575 during the same periods.

Here’s a look at the states with the highest net influx of residents from other states between July 1, 2023 and July 1, 2024.

1. Texas: 85,267
2. North Carolina: 82,288
3. South Carolina: 68,043
4. Florida: 64,017
5. Tennessee: 48,476
6. Arizona: 34,902
7. Alabama: 26,028
8. Georgia: 25,321
9. Nevada: 16,853
10. Idaho: 16,383
11. Oklahoma: 14,036

Among these states, all except Nevada and Idaho experienced fewer incoming residents than the previous year. Notably, migration to Texas, Florida and Georgia was halved or more, compared with the previous year, highlighting a significant slowdown in these traditionally high-growth states.

A real estate hotspot in 2021 and 2022, Florida has cooled down the most in the previous two years, with its influx dropping from 314,467 to 85,267 residents.

The broader trend of decelerating migration across states is largely attributed to a slowdown in the housing market, driven by persistently high homeownership costs.

Elevated 30-year mortgage rates, which remained above 6% for the 12-month period ending July 1, 2024, have discouraged both buyers and sellers.

This has reinforced a “lock-in effect,” where homeowners with lower rates are reluctant to list their properties, resulting in reduced inventory. Consequently, renters are also moving less frequently.

Fewer people moving has been a decades-long trend too, driven by an aging population, delayed milestones like marriage, and home prices that have grown twice as much as incomes since 1985.

Want to up your AI skills and be more productive? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Use AI to Be More Successful at Work. Expert instructors will teach you how to get started, practical uses, tips for effective prompt-writing, and mistakes to avoid. Pre-register now and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off $67 (+ taxes and fees) through February 11, 2025.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.

This past spring, I moved with my two youngest kids from the U.S. to Negril, Jamaica. So far, living here has been a wonderful experience. I feel so much healthier and more at peace.

I’ve developed a strong sense of community, my living expenses are affordable, (I run my business from my patio) and my days are filled with natural beauty and delicious food. My dad is from Jamaica, and it has meant so much to me to have this time to connect more with my cultural background. 

One thing I’ve been delighted to discover is that the island is home to hundreds, if not thousands, of clever and wise proverbs and parables, passed down through generations and weaved beautifully into daily conversation.  

Here are some of my favorite Jamaican phrases about how to live a happier, more fulfilling life:

DON’T MISS: How to use AI to be more productive and successful at work

Coco, or cocoyams, are a favorite root vegetable on the island. And as this popular saying goes, if you collect a coco one by one, eventually, you will be able to fill a basket. 

I love this phrase because it teaches you never to give up. It’s a good reminder that little by little, you can accomplish anything, because it all adds up. 

Personally, as a financial counselor, my clients and I talk about this all the time. As long as you make small improvements daily, you are making progress! 

Another related saying is, “Every likkle mek a muckle,” which essentially means, every little bit counts.  

The country’s national motto is “Out of Many, One People.” This saying is like the unofficial foundation of that slogan. All Jamaicans know this phrase, which means that we’re small, but we’re mighty. 

Even though Jamaica is a small island, many great people came from here, like Bob Marley and Usain Bolt.

I like to apply this on an individual level, too. Even though I’m just one person, I believe that I can significantly change my community and the world.

This proverb translates to, “A cow doesn’t know the benefits of its tail until it’s cut off” — because then, the cow can’t use it to fan the flies away anymore.

Sometimes, we go through life not realizing what we have until it’s gone. This proverb urges you to acknowledge and appreciate all the good you have in your life, and live in the present. 

I find that since moving to the island, I have allowed myself more time to slow down and appreciate the little things. 

This proverb translates to, “The mug is not broken, so the coffee is not wasted.” It reminds us that even in the most difficult times, we should count our blessings because it could always be worse. 

I have definitely taken this one to heart. While the move to Jamaica has not been perfect, so many things could have been more difficult. I now look at the bigger picture instead of sweating the small stuff.

If there is a calm river here, you can almost bet that it is deep. Although it is practical advice, it also means never underestimating a quiet person. You don’t know what they are capable of or what they are going through. 

I practice this by treating everyone equally, regardless of who they are. Kindness and understanding can go a long way.

I find that so many people on the island take a similar approach, and that has made me feel all the more welcome here. 

Tiffany Grant is a financial educator, writer, podcaster and coach. Before she was an entrepreneur, Tiffany was an HR professional. She is the founder and host of ”Money Talk with Tiff,” an Accredited Financial Counselor and holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Want to up your AI skills and be more productive? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Use AI to Be More Successful at Work. Expert instructors will teach you how to get started, practical uses, tips for effective prompt-writing, and mistakes to avoid. Pre-register now and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through February 11, 2025.