One-on-ones are the most valuable time you have with your boss. Yet most people treat them like throwaway meetings. They fail to prepare and rush through them, rattling off a few tasks they’ve completed and calling it a day.

I’ve spent almost 15 years coaching leaders at companies like Google, Amazon, and Apple. In my book, “Managing Up: How to Get What You Need From the People in Charge,” I talk about how the people who get promoted fastest don’t treat one-on-ones as a status report. The highest performers use this time to connect their work to business impact and to uncover stretch projects they wouldn’t hear about otherwise. 

Leaders promote people who don’t need to be managed and who’ve proven they’re already operating at a more senior level. Here are five phrases to use in your one-on-ones that will change how your boss sees you and the opportunities that come your way. 

Open by walking through what you’ve accomplished since your last meeting and why it matters. This lets you highlight wins and prevents the conversation from getting derailed by whatever is top of mind for your boss. What you share here is often passed up the chain, making it easier to gain visibility with decision-makers.

Try this: Skip vague status updates and link your work to business outcomes. Instead of “We’re reaching out to new clients,” say, “We contacted eight prospects last week and have three demos scheduled, keeping us on track for our Q2 goal.” 

Even a 30-minute one-on-one can double as a focused problem-solving session. This phrase positions you as a partner to your manager, not just someone who takes orders. It shows you’re thinking critically about challenges and taking initiative to solve them, which is the kind of behavior that gets people promoted. 

Try this: Don’t bring a problem without sharing what you’ve already tried or the options you’re weighing. Instead of, “I have no idea how to handle this team conflict,” say, “There’s been some miscommunication with the marketing team. I’ve tried [X] and I’m considering [Y] next, but I’d love your take before I move forward.” 

Most people only talk about their own work in one-on-ones. Turn the tables and ask what’s happening at your boss’s level and above. This gives you insight into priorities, pressures, and changes that could affect your work before they trickle down and surprise you. When you engage in a thoughtful conversation about strategy and the things leaders care most about, you set yourself apart from peers. 

Try this: Ask what your boss has coming up or what initiatives are on the horizon, then offer to assist. You could say, “I know you have a lot on your plate. Are there projects where it’d be helpful to have me step in to lighten the load?” Or, “I’d be happy to attend that meeting in your place so you can be heads-down on other priorities.” It’s a win-win: You help manage their workload while gaining exposure to growth assignments.

Your promotion isn’t decided at your performance review. It’s decided in the months leading up to it. This phrase is a subtle but powerful way to make it known that you’re interested in — and ready for — additional responsibilities. 

Try this: If your boss mentions a new direction for the company, you might say, “Great to hear we’re expanding. How are we approaching regulatory issues? I’d love to contribute on the compliance side.” Or use it after positive feedback: “Thanks, I enjoyed working on the program. I’m looking to take on more work in that area.”

Ending one-on-ones with a noncommittal, “Sounds good, talk next week,” is how things fall through the cracks. You’ll end up frustrated that your manager doesn’t follow through. Instead, close with accountability. Summarize what each of your action items are. 

Try this: If your boss agrees to do something, get specifics. Ask, “Is Wednesday doable?” or, “Can I count on having that by Friday?”

Melody Wilding, LMSW is an executive coach, human behavior professor, and author of ”Managing Up: How to Get What You Need from the People in Charge.” Get her free training, 5 Steps to Speak Like a Senior Leader, here. 

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The experience of looking for work today is so soul-crushing that even the experts feel for job seekers.

“Applying online, if I’m being really honest, has to be one of the most degrading and depressing things people do,” recruiting expert J.T. O’Donnell tells CNBC Make It. She says she’s “never seen it this bad” in her 30 years in the hiring space.

Not only have employers pulled back on hiring and muddied the landscape with ghost jobs, but the positions they do advertise receive hundreds of applicants within hours thanks to AI-generated submissions and auto-apply options.

Given all that, O’Donnell says the old ways of looking for jobs on the internet aren’t going to cut it. “If I was looking for a job in 2026 I would honestly stop applying online,” she says.

Instead, she says the best way to get a job in 2026 will be to get recruited into one. That means thoughtfully boosting your online presence and making strategic connections to get on recruiters’ radars.

O’Donnell says her job-application strategy would go something like this: First, create a list and follow the 20 or 40 companies you want to work for on social channels like Glassdoor and LinkedIn, she says.

Pay attention to what they’re posting about, and begin commenting on those topics thoughtfully. As O’Donnell sees it, “all of these recruiters that are on those platforms, the way you’re going to show up in the recruiting results is by engaging with their company’s content.”

New research backs O’Donnell’s thinking: The share of people being recruited into roles is climbing, with the proportion of recruiter-sourced candidates increasing 72% since 2023 to nearly 15% last year, per Glassdoor data.

Another way to get on recruiters’ radars is to create your own posts on platforms like LinkedIn and connect with people at your dream companies and engage thoughtfully with their posts.

“What’s working right now on social is having dialogs about your work, the industry, the skill sets,” O’Donnell says, “and that’s building a connection that then can lead to you messaging them and saying, ‘I’ve really liked what you’re saying on social. We seem to have similar views. Can we connect?’”

“This is the new networking,” she says.

O’Donnell says she’s seen this work firsthand.

She says she worked with one client, a project manager, to create a bucket list of companies he wanted to work for and began what they called “the documentation streak.”

Every day, he’d check LinkedIn to see if any of the companies had a new post where he could add his perspective based on his experience, skillsets and industry knowledge. Then, he’d write a post on his LinkedIn profile, tag the company where appropriate and reach out to other company employees to connect where it made sense.

“He did this every day,” O’Donnell says. “On the 17th day, a recruiter from one of the companies on his bucket list called him with a job that was not publicly posted.”

O’Donnell says she’s found that five types of content formats do well on LinkedIn in particular:

1. Industry observations: What’s going on in the news of your field?
2. Hot takes: Do you have a contrarian view of what’s happening in your industry?
3. Then vs. now: How has your work changed over time, say, in the last five years?
4. Listicles: Can you break down your thoughts, your process or your learnings on a subject in few key takeaways?
5. Storytelling: Talk a bit about yourself as an employee. For example, can you answer a behavioral question often asked in job interviews, like how you problem-solved a difficult situation at work?

“You are literally creating a space where recruiters can find you and contact you, and that’s how you start getting interviews in this market,” O’Donnell says. “This will be the new way you get jobs.”

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The child of parents who both served in the U.S. Navy, much of Mikayla McGhee’s early life was spent moving from military base to military base.

McGhee, 30, spent most of her time living abroad in Japan, which she says led her to realize she wanted to build a life for herself outside the United States.

“I was always working towards freedom, so I never knew exactly what I was going to do, but I knew I wanted the freedom to be able to live wherever I wanted to and travel whenever I wanted to,” McGhee tells CNBC Make It.

“Once you’ve experienced growing up abroad and you’re exposed to that, you continue to search for it. So moving back to the States after living in Japan, I always knew I wanted to live outside of the U.S. I just didn’t know how.”

In 2020, McGhee was living in Atlanta, Georgia, and went to visit her parents in Bahrain, where her dad was stationed at the time. The country is located in the Persian Gulf and is home to the Naval Support Activity, Bahrain, a U.S. military base.

McGhee stayed in the country for three months and says she fell in love with it. As soon as she got back to Atlanta, she started planning a permanent move to Bahrain.

“The culture shock was that, actually, things were better, not worse. Don’t just believe what you’re told or what you see in the media because it’s nothing like that at all,” she says.

“It’s so calm. It’s so peaceful. There was never a time where I didn’t feel like I fit in or I was standing out as an expat. Every culture shock was a positive one.”

In December 2022, McGhee moved to Bahrain and lived in her parents’ three-bedroom home for six months before moving out on her own.

After leaving her parents’ house, McGhee lived in a two-bedroom apartment in a luxury high-rise building. She lived there for over a year.

Now, McGhee lives near the capital of Bahrain, Manama, in a three-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom home with a pool and one-car garage that rents for $2,200 USD a month.

The house also has a laundry room and is fully fenced in. The cost of monthly rent includes what McGhee calls a “watchman,” or someone who comes by the house to clean the pool and take care of the landscaping.

As a licensed realtor in Bahrain, McGhee conducted the housing search on her own and says she chose this one because of its proximity to the city center.

She says she and her partner split expenses, though he pays the majority, while most of her money goes to savings and to the trips the couple take together. The couple signed a one-year lease last year and plan to renew another one-year lease this year too.

McGhee works remotely as a senior performance marketing manager at an IT company, and has a dedicated space to work from home. She earns $140,000 a year, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

Since McGhee earns her salary in USD, she still pays U.S. taxes. McGhee also uses the health insurance offered by her company, which allows her access to Bahrain’s health-care system.

When McGhee has free time during the day, she says she likes to work out, shop for groceries and create content. She shares a lot of her life in Bahrain on TikTok to her more than 65,000 followers.

“It is my duty to make sure that Americans know how great this country is,” McGhee says.

Although McGhee isn’t sure if she will stay in Bahrain long-term, she says she knows she wants to buy property around the country as a real estate investment and have a permanent place for herself there, too.

“My life is 10 times better here. My happiness has skyrocketed. Even the weather alone has increased my mood,” she says.

“I will always want to have something that I can come back to, that I could call my home. Bahrain felt like home from the day I got here, so in order for me to leave, another place would need to do the same.”

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Before your child even steps out the door every day, their emotional baseline for the day is already set — not by color-coded routines, but by how safe and connected they feel in your presence.

As a conscious parenting researcher, I’ve studied more than 200 kids, and I’m a mother myself. I’ve found that the happiest, most resilient kids are raised in homes where connection matters more than control, especially in the morning.

Parents who raise happy kids practice nine morning rituals to create emotional safety and support their children’s developing brain:

Before your child wakes up, take just 60 seconds to check in with yourself: Take a few deep breaths, a moment of stillness with your coffee, or a quick meditation.

Children learn how to be calm directly through our nervous systems. When you begin in a regulated state, you provide a sturdy emotional foundation for your child’s day.

Before asking about teeth-brushing or backpacks, create a moment of genuine connection, like eye contact, a warm smile, or physical touch. Your message should be: “You matter more than the morning rush.”

This brief emotional attunement regulates your child’s nervous system and sets the stage for cooperation and calm.

Integrate small rituals that slow the pace, like playing soft music during breakfast, sitting together without screens, or implementing a 30-second family huddle before heading out.

These micro-moments teach kids that calm is available even on busy mornings.

Even in the midst of spilled milk and mismatched socks, find opportunities for playfulness, like a silly voice, a 10-second dance party, or a shared inside joke.

Laughter reduces stress and reinforces that mistakes or morning mishaps don’t overpower emotional safety.

Before diving into the day’s logistics, pause to check in with how your child is feeling: “How’s your heart this morning?” or “What’s one thing you’re looking forward to today?”

These brief emotional check-ins build emotional literacy, which is one of the strongest predictors of lifelong resilience and happiness.

A morning hug, a forehead kiss, or a moment of snuggling releases oxytocin and increases emotional security.

Choose three specific moments in your morning routine where you’ll pause for intentional physical connection and affection, regardless of how rushed you feel. It’s one of the fastest, most effective ways to regulate a child’s nervous system.

Make mornings a device-free zone for both parents and children for at least the first 20 minutes of waking. No phones, tablets, or television.

This digital boundary creates space for natural conversation or even comfortable silence together.

Children live at a different pace than adults. That’s just their biology. I recommend adding five extra minutes to one morning transition and match your child’s pace.

When we slow our movements and expectations, we help regulate their nervous systems. What looks like “dawdling” is often a child’s natural rhythm: their brain processing the world at a developmentally appropriate speed.

Instead of rushing out with a quick “Let’s go,” pause for a real goodbye: eye contact, a hug, reassurance.

Then add a “connection bridge,” or something to look forward to later: “I can’t wait to hear about your science project tonight,” or “Let’s make pancakes tomorrow morning.”

Let go of the idea that every morning needs to be rushed, or that the day is in shambles because they didn’t finish their homework the night before. Focus on creating emotional safety. Even adopting one of these habits can help shift your child’s entire day and support healthier brain development.

Reem Raouda is a leading voice in conscious parenting and the creator of the BOUND and FOUNDATIONS journals, now offered together as her Holiday Emotional Safety Bundle. She is widely recognized for her expertise in children’s emotional well-being and for redefining what it means to raise emotionally healthy kids. Connect with her on Instagram.

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When a child is upset, most parents reach for the same question instinctively: “What’s wrong?”

It’s well-intentioned and it comes from care. But after years of teaching conscious parenting and studying over 200 kids, I’ve seen how often that question does the opposite of what parents hope. Instead of opening children up, it can shut them down.

Emotional intelligence develops when children feel safe enough to reflect. Without that foundation, even the most caring questions can feel overwhelming in the moment.

Across my research, one sentence reliably helped children pause, reflect, and communicate more openly: “Tell me what feels hard right now.”

This magic phrase works because it matches how children actually experience emotions in real life. Rather than pushing for clarity or explanations, it creates the conditions where insight can emerge naturally.

During meltdowns, after-school emotional releases, or moments of sudden irritability, children are already on edge. The word “hard” feels human and non-threatening. It signals to your child that they aren’t in trouble and don’t need to justify their feelings, making it easier to stay engaged instead of shutting down or pushing back.

Children don’t need to label emotions precisely. They can describe a situation, a sensation, or a moment that felt overwhelming. Over time, this gently expands emotional language, allowing insight to develop naturally rather than being forced before a child has the words.

Before problem-solving, before advice, before correction, this phrase tells a child: “I can handle what you’re feeling.” Emotional intelligence grows in welcoming environments where emotions are met with steadiness instead of urgency.

Rather than demanding an explanation, this question invites reflection. The child decides how much to share and when, reinforcing a sense of agency over their emotional experience, which is an essential foundation for self-regulation and confidence.

When children feel emotionally safe, their stress response begins to settle. This phrase is especially effective when behavior feels disproportionate or confusing because it prioritizes regulation before reasoning.

By focusing on what feels hard, parents communicate that emotions can be noticed without being rushed or fixed. It teaches kids that feelings can be experienced and moved through rather than avoided or suppressed.

Children learn emotional intelligence through experience, not instruction. When parents respond with calm curiosity instead of control or urgency, they model how to approach emotions with steadiness and reflection. These are skills children eventually apply to themselves.

Our job as parents is to create an environment where our children feel safe sharing their inner worlds. When you adjust your language, you shape the emotional tone of your relationship. Over time, children learn that their feelings are important signals that deserve attention.

Reem Raouda is a leading voice in conscious parenting and the creator of the BOUND and FOUNDATIONS journals, now offered together as her Emotional Safety Bundle. She is widely recognized for her expertise in children’s emotional well-being and for redefining what it means to raise emotionally healthy kids. Connect with her on Instagram.

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