But in reality, most of us have to work at least a little bit while we are sick. There is a lot of financial pressure to work. Nearly half of Americans in one survey indicated they work because an absence would look bad to their boss, or it would mean they do not get paid at all.

These are alarming signs, and I think it shows we should do more to encourage employers to provide adequate sick time.

But even if we do that, there are times it will be necessary to work while under the weather. As I could not find much scientific research on the topic (most articles say rest is best), I thought I’d share some of my strategies for working while sick. Basic as they are, the tips work for me and could work for you.

So here are 7 tips for working while sick:

1. Get as much rest as you can
This article is about working through a sickness, but it’s important to remember there are limits.

Ultimately you have to think about the big picture. If you push yourself too hard while you are sick, you could make things even worse for yourself later.

There actually was a study done about this in Denmark that involved over 12,000 workers, as reported in Consumer Reports.

The long and short of the study was this: “Going to work ill repeatedly is associated with long-term sickness absence at a later date…Participants who had gone to work ill more than six times in the year prior to baseline had a 74% higher risk of becoming sick-listed for more than 2 months.”

So don’t push yourself too hard now, or you might end up risking a much more serious sickness later.

2. Reschedule meetings and phone calls
I like to look and sound my best when I am conducting business. Plus, I always hate the annoying person who coughs throughout meetings–I mean seriously, if you’re that sick, it’s time to rest.

So to the extent possible, I try to reschedule long phone calls and meetings.

It helps me face and give rest to my throat. I do whatever I can by email and hold off until I’m feeling better.

3. Work in small shifts
When you’re sick, you might not be able to get through an 8 or 10 hour day. You may find yourself tired more frequently. What I tend to do is take the rest when I’m tired, and work in the few hours that I feel good enough to be productive.

This is a tip I use anyway for writing–there’s no point fighting writer’s block, after all.

4. Tackle mindless tasks
When my head is clouded from being sick, there’s no way I can solve hard math problems or work on financial models. Even if I tried, chances are I’d make so many errors that I’d dip into the realm of negative productivity.

But that doesn’t mean I stop working entirely. There are so many mindless things–filing papers, catching up on emails, reading–that can fill this time.

So even if being sick means you can’t do the hardest part of your job, chances are you’ll be able to do some part of your job.

5. Go for home remedies: soup, tea, healthy foods
This list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning home remedies. Everyone has their own way of coping with feeling down. I go for the classics of drinking plenty of liquids, including soup and tea.

My favorite is to make a simple vegetable broth soup and add a few bits of frozen broccoli and soba noodles.

The Mayo Clinic suggests a few other home remedies, like saltwater gargles, nasal drops, and zinc.

6. Ask for help / delegate
I am someone that loves to be self-reliant and I don’t like to outsource menial tasks.

But even I know when it’s time to ask for help. When I am sick, I am much less shy about asking for co-workers/friends/family to help out with things like picking up lunch, grabbing a rental movie, or covering at work.

People are more than happy to help out, and I am happy to return the favor when they get sick.

7. Be considerate of co-workers
If you have something like the flu, you are probably better off just staying at home. Your co-workers will thank you.

But if you absoultely must be at work, then follow the basic etiquette to limit your influence. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, throw the tissue in the trash after using it, and wash your hands frequently. And do not share your food or drink!

Anyway, these are a few of the tips I use to power my way through a cold or flu. I’m curious to know your tips. What are your tips for working while sick?

There are many reasons people pick one or the other. For instance, larger companies often offer stronger compensation packages at first, and the expectations can be clearer when joining a well-established business.

But is it really safer to join a large company rather than going for a talented startup?

I came across a delightful math problem about this very topic that illustrates something very interesting.

Here is the problem:

Two businesses, A and B, are competing for accounts in the same industry. A is a large company with 50 accounts, and B is a small one with 20 accounts.

Competition is fierce and turnover is high: periodically a random account decides to move from one company to another. It just so happens that B has an edge in talent and tends to win more accounts: 52 percent of the time the account will shift from A to B (and 48 percent from B to A).

How do you think the competition will play out in the long-run? That is, what is your prediction about the future of each company?

Can you figure it out?

If you are struggling on how to start, check out solution method 1 in my puzzle about a drunkard and a cliff.

I will post an answer in the comments section by the end of the day on Thursday.

(If you prefer to read the answer now, check out the answer to problem 3 in section 4.15, which appears on page 188 of Finite Mathematics. I have slightly re-worded the problem for this post. Note the book provides an answer, but you’ll have to read the entire section to understand why that answer is correct)

About a year ago, I transitioned from writing as a side activity into a full-time pursuit. I knew from the start it would be hard to do the work, but I was ready for this challenge.

What took me completely by surprise, however, have been the social challenges. While I have full confidence in what I am doing, I can tell people do not understand what the freelance lifestyle entails.

If I had to pinpoint it, I get the sense that people in office jobs generally do not respect independent workers. It did not bother me when I got that attitude from strangers I met at weddings. But one day I realized that the same contempt and disregard was coming from friends and family, with some notable exceptions who have been very supportive (you know who you are, and thank you).

Even for someone as independently minded as me, it was a bit much.

I was looking for some reassurance, and I happpened to come across a nice passage in a book I started reading. The book is called The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers, and the Self-Employed. It is written by two freelancers, Joseph D’agnese and Denise Kiernan.

There’s a passage that I felt captured the negative attitudes people have towards freelancers:

“Freelance” is not a word that usually conjures up images of hard work, security, and financial success…In fact, the freelance lifestyle is often viewed by those in the nine-to-five world as–let’s be honest–kind of slack and self-indulgent. Any independent worker knows this is far from true. But this doens’t stop friends from the office calling in the middle of the day to ask, innocently, “What are you doing?”

Who, me? Oh, I’m just lying here, stretched out on the old sofa [watching TV]…

What do you think we’re doing. We’re working, you nit!

…

Contrary to popular belief, anyone who is supporting himself as a freelancer or self-employed anything is working. A lot. Not only that, but independent workers must toil harder than salaried employees managing their money, because no one else is doing it for them.

Over the last year, I have a newfound respect for freelancers, bloggers, and anyone who is doing independent work.

And for those of you in office jobs, perhaps go a bit easier on your freelancer friends. A small compliment and a little bit of support will go a long way and make their day.

At Stanford I was a bit surprised to learn about this. In fact, the policy is explicitly written on their career website as follows:

Stanford University legal counsel prohibits employers from using GPA or standardized test scores (i.e., SAT, ACT, GMAT, GRE) as a screening tool for students trying to obtain a first-round interview with the company. Relying on these criteria alone often causes an employer to overlook many other qualities and factors that create an excellent candidate. Employers cannot mention a GPA or test score minimum in their job descriptions via Cardinal Careers, Cardinal Recruiting, career fairs, or any other services the CDC has to offer. If either are listed as a requirement in a job description, the section will be edited out prior to approval for posting. If an employer requests students to submit unofficial transcripts with a resume, students have the option of editing out the GPA information.

I always found this policy to be a bit funny. I mean on the one hand Stanford tells employers to ignore GPAs and test scores of its students. But on the other hand, Stanford highly values GPAs and test scores in its admissions process of high school students. What’s the message here: do test scores matter or not?!

But forget about that inconsistency for a second. The other thing I find interesting is how powerless the policy is, according to game theory.

Note that employers are not allowed to use GPA as a screening tool, but they can request a transcript. In that case, a student’s defense is to edit out the GPA information.

But think about how this game will play out. Certainly students with good grades would be happy to report their GPAs and it would not be edited out. The only people who would censor their own GPAs are people who would have something to hide. Therefore, employers could infer that people who do not report GPAs must have bad grades.

The point is that it is hard to conceal bad grades, even if a school makes a policy that tries to ban that very practice.

It is best to study up. And while we are on that topic, check out my guide for getting straight A’s in college.

But I brought myself down to earth and stayed within reason. I reminded myself that travel expenses will follow me home, and finances never truly take a vacation.

It may not be the most fun thing to keep track of expenses while traveling, but it is responsible habit. I think about it as a positive long-term habit, like flossing or exercising daily. By entering all the expenses in my free expense tracker, I avoid gaps in my finances and give myself a realistic view of my money situation.

Plus, tracking travel expenses is not that hard, if you keep yourself organized. I have picked up a few tricks from years of tracking expenses for personal vacations and business trips. Here are some of the tips that help me track expenses while traveling.

1. Use credit cards where possible

Credit cards are my best friend while traveling. When I charge a meal on credit, I am sure that I will get a receipt that I can save and enter when I return from vacation.

Even if I forget to save the receipt, the purchase will show up in my credit card statement, so I can remember to enter the expense at that time.

This makes credit cards extra useful while traveling. And while we are on the topic, check out my travel tips for credit cards.

2. Ask for receipts and save them

Credit cards are not going to be accepted everywhere, so you will need a system to record cash expenses.

I try to ask for receipts for cab rides and meals. More often than not, they are happy to give something because they expect business travelers to need receipts. I like the physical paper to remind me to record the expense later.

3. If you can’t get a receipt, jot it down on another receipt

Still, there are times you simply cannot get a receipt. There are things like cash tips or street food purchases that do not come with a paper trail.

In that case, I jot down those expenses in the margin of receipts that I already have. At the end of every day, I try to think about where I spent cash, and I will write in those expenses.

When I come home, that same receipt will help me remember to enter all those expenses.

4. Save receipts in an envelope, folder or suitcase

When I am not traveling, I just put my receipts into my wallet and enter them when I go home.

But when I traveling, this system would fail as I would end up with more receipts than my wallet can hold.

So I have come up with a small refinement while traveling. During each day, I do store my receipts in my wallet. But every day I empty my wallet out and transfer those receipts into an envelope, folder or a pocket of my suitcase.

When I return from my vacation, all my receipts are organized in one spot, and I can quickly enter all those expenses.

5. Make daily notes in your phone

This is an alternate method that some of my friends like. They would rather not have to deal with receipts, so they just make a note in their smartphones about each expense.

This system can work well if all you have is a texting plan too. I will sometimes text a note to my Google Voice number, and that sends a copy of the message as an email to me. The email serves as a record in the same way that a paper receipt does.

You can even go one step further and go for a mobile expense tracking app. Personally I have not tried any of them, but if you have, please let me know in the comments any that are useful.

What are your tips for tracking expenses while traveling?

I’m always looking for good ideas, and you guys always offer smart suggestions. Help us out with your tips by leaving a comment.