Shutterstock It’s summertime and that means summer vacations are in full swing. Yet many Americans are choosing not to use all of their vacation time and the No. 1 reason why is because they would return to a mountain of work, according to a survey by Project: Time Off conducted in January 2016. Here are five strategies to help you conquer that mountain of work quickly and reclaim your unused vacation days. 1. Plan ahead for your return to work.

Shutterstock What is the best predictor of team success? Some experts say there’s nothing more important than strong, smart leadership. A team with a great leader will always succeed, they claim…But experience probably tells you that’s not quite true. Others will claim that a fantastic culture is what sets the best teams apart.

Like much of my generation in America, I don’t have to worry about where my next meal will come from. I don’t have to worry about how I’ll get to work. I don’t have to worry about a safe, dry place to sleep. So I worry about something else, with which much less of the world has the luxury of preoccupation: purpose. Some spend their days searching for food; I spend my life hunting meaning—full, but unsatisfied.

I can’t remember the exact moment I had the thought, but it was an epiphany. It crept in slowly, like someone trying to startle me: “What if I didn’t have the title of SVP Global Communications anymore?” What if I wasn’t the voice of DKNY PR GIRL®, commanding the attention of half-a-million followers on Twitter? What would happen if I quit my job?” Those questions spun around my head like clothes in a dryer. I decided I had to find out.

The No. 1 FORBES Top College 2016 is Stanford University, followed by Williams College and Princeton University. The highest ranking public school is the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The University of Notre Dame is the premier Midwestern institution and Davidson College lands as the best school in the South.

Shutterstock We’ve all been there: It’s the end of the interview, and after nearly an hour of pouring your heart (and work experience) out to a potential employer, the hiring manager asks if you have any last questions before wrapping up. It’s meant to be a formality, of course—a way to end the conversation without kicking you out right then and there.

In general, no, it’s not a good idea for a recruiter to handle the job offer negotiation instead of you. This question came up in a career Q&A, and I repeated the question as it was asked because the way it is phrased is one reason why having the recruiter negotiate for you isn’t a good idea: Shutterstock The recruiter is not “your” recruiter (Priority) Even if the recruiter is from a separate company than the employer.

Despite all the online ways to link up with potential clients, I still believe making in-person connections needs to be a part of every business owner’s networking regimen. When you’re face-to-face with people, you can form bonds more easily because they get a more complete picture of who you are through your voice, body language, and appearance. That’s powerful and wonderful … unless you get careless.

I recently read that 96% of businesses will fail within the first 10 years. But for such a universal occurrence, it’s surprising to me that failure has such a bad rap. We’re often made to feel ashamed, embarrassed, or regretful of our mistakes and believe we must do everything in our power to ensure they don’t happen again. The truth is, most of us aren’t willing to fail because the stakes are just too high.

It seems today that just about everyone’s got a different approach to business. Some say you should focus on one-upping your competition, while others say it’s best to be original, while still others recommend reinventing the wheel and forgetting about competition altogether. Trying to navigate all these different tactics can be extremely overwhelming, especially because of the intense pressure to get it right… or else suffer a hit in your business.