Terese Weinstein Katz, PhD - The Self-Compassion Diet: Gentleness, Not Self-Flagellation How we beat ourselves up for that brownie or pizza slice! Once we’ve lost control or overdone it, forget about self-care and serenity. But research keeps confirming some ancient wisdom when it comes to eating better. One study asked dieters to go easy on themselves in the face of eating preferred candy. While those of us interested in mindfulness and eating behavior may have found this work striking, it didn’t venture far beyond the mindfulness literature. How could we have gotten this so wrong? Consider what might really be happening, though. Also, those negative thoughts and feelings do clutter the mind. Dr. , notes that self-compassion increases motivation, contrary to the idea that we’ll whip ourselves into shape with self-criticism. “It’s funny, now I actually feel like I want to avoid the temptations, because I know how good I’ll feel, and how bad I’ll feel if I don’t. The other new book on the topic, The Self-Compassion Diet
The Open Plan Office Trap: Why It Pays To Work Alone There is a prevailing notion that open plan offices foster open communication among staff and make for a livelier workplace. But they are also facing a backlash as people begin to realise their shortcomings. We take a deeper look at the pros and cons of open plan offices and why working alone is underrated. Open plan office image from Shutterstock If you visit the offices of most start-ups, chances are you’d be greeted with wide open spaces where some people don’t even have their own desks (hot-desking is so hot right now, natch). It’s no wonder larger organisations are now in favour of open plan offices as well. Not only that, open plan layouts can reduce costs associated with buying and installing office furniture, equipment and utilities. So there are some business advantages to ditching the cubicle, but an open plan office isn’t this perfect work paradise where everything just works seamlessly together. One of the things open plan offices emphasises is teamwork.
Vulnerability Hangovers, Brené Brown & Finding Our Courage. “The vulnerability paradox: It’s the first thing I look for in you, and the last thing I want you to see in me.” ~ Brené Brown Once so powerless, it has become one of the most powerful words in the dictionary—and to my own life. For me, vulnerability used to be petrifying, and to this day it still has control over me. I get what Brené Brown calls the “vulnerability hangover” almost on the daily. Did I say too much at that party last night? Did I really just share all of that about myself on the internet? Luckily enough, I also find myself absorbed in vulnerable people. I love to watch the wave of relief wash over them when they realize that, I too, am feeling just as exposed as they are. Because I travel so much, I’m constantly in awe of finding delicate humans like this in all corners of the world and realizing I am not alone. “Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. They project this fake persona out into the world to avoid being rejected. And that is what I live for.
Present your data in a Gantt chart in Excel Need to show status for a simple project schedule with a Gantt chart? Though Excel doesn’t have a predefined Gantt chart type, you can create one using this free template: Gantt project planner template for Excel Need to show status for a simple project schedule with a Gantt chart? Though Excel doesn’t have a predefined Gantt chart type, you can simulate one by customizing a stacked bar chart to show the start and finish dates of tasks, like this: To create a Gantt chart like the one in our example that shows task progress in days: Select the data you want to chart. If you don’t need the legend or chart title, click it and press DELETE. Customize your chart You can customize the Gantt type chart we created by adding gridlines, labels, changing the bar color, and more. To add elements to the chart, click the chart area, and on the Chart Design tab, select Add Chart Element.
Habit Hack: The Science Behind How A Habit Is Formed “Starting next month, I will run three times a week” “After Christmas, I will only eat ice cream once a week maximum” How many of you have tried to start a new habit and failed? Forming a new habit is not an easy task, yet we all know that in order to improve ourselves, creating a new habit (or breaking a bad one) is crucial and unavoidable. As people who love to learn new ways to “hack” our lives, i believe that we need to break down the mechanic of how a habit is created in order to successfully create a new habit. Charles Duhigg (a Pulifzer-prize winning reporter) wrote a very good book that breaks down the mechanics of habit creation, it is titled “The Power of Habit” (Published in 2012). He argues that habit creation involves three components: 1. The cue is the trigger behind the behavior. What do you do next? The reward is, you get a feeling of relief / satisfaction (and no more anxiety), because you are no longer curious who send the email and what is the email about. A. B.
If Time-Tracking Apps Don't Work for You, Try a Productivity Journal Monitoring how you spend your time leads to a wealth of useful information: It can tell you what time of day you're most productive, help you create better estimates for how long tasks will take, and show you what activities you'd have to cut to focus your energy on a new idea or project. The most precise way to monitor how you spend your time is to use a time-tracking app. But these apps require a lot of overhead. You have to diligently log your hours (or make sure your app is logging them correctly) and sort your tracked time into categories. If tracking your time at such a granular level sounds like a punishment, but you still want insight into how and where you spend your time, consider the less menacing sibling of time-tracking apps: a productivity journal. What Is a Productivity Journal? I kept a journal as a preteen, though in those days I called it a diary. How Does Productivity Journaling Work? Here are a few examples. Interstitial Journaling Daily productivity journaling
It’s a matter of trust When Billy Joel wrote the lyrics to It’s a Matter of Trust, he probably wasn’t thinking about the Finnish education system. Yet the more I read the literature on high performing systems, I am convinced that trust is at the core of the cultural change needed to reshape schooling. It’s not new nor is it rocket science. Michael Fullan says that you build trust through behaviour. As noble a calling as teaching is, the profession has been tarnished by a lack of trust, suspicion of teachers’ work and a top down approach to school improvement. What differentiates high performing systems from others is trust. I know Finland is the system du jour and some may be tiring of hearing about the Finnish way but I read a superb reflection in February’s Phi Delta Kappan magazine by its editor in chief, Joan Richardson. The rationale behind Finland’s competitive teacher education program is quite simple: there are no mentoring or teacher evaluation programs and that’s the way they want it.
Pomodoro Technique From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Time management method The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s.[1] It uses a kitchen timer to break work into intervals, typically 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. Each interval is known as a pomodoro, from the Italian word for tomato, after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer Cirillo used as a university student.[2][1] Apps and websites providing timers and instructions have widely popularized the technique. Description[edit] The original technique has six steps: Decide on the task to be done.Set the Pomodoro timer (typically for 25 minutes).[1]Work on the task.End work when the timer rings and take a short break (typically 5–10 minutes).[4]Go back to Step 2 and repeat until you complete four pomodoros.After four pomodoros are done, take a long break (typically 20 to 30 minutes) instead of a short break. For the purposes of the technique, a pomodoro is an interval of work time.[1]
6 Ways Emotionally Intelligent People Deal With Toxic People Life can be pretty stressful at times. We have bills, appointments, overfilled schedules, and random unfortunate events which we have no control over. Then there’s the icing on the cake…toxic people. For many of us, we deal with toxic people on a daily basis and they can be difficult to avoid. Of course, it is never easy to deal with a toxic person. If you want to know how to have the upper hand when dealing with a toxic person, take it from someone who has experience. Here are 6 ways emotionally intelligent people deal with toxic people: 1. The most important thing you can do for yourself, is not participate in the madness. 2. It is essential to set boundaries. Emotionally intelligent people know that it is impossible to please everyone, and that it is okay to say ‘no.’ 3. Negativity follows toxic people around like a storm cloud of doom. Toxic people will try everything to get you to join in- even emotional manipulation. 4. 5. 6. By Raven Fon
The Aha! Challenge: Using brain teasers to understand eureka moments - Science News - ABC News You know that feeling when you've been grappling with a problem and finally a solution just arrives in your brain? That's an "aha moment", and you've got to it through the process of "insight", a problem solving technique. Insight is characterised by a sense of confusion and feeling stuck, followed by a sudden realisation — the aha moment — when it all just falls into place. It's a process that relies on your relaxed brain, in contrast to the step-by-step process of logical problem solving, and it's usually accompanied by pleasure and surprise. Aha experiences are often special moments in our lives, and most of us have a story about one. But they're also of great interest to psychology researchers keen to put their power to positive use. "The aha experience has been shown to be helpful for learning, memory, and motivation," said Margaret Webb, a psychology researcher at the University of Melbourne. Despite it being more than 2000 years since Archimedes had his 'eureka!' The Aha! Confused?
Characteristics Of A Truly Good Person Kind, helpful, caring, understanding, patient, and loving are some of the words that come to mind when asked to list the qualities of a good person. One usually knows a person is good by what they do. We never remember them angry or holding grudges for anyone. They are always there reaching out to help others – They are the purest souls around us. Listed below are a few characteristics of a truly Good Person to help you spot the good ones around you. It’s payback time, make sure you never leave them, cause they deserve to be treasured and loved. 1) They Can Never Stay Mad At You, Like NEVER They are truly a magical being, always forgiving and forgetting one’s mistakes. 2) They Are Like A“Fun Booster” In A More Gloomy Or Dull Situation Yes, especially when you’re feeling blue. 3) When You Succeed, Their Happiness For You Is Completely LEGIT They’ll be the first one to demand a car ride in your new car or ask for a treat out when you get that promotion. No wonder! Is Car at the repair?
7 Habits of Incredibly Happy People While happiness is defined by the individual, I’ve always felt it foolish to declare that nothing can be learned from observing the happiness of others. In our day-to-day lives it is easy to miss the forest for the trees and look over some of the smaller, simpler things that can disproportionally affect our happiness levels. Luckily, we can go off more than just our intuition; there are lots of studies that aim for finding the right behavior that leads to a happier life. Below, we take a look at some of the more actionable advice. 1. Be Busy, But Not Rushed Research shows that being “rushed” puts you on the fast track to being miserable. The porridge is just right when you’re living a productive life at a comfortable pace. Feeling like you’re doing busywork is often the result of saying “Yes” to things you are not absolutely excited about. You should be expanding your comfort zone often, but not so much that you feel overwhelmed. 2. 3. Self-esteem is a tricky beast. 4. 5. 6. 7.