5 Routines To Clear Mental Clutter That smartphone in your pocket? It’s nearly doubling the amount of time you spend working. A 2013 survey by the Center for Creative Leadership found that the typical smartphone-carrying professional interacts with work an average of 72 hours a week. No wonder we’re all so stressed out. "Year after year, people complain of being more overwhelmed than they were the year before," says Scott Eblin, author of Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative "It’s an epidemic that needs to be addressed." It started during the financial crisis of 2008, says Eblin. For Eblin, an executive coach and president of the Eblin Group, the impact of stress hit home in 2009 when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. "Managing MS is about managing stress," he says. The entry point to mindfulness is awareness, but Eblin says the endless amount of distractions in today’s world makes it difficult. The opposite of fight or flight is "rest and digest." 1. 2. What was supposed to happen? 3. 4. 5.
2¢ Worth Listen A few weeks ago I worked and attended North Carolina's ISTE affiliate conference. I opened the NCTIES conference with a breakfast keynote address and Marc Prensky closed it with a luncheon keynote the next day. Sadly, I missed the second day of the conference. I would first offer some constructive criticism to NCTIES , and to all such ed-tech conferences across the nation and around the world. The only idea I can think of is to have one or two session rooms devoted to unconference topics. Now to the surprises It was in the student showcase, a part of most ed-tech conferences that I often miss, using it as an opportunity to visit the exhibitors or dash up to my room for something or other. She then began telling me what they were doing, describing some of the communication skills they were learning as well as social studies and character. “No software. After my hesitation, she continued, “..the game master.” Seeing this was energizing to me. Donna Hitchings, Snaderson HS, WCPSS
How can you change from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset? Step1. Learn to hear your fixed mindset “voice.” As you approach a challenge, that voice might say to you “Are you sure you can do it? Maybe you don’t have the talent.” “What if you fail—you’ll be a failure” “People will laugh at you for thinking you had talent.” “If you don’t try, you can protect yourself and keep your dignity.” As you hit a setback, the voice might say, “This would have been a snap if you really had talent.” As you face criticism, you might hear yourself say, “It’s not my fault. Step 2. How you interpret challenges, setbacks, and criticism is your choice. So as you face challenges, setbacks, and criticism, listen to the fixed mindset voice and... Step 3. As you approach a challenge: THE FIXED-MINDSET says “Are you sure you can do it? THE GROWTH-MINDSET answers, “I’m not sure I can do it now, but I think I can learn to with time and effort.” FIXED MINDSET: “What if you fail—you’ll be a failure” GROWTH MINDSET: “Most successful people had failures along the way.” Then...
Third Millennium Learning Fixed vs. Growth: The Two Basic Mindsets That Shape Our Lives “If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve,” Debbie Millman counseled in one of the best commencement speeches ever given, urging: “Do what you love, and don’t stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities…” Far from Pollyanna platitude, this advice actually reflects what modern psychology knows about how belief systems about our own abilities and potential fuel our behavior and predict our success. Much of that understanding stems from the work of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, synthesized in her remarkably insightful Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (public library) — an inquiry into the power of our beliefs, both conscious and unconscious, and how changing even the simplest of them can have profound impact on nearly every aspect of our lives. One of the most basic beliefs we carry about ourselves, Dweck found in her research, has to do with how we view and inhabit what we consider to be our personality.
The Best 3 Ways to Deal With Failure (Plus 5 Painful Ones To Avoid) Are your ways of dealing with everyday failures helping or hindering? Acceptance, positive reframing and humour are the best three ways to deal with failure, according to psychological research. These three strategies make people feel the most satisfied at the end of the day. The study, published in the journal Anxiety, Stress & Coping, had 149 people keeping daily diaries for up to two weeks (Stoeber & Janssen, 2011). They reported the most irritating failure they had during the day, how they coped with it and how satisfied they felt at the end of the day. People spontaneously used all sorts of coping strategies. The results showed, though, that these three techniques left people feeling the most satisfied at the end of the day: Acceptance.Positive reframing – looking for the positives anywhere you can, perhaps by looking at what has been done rather than what hasn’t.Humour. In contrast, people who frequently used the following five common techniques felt worse at the end of the day:
5 Failures You Need to Experience If You Want to Succeed In Life If you are too afraid of failure, you can’t possibly do what needs to be done to be successful. I fail far more than you might assume, especially given the fact that I’ve written hundreds of articles, coached thousands of people, and even written a book on forming productive habits, being mindful, and finding contentment despite our struggles. I fail at all of those things sometimes, and it feels just as dreadful for me as it does for anybody else. I come down hard on myself, feel guilty, try to avoid thinking about it, and would rather hide my failures from everyone I know. Yes, failing hurts! I still fail at getting to the gym sometimes, but I keep trying. I fail at being loving and compassionate to myself sometimes. I fail at being a patient and present dad and husband, especially when life gets busy. I’ve made three attempts at writing the article you’re reading now, and scrapped it entirely the first two times because it didn’t feel right. 1. Life is full of screw-ups. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Treat Failure Like a Scientist I recently had a wonderful conversation with my friend, Beck Tench. During our chat, Beck told me about an interesting shift in thinking that occurred while she worked at a science museum. During her time there, Beck said that she learned how to treat failure like a scientist. How does a scientist treat failure? And what can we learn from their approach? Here’s what Beck taught me… Treat Failure Like a Scientist When a scientist runs an experiment, there are all sorts of results that could happen. And that’s exactly how a scientist treats failure: as another data point. This is much different than how society often talks about failure. Failing a test means you’re not smart enough. But for the scientist, a negative result is not an indication that they are a bad scientist. Your failures are simply data points that can help lead you to the right answer. Failure is the Cost You Pay to be Right None of this is to say that you should seek to make mistakes or that failing is fun.
Failure - An Essential Ingredient For Coaching Success — Evercoach I am not sure why, but failure gets a bad reputation. If you study the lives of individuals who are highly successful, failure is almost always the stepping-stone to their success. In fact, without that failure, these highly successful people might not have been able to understand, achieve, or maintain their success. Failure is not celebrated in our society. Statistics bear this out. Edison realized that it did not matter how many tries it took him to invent the light bulb. Michael Jordan, one of the most iconic players in the history of basketball, is often noted for his successes, his comebacks, and his game winning shots. Michael missed over 9,000 shots during this career. How Does Failure Relate to Coaching Success? When people first start coaching, they are ready to help others change their lives. When you start off as a new coach, you want immediate success. However, whenever you are building any type of business, there are always some learning lessons along the way. More Posts
Marie Curie on Curiosity, Wonder, and the Spirit of Adventure in Science by Maria Popova A short manifesto for the vitalizing power of discovery. “Few persons contributed more to the general welfare of mankind and to the advancement of science than the modest, self-effacing woman whom the world knew as Mme. Curie.” Among the ample anecdotes of the great scientist’s life and the many direct quotations of her humbly stated yet fiercely upheld convictions is one particularly poignant passage that speaks to the immutable resonance between science and wonder, the inextinguishable causal relationship between childhood’s innate curiosity and humanity’s greatest feats of discovery. I am among those who think that science has great beauty. Complement with this excellent 1964 meditation on what children can teach us about risk, failure, and discovery, then revisit artist Lauren Redniss’s sublime illustrated cyanotype biography of Curie, one of the best art books of 2011. Donating = Loving Bringing you (ad-free) Brain Pickings takes hundreds of hours each month.
Does Your Child Have a Growth Mindset? - Jenni and Jody This week on POP Parenting Radio, we kicked off a new series on helping kids develop healthy habits with a look at creating healthy habits for the mind. Over the past year or so, Jody and I have been super interested in studying habits. I guess it started when we read the book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg. So much of what we do in life is driven by habit — and that can be both good and bad. So for the month of July, we are talking about helping kids develop good habits. Saturday, July 2 — Healthy Habits for the Mind with Jenni & Jody (podcast is included below) Saturday, July 9 — Healthy Habits for the Body with Dr. Saturday, July 16 — Healthy Habits for the Spirit with Rabbi Elaine Glickman and Pastor Tony Faeth Saturday, July 23 — Healthy Habits for Organization with author Evan Zislis Saturday, July 30 — Healthy Habits for Time Management (guest TBA) This Week’s Show Topic Brother Brother Music Jenni Stahlmann More Posts
How Does the Brain Learn Best? Smart Studying Strategies In his new book, “How We Learn: The Surprising Truth about When, Where, and Why It Happens,” author Benedict Carey informs us that “most of our instincts about learning are misplaced, incomplete, or flat wrong” and “rooted more in superstition than in science.” That’s a disconcerting message, and hard to believe at first. But it’s also unexpectedly liberating, because Carey further explains that many things we think of as detractors from learning — like forgetting, distractions, interruptions or sleeping rather than hitting the books — aren’t necessarily bad after all. They can actually work in your favor, according to a body of research that offers surprising insights and simple, doable strategies for learning more effectively. Society has ingrained in us “a monkish conception of what learning is, of you sitting with your books in your cell,” Carey told MindShift. “How We Learn” presents a new view that takes some of the pressure off. Getting to Know Your Brain’s Memory Processes
Four questions that encourage growth mindset among students | Teacher Network Teachers have long battled with how to get their students to become more resilient and improve their mindset. One popular theory, pioneered by Carol Dweck, professor of psychology at Stanford University, is the idea of growth mindset. Dweck explains that some students believe ability is malleable and can be improved (a growth mindset), while others think it is set in stone, probably decided at birth (a fixed mindset). Evidence suggests that those with a growth mindset seek out feedback on how to get better, persist with work for longer and cope better with change – all attitudes teachers want to develop in their young charges. How can teachers encourage a growth mindset? When working with young people, choosing which behaviours to praise can have a profound impact. As well as thinking of the feedback you offer your class, there are certain questions you can ask to get them thinking about their own mindset: Is the effort today worth the reward tomorrow? This can be a simple weekend project.
Carol Dweck Revisits the 'Growth Mindset' Opinion By Carol Dweck For many years, I secretly worked on my research. However, my colleagues and I learned things we thought people needed to know. So a few years back, I published my book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success to share these discoveries with educators. —Jori Bolton for Education Week This is wonderful, and the good word continues to spread. A growth mindset isn’t just about effort. We also need to remember that effort is a means to an end to the goal of learning and improving. “The growth mindset was intended to help close achievement gaps, not hide them.” Recently, someone asked what keeps me up at night. I also fear that the mindset work is sometimes used to justify why some students aren’t learning: “Oh, he has a fixed mindset.” Must it always come back to finding a reason why some children just can’t learn, as opposed to finding a way to help them learn? In many quarters, a growth mindset had become the right thing to have, the right way to think.