'Guess'

Michelle admitted that it wasn't always easy to keep calm in the face of racism and all the other obstinate behavior they faced. She succeeded because she knew who she was and felt that becoming bitter would not make her victorious.

The lesson is that having grace for people takes practice.

Michelle Obama says people's stories are more important than statistics.

She feels humanity would be more tolerant if we learned more about people's stories and cared less about status indicators.

Just jumping from one task to another in your to-do list or calendar does not help the mind absorb anything or learn.

The mind needs reflection time to digest information, filter out the mind-noise and convert meaning into learning. It pays to sit back and reflect, even if you feel irritated, vulnerable or bored.

From online learning for school kids to contactless delivery of Amazon products, the ongoing pandemic has already shown us many social, economical and cultural changes.

Embracing change and the new ways of doing things that were not feasible or acceptable earlier is the way forward, and makes us ready even in times of uncertainty.

Unless it is completely uncalled for, negative feedback generally has the intention of informing us about our areas of improvement. If feedback isn’t provided, you may not grow and improve. If no one tells you that you are doing something wrong, you will keep doing it wrongly forever.

Providing timely feedback may be a sign that the manager cares and wants you to improve.

One should not be defensive when provided with negative feedback, and understand that it is for our own good.

One needs to act on the feedback by approaching it from a neutral and objective standpoint, not taking it as a personal attack. Instead of reacting, just pause and listen. Reflect on the feedback, giving yourself some time and space to respond with a level head.

There are five categories of inner experiences:

• Inner speaking, which comes in many forms
• Inner seeing, which comes from things you've seen in real life or imaginary visuals
• Feeling, such as happiness or anger
• Sensory awareness, like being aware of the feeling of a carpet
• Unsymbolized thinking, which is a thought that doesn't manifest as words or images.

Most of us are aware of the internal dialogue – rather than a monologue - where we talk to someone inside our head. Often, that other voice is another aspect of ourselves.

There are four kinds of inner voices: the faithful friend, the ambivalent parent, the proud rival, and the helpless child. We might adopt these different roles to help ourselves get through situations.

Certain experiences make us feel joyful, engaged, amazed and motivated.

1. Concerts, museums and great outings engage all our senses, making the moments stand out intensely.
2. Breaking the routine, or the ‘script’ of life provides us with a pleasant surprise, resulting in little moments of big memories.
3. Competing in something, like a game or a bet, raises the stakes and creates in us a rush of endorphins, making the event more entertaining and memorable.

The number one reason for employees to leave their jobs is the lack of recognition, praise and appreciation.

In research spanning decades, employees were asked about their motivation factors at work and had only one common factor across 46 years, which was the appreciation they got from the employer for their hard work.

A very important step when starting to work as a freelancer is to actually call your business as what is: a ‘freelance business’.

These kind of words encourage your clients to perceive you as being trustworthy while giving you a better feeling of ownership.

Whenever we hear the ‘I need…’ words, we all tend to get a bit irritated by this way of being requested to provide something that always seems of the most utter importance.

On the other hand, there are expressions which could easily replace the ‘ I need…’ while giving the other person the impression that everything is under control.

• In a professional setting, the promotion-focused people are optimistic, speed-oriented, great brainstormers, plan for best-case scenarios and are also open to new opportunities. The people rely on positive feedback and can be dejected when things are not right. They like to think out-of-the-box and dive into work such as musicians, copywriters, inventors and consultants.
• Prevention-focused people are slow and steady, provide accuracy, and have tried and tested ways of doing things. The people are uncomfortable with short deadlines, praise, and feel worried or anxious when things aren’t going smoothly. Being risk-aversive, they do great in administrative work, bookkeeping, accounting, manufacturing and risk-management work. Any job requiring accuracy and attention to detail would fit these personality types.

It enhances and sustains the value of the individual. When managers' motivational strategies do not align with the dominant focus of one employee (prevention or promotion), then it is less likely the individual will achieve one’s goal.