Snoozing is breaking a promise with yourself. When you set that alarm for 6:00 AM, you were committing to getting up then. By snoozing, you broke the commitment, which means your self-esteem is going to take a hit. Not a great way to start your day off.On the other hand, when you actually get out of bed when your alarm goes off, you’re giving yourself a hit of mood-boosting self-efficacy—you’re proving to yourself that you’re the kind of person who does what they say they will. And that feels good!

Stop snoozing

Exercising first thing in the morning improves your mood by boosting self-esteem and confidence. And even a small amount of exercise can give you a healthy mood boost.Try to commit to one of the following tiny morning exercises every day for a couple of weeks:<ul><li>Do as many pushups as you can in 3 minutes.</li><li>Go for a brisk 10-minute walk around your neighborhood.</li><li>Alternate pushups and sit-ups for 2 minutes.</li><li>Do a couple of sets of lunges.</li><li>Try a wall sit.</li></ul>

Get a (very) quick morning workout in

We are social to our core. You can leverage this fact of biology to improve your mood by taking a little time to make a small positive connection with another human being throughout your day.So, the next time you’re in line at Starbucks waiting for your coffee, put down your phone and look up:<ul><li>Ask the guy in front of you what he thinks of the new furniture layout.</li><li>Smile compassionately at the new mom trying to wrangle three young kids out the door and into the minivan.</li><li>Ask your barista how her day is going with genuine interest.</li></ul>

Ask your barista how their day is going

Our work environment is full of cues for stress: a reminder about that uncomfortable email you have to send to your direct report, walking by your boss’s office, or even just hearing your phone ring for the twelfth time in an hour. All these little cues add up and can take a toll on your mood.You can give yourself a major break from all these negative cues and allow your mood to rise by taking your lunch to go and going for a walk for 15 or 30 minutes. Not only does it get you moving, but you get exposed to all sorts of new, non-work-related environmental cues which can positively impact your <warningtag>mood.</warningtag>

Do a walking lunch

Single-tasking is the ultimate form of relaxation. If you want to feel genuinely relaxed and calm, give your mind a break and do just one thing, like listening to good music.

Take a mindful music break

We tend to feel better when we get outside our own heads and do something for others. But being kind and generous to other people doesn’t have to be a monumental act of charity and self-sacrifice. It can be quite small and still meaningful.Try this:<ul><li>Make a list of 5-10 people whom you love and care about.</li><li>Set a recurring daily reminder on your phone for any time you like.</li><li>When the reminder goes off each day, take 30 seconds and text the first person on your list. Could be anything from a heartfelt message of love or admiration to a silly gif.</li><li>Work your way down the list, texting a new person on th<warningtag>e list each day.</warningtag></li></ul>

Text someone you love for no reason

Worry is often your mind’s way of making sure you don’t forget important things. If you want to stop worrying, prove to your mind that you can be trusted to manage your own to-dos.Tomorrow’s top 3 is a little habit for staying focused on and taking care of the most important things—and as a result, drastically cutting down on the amount of worry-as-memory-aid your mind needs to perform:<ul><li>At the end of your workday, set aside 5 minutes after you’ve finished up work but before you leave.</li><li>Take out an index card or sticky note and put it front and center on your desk, workspace, or wherever you beg<warningtag>in your workday.</warningtag></li><li><warningtag>Write down the three most important things you’d like to get done the following day.</warningtag></li></ul>

Jot down tomorrow’s top 3

One of the best ways to avoid having work stress spill over into your evenings at home is to create more of a transition between work and home.In order to transition into a more restful evening mode, it can be helpful to have a period of time in between when you give your mind a break.Commutes to and from work are natural transitions, but more often than not we keep our minds revved up by listening to radio or podcasts or on phone calls. But, if you commit to silence on your way home from work, you can give your mind a much needed period of rest and respite from the constant barrage of mental<warningtag> stimuli it gets all day.</warningtag>

Do a quiet commute

If you want to be overwhelmed with tragedy, anger, and despair over the state of the world, by all means, keep watching the news in the evening. Or you could read something uplifting instead.

Cut the news and read a story

An evening review means you take a few minutes to pause and reflect on your day. This can take whatever form you like—journaling, meditation, prayer, etc.Reviewing your day gives your perspective on your day. And when we have perspective on our days, we have perspective on our lives.

Do an evening review

Small things  you can do every day to quickly put yourself in a mood. 

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Motivation & Inspiration

Understand yourself and those around you.

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Mental Health

Mood Boosters: Put Yourself in a Happy Mood 

Simple tips that you can do any time to help reduce stress and put yourself in a happy mood.

If you want to quickly put yourself in a good mood, these 10 simple tips you can do any time will help reduce stress and lift your mood.

10 Easy Ways to Put Yourself in a Good Mood Quickly

Easy Ways to Put Yourself in a Happy Mood Quickly

<ul>
<li>Public speaking is scary. So scary that a number of surveys and studies have found that people rank public speaking ahead of death on a list of their greatest fears.</li>
<li>It’s a critical skill sets for your career and life. Confident, powerful public speaking—whether informal or formal—will accelerate your personal and professional life.</li>
<li>Avoid memorization, study the best, strike a power pose, practice relentlessly, find the anxiety killers, play the lava game, slow down to 0.75x, engage the audience, implement a storytelling structure, move with purpose, never self-sabotage, and cut the fear.</li>
</ul>

Public Speaking

There are two types of speakers: those that are nervous and those that are liars

When we’re nervous for a speech, toast, presentation, or talk, our bias is to memorize the content word-for-word.We memorize in a valiant effort to avoid screwing up.Ironically, memorization often has the opposite effect.When you memorize material, one tiny slip-up can throw you off. You only know the material in one fixed direction, so you're unable to adapt. All it takes is a glitch in the slides, an off-track question from the audience, or a slight stumble in your opener and all of your preparation is out the window.

Avoid Memorization

<ul><li>Focus on a few key moments. Perfect the opening line, transitions, and closing. When you nail these, you create momentum—with the audience and yourself. It instills a confidence you can build on. Manufacture these small "wins" that compound.</li><li>Create “lego blocks” that you can piece together. Hone small chunks of stories and ideas that you can naturally weave together depending on the situation. You’ll be able to pick and choose from your toolkit and be more dynamic in the moment.</li></ul>

The Alternative To Memorization

Identify 3-5 speakers you admire. Go on YouTube and find videos of each one delivering a speech.Slow down the playback speed and take notes.Study the following:<ul><li>Structure: How are they structuring their talk?</li><li>Cadence: What is the pacing of their words? When are they pausing and when are they accelerating?</li><li>Tone: When are they raising their voice? When are they lowering it?</li><li>Movement and Gestures: Note their movement on the stage (if any). How are they gesturing?</li><li>Audience Engagement: How are they engaging with the audience?</li></ul>

Study the Best

Executing power poses can actually create feelings of confidence and power. (The science behind this is now heavily-contested.)Before your next talk or presentation, find a quiet place, take a few deep breaths, and raise your arms high and wide, triumphantly over your head. Speak a few positive affirmations to yourself. Then go out and crush it.

Strike a Power Pose

Capitalize on every opportunity to practice—both for a specific event and for the skill more broadly.When practicing for a specific event, start by doing it in private to remove the fear. Use your phone to record and watch your performance. Then transition to practicing in front of an audience of one—ideally an intellectual sparring partner—who you can ask for candid feedback.

Practice Relentlessly

There are always a few people in the audience who are prone to smiling, nodding, and engaging positively. Their positive engagement kills your anxiety.At the beginning of your speech, scan the front of the crowd as you hit your opening lines. Identify the few people who smile, make warm eye contact, and nod.These are your Anxiety Killers!If you ever start to feel the tinge of nerves during the speech, turn your gaze to them to get a jolt of quick confidence.

Find the Anxiety Killers

As a kid, I remember playing a game where parts of the floor are “lava” that you can't touch.During a speech, I try to play a similar game. I think of my pockets and torso as “lava”—I can't touch them.This simple framing forces you to get your arms away from your body, gesture broadly, and embody confidence.

Play the Lava Game

When we get nervous, our natural tendency is to speed up—to get to the end faster.To fight it, think about trying to speak on 0.75x speed. It should feel almost uncomfortably slow.Pause and breathe frequently. The best speakers take long, dramatic pauses (you’ll notice this from your studying of the best!). Use these pauses as a chance to gather yourself and slow down.

Slow Down to 0.75x

There is so much pent up energy in a room—it often manifests as tension.You can feel it as a speaker when the audience is stagnant. There’s all this potential energy that needs to be released.You can dramatically reduce the tension in a room by creating action and movement—by converting that potential energy to kinetic energy.Ask a simple question, survey the audience, request they do something. Find a way to get the audience active. They'll feel more alert and you'll find a more welcoming, loose environment.

Engage the Audience

The best public speakers don't deliver a speech—they tell a story. They take the audience on a journey.Create a storytelling structure that is familiar and easy to follow. It's often helpful to be clear and explicit about that structure upfront.<ul><li>First, describe the reality (“what is”).</li><li>Next, describe the potential future (“what could be”).</li><li>Repeat.</li><li>Finish with an ending promise (“new normal”).</li></ul>This framework forces you to create contrasts to craft a captivating narrative for the audience.

Storytelling Structure

Pacing around the room or stage like you're on the phone with your middle school crush isn't helpful.Take slow, methodical, purposeful steps.There are people who move to move—and then there are people who move with intention, who are going places.Be the latter.

Move With Purpose

When you're feeling nervous or uncertain, there's a tendency to self-sabotage.We tell the audience we're nervous, we make fun of ourselves, we make ourselves small physically by crossing our arms and creating a barrier between us and them.Don't do this. It's okay to be vulnerable, but there's a line.

Never Self-Sabotage

We have a tendency to hype up our fears.Always remember: the worst case scenario really isn't that bad. No matter how it goes, you’ll be just fine. Life will move on.Plus, the audience is generally rooting for you! They place themselves in your shoes, so they want you to do well. They're on your side.

Cut the Fear

Tips on how you can become a master public speaker

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The Public Speaking Guide Wwe all were asking for.

12 non-obvious strategies to level up your public speaking

The Power Speaking Guide

Montessori Education is based on the principles developed by Maria Montessori. In 1907, she opened her first school for children of low-income workers in an apartment building in Rome. The school was called "Casa Dei Bambini",  Home for Children. The school had a teacher's table, a stove, a blackboard, chairs, group tables and a cabinet filled with materials that Maria developed in her earlier career.

Maria Montessori

Marie Montessori created materials when she noticed that students seemed to understand complex concepts better when they engaged all their senses. School activities included personal care, such as dressing and undressing, care of the environment like sweeping, dusting and gardening. The children could otherwise play with the materials provided.

Learning complex concepts

<ul><li>Children had episodes of deep concentration and several repetitions of the same activity.</li><li>Given a choice, children showed more interest in practical activities and materials than toys, sweets or other rewards.</li><li>Self-disciple emerged spontaneously.</li></ul>Montessori concluded that by working independently, children could become self-motivated learners. She started to see the role of the teacher as a facilitator in a prepared environment. The goal is to grow children to become independent and responsible adults.

Observations by Maria Montessori

Montessori's ideas started spreading through the world to inspire progressive thinkers and educators around the world.  Later alumni include Jimmy Wale from Wikipedia, author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Today, many educators use the insights and material inspired by Montessori. Some parents use it for homeschooling.

Montessori education produce successful adults

<ul><li>Students are free to choose what to learn.</li><li>Open classrooms allow free movement.</li><li>Use of specialised Montessori materials.</li><li>Mixed-age classes so children can learn from each other.</li><li>Uninterrupted blocks of study time, usually three hours.</li><li>No grading or homework.</li><li>Only help a child if they really can't succeed by themselves.</li></ul>

Characteristics of Montessori programs

To help us to make more such videos, visit http://www.patreon.com/sprouts Montessori Education is based on the principles developed by Maria Montessori, who opened her first school for children of low-income workers in an apartment building in Rome in 1907. The school was called “Casa Dei Bambini”, Home for Children. This first “Casa” was furnished with a teacher's table, a stove, a blackboard, some chairs, group tables for the children and a cabinet filled with materials that Montessori developed in her earlier career when she researched how to teach kids who experience some form of mental disability. Maria Montessori created the materials after she realized that students seem to understand complex concepts better when they engaged all their senses. Activities at this first school included personal care (such as dressing and undressing), care of the environment like sweeping, dusting and gardening. Otherwise, they were free to move around and play with the materials. Montessori did not teach herself but instead oversaw the classroom work of her teachers. Montessori observed that children showed episodes of deep concentration and multiple repetitions of the same activity. Given free choice, kids showed more interest in practical activities and the materials than normal toys, sweets or other rewards. Over time spontaneous self-discipline emerged. Montessori concluded that working independently children seemed to reach new levels of autonomy and become self-motivated learners. She began to see the role of the teacher as a facilitator of young human beings who are free to move and act within the limits of a prepared environment. The goal: to grow children to become independent and responsible adults who share a love for learning. Soon after Montessori herself and her ideas started traveling the world to inspired progressive thinkers and educators from all over. The inventors, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison, became early advocates. Later alumni include Jimmy Wales from Wikipedia, author Gabriel Garcia Marquez as well as the two Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Today the term “Montessori” stands more for a method, than a school itself. The fact that it can be used freely by anyone led to a great variation of schools. Educators all over the world borrow Montessori's name, insights, and materials to organize kindergartens, elementary schools, special needs programs, or even full 12-year curriculums. Some parents use it for homeschooling. The following characteristics are shared among most programs: - Students are free to choose what to learn - Open classrooms that allow free movement - Use of specialized Montessori materials - Mixed-age classes (from 0-3, 3-6 or 6-12) so children can learn from each other - Uninterrupted blocks of study time, usually three hours - No grading or homework - and a trained teacher Maria Montessori once famously said: “Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.”What are your thoughts on Montessori? Please share your opinions in the comments below!

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To help us to make more such videos, visit http://www.patreon.com/sprouts

Montessori Education is based on the principles developed by Maria Montessori, who opened her first school for children of low-income workers in an apartment building in Rome in 1907. The school was called “Casa Dei Bambini”, Home for Children.

This first “Casa” was furnished with a teacher's table, a stove, a blackboard, some chairs, group tables for the children and a cabinet filled with materials that Montessori developed in her earlier career when she researched how to teach kids who experience some form of mental disability. 
Maria Montessori created the materials after she realized that students seem to understand complex concepts better when they engaged all their senses.

Activities at this first school included personal care (such as dressing and undressing), care of the environment like sweeping, dusting and gardening. Otherwise, they were free to move around and play with the materials. Montessori did not teach herself but instead oversaw the classroom work of her teachers.

Montessori observed that children showed episodes of deep concentration and multiple repetitions of the same activity. Given free choice, kids showed more interest in practical activities and the materials than normal toys, sweets or other rewards. Over time spontaneous self-discipline emerged.

Montessori concluded that working independently children seemed to reach new levels of autonomy and become self-motivated learners. She began to see the role of the teacher as a facilitator of young human beings who are free to move and act within the limits of a prepared environment. The goal: to grow children to become independent and responsible adults who share a love for learning.

Soon after Montessori herself and her ideas started traveling the world to inspired progressive thinkers and educators from all over. The inventors, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison, became early advocates. Later alumni include Jimmy Wales from Wikipedia, author Gabriel Garcia Marquez as well as the two Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Today the term “Montessori” stands more for a method, than a school itself. The fact that it can be used freely by anyone led to a great variation of schools. Educators all over the world borrow Montessori's name, insights, and materials to organize kindergartens, elementary schools, special needs programs, or even full 12-year curriculums. Some parents use it for homeschooling.


The following characteristics are shared among most programs:

- Students are free to choose what to learn
- Open classrooms that allow free movement
- Use of specialized Montessori materials 
- Mixed-age classes (from 0-3, 3-6 or 6-12) so children can learn from each other
- Uninterrupted blocks of study time, usually three hours
- No grading or homework
- and a trained teacher

Maria Montessori once famously said: “Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.”What are your thoughts on Montessori? Please share your opinions in the comments below!

We make educational videos  about psychology, pedagogy and child development. We publish them on Creative Commons so students, teachers and parents can to use for free. To download our videos go to www.sproutsschools.com. To support our work go to www.patreon.com/sprouts

Sprouts

Montessori School Education

Three things have risen sharply since the Great Recession of 2008-2009: inequality, dispair of those without a college degree, and the number of jobs that require a college degree to get hired but not needed to do the work. Degree inflation is a huge waste of money for companies. Competing for a small pool of college-educated workers forces businesses to pay more for talent. For certain jobs like a surgeon or quant, a degree is essential, but for many other jobs, both workers and companies can benefit from fewer degree requirements.

Obsessed with degrees

Since the pandemic, employers are resetting degree requirements in many roles, most notably for middle-skill positions - those requiring some post-secondary education or training but less than a degree. The change is also noticeable for higher-skill positions. Companies are finally refocusing on skills over degrees. They are also desperate to find skilled workers during the pandemic that they are willing to forgo degree requirements.

Skills over degrees

The shift toward workers without degrees during the pandemic will likely show if workers who have degrees can perform better than newly hired workers without degrees. Studies show little performance difference between those with and without degrees outside fields such as professional services and finance. Entrepreneurs and hiring managers are already aware that a college degree is often unnecessary, and that competing for talent will become harder.

Degree deflation

A rare pandemic silver lining: fewer employers are demanding college degrees for jobs you can do without one.

Employers Are Finally Rethinking Requiring Unnecessary College Degrees. Thank the Pandemic

There is a false understanding that a happy life means you are happy all the time. However, a part of a happy life is learning to embrace painful emotions.

Pursuing happiness

When you put pressure on a system, it grows stronger. For example, our muscular system. When we go to the gym and lift weights, we put pressure on our muscles and it grows stronger.  This is known as antifragility. On a psychological level, it is called post-traumatic growth, or PTG. Where post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is about breaking down, PTG is about growing stronger because of pressure or stress.

Antifragility

We know that happiness is a good thing, but we also know from research that people who pursue happiness directly end up unhappy and are more likely to experience depression.
The way to find happiness is to pursue it indirectly. Using the SPIRE model can trigger the antifragile system.
SPIRE stands for:
<ul>
<li>Spiritual wellbeing</li>
<li>Physical wellbeing</li>
<li>Intellectual wellbeing</li>
<li>Relational wellbeing</li>
<li>Emotional wellbeing.</li>
</ul>

The science of happiness

<ul><li>Spirituality is about finding a sense of meaning in life. When you wake up with a purpose, you're more likely to overcome difficulties.</li><li>Physical wellbeing. Stress can be seen as a silent killer. However, the real problem is lacking recovery. Almost 50% of employees don't use up their vacation time.</li><li>Intellectual wellbeing. People who are curious and deeply engaged with material live longer. It can be text, a work of art, nature.</li><li>Relational wellbeing has to do with spending quality time with people we care about.</li><li>Emotional wellbeing can be summed up as showing gratitude.</li></ul>

The SPIRE model

Don’t chase happiness. Become antifragile, with Tal Ben-Shahar Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ►► https://www.youtube.com/c/bigthink Up next ►► The science of happiness, motivation, and meaning | Dan Ariely https://youtu.be/6yQiBT_W2VA Antifragility is the idea of putting pressure on a system, or human, the system or human actually grows bigger and stronger. Antifragile systems are all around us. One example of this is our muscular system. We go to the gym to lift weights. By doing so we are putting pressure on our system to help it grow stronger. The human body is an antifragile system. From a psychological perspective, antifragility comes in the form of PTG, or post-traumatic growth. After we experience a stressful event, we learn and grow to become more resilient. To learn even more from the world's biggest thinkers, get Big Think+ for your business: https://bigthink.com/plus/ Read the video transcript: https://bigthink.com/videos/happiness/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Tal Ben-Shahar: Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar is an internationally renowned teacher and author in the fields of happiness and leadership. After graduating from Harvard with a BA in Philosophy and Psychology and a PhD in Organizational Behavior, Tal taught two of the most popular courses in Harvard’s history: Positive Psychology and The Psychology of Leadership. He then taught Happiness Studies at Columbia University. A prolific writer, Tal's books have appeared on best-sellers lists around the world and have been translated into more than 30 languages. Tal Ben-Shahar consults and lectures to executives in multinational corporations, educational institutions, and the general public. Topics include leadership, education, ethics, happiness, self-esteem, resilience, goal setting and mindfulness. Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar is also the co-founder of the Happiness Studies Academy. Learn more here: https://www.happinessstudies.academy/ Tal is an avid sportsman and a certified yoga instructor whose work bridges Eastern and Western traditions, ancient wisdom and modern technology, science and art. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Read more of our stories on happiness: Epicurus and the atheist’s guide to happiness ►►https://bigthink.com/thinking/epicureanism-greek-philosophy-atheists-happiness/ The meaning of happiness, according to a baker in ancient Pompeii ►► https://bigthink.com/the-past/ancient-rome-happiness/ How to avoid “toxic positivity” and take the less direct route to happiness ►► https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/avoid-toxic-positivity/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Big Think | Smarter Faster™ ► Big Think The leading source of expert-driven, educational content. With thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think helps you get smarter, faster by exploring the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century. ► Big Think+ Make your business smarter, faster: https://bigthink.com/plus/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Want more Big Think? ► Daily editorial features: https://bigthink.com/popular/ ► Get the best of Big Think right to your inbox: https://bigthink.com/st/newsletter ► Facebook: https://bigth.ink/facebook ► Instagram: https://bigth.ink/Instagram ► Twitter: https://bigth.ink/twitter

Don’t chase happiness. Become antifragile, with Tal Ben-Shahar
Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ►► https://www.youtube.com/c/bigthink
Up next ►► The science of happiness, motivation, and meaning | Dan Ariely https://youtu.be/6yQiBT_W2VA 

Antifragility is the idea of putting pressure on a system, or human, the system or human actually grows bigger and stronger. 

Antifragile systems are all around us. One example of this is our muscular system. We go to the gym to lift weights. By doing so we are putting pressure on our system to help it grow stronger. The human body is an antifragile system. 

From a psychological perspective, antifragility comes in the form of PTG, or post-traumatic growth. After we experience a stressful event, we learn and grow to become more resilient. 

To learn even more from the world's biggest thinkers, get Big Think+ for your business: https://bigthink.com/plus/ 

Read the video transcript: https://bigthink.com/videos/happiness/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

About Tal Ben-Shahar:
Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar is an internationally renowned teacher and author in the fields of happiness and leadership. After graduating from Harvard with a BA in Philosophy and Psychology and a PhD in Organizational Behavior, Tal taught two of the most popular courses in Harvard’s history: Positive Psychology and The Psychology of Leadership. He then taught Happiness Studies at Columbia University. A prolific writer, Tal's books have appeared on best-sellers lists around the world and have been translated into more than 30 languages.

Tal Ben-Shahar consults and lectures to executives in multinational corporations, educational institutions, and the general public. Topics include leadership, education, ethics, happiness, self-esteem, resilience, goal setting and mindfulness. Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar is also the co-founder of the Happiness Studies Academy. Learn more here: https://www.happinessstudies.academy/

Tal is an avid sportsman and a certified yoga instructor whose work bridges Eastern and Western traditions, ancient wisdom and modern technology, science and art.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Read more of our stories on happiness: 
Epicurus and the atheist’s guide to happiness
►►https://bigthink.com/thinking/epicureanism-greek-philosophy-atheists-happiness/ 
The meaning of happiness, according to a baker in ancient Pompeii
►► https://bigthink.com/the-past/ancient-rome-happiness/ 
How to avoid “toxic positivity” and take the less direct route to happiness
 ►► https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/avoid-toxic-positivity/ 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

About Big Think | Smarter Faster™
► Big Think 
The leading source of expert-driven, educational content. With thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think helps you get smarter, faster by exploring the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century. 
► Big Think+
Make your business smarter, faster: https://bigthink.com/plus/

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Don’t chase happiness. Become antifragile | Tal Ben-Shahar | Big Think

In an experiment, respondents were given two scenarios: How much were they willing to pay for<ul><li> a 24-piece luxury dinner set in good condition</li><li>a 40-piece dinnerware set, where some items were broken.</li></ul>The respondents were willing to spend twice as much for the 24-piece set even though the 40-piece set still had more pieces. This effect is known as the dilution bias, where the broken items dilute the overall perceived value. This cognitive effect has important implications for our ability to be heard and listened to when we speak.

The dilution effect

Far too often, people speak up but fail to influence. Their message was sound, but their delivery was faulty.
Our minds use two types of information:
<ul>
<li>diagnostic (relevant information) and</li>
<li>nondiagnostic (irrelevant or inconsequential information).</li>
</ul>
When the two categories of information are mixed, dilution occurs.
When you introduce irrelevant or weak arguments, you will reduce the importance of your overall argument.

Quality trumps quantity

When you communicate for influence, increasing the number of arguments actively weakens your case. You cannot increase the quality of an argument by increasing the quantity of your argument.   Instead, focus only on your strong arguments.

Strengthen your argument

What's the best way to make a good point? Organizational psychologist Niro Sivanathan offers a fascinating lesson on the "dilution effect," a cognitive quirk that weakens our strongest cases -- and reveals why brevity is the true soul of persuasion.

The counterintuitive way to be more persuasive

Research shows that about 60% to 80% of our in-person communication is non-verbal, such as pacing, pauses, gestures, and tone. All these cues bring energy and an emotional touch to our message. <ul><li>In the digital world, non-verbal language is expressed by punctuation and the use of emojis. </li><li>Other signals will include greetings - if you include a"Hello" or just jump in, and how you end your message.</li><li>In written exchanges, the timing of your response can cause anxiety. If you delay your answer, it may seem like a lack of interest.</li></ul>

Digital body language

Video calls have their own problems. <ul><li>In group calls, people could be asked to raise their hands before speaking or a moderator can ensure people stay on topic.</li><li>It is not advisable to multitask during these calls or to allow yourself to be distracted. It is very obvious if you are busy looking down at your computer. </li><li>If you know there will be an interruption, such as an incoming phone call, it's more considerate to warn people in advance or to put a message in the chatbox.</li></ul>

Zoom doom

In all your interactions, remain conscious of two factors: trust and power. <ul><li>A manager should consider whether their brevity is regarded as efficient or as a general lack of interest.</li><li>We should be careful to express our appreciation. A handshake or smile used to give us those signals, but our gratitude is less evident in online communication. A simple remedy is to send a follow-up email after a virtual meeting to express that you valued someone's role or input.</li></ul>

Trust and power

Online, as in real-life, it's not just what you say – but how you say it.

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Love & Relationships

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Teamwork

The digital body language cues you send – or don't send

Science fiction emerged about 300 years ago when science made great strides. Authors tried to understand their world by imagining a possible future.
Gulliver's Travels is the earliest science fiction. This satirical 1726 travel narrative is considered to be a precursor of the modern science fiction novel. Lemuel Gulliver encounters utopian and dystopian societies during his voyages. The novel describes scientists on islands whose experiments are pointless.

Science fiction in the 1700s

<ul>
<li>1818: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, who engineers a living creature in a hideous experiment. The novel is seen as a warning against the expansion of science without a moral context.</li>
<li>1870: Jules Verne's tale of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is about the undersea adventures on the Nautilus. Verne imagined diving apparatus and a submarine.</li>
<li>1895: HG Wells' The Time Machine is about time travel. It fuses science journalism with popular romance.</li>
</ul>

1800s Science Fiction

<ul>
<li>1921: Yevgeny Zamyatin writes We after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The story is set in a dystopian society where people are numbered and live in glass buildings to allow them to be watched by the state.</li>
<li>1926: Hugo Gernsback launches a pulp magazine and calls its fiction "Scientifiction", which blended romance, vision, and scientific knowledge. In 1929, Gernsback coins "science fiction" in his magazine.</li>
<li>1932: Aldous Huxley writes in Brave New World about a dystopian world where genetic engineering becomes the norm and where science has eliminated unhappiness.</li>
</ul>

Early 1900s Science Fiction

<ul>
<li>1949: George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four during the Cold War. The book is set in a future Britain where the government monitors all private and public activity.</li>
<li>1950: I, Robot is a collection of short stories written by American author and biochemist Isaac Asimov. He focuses on the future role of robots in society and also introduces his Three Laws of Robotics.</li>
<li>1951: John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids is a tale of giant sentient plants. It is about a hero's efforts to survive in a broken society.</li>
</ul>

1950s Science Fiction

<ul>
<li>1962: JG Ballard's The Drowned World is the first of his novels dealing with ecocatastrophes. He deals with the idea of societal breakdown after the polar ice caps have melted.</li>
<li>1968: The futuristic novels of Philip K Dick provide the storyline for many modern sci-fi movies such as Blade Runner. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is considering what makes a person human.</li>
<li>1969: Author Ursula K Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness examines gender. Her characters are androgynous, taking on male or female characteristics every month.</li>
</ul>

1960s Science Fiction

<ul>
<li>1974: Doris Lessing published a tale of post-apocalyptic societal breakdown in the novel Memoirs of a Survivor.</li>
<li>1975: Academic and feminist Joanna Russ wrote The Female Man. She describes a positive community of women. The four main characters live in parallel worlds in different historical times and spaces.</li>
<li>1979: Douglas Adams's series, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is a parody of life across the Universe.</li>
</ul>

1970s Science Fiction

<ul>
<li>1984: William Gibson blurs the boundary between human and machine in Neuromancer. Gibson's "console cowboys" chase each other through a virtual space known as the "matrix". Gibson coined the term "cyberspace" and is known for his prophetic visions of technology.</li>
<li>1987: Octavia E Bulter wrote Dawn as part of a Xenogenesis trilogy to explore concepts of reproduction between species, gender and sexuality.</li>
<li>1993: Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy is about the colonisation of Mars as an analogy to the western expansion of the USA.</li>
</ul>

1980s and 1990s Science Fiction

From Gulliver's Travels, through Brave New World and the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, this timeline explores the evolution of the science fiction novel.

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Science Fiction

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Technology & The Future

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Movies & Shows

Writing the future: A timeline of science fiction literature

Many of us get stuck or frozen at job interviews, even though we have practised long and hard for handling all sorts of questions. This is due to the anxiety spiral that we get caught in, putting pressure on ourselves.
Some stress and anxiety are inevitable in any interview, something that will ‘knock-off’ about 25 per cent of our preparations. We need to over-prepare to balance the odds, practising hard for the tough questions that push us into the anxiety spiral.

Frozen At Job Interviews: The Inevitable Anxiety Spiral

Before going to an interview, ask for unbiased feedback from your mentors, peers, family members and friends, just to gain some clarity. We usually would miss those true negative aspects due to our skewed state of mind.
An outside perspective shines a light on our hidden mistakes and the competencies and attitudes that we need to highlight. It helps to be honest about our fears and note down the feedback, working on your ‘interview performance’ later.

The Outside Perspective

It helps to self-conduct mock interviews and practice the tough questions, especially the initial words you may have to blurt out while you frame your real answer:
“That’s a great question, and I haven’t dealt with that exact situation yet. Could you elaborate a bit so that I can take a minute to flesh out my strategy in this scenario?”
Keeping your tone open, confident and curious helps in this tightrope walking of difficult questions. Saying ‘I don’t know’ doesn’t help anymore.

Experiment With Your Interview Performance

Many of us have the habit of endlessly brooding over negative events after they occur, subjecting ourselves to hard self-criticism. Many people who are perfectionist also amplify small things that go wrong. One needs to recognize and manage such behaviour by breathing exercises or practising hard to reduce anxiety.
One can try being honest and provide creative answers to the questions using their past experiences, both personal and professional. It doesn’t have to be scripted all the time.

Managing Anxiety

All the tips you need to bolster your chances of being selected 

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Health

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Leadership & Management

Cracking the Interview

What to do when you’re caught in an anxiety spiral.

Ask an Expert: I Freeze Up During Job Interviews

Email is essential in a workplace and yet can suck our productivity in a uniquely annoying way. On an average workday, we check our email 15 times, which leads to wasted time and distractions.
Email isn’t even the best way a person can communicate, as it does not provide the recipient with our intended tone, intentions and purpose in an exact way.

We Use Email The Wrong Way

Human nature tends to conform to the majority and leans towards safety in numbers. Adopted practices (like email) become the default even when they are not the best solution because everyone else is on it.
Work is done more effectively with in-person or virtual meetings, while instant messengers are less formal and more intuitive while being easy to check.

Email Is A Productivity Bottleneck

Email has real value in communicating the following:
<ol>
<li>A formal communication decision.</li>
<li>Confirming or scheduling appointments with the help of Calendar.</li>
<li>Documenting important conversations.</li>
<li>Company-wide announcements that are high-impact and need to be communicated to all in real-time.</li>
</ol>

What Email Is Good For

<ul>
<li>Email is best used for clear, unambiguous communication that is important and may be shared with others.</li>
<li>If something is super-urgent or requires a lot of explaining, picking up the phone is the way to go.</li>
<li>When we require emotion or the issue is complex, a face-to-face meeting is the best bet.</li>
<li>For non-critical queries that anyone can answer, a slack message does the job.</li>
</ul>

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Brooklyn Z.