Most of us go through things in life that we almost always rarely share with our workmates and often just opt to fake a smile and say "I'm fine" in order to avoid talking about the subject.However, the first step to increasing job satisfaction and supporting our mental health we have to open up. Vulnerability is scary, but being able to talk about something that matters to you will most certainly lift a burden off of our shoulders.

Approaching Emotional Conversations in the Workplace

When we check up on our colleague and ask how we're doing, how sincere are we when asking? It's likely that we do care with a certain percentage but not 100%. It's important that we learn proper supportive language because it is how we respond to what they tell us is that makes the largest impact on the conversation.

How Leaders Should Approach Emotional Conversations

<ul><li>“What do you have to be sad about?” or “You shouldn’t be sad, you have an excellent job/family/etc.” — This is dismissive phrasing</li><li>“Everyone feels like that sometimes” to “There’s nothing to worry about.” — This is minimization</li><li>“Hey, it could be worse!” or “That’s just a ‘first-world problem.’” — This is what negation sounds like</li><li>“You shouldn’t worry” or “You just need to get more sleep.” — Prescribing solutions aren't the way to go; and</li><li>“Just look at the bright side!” or “Everything happens for a reason!” — Positivity can become unproductive when it's the only option offered</li></ul>

Emotionally dismissive language sounds like...

<ul><li>"I can see why this is exhausting" or "I believe you" — words of validation during a difficult time can bring comfort</li><li>"Tell me more about that" — shows that we seek to understand, we care, and that we want to learn more so we can try to do more for them</li><li>"How can I best support you right now?" "Would X be helpful?" — When asking them or suggesting a way to support them can make the process of handling easier</li><li>"Thank you for telling me this and I appreciate that you allowed yourself to be vulnerable to me" — This enforces a sense of security they could be needing</li></ul>

Emotionally supportive language sounds like...

As we continue into the new chapters of navigating constant uncertainty, do you want to be the leader who adds to the weight or the one who makes it a little lighter?

As I go through a period of uncertainty in my life, I want to share how I have emotional conversations in the workplace. 

Even well-meaning bosses can inadvertently dismiss their employees’ feelings.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

communication

Communication

loveandrelationships

Love & Relationships

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

How Supportive Leaders Approach Emotional Conversations

What attributes should you look out for for a top performer employee? There are certain attributes that are indispensable no matter where we work or do.<ol><li>Naturally curious</li><li>Innate ability to learn</li><li>Able to turn feedback into action</li><li>Dually autonomous and collaborative</li><li>Empower those around them</li></ol>

The Five Attributes of a Remarkable Employee

<ol><li>Those who are naturally curious are deeply inquisitive so they see beyond the roles and responsibilities.</li><li>An employee's propensity to learn new things quickly is an integral skill because they can absorb information and process it into information that spurs growth.</li><li>How employees react to feedback is what sets them apart from those who take them constructively over others.</li><li>Top performers thrive in many different roles because they are versatile.</li><li>Standout employees are the ones that can make everyone around them better because they are able to empathize with the people they work alongside.</li></ol>

Explaining the importance of the Attributes

How to become a standout employee, as told by a CEO.  

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Remote Work

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Career

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Corporate Culture

business

Business

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Human Resources

5 Ways to Become a Top Performer at Any Company

Functional Imagery Training (FIT) affects our behavior through the use of personalized, affective, and goal-directed mental imagery. It helps us anticipate obstacles and aids us by mentally trying out solutions from previous successes. When we use FIT, it increases our Motivational Thought Frequency (MTF) which helps individuals achieve their goal not because they "want to" but because they "ought to."

Functional Imagery Training

The difference between people who reach the starting line and then go on to finish versus those who do not is having a huge amount of mental and physical strength. Cultivating mental imagery is more strongly emotionally charging than any other types or forms of thought. It can also bolster our motivation in achieving personal goals, like a non-runner becoming a marathoner.

Cultivating Vivid Mental Imagery

Functional imagery training boosts motivation via personalized visualizations.

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Health

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Exercise & Fitness

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Sports

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Creativity

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Science & Nature

Why Vivid Mental Imagery Is Like Motivational Rocket Fuel

Crocs is a brand that many people used to hate and now, since becoming mainstream, gained popularity all over again with their iconic silhouette and high-profile fans. The company knew that there was no point in trying to win over their haters and instead they focused on the uniqueness and bold appeal. At the heart of their success, they have always been aware of the polarizing effect their shoes have. They've learned to harness others' hatred towards it into a radically inclusive brand that is particularly important among young people.

Resonating With The People

Crocs is quick to embrace their growing celebrity fans that fit the shoe into their personal aesthetic like Diplo and his psychedelic hippie style or Zooey Deschanel with her vintage-themed outfits. Crocs' collaborations with these celebrities makes them sell out in days and the best part about it is that they only partner with authentic fans of the brand and capitalize on that moment. <ins>They don't limit themselves with just celebrities but they embrace a wide range of partners such as KFC, Benefit Cosmetics, and even Madewell! </ins>

Crocs: The "It" Shoe of 2020

As more and more people grow to love the brand, there is one thing that people now ask: What will happen to Crocs when it has fully saturated the market? Eventually, people will move on to the next thing that they'll grow to love or to hate. However, aside from needing to be sensitive to overinvesting, they have already thought about this question. They believe that there will always be a lot of negative sentiment towards Crocs and regardless, that will keep the conversation going for them.

Keeping Up With Crocs

Crocs’s magic formula has been to capitalize on the intense hatred of the brand. But how long can this continue? 


fashion

Fashion & Beauty

‘Yes, we’re ugly, but we’re one-of-a-kind’: How Crocs went from laughingstock to red carpet

There are different types of gossip. There are gossip that are catty and petty where it would talk about somebody's appearance behind their backs, but there are also gossip that can affect us positively and help validate our emotions in order to figure out where other people stand on things.&nbsp; Researchers have found that people gossip an average of 52 minutes per day! Gossip is mainly seen as something negative, but it's also been proven that not all gossip is salacious. It's all really about information gathering.

Different Types of Gossip

Gossip allows us to have all sorts of information about other people and with this bears the knowledge that hearing about it gives us a sudden jolt. Negative gossip, according to research, made the listeners feel superior to the person being gossiped about. It gives them a self-esteem boost but it also makes the listeners feel more vulnerable to similar treatments. Meanwhile, listening to flattering gossip gives listeners ideas on how to improve themselves to become more like the person being gossiped about.

Gossip and Behavioral Changes

People in offices often try to not become the main attraction for people to gossip about but office gossip actually keeps selfish and immoral individuals in check. Those who behave selfishly or immorally will have more people gossip about them where eventually a large sum of people know about their behavior. It's not all bad though. The recipients who get ostracized by the gossip actually will start to change their ways in order to be re-accepted into the group and to not be ostracized anymore.

On Office Gossip...

Gossip is an essential part of any owrking process. It's driven by a lot of uncertainty, yet it can also bring us safety from those who wish others harm.

Gossiping at work is generally frowned upon. But research shows that we can reap benefits by leaning into harmless office chit-chat.

teamwork

Teamwork

Why gossiping at work is good for you

Ducks and geese have a particular diet and they naturally flock to areas based on their needs. The Wildlife Center of Virginia states that wild ducks and geese's diet contains of grains, grasses, aquatic plants, and invertebrates - which are all found in the wild. It isn't a bad thing to feed the ducks because sometimes it's just in our inherent nature to share food, <ins>but when everyone starts to feed the ducks, it becomes a substantial part of their diet and it could lead to malnutrition which could lead to metabolic bone disease.</ins>

Don't Mess With The Ducks' Diet

When birds flock in larger numbers than usual to locations where they've become aware of the food being given away, it results in overcrowding which is a disruption of the ecosystem. In addition to this, overcrowding affects terrain and migration patterns. Birds who know that they will receive food will stick around longer than usual and jeopardize their own survival. The birds are not able to survive the winters when they overstay and this behavior and genetic defect then is passed on to their offspring.

Feeding Ducks Hurt The Environment

Instead of processed food or bread, some suggest that we should feed them food that resembles their natural diet instead: salad greens, vegetable peels, and nuts -- that are cut up into smaller bites so that the animals can easily eat it and digest. However, the best thing to do is to just watch them exist in nature and let them forage their own food so that they may live a healthy and natural life.

What To Feed The Ducks 

If you want ducks to survive, let them get their own food.

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Motivation & Inspiration

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Learning & Education

Feeding the Ducks Is Bad, Actually

The Louvre is the world&#39;s largest museum and it houses one of the most impressive and magnificent art collections in history.
They didn&#39;t put up an actual virtual tour however almost all of their collection is posted on the platform Louvre Collections, and it&#39;s updated on a daily basis (more than 480,000 works of art).
Here you&#39;ll be able so discover some of the world&#39;s most precious paintings until the day we are able to travel to France and re-experience seeing these pieces in real life.

Louvre, Paris

The Sistine Chapel is the official palace residence of The Pope and here you can actually place yourself inside the chapel and wander around with their virtual tour with an option for a virtual tour guide!
When in Rome, it&#39;s a huge experience to miss out and marvel upon Michelangelo&#39;s masterpiece.

Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums, Rome

Fascinated by outer space and rocketships?&nbsp;The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has incredible footage on their website along with a number of exhibitions through Google Arts and Culture.&nbsp;

NASA, Washington DC

In the Natural History Museum in London you get to see a 360-degree virtual tour of the exhibition that comes with a gallery full of amazing Photography of the Year photos, an up-close experience with Hope the blue whale, and audio guides by Sir David Attenborough who is an esteemed historian.Tip: Every Tuesday at 3 PM you can take part in interactive discussions with a scientist online!&nbsp;

Natural History Museum, London

Although The National Gallery has already reopened its doors after the first lockdown, video highlights from the British Collection is posted on their website.They also feature a virtual tour of the Renaissance masterpieces from Northern Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany; including the works of Titian, Veronese, and Holbein.

The National Gallery, London

The eventful life of Frida Kahlo has been well documented, from her colorful masterpieces to her original clothing designs, and these are kept in the place where she spent most of her years: La Casa Azul or The Blue House.After her passing, her will was to set up a museum in the Blue House and through the virtual tour you will be able to explore and the house and gardens along with a view selection of Kahlo's art.

The Frida Kahlo Museum, Mexico City

The Picasso museum in Barcelona is a key reference into understanding the formative years of the great artist Pablo Picasso.It houses an extensive collection of artowrks by Pablo Picasso. The virtual tour shows us different series of artworks with the insightful reinterpretations of Velazquez's Las Menas.

Picasso Museum, Barcelona

The Georgia O'Keeffe museum will forever associate big and bold flowers to her modernist artworks that include paintings and sculptures.The virtual tour of this museum includes online lectures that allow you to draw with color.&nbsp;

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, USA

The British Museum offers more than 60 galleries for us to visit via Google Street View.Their virtual collections on the museum website covers Oceania that has art and artifcats that come from the South Pacific Islands.

The British Museum, London

The virtual tour for the Guggenheim Bilbao was brilliantly designed and a must-see! To tell you the details would be a great spoiler.&nbsp;It's a fun and interactive tour that showcases an outstanding modern art collection.&nbsp;

Guggenheim Bilbao Museum, Spain

The Uffizi Gallery houses many Renaissance greatness. It's virtual tour allows us to feel a little bit og the magic of the Uffizi experience without the long queue to see Botticelli's The Birth Of Venus.

Uffizi Gallery, Florence

The Vasa Museum houses the behemoth Vasa ship. It is one of the most striking pieces of history in Stockholm and remains as the best preserved example of a 17th century vessel.&nbsp;The vasa ship was retrieved after it sank in 1628. They offer an audio guide that tells the history of the ship along with amazingly realistic background sounds of when the ship sank.

The Vasa Museum, Stockholm

Anne Frank is a name that many of us have learned and read in history books due to her evocative WWII diaries that were published after her death.&nbsp;Their virtual tour allows us to look around and explore the secret annex where Anne Frank was in hiding during the second world war.&nbsp;

Anne Frank House, Amsterdam

The MOMA virtual tour offers a huge online display of various pieces of art that includes Van Gogh's Starry Night, the Surrealist Women exhibition, and the gallery's Scrulpture Garden.&nbsp;

MOMA, New York

Travel from your living room with the world&#x27;s best virtual museum tours, from Frida Kahlo&#x27;s house in Mexico City to the NASA museum in Washington DC

history

History

The 13 best virtual museum tours in the world

Ingredients:450g of fresh, ripe strawberries1 large orange, both grated zest and its juice200g of plain low-fat yoghurt 4 tablespoons of Kellogg's All-Bran OriginalInstructions:Place all the ingredients into a blender and then blend until smooth.

Strawberry Yoghurt Smoothie

Ingredients:30g of Kellogg's Bran Flakes150g low-fat yoghurt1 tbsp of raspberry compote1 orange that's been peeled and sliced25g of blackberries1 tbsp of pomegranate seeds1 tbsp of pistachiosInstructions:Place a spoonful of yoghurt into a small bowl and mix in the raspberry compote. Scatter the Bran Flakes and top it with the sliced orranges, blackberries, and pomegranate seeds. For the crunch, finish with a sprinkling of pistachios.

Fruit and Nut Crunch

Ingredients:30g of Kellogg's Bran Flakes150g of low-fat yoghurt1 tbsp of chocolate hazelnut spread or nut butter1 sliced bananaInstructions:Scoop a spoonful of yoghurt into a glass or a small bowl and then add a layer of chocolate spread then sprinkle it with the Bran Flakes and banana slices.

Chocolate and Banana Pot

Ingredients:2 tbsps of apple compote150g of low fat yoghurt1/2 apple, diced or sliced 1 tsp of ground cinnamon30g of Kellogg's Bran FlakesInstructions:Add a layer of apple compote onto a small glass or small bowl and add a layer of yoghurt on top of the compote before topping it with the Bran Flakes. You can then place the apples as you please and dust it with the ground cinnamon. Tada!

Apple and Cinnamon Bran Bowl

Ingredients:150g of plain flourA pinch of salt2 eggs, could be free range depends on your choice300ml skimmed milk300ml water75g of Kellogg's All-Bran Original, crushedInstructions:Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl, add the eggs and mix them together. Slowly add half of the milk into the mixture and tip in the remaining liquids and mix until smooth.Cook the mixture ladle by ladle, in a non-stick frying pan with heated oil or butter. Cook for a couple of minutes or until the underside is brown. Place on a plate after its cooked then top with crushed bran.

Bran Crepes

Get your day off to a rip-roaring start with a breakfast high in fibre. These five recipes are quick, delicious and full of goodness

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Food

Rise and shine: five recipes to supercharge your breakfast

Hurricane season occurs from June 1st to November 30th, but this doesn't mean that hurricanes won't happen on any other dates, so it's best to always be prepared.<ol><li>Water, there should be two quarts of bottled water per person per day</li><li>Food, a three day supply for each</li><li>First-aid kit</li><li>Tools (screwdrivers, pliers, batteries)</li><li>Clean clothing</li><li>Entertainment (board games, books)</li><li>Radio</li><li>Pet needs (if you have any)</li></ol>

Preparing for Hurricane Season

A hurricane watch means that hurricane conditions could possibly hit your area. These are issued 48 hours in advance.A hurricane warning means that the conditions that come with the hurricane is expected to hit your area. These are issued 36 hours in advance.

Hurricane Warning v. Hurricane Watch

Each and every storm is measured on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale that categorizes the stroms from a one to five rating depending on the storm's maximum sustained winds.

Measuring Hurricanes

The Hurricane comes from the Caribeean god of evil named Hurrican. Hurricanes are large swirling storms that form over the warm waters of the ocean. Although hurricanes start out as a tropical cyclone it doesn't mean that every tropical cyclone becomes a hurricane.Tropical cyclones that come with a maximum sustained winds of more than 39 mph then become tropical storms, and when it reaches more than 74mph, it then becomes an official hurricane.

Hurricane

Hurricane season 2021 is predicted to be a busy one. Here's everything you need to know about hurricanes and how to prepare before the storms hit.

Everything You Need to Know About Hurricane Season

Before deciding on acting on anything because you feel out of place at work of feel like you don't belong, take time to ask yourself these questions:<ul><li>Do my feelings have more to do with how I perceive myself than how other people see me?</li><li>Do I need to adjust my own self-esteem?</li><li>Am I really experiencing the feeling of "not belonging" or do I make myself seem that I do not want to belong?</li></ul>We all have preexisting insecurities and doubts about ourselves and because of this we tend to only focus on the evidence that supports what we're already thinking.

Check-in with yourself

Being able to fit in the workplace is oftentimes challenging, however, it's not impossible. If we want to be able to be a part of their work culture we must be able to build strong and meaningful relationships.Start to get to know one coworker who you have the same interests with, have lunch with them and just get to know them well. Once you've built rapport you can try connecting with somebody else.

Seek one-on-one connections

Just like in every social setting we must be open to the idea of putting ourselves out there. Try to look for small opportunities where you can strike up a conversation with people.A simple good morning and thank you goes a long way. Creating small moments with people fosters trust and respect in the work environment.

Put yourself out there

One of the best ways to build work relationships is to be able to leverage your own skills and expertise to assist someone who is struggling or just to advance their project.Being able to show your value tells your colleagues your strengths and you can build upon that. It can also bridge a gap from you and them.

Find ways to add value

If all else fails and the company's culture really does not align with your own values and beliefs system, then maybe it's time to consider if you need to move on and look for a new place to settle in.What you choose to work on and how you pursue your career is going to take up most of your time so it shouldn't be a source of stress and anxiety.

Figure out if it's time to move on

Culture fit isn’t just a fluffy goal. Having friends at work is important for your productivity and happiness.


How Supportive Leaders Approach Emotional Conversations

5 Ways to Become a Top Performer at Any Company

Why Vivid Mental Imagery Is Like Motivational Rocket Fuel

‘Yes, we’re ugly, but we’re one-of-a-kind’: How Crocs went from laughingstock to red carpet

Why gossiping at work is good for you

Kazzandra Galleta