March 29, 2024

Childish or Childlike?

From Volume 5, Issue 11:We all have an “inner child,” don’t we? Sometimes it’s curious and investigating. And sometimes it’s mischievous and rebellious. Sometimes it just loves unconditionally (puppies and kittens come to mind), and sometimes it functions like a paranoid schizophrenic (temper tantrums).

Who are you when your child takes over? Jekyll or Hyde

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A Thanksgiving Present Is Yours for the Choosing

From Volume 5, Issue 11:A. Fear B. Anger C. Joy Choose one! While some of you might have some sort of emotional attachment to fear or anger, I’ll bet you picked C. Why? Because the other choices are emotions that cause us pain, stress, suffering, and struggle. And we usually don’t want those things. What are our emotions, anyway, and how can you change them to get more of the emotions you do want?

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Picture This: Why Communicating Through Text Is Challenging

From Volume 5, Issue 10:Back in the 1970s, a researcher named Albert Mehrabian explored how we communicate. He discovered that when a dialogue between two people involves more than simple data (“What time’s the meeting?” “8:15.” “OK.”), and contains information about feelings, moods, or attitudes, words are trusted only 7% of the time, vocal tonality 38% of the time, and facial expression and body language 55% of the time. Now where does that leave the text-based communicator?

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Don’t Let a Little Black Swan Scare You

From Volume 5, Issue 9:The term “black swan” refers to the shocking discovery that not all swans are white, something the world was sure about until new data came in. Now it’s used for big, bad surprises, like discovering that playing fast and loose with marginal loans and generating huge annual returns on investments couldn’t go on forever and would lead us into a recession. We all have black swans in our lives, but we can change the way we deal with them so they aren’t constantly causing stress.

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It’s Always the Other Guy

From Volume 5, Issue 9:Since I deal in frustration, stress, and struggle, I’m frequently engaged by leaders to work my magic on their teams. The problem, these leaders often suggest, is that people have a hard time listening. They make the same mistakes repeatedly, or don’t communicate well with the team. They are the source of the boss’s frustration, stress, and struggle, and my job is to change them. But what’s the one thing all these people who cause so many issues have in common? Their leader!

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