The scientific reason we should count our blessings at the end of the day

The scientific reason we should count our blessings at the end of the dayThe scientific reason we should count our blessings at the end of the dayCaroline Webb, author ofHow to Have a Good Day, specializes in the application of behavioral science to the workplace and beyond.She is CEO of Sevenshift and a Senior Advisor to McKinsey and Company, where she welches previously a partner.Caroline recently sat down with world-renowned business thinkerWhitney Johnson, author ofBuild an A-Teamand host of theDisrupt Yourselfpodcast, to discuss littlesteps we can all take to have better days.This conversation has been edited and condensed. To listen to Caroline and Whitneys full conversation on theDisrupt Yourselfpodcast,click here.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreWhitneySo, youve told me you were a bit of a daredevil as a child, and you liked to write stories. What did you think you were g oing to do when you went to college?CarolineI wanted to be an astrophysicist. I welches very deep into sci-fi and read everything that I could about black holes and the early beginnings of string theory and multiverse theory.WhitneyWere there any particular books that you especially loved?CarolineOh, I loved Carl Sagan. The truth is that the kind of science fiction that I fruchtwein liked welches less about natural science or technology- I was much more interested in how a society evolves. If you push an assumption to a limit and take it forward into the future, how does society progress? Of course, that was perhaps a clue that I was slightly more interested in people-science than I was in natural science.So when I took a class in economics when I was sixteen, it blew my mind. I thought, Wow, you can be rigorous about human stuff The whole course of my life changed at that point.WhitneyInteresting So thats an interesting question you just posed. What happens when you take a specific assumption and start to play it out over time? Whats one of those assumptions that youve played with and played out?TrendingHow to Want What Youve Got in a World of Infinite ChoiceCarolineWell, I didnt think of myself as a risk-taker. I grew up in a modest, loving household, which meant that I didnt have that financial security that sometimes helps people be bold early in their lives and go out on their own.What I did have was a clear sense that I liked learning.The thing that has guided me throughout my life has been this question of What do I want to learn next? If I push that to the front of my mind, then Im a little braver and a little bolder in what I choose to do.The thing that has guided me throughout my life has been this question of What do I want to learn next? If I push that to the front of my mind, then Im a little braver and a little bolder in what I choose to do.WhitneyOkay, so based on that guiding question, walk us through the chronology of your career.CarolineI was a public policy economist for most of the 1990s. I enjoyed it, but realized that it was missing people, in some ways, which was my original interest in economics. So I thought, How do I get closer to that again while playing to my strengths and figuring out how to bring more joy into my professional life? I decided that management consulting would be a good way of working on organizational change and leadership, which was really what I was interested in.So then I went to McKinsey, the consulting firm. McKinsey was surprisingly willing to let me play and build a practice focused on behavioral change, so I did that for quite a while. I was there for 12 years and was a partner in the organization practice.Career number three actually started while I was still there. I was enjoying the intimate work that I was doing with leaders or their teams one-on-one. I thought I should probably get certified as a coach in order to do that properly, and after my training, I thought, This is what I was born to do.Within McKinsey, I pivoted to focusing on individual effectiveness and doing much more coaching. And then I quit, wrote a book, and became an entrepreneur.How do Iplay to my strengths while figuring out how to bring more joy into my professional life?WhitneyAmbitious people want to disrupt themselves, to do something new, but also often dont want to leave their current job. You did that really well at McKinsey. How did you get the buy-in to be able to play? Do you remember the process you went through to make that happen?CarolineAbsolutely. I joined McKinsey in 2000, which was an interesting time to move from the public sector to the private sector, because it was right after the markets had all tanked. So basically nobody was getting staffed, because there just wasnt enough work to go around. It was a very awkward, stressful situation. I just remember deciding that, instead of relying on the staffing process, I would just find out who was doing a project that sounded really cool and interesting, and I would leave them a voicemail.Not everybody replied, but many people got in touch. I suppose they were perhaps charmed by my proactive outreach, even if what I said was a bit garbled. So, I got to do very interesting work from the beginning, which was a prize, not only because it was interesting, but because I was just staffed on anything at all when a lot of my colleagues were not. That was definitely one big eye-opener- you have to be clear about what youre going after, and then be a little brave in reaching out for it.You have to be clear about what youre going after, and then be a little brave in reaching out for it.WhitneyHow did you make the decision to leave McKinsey and to write your book,How to Have a Good Day, and start on the path that youre on today?CarolineIts the same question that I started asking myself early on What do I want to learn next? At McKinsey, the big questions were about building a bigger business, which is an exciting t hing to do, but it wasnt what I was most excited about. I was doing a lot of work showing clients how to use simple insights from behavioral science to improve their professional lives. After a session, they would often ask, Can you give us a book as followup reading? I would talk to them about my most cherished behavioral science books, and they would say, No, I want the practical stuff- how you change your to-do list, how you have conversations, and so on. I thought there was an opportunity to give people something that did not yet exist, a book that people could dive into at any point, depending on what they most needed that afternoon.I considered trying to do it while I was still working at McKinsey, but I thought it might be time for a new adventure. It became clear that it was possible to have an arms-length relationship as a Senior Advisor. The best of all worlds, really- still part of the family, but with the independence to pursue my new passions.This article originally app eared on Heleo.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will ersatzdarsteller your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

Looking for a long-term career Heres why clean energys a good place to start

Looking for a long-term career Heres why clean energys a good place to startLooking for a long-term career Heres why clean energys a good place to startWhat constitutes a career has changed drastically over the years.With the rise of the gig economy, especially, the days are gone where an employee would work for only a few companies over theirentire career. Gone are pensions, corporate ladders, and even the security of saving reliably for retirement. Manyprominent companiesare trying desperately to hire people as contractors and prove that they are not employees. As a result, many Americans now make their living with temporary,freelance, or part-time jobs.Over a third of Millennials, for example, report having multiple side hustles in addition to their primary jobs.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moraIn fact, very little about the gig economy or the professional culture it has inspi red proves beneficial for workers. For one thing, the companies offering this kind of work often dont ensure that their contractors have the best training to reach their full potential. By definition, their contractors are dispensable and the companies want to commoditize them. Also, given that the contractors have to pay for their own geschftliches miteinander expenses, it feels next to impossible to do something likesaving for retirementor for your kids college tuition when you have to hit next months numbers to pay rent.But the truth is, itispossibleeven in todays professional climateto find gainful, long-term, and stable employment in America today. You might just be looking in the wrong places.Therealbest place to find a fulfilling, long-term career? The clean energy sector. Heres why.Clean energy as an industry is uniquely equipped to provide stable careers because its essentially infrastructure.The clean energy industry is, in essence, an industry rooted in infrastructure. In 2018,1 out of every 23 peoplethat found new work chose the clean energy industry. That has been true since the 2008 financial crisis.Clean energy companies today are building and installing solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles. Theyre composting food and green waste, recycling, and turning waste to value. The largest employee base in the clean energy economy is making your home mora comfortable through energy efficiency. Theyre completing work thats dangerous and in which mistakes are expensive to rectify.Thats why clean energy companies want andneedto retain employees who know what theyre doing and who they can relyupon.As it happens, theyll pay good money for these kinds of employees and will commit to them long-term. Which makes sensewhy would younotwant to commit to employees by way of a stable, reliable income if youd spent a year or so training them? Youd want your workers to become more productive, smarter, and safer over 10, 20, even 30 years.Thats the prevail ing employer mindset right now in clean energy.Aside from the good wages and long-term support, clean energy jobs are dignified and dont always require direct experienceAnd those kinds of opportunities are increasingly rare in America today, especially in blue-collar or tafelgeschirr work. According toa recent reportfrom Brookings Mean hourly wages exceed national averages by 8 to 19 percent. Clean energy economy wages are also more equitable workers at lower ends of the income spectrum can earn $5 to $10 more per hour than other jobs.The clean energy sector may be the only remaining sector, in fact, where an American worker who is not an engineer or executive can obtain a $45-an-hour job with benefits.Its also one of the only sectors where you dont need direct experience to apply. Clean energy companies will take people whove just graduated with a high school diploma and train and commit to them, so long as they work hard and believe in the work.The clean energy sector is also comm itted to diversity and inclusion. There are many programs through which people who dont know someone can enter the clean energy industry. These are accessible through available certifications, orGRID alternatives, which train thousands of clean energy workers every year.To start looking for a clean energy job, tap your local vocational schoolThere youll find professionals who can both prepare you for the kind of work you want to be doingwhether thats in electricity, mechanics, or constructionas well as connect you with employers when youre ready.Another option is to begin working for a contractor. Theyll teach you the basics around installation efficiency, ventilation, or construction, for example, so that you can provide a more specific kind of value to clean energy companies when they bring you on board.The bottom line is this the clean energy sector isoverflowingwith opportunity, from renewable energy, to energy storage, to energy efficiency, to advanced vehicles and autonomous t ransportation.And its uniquely positioned to provide an opportunity that also comes withstability. Plus, tellingly, its growing.A 2017 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reportfound that the energy sector employed 6.4 million Americans and that a majority of those jobs were in renewable energy and efficiency.A career you can depend on is still obtainable. The economy of our parents generations may be a relic of the past, but the economy of the future is ours for the taking.This article first appeared on Minutes Magazine.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

Cell Phone Use in Army Basic Training

Cell Phone Use in Army Basic Training Cell Phone Use in Army Basic Training Recruits are no longer required to leave behind what has become a standard part of life for most adults during the Armys  basic military training, but these boot campâ€"bound soldiers, still arent able to use their cell phones in the same ways they did as civilians. The Armys cell phone policy for recruits is pretty tough. Changes recruits can expect in day-to-day cell phone use include most training platoons allowing only voice calls, no text, video, or photo exchanges, and you wont be allowed to have your phone with you at all times as you did in civilian life. Before heading to boot camp, erase any photographs or videos which could be considered lewd or pornographic. Your cell phone may be inspected during the initial briefing, and you may be required to sign a policy agreement. Sergeants Dictate Cell Phone Use Historically, standard Army basic training rules allowed for well-performing platoons to be rewarded with phone calls home on Sundays. To take advantage of this, recruits would have to stand in line at pay phones and call using a calling card  or call collect. Phone calls were generally limited to just a few minutes to make sure everyone in the platoon had a chance to call. Recruits in many Army basic training platoons are now allowed to use personal cell phones to call friends and families, send text messages, and update their social media status. Under the new policy, cell phones are kept by the drill sergeant  (DS) and returned to recruits for a period each Sunday if the DS feels the platoon has earned the privilege. Of course, recruits who dont have cell phones are still allowed to use the old pay phones, but the time allowed to make calls is still limited for all recruits, regardless of method, to between 10 and 30 minutes. Evolving Policies for Communications From Basic Military Training One of the reasons the military is so successful is their willingness to take full advantage of new technology. Most adult members of our society carry a cell phone these days, and post-basic military recruits are generally no exception. As a result, cases of military members in Iraq and Afghanistan using personal cell phones to pass on vital military information to their commands when conventional military communication means failed are somewhat common and have very likely saved lives. Other military services may or may not allow cell phone use during their basic training programs. As communications methods evolve, so will these policies.

How to Pass Employer Screening Requirements

How to Pass Employer Screening Requirements How to Pass Employer Screening Requirements In a buyer’s market, the right certifications and credentials can make the difference between an offer and a rejection. Here are tips to determining which ones you need. Just a year ago, a job seeker might have found he had 12 out of the 14 requirements listed for a job posting and applied. He stood a good chance of obtaining an interview and even a job offer.But the faltering economy has filled the job market with candidates who possess all 14 requirements and put the onus on the job seeker to possess the credentials required for the job.In boom times, employers might list a set of certifications on a job posting more as an aspirational list than a set of firm requirements. It was icing on the cake, said Shane Cox, manager of talent acquisition at Harvard Business Publishing, who spent more than a decade in financial services before switching to publishing.But in bad economies, when there are many qualified candidates out of work, a list of certifications is one more way for overb urdened hiring managers to filter candidates who don’t fit the ideal profile.Knowing how recruiters see certifications and credentials and knowing which ones are mandated, which ones are required, which ones are just beneficial and which ones are useless can help you guide your job search or retraining strategy.Required, “required” and optionalRecruiters look at two categories of “hard certifications”: those mandated by law to perform a job and those not required by law but considered beneficial. They also consider “soft credentials,” another term for specific work experience.During this recession, Cox said, more candidates are being judged on the basis of soft credentials - those not mandated by law but considered beneficial.Little has changed in certifications required by law, she said. In financial services, for example, job descriptions list the credentials a candidate must have to perform the job legally, and that hasn’t changed, Cox said.In less-regulated indu stries, by contrast, optional certifications show dedication to continued study and the energy to move ahead, not to mention the additional knowledge or skills involved, according to Sharon Jautz, an HR consultant specializing in online and digital media. However, those certifications once considered a plus are all but required now, Cox said.What does this mean for job seekers weighing the benefits of optional certifications? Priority One is to determine which ones carry the most weight in your industry and specialty (and which are considered all but required), Jautz said. A certification is unlikely to get you onto a short list if the skills involved don’t reflect the kind of job for which you’re applying.Soft credentialsRecruiters also consider soft credentials: your level of experience in specific tasks and responsibilities. Don’t be misled by the “soft” moniker, however; demonstrating the level of experience an employer wants for a specific task is as important as hold ing a required credential or certification.But just meeting the volume of years required isn’t enough.“It’s not how long you’ve been in a job that matters, it’s what you’ve been doing there,” Cox said. Even if the titles are similar, 10 years’ experience in a job with significantly different responsibilities from the one you’re pursuing won’t hold water with discerning employers.“Employers really are looking for practical experience; they want to know not just what was accomplished by a team you were on, they want to know what you actually did besides ‘leadership,’ ” Cox said. “They want to see executives who are willing to get their hands dirty.”And being able to play just one role doesn’t cut it anymore, either.“Everyone’s had to do more with less over the last two or three years, so they can’t afford to hire someone who does strategy really well but just does strategy,” Cox said.“A lot of times, it’s the details of the project work people did that makes a difference. It’s the detail that shows what you did on a team and how effective that was,” Cox said. “When you do that in some specific detail without coming up with a 10-page resume, peopl e will pick you up very quickly.”Therefore, your resume must describe how your leadership or strategic skills set the company up for a great result, Cox said, then describe what part of the work you did yourself to make it happen.Generalists vs. specialistsIf you don’t have the time or money to invest in hard certifications, there are ways you can beef up your soft credentials while you’re on the job. Employers want to see that you have practical experience with many aspects of a position, not just that you led the team and handed off the details, Cox said.“It’s kind of unfair in some ways,” she said. “For the last 10 years, we’ve been looking for specialists; now we’re looking for people who are specialists but also have generalist skills and management skills.”Jautz said new technologies, including the Internet, have changed the way businesses work. Employers now expect senior executives to be able to work directly with a variety of digital tools.Rather than ju st outline a Web-based marketing plan on paper and hand it off to production managers, for example, a marketing executive must demonstrate enough practical understanding of design software, search-engine optimization and other technologies to guide it to completion.“You don’t have to do all of it yourself,” Jautz said, “but you have to be up on the technical skills and be able to understand how it gets done in order to do it.”

How to Empower Your Employees

How to Empower Your Employees How to Empower Your Employees Employers and employees both have unrealistic perceptions about what empowerment is and how its supposed to work in real-time. Empowerment is the process of enabling or authorizing an individual to think, behave, take action, and control work and decision-making about their job in autonomous, independent, self-directed ways. It is the state of feeling self-empowered to take control of your destiny. Empowerment in the Workplace Empowerment is feeling in control of your work environment and that you have permission to make decisions in the areas you control and are responsible for in your job. When thinking about empowerment in human relations terms, try to avoid thinking of it as something that one individual does for another. This mindset is one of the problems organizations have with the empowerment concept. People think that someone, usually the manager, has to bestow empowerment on the people who report to them. Consequently, the reporting staff members wait for the bestowing of empowerment, and the manager asks why people wont act in empowered ways. This bestowing and waiting has led to general unhappiness, mostly undeserved, with the concept of empowerment in many organizations. Dont let that happen in your organization. Your best success will result from empowered employees taking action- not waiting for permission. How to Think of Empowerment Think of empowerment, instead, as the process of an individual enabling himself to take action and control work and decision making in autonomous ways. Empowerment comes from the individual. The organization has the responsibility to create a work environment which helps foster the ability and desire of employees to act in empowered ways. The work organization has the responsibility to remove barriers that limit the ability of staff to act in empowered ways. Think, too, of empowerment as an employee philosophy and strategy that organizations benefit from adopting. Empowered employees, who are operating within an organizations strategic framework that includes mission and goals increase the productivity and effectiveness of the workplace. They are enabled to perform their jobs more efficiently and effectively without feeling as if they are waiting for a decision, waiting for direction, and waiting for permission to act. They become more responsible and accountable when self-direction is the norm. Employee involvement and participative management are often used to mean empowerment. They are not interchangeable. Each describes a different characteristic of an effective workplace. Getting Out of the Way of Employee Empowerment Empowerment is desirable management and organizational style that enables employees to practice autonomy, control their own jobs, and use their skills and abilities to benefit both their organization and themselves. The companys management style should involve sharing the goals, sharing each employees expectations and framework with the employee, and then, getting out of the way while employees were empowered to set goals, accomplish their objectives, and determine how to do their jobs. The empowered organization operates in a team-based structure in which each development team has the authority and autonomy to determine the features and capabilities of their product. They did this in conjunction with the overall technology leadership and with serious input from the marketing team. Empowerment Examples Empowerment in the workspace can take many forms as can be seen in the following examples. Releasing Control The manager of the Human Resources department added weeks to the process of hiring new employees. They required their staff members to obtain a managers signature on every document related to hiring a new employee. Consequently, documents sat on the managers desk in a pile until he had time to review them. Hiring slowed and other departments wondered if they would ever fill that vacant desk. The time problem was brought to the managers attention and the fact that their action impeded empowered behavior. The manager fostered empowerment by telling employees they no longer needed his signature unless the hire involved extraordinary circumstances or an executive position. Frankly Stating What You Need John empowered himself to discuss the career objectives he wished to pursue with his supervisor. He told his supervisor, frankly, that if the opportunities were not available in his current company, he would move on to another company. Mary took charge of her career by fueling her sense of empowerment when she developed a career path plan, met with her manager to ask for her assistance to achieve it, and set goals for its accomplishment in her performance development plan.

5 things you can do today that will make you happier

5 things you can do today that will make you happier 5 things you can do today that will make you happier Nothing feels better than happiness, whether you find it in seeing that super cute cat meme or simply by spending time with your friends. But if you’re still feeling down in the dumps despite the joys of life, keep on reading…We know how important it is to take small steps to appreciate happiness, and so we worked with top life coach  Carole Ann Rice, to reveal the five things we all can do daily to feel that little bit happier.1. Do Something KindThe lovely karmic kick-back starter pack includes but is not limited to: buying and sending flowers unexpectedly to a co-worker or loved one, sending a thank you card to someone who has never stopped supporting you, and passing on a compliment to someone. By knowing that you brightened up someone’s day, it’ll help brighten your own, too.2. Get Your Blood PumpingAs much as we may love to share those studies that suggest we can be allergic to exercise, there are many more ways to get moving than you might suspect that can be major moo d boosters. Dancing, running, swimming, even gentle strolls have a way of boosting the spirit. Try to do so without your phone or going on Airplane mode: go offline to give yourself a chance not to think, just be.3 Relish the Small ThingsIt could be a piping hot cup of coffee before work, a bath enhanced with a lavender bomb, the tweeting of the birds, or a good book to curl up and read. Learning to appreciate the little finer things in life will make it easier to see the beauty in the macro.4. Keep a Blessing BookEach day, whether after waking up or before going to bed, jot down all the things in life you’re grateful for. It could be your friends, having a roof over your head, or even your new Amazon Prime subscription. Whatever it is, itemising it will remind you daily that there are reasons to smile.5. Just Keep SmilingSimple. Smiling is contagious, and the more your smile at others, the more they can’t help but smile back. Even if you’re on the train at 8:30 am commuting t o work, that smile you crack to a passer-by might just be the thing they needed to see.This article was originally published on YourCoffeeBreak.co.uk.

Study finds children gain more weight during the summer months

Study finds children gain more weight during the summer months Study finds children gain more weight during the summer months Weight gain is probably more closely associated with the winter months in most people’s minds. Saying nothing of all of the holidays that close out the year, and all of the snowed in binge eating, our bodies’ fat cells actually react positively to sunlight. These cells reside closest to the skin, so when they become exposed to the blue light created by the sun they begin to shrink, which prohibits them from storing extra fat. Of course, there are other factors that govern periods of intense weight gain. As a new study posits, children have a particularly rough go at sticking to healthy diet regimens in the summer months, particularly on the weekends. Ultimately, a study period spanning more than five years, proved children gain considerably more weight during this period than they do during the winter.  Follow Ladders on Flipboard!Follow Ladders’ magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and more!Household food-insecurityThe study titled, Diet Quality and Fruit, Vegetable, and Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption by Household Food Insecurity among 8- to 12-Year-Old Children during the Summer Months, presents findings that contradict conventional wisdom on the subject. It should follow that freedom from school, and warm weather equals more time engaging in physical activity. While that’s true for most children, it’s not enough to combat the excess of sugary beverages and snacks that are synonymous with a balmy day off. The researchers began with a study of a group of 218 children, between the ages of eight and 12-years-old   for six years. Half of the participants were girls, 49% were non-white children, and 25% of the children came from food-insecure households.  The U.S Department of Agriculture defines a food-Insecure household as one that consistently lacks access to foods and nutrients that promote a healthy and active life. Hunger and Health reports, “It is important to know that hunger and food in security are closely related, but distinct, concepts. Hunger refers to a personal, physical sensation of discomfort, while food insecurity refers to a lack of available financial resources for food at the level of the household.”The researchers that conducted the latest study demarcated between food-insecure households and food-secure households by examining the short form of the US Household Food Security Survey. Because children have more access to snacks and sweetened beverages, spend more time staring at screens, and being generally sedentary during the summer months, the researchers behind the paper published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics implore parents to keep a vigilant eye on their children’s eating habits, in addition to setting a good example by adhering to a balanced diet themselves. The study reports,  â€œWhole fruit and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption varied by food insecurity on weekend days during summer months. Because children t end to gain weight during summer months, efforts to increase weekend access to whole fruits and promote water consumption may contribute to weight gain prevention and healthy development, especially for children from food-insecure households.”A recent study from the London School of Economics and Political Science of over 7, 574 children determined that divorce has a major influence on household food insecurity. Often during times of divorce, families have less money for fruits and vegetables and have to work longer hours which makes them unable to prepare healthy meals for their children. The children in the study group were found to be much more likely to gain weight than other children, the difference was the most profound in children that were subject to divorce under the age of six. Unfortunately, it’s considerably more expensive to adhere to a healthy diet regimen, but there are ways to consistently obtain all the important nutrients that you and your family need on a budg et; little things like buying whole foods as  opposed to more expensive processed products, avoiding name brand products, and establishing a grocery list and making sure you stick to it every week.