Reframing a situation -- often involving you getting negative feedback -- can be a good "mental tourniquet to the negative emotions, pressure and anxiety that threaten your performance," but stretching to achieve a motivational shift will lead you to better success, writes Susan Fowler, CEO of Mojo Moments. Fowler explains how to achieve the shift and cautions against ending up with a suboptimal, rather than optimal, game plan. Full Story: SmartBrief/Leadership (1/24)
Does your job pass the bed test? When considering whether it's time to change jobs, ask yourself how easy it is to get out of bed in the morning."If it takes all of your willpower to simply muster the determination to make breakfast and get dressed, there's a high probability your job is impacting your wellbeing more than you realize," writes John Anderer. Full Story: Ladders (1/24)
As the saying goes, "There's no time like the present," and tackling what needs to be done at this moment can provide motivation to get more done, whether it's answering emails, having a needed conversation, giving compliments or starting a new diet or exercise regimen, writes Jim VandeHei, a co-founder and CEO of Axios. "If you plunge in, you realize instantly if you need course correction or follow-up, instead of pushing the distraction or disruption down the road," VandeHei writes. Full Story: Axios (1/18)
Hire Smart
Can you be a certified critical thinker? Microcredentials on a resume can include hard skills as well as soft skills. A critical thinking credential, for instance, shows mastery and application of a new skill, and ways and employer can measure critical thinking include game-based learning and simulations. Full Story: Kiplinger (1/24)
The Landscape
US firms may be losing trillions via unhappy workers Unhappy workers cost US firms almost $2 trillion in productivity losses over the past year, according to Gallup research. Attributed to a feeling of detachment after the COVID-19 pandemic, just one-third of survey respondents reported feeling engaged at work and about half reported putting minimum effort into their jobs. Full Story: Bloomberg (1/23)
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How to properly delegate Delegation starts with finding the repetitive tasks that are eating up your time by measuring these tasks weekly or monthly, writes venture capitalist Tomasz Tunguz. "Delegation varies by individual maturity and skill set," Tunguz writes, and you want to "use metrics to judge the effectiveness of the workflow." Full Story: Tomasz Tunguz (1/24)
When Apple unveiled what would become its flagship computer 40 years ago, it was called a Macintosh. At some point, the name was shortened to Mac because ... well ... MacintoshBook Air Pro doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. This article looks at how the launch of the Macintosh changed the course of personal computing. Full Story: The Verge (1/24)
SmartBreak: Question of the Day
The rover Spirit landed on Mars on Jan. 4, 2004, and on Jan. 25 another one landed. What was this rover named?