Planners’ Picks
A collection of resources from CSN planning committee members worth mentioning
Let’s make this a YESvember to remember! Say yes to leveraging your strengths, to building better habits, and being more productive through giving. Let’s start the month strong so we finish the year on top!
:: Image of the Week
:: Resources on Mental Health and Self-Care
The Science, Psychology & Math of Coincidence & Bias
The Fewer Better Things podcast covers many topics on self-improvement. Life is noisy, but your brain doesn’t have to be. This quick weekly conversation offers smart, simple ways to retrain your brain to hack your productivity and communicate better. Brain-science-meets-word-nerd host Kristin Graham offers shortcuts on how to navigate our cluttered digital world so you can spend more time enjoying life offline. She’s done the research and tried-the-things, so you get the headlines and hacks without all the homework.
This episode explores the part of our brain that filters information, the odds of probability, and how our own cognitive bias makes meaning out of all the daily inputs in our mind.
Lunch Conversations with Randy and Teddy: Self Awareness & Self-Care
This episode of Lunch Conversations with Randy and Teddy features Liz Summers and the conversation is about becoming more self-aware of your strengths so you can leverage them in the workplace. She also covers focusing on self-care when necessary to recharge and
https://www.linkedin.com/video/live/urn:li:ugcPost:6988529323007717376/
“You do not need to set yourself on fire to keep others warm.” – Penny Reid
Creative Ways to Get More Out of Your Daily Walks
Breaking up the day with a walk can be amazing for our physical and mental well-being, focus and creativity. A simple walk can serve as a stress reliever, a workout, or a chance to give our brains a much-needed reset in the middle of an anxious time. We’ve been making an effort to get in our steps since we’ve been spending more time at home during COVID, and getting creative about our walking time has been a serious game-changer.
We asked our Thrive community to share the small ways they’ve been getting more out of their walks during this time. Which of these will you try?
https://thriveglobal.com/stories/how-to-get-more-from-walks-creative-well-being-tips
:: Resources on Developing Better Habits
Rich Gassen recently presented on building better habits. Here are some new resources for those who want to work on this area of their life.
Mark Manson’s Guide to Habits eBook
Author Mark Manson has a lot of self-help materials in print and online. He has a detailed piece on developing better habits available for download.
**CAUTION** Mark likes to swear a lot. If you find this offensive his work might not be for you.
https://markmanson.net/downloads/habits-ebook
“People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.” – F. M. Alexander
Gretchen Rubin Happiness and Good Habits Newsletter
Gretchen Rubin is an author with many great resources and newsletters out there. On her main site, she writes “We can accept ourselves and also expect more from ourselves. In my work, I investigate unexpected truths about everyday life—and identify ways we can take happiness from the transcendent to the concrete.” She has a email list twice a month that she sends tips and strategies for happiness and good habits. If interested in this, go to her registration page and join that list.
https://gretchen-rubin-media.myklpages.com/p/email_preferences
Gretchen’s main website: https://gretchenrubin.com/
One Common Behavior that Zaps Brain Power
There is one very common behavior that significantly zaps brain function. As incredible as the human brain is – and as you are – chances are, you’re either doing it now or will be in the next few minutes. Develop better habits of scheduling deep work and NOT multitasking after you listen to this short video by Dr. Melissa Hughes.
https://info.melissahughes.rocks/neuronugget/this-behavior-zaps-brain-power
:: Resources on Work Culture & Team Development
How does happiness lead to success?
At Friday Pulse they often refer to research that shows that happier teams are more successful. It’s most certainly true but why is it? Why does being in a positive mood lead to better business outcomes? Find out in this short article.
https://fridaypulse.com/insights/how-does-happiness-lead-to-success
“You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.” – Nightbirde
How Giving Can Make You More Productive at Work
It’s meaningful for both you and others to make time for acts of generosity, but carving out that time can feel stressful when it gets in the way of your work. What most people fail to realize is that if it’s done in the right way, giving back to others can actually make you more productive at work, and can help you more effectively manage your time.
https://thriveglobal.com/stories/productive-giving-improve-work-performance-job
“There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.” — Ralph H. Blum
Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People) – A Conversation with Amy Gallo.
Work relationships can be hard. The stress of dealing with difficult people dampens our creativity and productivity, degrades our ability to think clearly and make sound decisions, and causes us to disengage. We might lie awake at night worrying, withdraw from work, or react in ways we later regret—rolling our eyes in a meeting, snapping at colleagues, or staying silent when we should speak up. Too often we grin and bear it as if we have no choice. Or throw up our hands because one-size-fits-all solutions haven’t worked. But you can only endure so much thoughtless, irrational, or malicious behavior—there’s your sanity to consider, and your career.
Amy Gallo is an expert in conflict, communication, and workplace dynamics. She combines the latest management research with practical advice to deliver evidence-based ideas on how to improve relationships and excel at work. She is the author of the HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict, a how-to guidebook about handling conflict professionally and productively, and the forthcoming Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People).
In this interview, I speak to Amy Gallo about the archetypes of people we encounter in the workplace and how we can understand and deal with challenging workplace relationships more effectively. We discuss the principles that will help us build stronger, more resilient relationships, and look at the tools we can use to rebuild fractured ones.
https://thoughteconomics.com/amy-gallo/
:: Resources on Self-Leadership Development
Getting Unstuck #201: Learning About Life and Leadership from a Fly Fishing Guide
Life typically moves along at a fast pace for most of us. By the end of the day, activities we’ve been engaged in are often a murky blur in our rear view mirror. What, then, might be the payoff in slowing down, observing, and reading the environmental water, say, like a fly fisherman? And how do we give ourselves the ability to hold onto and make sense of those moments of pure serendipity?
Learn about leadership from the lens of a fishing guide in this entertaining and educational podcast episode with Jeff Ikler and his guest and guide, Spencer Seim.
“If an egg is broken by an outside force, life ends. If broken by an inside force, life begins. Great things always begin from the inside.” – Jim Kwik
Why Self-Leadership Is The Most Important Leadership
Leaders will ultimately succeed or fail based on their ability to effectively navigate their most important, complex, and relational situations. These are the harder situations that leaders regularly encounter where there is no one right answer and successfully engaging others is critical for success.
Ongoing leadership success is mostly determined by one’s ability to develop advanced Self-Leadership skills which enable one to better navigate important, complex, and relational situations.