Is Time on Your Side or Are You Living on Borrowed Time?
What do you do with extra time? Just what IS extra time, anyway? This year is a leap year, meaning we have extra time – an entire extra day of time – to get things done. The reason we get that extra day is that the earth’s orbit interval is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds. The extra quarter-days are lumped together and inserted into February, the year’s shortest month, every four years.
Time passes, yet science can’t define exactly what time is. Isaac Newton thought that time was a constant, unvarying unit and proved it by comparing it to the speed of light, which he believed could vary. Albert Einstein put forth the idea that the speed of light is a constant, which he proved by also mathematically proving that time is a variable, based on gravity. Researchers at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Vienna have proven that time can be slowed down, sped up, and even reversed in a quantum mechanics system.
We experience our lives inside our heads as past...
The Many Hats of Leadership
Today let’s talk about leaders, and the leader that lives inside each of us. It’s easy to think about leaders as those who are somehow above our level – the president of your division, the president of your company, the president of the United States – and those are all leaders.
Did you know that you are a leader?
Today, let’s talk about what makes a good leader, and where leaders show up in our lives. Take a look at these examples:
- Have you ever sat behind someone at a red light and when the light turned green, they started driving? That’s leadership skills right there. A good leader pays attention to the conditions around them and reacts appropriately at the right time. If you don’t believe that taking off when the light turns green is showing leadership, think about how you feel when the person in front of you fails to go when the light turns green. Do you get irritated? Wonder if they’re on their phone? Clearly, they aren’t paying attention to conditions that affect themselves ...
Are You Celebrating Today?
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, which can only mean one thing – today is Galentine’s Day! What? You’ve never heard of it? Read on…
Galentine’s Day became a thing in 2010, when an episode of the television series Parks and Recreation centered around the deputy director, Leslie Knope, throwing a Galentine’s Day celebration for her girlfriends. The party featured waffles, laughter, and an abundance of gift-giving, and suddenly women all over America and around the world were planning their own Galentine’s Day celebrations. A quick search of “Galentine’s Day” on your favorite search engine returns hundreds of branded gifts, games, clothing, accessories, party favors, spa package deals – well, you get the idea, right? You know that when we spend a bunch of time, energy, and money on it, Galentine’s Day is real. It’s a real celebration of just how important female friendships are.
In her documentary, Life is But a Dream, Beyonce says, “I love my husband, but it is nothing like a conversation ...
In Honor of Spunky Old Broads
Do you equate age with wisdom? Many people do, and there’s science to back it up. While youth is revered in our culture, wisdom is, too, and when people are looking for advice, it’s their aging friends and colleagues they turn to. It is true that memory functions can fade with age, and it's also true that the frontal lobe, where logic, reasoning, and problem-solving happen, continues to develop.
As we age, we develop more emotional intelligence. That means older people generally are more concerned with the wellbeing of others, make significantly better choices and decisions, and process information and thoughts more holistically, so take in multiple perspectives and can share them more clearly.
Doesn’t that sound like someone you’d go to for advice, counsel, and coaching?
Last Wednesday was Spunky Old Broads Day, and February is Spunky Old Broads Month. Chances are, you know a spunky old broad or two, and maybe you even are one. I’m not sure when it happened, but I’ve discovered I’m...
How to Save Yourself - Mind, Body, and Soul
One twelfth of the year is over. Done. Finished. How much of your comp time, PTO, and vacation time did you take this month? Have you thought about how you’ll use your vacation time this year? And have you calendared it and maybe even planned it down to the itinerary and ticketing?
America is a young country. If you’ve ever been to Europe or Asia, you’ll understand just how young America is. The continent isn’t young and there have been civilizations and people here far longer than there has been an American form of government here – I’m talking about the government and customs. America is young and was founded largely on the Puritan ethos of education for all, hard work, and sacrifice. While the Puritans era in the US ended by 1740, the ethos still drives many people today.
And too often, what ends up being sacrificed by most – yes, MOST – Americans is their paid time off.
Why is it bad to be all work, no play? Let me count the reasons for you:
- Physical and mental health suffers ...
A Declaration of Victory for Analog
When was the last time you wrote a letter? Not typed a Word doc letter, not talked-to-texted a letter – when was the last time you put pen to paper and wrote?
OK, so if you still send actual, physical holiday cards, you’re winning on this one!
Today is National Handwriting Day, a “holiday” that began in 1977. You won’t be surprised to learn that this holiday was devised by the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association as a way to remind people to use more pens, pencils, and writing papers. Today’s date was chosen because it’s the birthday of John Hancock, the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence and the one who gave us that famous and flamboyant signature.
None of that is the reason you’re reading about this “holiday” here. National Handwriting Day is a springboard into your brain – specifically, your brain on analog, not digital.
A group of researchers at the University of Tokyo in Japan published research in 2021 that showed that our brains retain what we write...
Do You Believe in Your Dream?
To start the new year off on the right foot, I attended a presentation about setting intentions and committing to them. Around the halfway point, when he had walked us through a couple of exercises, the speaker asked us to say aloud, “I am committed to my goals.” Throats opened and the room rang with loud, happy voices. Then he asked us to say, “I believe in my ability to achieve my goals.”
Totally different story. The response was more of a group mumble as people said words about themselves that they didn’t believe. The speaker then mentioned the late MLK Jr., asking us if social change would have happened had his level of commitment in the “I Have a Dream” speech been the same as what we just demonstrated.
The point was made – in order to lead and effect change, in order to achieve our own personal goals, and in order to be believed when we speak, we need to embody commitment. It can be tough to believe in ourselves – we’ve spent a lifetime looking for external validation, so makin...
Do You Need Further Proof of the Power of Pets?
Do you have a pet? Do you know how influential you are, you pet-owner, you?
As people spent more time with their pets during the pandemic lockdown, and as those without pets realized the value of non-human companionship, all categories of pet purchases – food, veterinary care, training, boarding, you name it – have had booming bottom-line increases. The pet industry, which encompasses all things that pets need, is exploding financially. What is now a nearly $250 billion industry is projected to be pushing $370 billion in just six years.
You, with your care and concern for your pet or maybe multiple pets, are driving that. Meanwhile, your unsuspecting pet is doing what pets have always done – providing companionship to the extent you allow, being as good as you’ve helped them learn how to be (at least they’re good most of the time) and becoming a bigger line-item in your monthly budget as prices of everything goes up. While some people are making the difficult decision to surrender th...
New Year's Resolutions and How to Keep Them
Do you even know what day of the week it is? This year, at least Christmas and New Year’s Day both fell on Mondays, so maybe they just showed up as regular three-day holiday weekends for you.
If you have a job that requires staffing 24/7/365, like first responders, health care workers, transportation industry, the media, etc., then maybe you even worked on one or both of the last two Mondays. If so, thank you! With three decades in major market radio, I know how it feels to be away from your family and friends on a major holiday.
Did you do the usual New Year’s resolution thing? Did you get up and go to the gym this morning, down a protein shake instead of a drive-through breakfast, and you’re on track to be a non-smoking vegan rocket scientist by this Thursday?
Yeah…I’ve put that kind of pressure on myself before, too.
Goals are wonderful – they keep us focused and moving forward. Behavior changes are often attempted this time of year in pursuit of a goal, AKA New Year’s resolutio...
Do You Want a Little Whine With That?
In the majority of homes in North America, yesterday was celebrated with exchanged gifts, special holiday foods, and some extended-family togetherness. And in many of those homes, there were people who felt left out, under-appreciated, and just plain unhappy about some aspects of what they experienced.
That’s why today is National Whiner’s Day. Established in 1986, National Whiner’s Day isn’t the official day to complain, it’s a reminder that no matter what less-than-optimal situation is happening, there are always positive things to focus on. Before you label me a hopeless Pollyanna and stop reading, please read this:
Nobody likes a chronic whiner. Nobody.
People love whiners. People marry whiners. People create offspring and build lives with chronic whiners. And yet nobody likes a whiner. Chronic whiners are exhausting to be around. Nothing is ever right, good enough, or fair. They’ll ask for your advice and not heed it. They’ll get in a jam, ask for your help, learn nothing, and ...
