Doing good is good for you. One of the best ways to turn a bad day around is to do something for someone else. This is not just feel-good self-help advice – it is scientifically proven. A growing body of research shows the mental and physical benefits of performing acts of kindness.
Experts call this the “helper’s high.” By taking action in our daily lives, we not only help solve some of the world’s biggest challenges, but we can boost our own well-being. In one study, people who were asked to perform daily acts of kindness for ten days experienced significant boosts in happiness.
The benefits of doing things for others are both immediate and enduring. A short term “dose” of positive emotion can lead to lasting change by broadening mindsets and creating self-sustaining positivity.
Take action today. Inspire yourself. Inspire others. What are you waiting for?
In 2009, Captain Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger, successfully landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the icy Hudson River after the engines failed. All of the passengers and crew survived. The incident is known as “The Miracle on the Hudson.”
The word “miracle” suggests divine intervention but Sullenberger’s decidedly grounded mindset during the emergency underscores the value of earthly experience and skill. Sullenberger is certainly a hero but it was more than heroism that enabled him to do what he did. Research helps explain how Sullenberger rose to the challenge.
How pilots respond to a stressful situation was the subject of a recent study of commercial airline pilots in a flight simulator exercise. Two simple questions predicted how the pilots would react:
“How demanding do you expect the task to be?”
“How able are you to cope with the demands of the task?”
The pilots scored their answer to each question on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 6 (extremely). The difference between the two provided a single measure of whether the pilots interpreted the forthcoming emergency as a challenge (when coping ability outweighs demands) or a threat (coping ability insufficient for the demands).
The important finding was that this single measure accurately predicted how well the pilots subsequently coped with the engine failure during the flight simulation. Pilots who rated the upcoming situation as more of a threat tended to perform worse than those who rated it more as a challenge.
In other words, those who felt up to the challenge did better.
What the pilots paid attention to during the emergency was particularly important. The pilots who felt threatened during the crisis were looking in the wrong places whereas those who felt up to the task focused on the right controls.
The study has implications for pilot training and beyond the cockpit. Approaching an obstacle or crisis with both competence and confidence can make a sizeable difference in how you weather a storm.
There’s nothing worse than being late: the frantic rush to get there, the shame when you arrive, the excuses, fumbling to recover your grace and dignity.
Here are some tips and tricks to be on time:
1. Know your Inner clock
Why are you always late? Is it the commute, losing track of time while you eat cereal staring at the news, the last minute dog walk? Figure out the causes and tweak your schedule accordingly: check the traffic before you leave, don’t watch the news, walk the dog as soon as you get up rather than right before you shoot out the door.
Are you a morning person? Be realistic; if you’re not a morning person try scheduling meetings and appointments for the afternoon.
Know how long things really take. Make a log of everything you do and how long it takes. You’d be surprised, some of the most trivial tasks take much longer than we think, like folding laundry or doing the dishes.
2. Trick Time
Set your clock a few minutes earlier.
Schedule being early. If your appointment is at 1pm, put it in your calendar as 12:45. Planning on being early leaves time for any last minute things that need doing, including checking your teeth for spinach and gathering yourself for that meeting or job interview.
3. Save time and Sanity in the AM
Wake up earlier. It’s worth it. There’s no worse way to start the day than in a panicked rush.
Prep the night before. Make your lunch and lay out your outfit.
Organize your exit. Keys, check. Wallet, check. Jacket, check. Don’t waste time loosing them, designate a spot near your door and always leave them there.
4. And Finally:
Just say no. Anyone would rather a rain check than waiting for an hour. It’s okay to say no to friends and social engagements. You get annoyed when a friend is tardy; imagine how annoyed they get when they’re waiting for you.
I’ve been on a calendar, but I’ve never been on time.
It’s one thing to achieve mastery. It is quite another to be able to perform under pressure. Psychologist Sian Beilock,author of Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting it Right When You Have To, defines choking as suboptimal performance, not just poor performance.
It’s a performance that is inferior to what you can do and have done in the past and occurs when you feel pressure to get everything right.
The most painful part about choking is that you know you can and have done better.
Choking can occur regardless of the number of hours spent practicing. Examples in sports abound. Golfer Greg Norman painfully choked at the 1996 US Masters. Entering the final round he had a six-stroke lead over Nick Faldo and then blew it. Snowboarding champion Shaun White famously missed winning gold at the 2014 Olympic winter games.
Why does the brain sabotage performance just when it matters most? Beilock believes that overthinking the situation is the problem. She calls it paralysis by analysis. Paralysis by analysis occurs when we try too hard to control every little thing. This over-attention to detail interferes with the fluidity and flow of well-rehearsed skills and ultimately undermines the ability to do something that would normally be relatively easy.
You don’t need to be a star athlete to experience choking. It can happen to any of us at key moments. A student who fails even though she was prepared for a test, an entrepreneur who freezes while presenting to potential investors, a well-qualified applicant who blows a key interview.
Try the following tricks to help you stay at the top of your game:
1. Say Om
Meditating before the big event calms the mind, reduces anxiety and increases cognitive horsepower.
2. Practice Under Pressure
Train under conditions that simulate the stress of the actual event. This will mentally prepare you for the real deal
3. Have a “Go-To” Mantra
For golfers, a simple thought like “Smooth” or “Nice and Easy” just before hitting the ball can do the trick.
4. Whistle While you Work
According to Beilock:
If the tasks are automatic and you have done them a thousand times in the past, a mild distraction such as whistling can help them run off more smoothly under pressure.
5. Put Pen to Paper
Taking a few minutes to write down your worries before a test or presentation will help you stay focused on the topic and reduce forgetfulness due to stress.
Find a smart roommate. A Dartmouth studyshows that a studious roommate’s habits have a positive effect on the less studious roommate’s grades. It’s the simplest way to boost GPA.
2. Wear the right outfit
Yes, clothes matter. Studies show a distinct relationship between how we dress, behave and perform.Students feel more serious when they dress up (think a lab coat or a suit) and are more attentive than when wearing sweatpants.
Skip the big lecture class and take a seminar instead. Research suggests that students listening passively learn less. Engaged discussionin a smaller seminar setting facilitates better processing of information.
5. Walk to Class
Studies indicate that walking increases creative thinking, problem-solving and drawing parallels between complex ideas. Fresh air coupled with exercise sharpens focus and may decrease symptoms of ADHD.
6. Get A Part-Time Job
Employment boosts self-confidence, sense of efficacy and facilitates a greater ability to manage time. Students with less time use that time better.
7. Debunk the “Dumb Jock” Myth
Physical fitness correlates with higher test scores. Get fit, or better yet, join a team.
8. Skip the Laptop
Writing by hand activates more regions of the brain than typing, and may even foster better memory recall. Computersin lectures reduce comprehension not just for the student using the computer, but everyone around them.
9. Eat Smart
Yogurt, vegetables, chocolate, wine, and coffee have all been shown to improve memory. Foods rich in sodium, sugar and saturated fatincrease stress, depression, and negatively affect cognitive ability and inhibit memory.
10. Ask Great Questions
Asking questions is about cultivating genuine curiosity, taking ownership of the material and seeing connections and possibilities that may not be obvious. Contrary to what many believe, asking questions makes you look smartertoo.
There is a connection between posture and cognition. A positive learning state, including good posture, is linked with better memory retention and more efficient learning. Vertical studying – sitting at a desk – is superior to horizontal learning – i.e. in bed.
Students whovisit art museumsexhibit greater critical thinking skills, higher levels of social tolerance as well as increased social empathy. Looking at art also decreases stress.
15. Mono-task
Focus on one task at a time. That means turning your phone off or leaving it at home when you head to the library or class. Studiesshow that when people turn off email, they are moreproductiveand focused.
16. Study Smart
Forget highlighting, underlining, rereading and summarizing. Studiesshow they are not efficient methods of learning. Instead, practice active recall, a research-proven method to master material. It entails actively recalling information from memory and self-testing.
17. Time Chunk
For studying, quality not quantity matters. Block out periods of time to focus. Research showstwenty-five-minute work blockswork well.
18. Have a Growth Mindset
Intelligence isn’t fixed. Those who believe that talent can be cultivatedand that improvement is the result of effort and hard work tend to achieve more.
Studies indicate that taking a break and reflecting on one’s performance increases productivity.In a study, those who took a short break to consider what they had accomplished performed better on brain teasers than those who plowed through their tasks with no break and no reflection.
The most successful people know learning isn’t about just being in school, it is a life long process. As Henry Ford remarked, it may just be the fountain of youth:
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
The media, physicians, and respected authorities on health and wellness wag their well-meaning fingers telling us to take it easy. They inform us that we need to relax more in order to save ourselves from burnout. It is the difference, they claim, between being driven and driven to death. But is it?
Relaxing may be overrated. Research consistently shows there is a link between longevity and staying busy. Dan Buettner studies people who live well into their 100s. In addition to leading active lives and having strong community ties, meaningful work is a common theme that emerges in those who live into their triple digits. For these centenarians, retirement isn’t an option.
Individuals who stayed busiest stayed healthiest. Often, those who were fully involved in their work (and worked the hardest) lived the longest. It was not those who took a lackadaisical approach to life who thrived. On the contrary, those who persisted in their education, in their careers, and their marriages and community groups were the ones who stayed healthy and lived long.
Mastery and achievement all require a certain degree of hard work and yes, stress. As Hans Selye, who laid the foundation for stress science in the 1930s believed, stress is in fact the “salt of life,” and goes hand-in-hand with achievement and perseverance. Perhaps the key to avoiding burnout isn’t relaxing more, it is keeping things in perspective, having a connected existence and finding meaning in our lives and in what we do.
It’s how you manage hard work and the stress that accompanies it that matters. Certainly finding ways to unwind and relax is important—all I am saying is that relaxing as an end goal is overrated. Self-reflection, connecting with one’s self and loved ones, doing something that’s meaningful to others and not just ourselves matters most.
A recent article in the Wall Street Journalshowed an interesting graph highlighting the fact that US presidents, on average, live longer than other men of their time “despite the stress of the job.” I would argue that perhaps it is because of the stress of their job.
Given the choice of a relaxing life or a meaningful one, choose a meaningful one.
