 |
|
|
|||||
When it comes to how optimistic we are as a country, the glass is more than half full. According to a recent Marist Institute for Public Opinion poll, 56% of Americans feel optimistic about 2025, while 43% are pessimistic. You may feel like optimism and pessimism is an inborn personality trait, but which side you fall on is actually a choice. While it sounds surprising, Sumit Paul-Choudhury, author of The Bright Side: How Optimists Change the World and How You Can Be One, consciously decided to be an optimist after the death of his first wife. It was initially black humor, he explains. I was saying, Things are really grim right now, but I’ve decided that they’re going to be better, and I’m going to act as though they’re going to be better. Unknowingly, Paul-Choudhury started doing things that nurture and direct optimism, and it worked. It was moving me towards a brighter future than the one I had at the moment, he says. I realized I’d always been an optimist. I’d always tended to assume that things would work out well for me, but I thought of it as a personality trait that didn’t really mean anything. I came to the conclusion that optimism is quite powerful in the way that I was responding to my situation. Why Optimism is Important Humans as well as the animal kingdom are set by default to be optimistic. Paul-Choudhury says there are evolutionary arguments as to why optimism is important. The most compelling is because we don’t always have the information we need. We need something to prompt us to act, he says. Doing nothing from an evolutionary sense is not usually a path to success. You’re more likely to find solutions to your problems or new opportunities if you act. There are varying levels of optimism, though, and people who are more optimistic are likely to search for ideas that will change the world, says Paul-Choudhury. They are more likely to persevere in trying to realize those ideas, he says. Optimists tend to cope better with setbacks. They tend to be a bit more tenacious in pursuit of whatever the goal is. Optimists also have social clout. Youre going to hang out with somebody who tells you that things are good or are going to get better, rather than someone who’s going to say the opposite, says Paul-Choudhury. That means that optimists can also accrue considerable social and economic power. The combination of a readiness for new ideas, the drive to pursue them, and the ability to draw others to your cause adds up to a formula for creating change, says Paul-Choudhury. How to Become More Optimistic Optimism can be learned, says Paul-Choudhury. One step is looking at how you frame failure. An optimist, for example, explains away failure by citing temporary external factors unrelated to their own ability or personality and reasons that are not likely to be repeated. A pessimist, on the other hand, will point to their own aptitude and determine they have failed before they even began. For example, Paul-Choudhury failed his driving test and chalked it up to a technicality and the persnickety personality of the inspector. A friend also failed her test, but she took a pessimistic stance, deciding that she was a bad driver. Another way to cultivate optimism is to practice a best-possible-self exercise, invented by Laura King, a professor of psychology at the University of Missouri. Spend 15 minutes a day writing about the version of you in the future where everything has gone right. Then spend five minutes imagining the future. Paul-Choudhury realized he had inadvertently stumbled upon this approach during his period of mourning. He wrote daily blog posts, describing a better future and attempting to explain what had happened. They were all informed by the desire to work out who I could be now that such a large part of my life had suddenly been rendered irrelevant, he says, adding that he continues to use this exercise when he feels hes at a crossroads and needs a reminder to be optimistic. The downsides of optimism Too much optimism, however, can backfire, and Paul-Choudhury offers some cautions. You can become overconfident about goals that are not achievable, for example. You can become very selective about your use of information. Overconfidence can also skew your judgment, because it’s strongly tied up with the human urge to pay attention to information that suits your worldview. If things are not going right, you may not notice, because you’re too busy collecting the pieces of information that tell you that they’re going well, says Paul-Choudhury. And being overly optimistic can prompt you to pick too many goals, because you see opportunity everywhere. Thats called goal conflict, says Paul-Choudhury. You don’t pick one thing to focus on and stick with, or you try to do too many things at once. That usually leads to an inability to manage all or any one of them. A healthy level of optimism can better your life. Once you’re conscious that you are optimistic, direct it to the things that you want to change. Being able to always find the bright side can be a welcome safe harbor when life brings you a storm.
Category:
E-Commerce
This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here. Books offer a compelling, slower alternative to the onslaught of negative news. With terrific new free tools, its increasingly easy to access print, digital, and audio books. Read on for my favorite book sites and apps. The heavy-hitters Libby lends out free e-books and audiobooks through libraries in 78 countries. It works for 90% of U.S. libraries. You can search for and check out nearly anything, instantly, for free, on any device. Audiobooks: Check out and listen to audiobooks at any speed. You may not need to pay for an Audible subscription. Definitions: Click on any word in an e-book youre reading in Libby for its definition or to see where else that name or phrase appears. Highlight: Save memorable passages for your notes. Multiple cards: You can use multiple library cards within a single Libby account. That helps you check which library has the shortest waiting list for a book in high demand. (See where you can get non-resident library cards). Limitation: Libby is digital-onlyyou cant use it for physical books. That requires a separate app or site, like the NYPL app in New York. Kanopy provides free access to top-notch feature films and documentaries. I log in with my library card. Watch on the Web, iOS or Android, or on a SmartTV app like Google TV, Roku, or Amazon Fire TV. Limitation: libraries limit the number of videos you can watch monthly. Hoopla is an alternative to Libby that works with 3,900 library systems in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Like Libby it hosts audiobooks and e-books, but also bundles in comics, movies, TV shows, magazines, and music. Use Hoopla to read, watch or listen from the Web or on a mobile device. I recently discovered its free Bingepasses, which allow instant access to a collection of magazines or videos for a week. World Cat tells you which of 10,000 global libraries near you have a particular book. It works in multiple languages. Search for books in print, e-book, braille, audio, or other formats. Find your next read Most Recommended Books shows you a list of smart people. Pick an expert or celeb you like and see which books they recommend, along with brief quotes on why they like each book. Check Goodbooks.io and ReadThisTwice for more expert/celeb book picks. Whichbooks World Map offers a creative way to find a book about any part of the world. Select a country and see books set in that region. Where to find book recs is a nice list from a Writing About Reading post. I also like the eclectic recommendations in the New York Times Read Like the Wind newsletter. BookClubs lets you find a book group near you or organize your own. Fable hosts book clubs & communities for sharing what youre reading. Find free and cheap books Project Gutenberg has more than 75,000 free e-books and audiobooks. No registration required. See the top 100 list for free reading inspiration. The Internet Archive has searchable e-books and a free library collection. Bookbub is handy for bargain hunters. It shows discounted and free e-books. Available as a newsletter or check the site for deals. Support Independent booksellers Alibris has 200 million titles from indy booksellers around the world. Powells is the worlds largest independent bookstore. Bookfinder lets you search online to find any book at the cheapest price. Indiebound helps you find a nearby real-world indy bookstore. Abebooks has great deals from independents. Check its bargain books + collections. Caveat: Amazon has owned it since 2008. Tertulia is a well-designed online co-op bookshop owned by readers. Make your own book list Listy is free. Its easy to look up & add books, and later export your list. (See my prior post about it). LibraryThing is free and easy for cataloging books & tracking reading. Free Notion book tracking template lets you customize a collection page. Free Airtable book list template & my Airtable exmple: 30 authors I like. Find great childrens books Sora is a digital library for kids. Schools make e-books and audiobooks available on the app. It works well with graphic novels, picture books, as well as comic books and textbooks. (We also use Libby for kids books). Epic is another popular kids e-book app. Its fun to use, but be aware that it leans into gamification and extrinsic motivationusing points and streaks to entice kids to repeatedly open the app. Kanopy has a great kids section with video versions of books by Eric Carle, Mo Willems and other great authors to spark an interest in reading. It also has math and science lessons. This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here.
Category:
E-Commerce
Middle managers have had a hard go of it over the past five years. There was the upheaval of the pandemic, followed by ongoing changes in the workplace as companies adjusted to remote work and then, in many cases, eventually brought employees back into the office. Amid all these fluctuations, managers have been tasked with mitigating low morale, parrying employee discontent, and juggling their mounting responsibilities, especially as recurring layoffs thin their ranks. It doesnt seem like the challenges middle managers are facing will disappear anytime soon, which could lead to high rates of turnover in the very near future. And its also not clear whether a new generation of workers is readyor willingto take their place if managers leave their posts. In surveys, Gen Z workers have indicated they have little interest in middle management and that high rates of anxiety might keep them from taking on those jobs. As managers struggle, Gen Z sees the toll of the job and backs away, leaving fewer employees to rise into management roles, writes entrepreneur Jan Bruce. This puts more pressure on remaining managers. Bruce argues that many companies could be facing a manager crash this year that would have far-reaching effects, particularly if younger employees dont want to step into those roles. But there are some things employers can and should do to help support their current middle managers, as well as those who might take their place in the future. Invest in programs that support middle managers One thing leaders can do is evaluate psychosocial risk, according to Bruce, which can identify some of the biggest stressors facing managers at the company. That can include everything from tight deadlines to workplace conflict or excessive workloads. Managers are also often expected to oversee day-to-day tasks while also taking on more strategic, long-term projects. Being explicit about mental health resources and other workplace benefits can also be an important aspect of supporting middle managers, who often report feeling invisible and underappreciated. Mandatory vacations or disconnect periods can help alleviate some of the burnout and stress that managers are likely feeling. Beyond that, however, they also need adequate support from their higher-ups. Making sure managers have consistent, supportive check-ins with their own supervisors can help reduce isolation, Bruce writes. Train the next generation of managers In order to make middle management more appealing, companies also need to think about how to cultivate a new crop of workers who are equipped to step into those roles. Bruce notes that it is important to focus on some of the skills that are most valuable in managers and perhaps underdeveloped among Gen Z employees. We have found the employees most skilled in handling change and challengethe realities that managers deal with dailyhave the highest levels of those very skills: emotion control, stress management, engagement, and positivity, Bruce says. These are the specific, actionable areas to focus Gen Z training efforts on in order to improve their ability to handle management demands. What managers can do If youre a manager looking for guidance, there are also steps you can take to better manage your workload and schedule. To avoid toggling between different tasks, management expert Lia Garvin recommends scheduling similar meetings on the same day. When our calendar looks like Swiss cheese, we can get in the habit of slotting in meetings whenever we have a free moment, but this reinforces the overwhelm of having to operate at so many different levels in one day, she writes. Since managers are often hopping from meeting to meeting, it can be difficult to accommodate more strategic work or long-term projects. It can help to pencil that work into your schedule instead of assuming youll be able to carve out time in your day. Senior leaders can also help address this pain point by limiting meetings to certain days. Instead of fitting work in where you can, plan for it, Garvin says. Find and schedule one to two hours every week for project time, during working hours, that you dont schedule over. Perhaps the most important strategy managers can adopt, however, is to delegate more and spend less time involved in the details of projects that dont require close attention. Think of this as a way to give your employees new opportunities while also freeing up time in your dayand hopefully making your job the slightest bit easier. Ultimately, the middle managers role is to empower their teams to grow, Garvin adds. Its impossible to do this when were too stuck in all the details and barely able to come up for air.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||