Personal Growth: Stop “Trying” to be Happy (Hint: Just Get Rid of Your Angst)
It sure has been a good few decades for happiness. Before, say, the ‘70s, happiness just wasn’t on the radar screens of most people nor had it been a part of the cultural vocabulary in America. Of course, happiness did merit a mention in our Constitution (“life, liberty and the pursuit of…”), so it has […]
Read MorePersonal Growth: The Joys of “Bromance”
I have a confession: I’m having a “bromance.” You may know the term from the movie I Love You, Man; it describes a close, though non-sexual relationship between two men. Yes, my wife knows about and she supports it. My bromance was certainly unexpected. In fact, he (I’ll call him Drew) is probably my first […]
Read MoreParenting: Children’s Immersion in Technology is “Shocking”
What do smoke signals, drums, books, the telegraph, telephone, fax, mobile phones, and the Internet have in common? They have incrementally enabled us to connect with more people and access more information in more rapid, easy, and less costly ways. Each advancement changed our lives in ways manifest and subtle, direct and indirect, predictable and […]
Read MoreLatest News: Interview about Raising Generation Tech on Mom Talk Radio
I was recently interviewed by Mom Talk Radio about my latest parenting book, Raising Generation Tech: Preparing Your Children for a Media-fueled World. You can listen to it here.
Read MoreDeveloping Competitive Routines
Many sports, including baseball, football, tennis golf, track and field, and many others, are comprised of a series of many short performances with breaks of various lengths in between. For these sports, whether between at-bats in baseball, downs in football, or points in tennis, being well-prepared for the first performance is not enough. Competitive routines can be invaluable in ensuring that you are prepared for every performances within a competition. One thing that I found that separates the great athletes from the good ones is their ability to be consistently ready for every performance. By being totally prepared for every performance, you can be sure that you won’t give your opponents “free points” because you weren’t ready. The time between performances is essential to consistent competitive performance. What you think, feel, and do between performances often dictates how you perform. You must take control of the time between performances to be sure that you’re totally prepared. I use a four-step competitive routine called the Four R’s. The first R is rest. Immediately after the conclusion of the previous performance, take several slow, deep breaths and let your muscles relax. This is especially important after a long or demanding performance in which you become fatigued and out of breath. It’s also important near the end of a long competition in which you’re tired and need to recover as much as possible to be ready for the next performance. Deep breathing and relaxing also help you center yourself and better prepare you for the next R.
Read More8 Dimensions of Crisis Mastery
My work in the business world, that has included helping companies survive crises of all sorts, has revealed eight dimensions that distinguish those who respond well to a crisis from those who don’t. Your ability to reject the crisis mentality and cultivate an opportunity psychology depends on your developing these essential capabilities. Emotions. Emotions are the most primitive and visceral part of human functioning, emanating from the lower brain long before the higher-order cerebral cortex ever began to assert itself into our lives. Making the transition from the crisis instinct to an opportunity psychology begins with emotions. In other words, when faced with fear, frustration, anger, or despair, you have to keep from being overwhelmed by these negative emotions before you can do anything positive. Easier said than done, of course. Do you feel threatened or challenged by the crisis? Are you stressed or calm? And do you feel like a victim or a master in the face of the crisis? Mindset. Once you have your emotions under control, your mindset is the next step in changing a crisis mentality into an opportunity psychology. Unfortunately, a crisis, and activation of the primitive brain, tends to turn a mindset immediately and powerfully negative, which can then create a destructive self-fulfilling torrent. Do you interpret the situation as a crisis or an opportunity? Are you despairing or do you have hope? Is your thinking rigid or agile?
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