April 2017 – Melissa Williams-Gurian

27Apr 2017 by melissa No Comments

To Reach Goals, Accentuate the Positive

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A few months ago I wrote about expert tricks for helping stick to our goals. Now that we’re several months into the year, some of us may be feeling those New Year’s Resolutions slipping through our fingers. If that’s happening for you, I’ve found one more trick that just may help. Recent studies conducted by University of Chicago behavioral science researchers Kaitlin Woolley and Ayelet Fishbach suggest another way to get yourself to keep working towards your goal: enjoyment. The researchers tracked participants who had set goals—such as advancement in career or improved health—and followed up after two months to learn how successful those people were staying the course. They asked questions such as how much enjoyment the individuals had while pursuing their goal—did they have any fun in the spin class?…

Great Leadership Requires These Three Things

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1. Great leadership requires immense vulnerability. The etymology of the word vulnerable lies in a Latin word, vulnus, which means “to wound.” To be vulnerable is to allow yourself to be open to the possibility that you’ll be touched by the slings and arrows of life, and might not come out of every day without some scrapes and scratches—mostly of the emotional or intellectual kind, I hope. Just as in love, athletic feats, and great works of art, real success as a leader does not come without taking risks. 2. Great leadership requires honest conversations. Whether that is a conversation that lets someone know you're unhappy, or one that offers praise for great work, leaders bring their thoughts out into the world, take conversational risks, and take the time to connect…

How Nature Can Help Us Work Better

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Doing our best at work takes a lot of effort. But I recently learned that there's also a way to become better at work tasks like problem-solving and decision-making that doesn’t actually take much effort at all. The answer, according to a raft of new research, is to spend more time in nature—even if it’s just time spent in our backyard, or a neighborhood park. That’s one lesson I learned from reading journalist Florence Williams. Her book, The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier and More Creative, explores what science has to say about the health effects of spending time in nature. The research she cites finds benefits not just for our physical health, but for our mental and cognitive health as well. In fact, some pediatricians are…