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Are You a Giver?

Sharing and giving with others shows strength, not weakness, at workI once had a boss sit me down to explain that the only negative feedback he had about my performance was that people thought I was “too nice.” I nearly fell off my chair.For one thing, I didn’t think I was really that nice. Sure, I was always happy to support, encourage and appreciate others whenever I could, but I hadn’t survived a decade in senior leadership roles without making the tough calls, and I had the scars to prove it.Second, I couldn’t imagine being “too nice” was something that could undermine my performance or hamper my career. Was this code for the fact I wasn’t seen as masculine enough? Was I was beingnaïve?Do nice guys finish last?Some studies have suggested that those of us who enjoy helping others and expect nothing in return do indeed often fall to the bottom of the success ladder.Those who are too caring, too trusting and too willing to sacrifice their own interests for the benefits of others, on average, mayearn less money, and arejudged as less powerful and dominant by their colleaguesbecause they’re more likely to forgo their own interests for the benefit of others.Matchers, givers and takersLuckilyprofessor Adam Grant of the Wharton School of Business has written a bestselling book, Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Successwhich explores the concept of three different personality types—givers, takers andmatchers—and how they interact in the workplace.Grant has found a growing body of evidence across a wide variety of industries to show that givers not only have the potential to rise to the top of the business ladder—they may even have an advantage.According to Grant, matchers look for an even exchange of favors, while takers primarily look out for themselves. Givers, on the other hand, create a ripple effect with the help and support they offer others, which eventually has a way of cycling back around. In the meantime, these people are widening their circle of associates and creating a deep well of good will. (Some would even call it good karma.)Be a giver—with boundariesGrant identifies three strategies successful givers useto ensure they don’t burn out or become push-overs.First, they limit their availability by setting boundaries on when, how and whom they help. This allows them to protect their time and energy more carefully, and focus their giving in directions that will have the greatest impact.Second, they advocate for others and for themselves. They look to help others, but they also keep their own interests in the rearview mirror: They’re willing to fight for themselves when necessary.Third, they use empathy to open doors and identify win-win solutions that meet others’ needs without sacrificing their own.Embrace your nicenessDrawing on similar strategies, I decided to embrace my authentic “niceness,” ignore my boss’s feedback and get on with the job at hand. In less than a year my team and I went on to exceed every measure set from employee engagement to client awareness and preference. At the heart of our success lay “giver” attitudes and actions that won the hearts and minds of my company’s 6,500 employees.Once again I sat down with my boss.This time he sheepishly offered a promotion and a pay raise in appreciation for the way my unique approach had paid off. And no, I wasn’t “too nice” to forgo a little victory dance when I got back into my office.Are you a giver, a matcher or a taker at work? How is your style impacting your success?MichelleMcQuaid, born and raised in Australia, is a best-selling author, and workplace and wellbeing coach.

Turning Toward Compassion

When confronted with a roomful of people, have you ever stopped and scanned their faces, looking for signs of pain that might be right in front of you? After a decade in senior leadership roles around the world, I realize there have been plenty of times when I've sat in meeting rooms looking for who was interested, who was bored and who was most likely to be a team player. But I’m not sure I ever took in the faces around me with a focus on compassion.I simply didn’t understand the power that the simple act of compassion can have in organizations, and if I’m honest, I’m not sure I had the confidence to pull it off.Why does compassion matter at work?Compassion was perhaps once thought of as “soft” or even inappropriate in an organization, but according to the Harvard Business Review,a growing number of companies are now embracing compassionate management, and it appears to be a strategic investment that’s helping them outperform their competitors.In fact Professor Jane Dutton from the University of Michigan, whom I recently interviewed, notes that a growing body of research shows that when we experience compassion at work—whether we are the recipient, the giver or merely a bystander—increases our feelings of commitment to the organization and our levels of engagement. It may also improve our willingness and ability to work well with others.As a result, organizations that practice and encourage compassion are finding that this one mechanism can help them to acquire and keep talent, improve collaboration, enhance customer service and perhaps boost innovation capabilities.These are all outcomes my managers expected me to achieve over the years, and yet compassion was certainly never listed on any of my job descriptions.How can such a simple act be so powerful?Perhaps Professor Peter Frost from the University of British Columbia, shed the most light on this for me when he noted, “There is always pain in the room because suffering is pervasive.”Suffering may be the result of life-changing circumstances, such as the diagnosis of serious illness, the loss of a loved one or the termination of a much-needed job. At other times pain comes from smaller situations such as the anxiety of failing projects, the scarcity of organizational opportunities, or the ongoing uncertainty of our ability to meet targets.Despite the prevalence of pain, most of us have become pretty good at covering up how we’re feeling at work. We’re scared to be vulnerable, and are sure we’re expected to carry on and produce regardless of how we may be feeling inside.Yet research shows when we open ourselves up to experience compassion, it helps us to make sense of what's happening and improves our sense of psychological safety. This helps us grow into people who are more resilient, more connected to each other and who are ultimately healthierand happier, despite the pain.Studies also suggest that practicing compassion creates spirals wherein those on the receiving end are subsequently better able or more likely tocare for and be supportive ofothers.I couldn’t help but wonder why none of this had never been covered in any of the countless sessions of leadership training I’d attended.So what can you do to be more compassionate at work?The good news is researchers have found we’re born to notice, feel, interpret and respond to the suffering of others, rather than turn away from it.“Rather than worrying about fixing someone’s pain, simply taking the time to see their pain, to inquire, to empathize and to listen without judgment, can be an act of compassion at its best,” explained Professor Dutton.After learning all of this, as I started taking the time to see the pain in the room, and to create space for people to talk and to just listen, I was surprised how much positive change could be created through this one simple act.Next time you have the chance, stop, look and notice. The world could do with a little more compassion.

A Happiness Backlash?

Is the "happiness movement" creating a league of shallow people and overindulged kids? Lately, there has been an explosion in both the science and celebration of happiness, as well as a focus on the tools we can use to help ourselves and those around us gain a better sense of wellbeing. You might say that happiness is in the air: In best-selling books, loads of articles and even our own magazine and website. And, of course, it is now also stuck in everyone’s heads, thanks toPharrell'subiquitous song. It's not surprising then that this critical mass surrounding positivity and an emphasis on happiness at home and in the workplace is producing something of a backlash. After all, a focus on happiness can come across as saccharine and shallow. But boiling down the tenets of happiness to a search for hedonistic pleasure would be a huge misreading of the movement. Happy overload Last week columnist David Brooks came out with a piece in The New York Times suggesting that instead of seeking to avoid suffering by being “happy,” we should embrace it as an opportunity for growth. While beautifully written and cogently argued, I think it misses the point. “Over the past few weeks,” he says, “I’ve found myself in a bunch of conversations in which the unspoken assumption was that the main goal of life is to maximize happiness.” But with all this focus on happiness, says Brooks, we are missing out on the true growth that occurs when we embrace, instead of avoid, suffering. Being happy does not mean avoiding suffering “Happiness wants you to think about maximizing your benefits,” Brooks says, whereas “difficulty and suffering sends you on a different course….Suffering drags you deeper into yourself” and “gives people a more accurate sense of their own limitations.” He gives a mocking example of what he imagines a happiness expert might advise someone who is suffering: “Well, I’m feeling a lot of pain over the loss of my child. I should try to balance my hedonic account by going to a lot of parties and whooping it up.” But finding or embracing happiness does not mean whooping it up to forget our sorrows. Divorce, death, illness, injury—we will all experience suffering. What's important is not to arrange your life so that you never take risks or keep away from those under the weight of suffering or tragedy. What's important is how you bounce back, grow and help others recover and rebound after going through a turbulent time. The tools of positive psychology—gratitude, compassion, resilience, optimism—are indispensable when it comes to recovering from trauma. Raising ‘happy’ kids On April 16, an article on The Huffington Post by Richard Weissbourd, a lecturer at the Harvard School of Education, and associate professor Stephanie Jones offered a similar critique, this time suggesting that “behind this relentless focus on happiness is an intense focus on the self” and that “happiness doesn't automatically lead to goodness.” Exactly. In fact, happiness research has shown that it is the other way around—that being kind, compassionate and giving to others actually makes us happy. “With parents and kids, this focus on happiness and the self has real consequences,” the article continues. “Kids are allowed to skip out on obligations to teams and groups because participation no longer makes them happy; they are free to (or even encouraged to) drop friends who are annoying, weird or just not fun; and they sometimes treat the adults in their lives like staff or as invisible—neglecting to thank them or show appreciation.” Again, I would argue that the authors have it backward. An increasing number of studies show that raising happy, well-adjusted kids requires a focus on responsibility and respect, among other attributes, which then leads to wellbeing and happiness. Responsibility and respect build self-esteem In fact, the authors echo many happiness experts and the themes of our own Acts of Happiness campaign when they write that we need to model behavior for our children by “contributing to our communities, taking action against injustice, making even small sacrifices regularly for friends and neighbors.” They continue by saying “the data suggest that moral and caring kids tend to be happier kids and adults” with a link to the author’s own research and book. But that same conclusion has also come out of the positive psychology camp, with its emphasis on “The Meaningful Life” as the most important attribute of happy people. According to leading positive psychologist Martin E.P. Seligman, in a meaningful life, “Meaning is increased through our connections to others, future generations or causes that transcend the self. From a positive psychology perspective, meaning consists of knowing what your highest strengths are, and then using them to belong to and serve something you believe is larger than the self.” Look beyond the smiley face I understand the temptation to recoil and play devil’s advocate in the face of all this glowing positivity, giving rise to books like Barbara Ehrenreich’s Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining Americaand Oliver Burkeman’s The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking. After all, we are critically thinking, doubting, sometimes-suffering people who could do without a bunch of easy, cheesy homilies and “Kumbaya” drum circles to tell us how to feel. But don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. A focus on how we can make ourselves and others happier, including science-based recommendations for increasing our wellbeing, does not entail steering clear of suffering, nor does it mean going to more parties or letting your kids do whatever they want. The critics have a point in the sense that a singular focus on happiness can seem to gloss over some of the deeper and more painful aspects of our personalities. But they need to read further than the titles of articles and, according to Brooks, the “more than 1,000 books released on Amazon on that subject [happiness]” in one three-month period. The pursuit of happiness is easy to poke fun at, but if we think less about ourselves and more about our connections to others in the community and the world, the closer we’ll get to that goal.

Bank of America embraces the social benefits of mentoring

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Nurturing the Future

In 2011, Michelle Obama called on private-sector businesses to support mentoring programs as a way to help curb the nation’s dropout rate through the launch of the Corporate Mentoring Challenge. Bank of America (BofA) answered the first lady’s call, and three years later in January, the National Mentoring Conference recognized the company for having the highest volume of employees participating in some form of mentoring. In one year, BofA had more than 25,000 volunteers with 210,000 hours of service. To date, it has given more than $22 million in grants to mentoring and education programs and matched 100,000 young people with mentors. Partnering with other companies and foundations “[BofA’s] mentoring efforts are part of our broader work to connect young people to the skills needed for long-term success,” says Kerry Sullivan, president of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. “We're preparing youth for 21st-century jobs, and sometimes these might be at our company, but not necessarily—it's about the bigger picture of investing in their employability.” Through partnerships with organizations like the YMCA; the Bridging the Gap program, which helps Hispanic part-time employees transition to full-time employment; and the Cherie Blair Foundation’s Mentoring Women in Business Programme, matching women in developing countries with mentors, the company has made it clear that it believes mentoring is important for business, as well as the communities it serves. The benefits run both ways Mentoring is a mutually beneficial relationship for both the mentor and mentee, offering mentees access to a trusted adviser and mentors experiences that can help them in their own careers. Businesses likes BofA see a return on their mentoring investment in the form of increased morale, productivity and employee retention. “When people commit to taking time to help pull someone else up the ladder, or reach their goals, or overcome an obstacle, they are developing their leadership, communication, teamwork and management skills,” Kerry says. “These skills can translate into enhanced skill sets in the workplace, and increasingly, we're seeing volunteer opportunities as important ways to build the skills of current and future employees.” Investing in the future The sense of accomplishment, the good feelings we receive from giving and developing meaningful relationships all contribute to our overall wellbeing. The promise of a great future is not always guaranteed, especially for young people who don’t have access to positive role models. But when we get to know each other, when we understand each other, when we are empathic and more willing to help people help themselves, we can create a ripple effect, helping make the world a happier place. “Mentoring is more than an investment in someone else's success—it's an opportunity to create connections, expand perspectives and find common ground, no matter how different the mentee and mentor are,” Kerry says. “It also strengthens relationships by breaking down barriers, encouraging mutually beneficial and productive conversations—sometimes tough conversations—and allows people to participate in their community, be it a workplace or the community at large.”

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Could Laughter be a Performance-Enhancing Drug?

Would you describe your workplace as a fun environment—the kind of organization where they value humor, laughter and a light sense of camaraderie? Unlike the average four-year-old, who some studies say laughs 300 times a day, the average 40 year old has been found to laugh just four times a day. So I’m going to place a reasonably safe bet that you’re probably feeling your workplace could do with a little more fun. The good news is there’s a compelling business case to get your bosses to lighten up. In their book The Levity Effect: Why it Pays to Lighten Up, authors Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher found that working in a fun environment is what separates the “great” from “good” when it comes to Fortune’s 100 Best Companies To Work For. Why is a fun workplace also a productive workplace? Gostick and Christopher also found that when leaders lighten up and create a fun workplace, there’s a significant increase in the level of employee trust, creativity and communication. This in turn leads to lower turnover, higher morale and a stronger bottom line. In short, people tend to remain with, stay committed to, and give more energy to an organization where good times are injected into work. For example in the nine months following a humor workshop in a US technology company, middle managers increased their productivity by 15 percent and reduced their sick days by half. Given that 20 to 30 percent of business performance may be determined by the mood of employee, every manager has reason to increase a sense of fun and happiness in the office. Perhaps this is why The Harvard Business Review reports that executives with a sense of humor climb the corporate ladder more quickly and actually earn more money than their peers. But how does laughter enhance performance? Scientists have found that laughter generates increases in positive emotions, which literally broadens the way your brain works. For example, when you’re experiencing positive emotions: You see more of what’s going on around you. Your field of peripheral vision is expanded so you can take in about 75 percent of what’s happening, versus 15 percent in a neutral or negative mood. Your brain is flooded dopamine and serotonin, which enables you to make and sustain more neural connections so you can organize new information, think more quickly and creatively, become more skilled at complex analysis and problem solving, and see and invent new ways of doing things. You’re much better attuned to others. Because your brain feels safe, it thinks more in terms of “us” and how to collaborate with people around you, compared to when it’s in survival mode and thinking only about “me.” No wonder researchers studying business meetings have found that humor and playfulness in workplace gatherings helps people to cooperate, create broader alternatives and progress more rapidly through the decision-making process because their brains are benefiting from renewed energy or new perspectives. In fact, far from being fleeting, when you accumulate positive emotions over time, it’s like money in the bank for a rainy day. Longitudinal studies find, as your positive emotions accrue, they also build up your psychological, intellectual, social and physical resources helping you to perform better through the lows and highs at work. So what can you do to inject more laughter into your work? Invest in jolts of joy: Be mindful of what puts a smile on your face – be it good music, kitten videos, a favorite comic strip, an online game or a colleague who cracks you up – and put them to use when you need a reason to laugh. Re-design meetings: Use a funny story, a humorous video or a task-related game or quiz to start meetings with a sizzle and end them with a chuckle. Make work into Play: By breaking goals into small tasks, setting a limited time frame, leveraging your strengths to overcome the obstacles and developing a meaningful way of keeping score, you can use game mechanics to make even the most tedious task more motivating and fun. While these ideas may sound a little silly, 98 percent of CEOs of major corporations report they’d rather hire a person with a good sense of humor over one who seemed to lack a sense of levity. So what are you doing to create more reasons to laugh at work?

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The World’s Happiest Country Is Stressed Out

While as a nation, Australia rates as one of the happiest in the world, that doesn’t provide much solace to the growing number of employees – now almost 50 percent – who say that problems at work are asignificant source of stress. So, as we approach the United Nations International Day of Happiness on March 20, what can we do in the workplace to raise Australia’s input towardglobal wellbeing? Two factors consistently appear in multiple reviews of the Australian workforce: Only half of Australian employees report that their employer values their contribution and cares about their wellbeing. And less than half of working Australians say that they regularly receive relevant feedback and recognition for their work. In other words they’d like to feel cared about as a people and genuinely appreciated for their efforts. According to a report by Ernst & Young, manyAustralian workers estimate that simple changes by management to improve wellbeing, engagement, recognition and reward could help increase productivity by up to 21 percent. If realized, some economists believe this could help Australia deliver up to$305 billion in increased productivity,revenue that is essential to maintaining the standard of living—and happiness—among Australia’s aging population. Given all they have to gain, why aren’t Australian leaders making these changes? In Australia, a whopping 83 percent of Australian employees rated their middle managers’skills as average or below. Perhaps for this year’s International Day of Happiness, every business leader should take a few minutes to practice one act of positive leadership. Here are five tested, simple ways any leader can get started: Be aware of what you’re nurturing and spreading at the office Productivity can be greatly affected by the mood of employees, and the number one of predictor of their mood is their leader. So if you are a manager and you want to help people perform at their best, be sure you’re giving the right balance of positive to negative feedback and promoting wellbeing in the office. Take the free survey here at www.positivityratio.com to see how you rate. Focus your energy on strengths Research has found that giving people the chance to do what they do best each day improves engagement, productivity and customer satisfaction. Yet only about 20% of employees say they have a chance to use their strengths each day at work. Discover your team’s strengths by taking the survey at www.viame.org. Invest in relationships We have a biological need for social support, and research has found that positive interactions with other people can lower stress levels and raise wellbeing at the office. It only takes a moment to genuinely connect with someone, and elevate both of your moods in the process. Be clear on your purpose When it comes to long-term sustainable innovation, culture maintenance and performance in organizations, studies suggest few other avenues offer better results than creating a sense of meaning for people in their work. So, as a manager, how would you finish this sentence: everything I do is to ___________, so that _________. And would others want to follow you there? Celebrate the right kinds of accomplishment More important than simply believing in your abilities is believing that you can improve upon them. While most organizations are almost purely focused on outcomes, it’s focusing on effort that encourages growth mindsets where people are willing to embrace learning and the constant development towards mastery to produce superior performances. So don’t just say “well done” and expect your employees to flourish, spend a few more minutes and be specific about the effort you saw them making, why you valued it and how they can continue to improve on it. You’ll be surprised at the results. A growing body of research shows us thatthese acts of positive leadership bring out the best in managers, their teams and their organizations. So what are you doing to improve wellbeing and appreciation in your organization? For more on how to be a Positive Leader sign up for theInternational Day of Happiness Virtual Conference whichtakes place on March 20, 2014.

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Connection, Compassion and Even Love at Work

Spreading a little warmth and connection to others at the office could actually improve productivity, not to mention happiness.I’m not talking about a torrid interoffice romance, but the kind of “companionate love” that comfortably expresses caring, affection and compassion for your colleagues. If the very idea makes your toes curl with embarrassment or dread, it’s worth reconsidering how you’re approaching others in your workplace.Studies have found that, even morethan what you do at work, it’s who you do it with that leads to higher levels of engagement. In fact, your relationships with other people are the best guarantee of lowering stress and raising your wellbeing around the office.Why do other people matter so much?The truth is you’re hardwired with a biological need for social support. Every time you get to genuinely connect with another person, the pleasure-inducing hormone oxytocin is released into your bloodstream, helping to reduce anxiety and improving your concentration and focus.Studies suggest each positive interaction you have during your workday bolsters your cardiovascular, neuro-endocrine and immune systems, so the more connections you make over time, the better you function in and out of the office.But just how much love is required?The good news for HR departments everywhere, is it seems even brief, non-physical encounters which fuel openness, energy and authenticity with your colleagues can infuse you with a greater sense of vitality and a greater capacity to act.New research suggests it’s the small moments between coworkers—a warm smile, a kind note, a sympathetic ear —day after day, month after month, that help create and maintain a strong culture of compassion and mutual regard, withemployee happiness, increased productivity, and client satisfaction as a esult.So, what can you do to connect better with others at work?Professor Barbara Fredrickson, from the University of North Carolina, has discovered it takes just a micro-moment of connection to create an upward spiral of mutual care and companionate love between colleagues. Her research suggests three simple steps.First, the sharing of a positive emotion, like interest, joy, amusement, awe or pride.Secondly, synchronizing your biochemistry and behaviors through making shared eye contact with the person or matching your body gestures or vocal tone to create a moment of positivity resonance causing both brains to light up like a mirror of each other.And finally, a reflective motive to invest in each other’s wellbeing that brings about mutual care.Simple ways I’ve found to create a micro-moment of connection include:Asking appreciative questionslike, ‘What’s going well today?’Performing acts of kindness – it seems this work best if you perform at least five kind acts on one day.Spotting strengths in others – showing up to your interactions with others intentionally looking for the best in them.Expressing gratitude – giving effort-based praise rather than just focusing on the outcomes people are achieving.With the research predicting positive social connections make you want to learn more, motivate your more than money or power and improve your effectiveness and performance at work, investing in a few more moments of love in your day might be just what gets you promoted.So who will you start with?

Nature

Winter Garden

Outside my cottage high in the mountains of Vermont, snow is piled up to the window boxes. Crystals of ice catch the morning sun and reflect light over the landscape, while a flock of small birds is already at work breakfasting on the bright red berries of the holly I planted beside the front steps last spring. Opening the door for our Westie to leap out into the snow and plow a path toward the trees, I look out at the hollies, hemlocks, maples, birch, and a variety of shrubs and grasses framed by the doorway—then offer a small prayer of gratitude for the sweet moment of crisp mountain air, the tiny terrier and the glorious sun filtering through the pines. The Five-Minute Fix Winter in Vermont is tough. It lasts for six dark months every year and mountain temperatures can plummet 10, 20, even 30 degrees below zero between late December and early February. Most of us who live here take the cold and dark in stride. But that’s because we plan for it. As temperatures start heading toward zero, we check our woodpiles and generators, load up on flashlight batteries, canned goods and candles, then strategize how we’ll fend off the moodiness, snarliness, sleepiness and depression that the coming darkness can precipitate. Some of us climb on skis, snowmobiles, sleds and skates, and throw ourselves down mountains and onto ice-bound lakes. Others schedule vacations in sunny climes. And still others create a winter landscape—a “winterscape”—of shapes, textures, colors and lights that we can see through the windows of our houses, apartments, condos and businesses. Playing around with your yard may sound like an odd way to fight the moodiness of winter, but studies from the University of Michigan, Texas A&M, Sweden’s Uppsala University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences all suggest that even just a glimpse of trees, shrubs and grasses through a window triggers a change in the electrical activity of the brain that measurably improves mood. And it does so within three to five minutes. Creating theWinter Garden Most of us are probably more accustomed to thinking about landscapes around our homes and workplaces in terms of how they frame a house or building, or how they look to others from the street. But Vermont Certified Horticulturist and landscape designer Judith Irven has long felt that the view from inside your home or workplace to the outside is an opportunity to create art. “I’m always reminded of the 18th century poet Alexander Pope, who said that ‘All gardening is landscape painting,’ ” says Judith. “So when I look through my windows into the winter garden, I’m always thinking of making paintings.” The scene through the glass becomes her canvas, the window frame defines it, and on her palette is light and shadow, shape and texture, browns and blacks, plus an occasional splash of red, green or yellow. “The winter landscape is spare and elegant,” says Judith, who founded Outdoor Spaces, a garden consulting firm, in Goshen, Vermont. “We can actually see the bones on which it’s built without masses of colorful flowers to distract. So whether you live in a canyon in California, a rain forest in Oregon or the high mountains of Vermont, winter is the time to go out and look around, then think about the landscape paintings you want to create.” Simple Steps toTransformation Judith’s approach is one that appeals to the artist in each of us. And with the promise that each garden painting we create has the potential to lift us away from winter’s darkness and into the light, here’s how to get started on your own work of art. Take a tour. Look out the windows through which you’d like to see into your own landscape paintings, and take a photo of the scenes on which you’d like to focus, Judith suggests. Print each photo on an 8½-by-11 inch sheet of paper, and put a sheet of tracing paper on top. That will be your working sketch. Then grab some orange-tipped flags to stick in the ground, pull on your Wellies, slip into a warm coat and head outdoors. Look at the shapes. Walk around the area in each photo. Look at where the edges of garden beds are currently located. Are you happy with their shapes? Does one bed take up too much of the window photo? Should it be smaller? Should it curve in one direction or another? If so, says Judith, stick some flags in the ground to reshape the bed’s edges and mark the changes you’d like to make. Tinker with structure. Now head back indoors, pull out your photos, and draw the revised shapes on your working sketch. Think about vertical structures like trees and shrubs. Is there a particular spot where you’d like to see a vertical shape thrust upward from surrounding shrubs? Think about the size you’d want it to be, then look online or in books at trees and shrubs that might work in that particular spot, Judith advises, paying particular attention to the tree or shrub’s size when it reaches maturity. If you’d like to see the field beyond the tree, buy a tree that won’t grow so tall it will obscure your view from inside your home or workplace. Or if you’d like to obscure a line of recycling bins and trash cans, look for a shrub that will give you both the vertical and horizontal coverage you need when it matures. Then check a USDA Plant Hardiness Mapto make sure that any plant you buy will thrive where you live. Add a sculpture. Tuck a whimsical piece of metal sculpture, a simple rock formation, even a handcrafted birdbath into the scene on your working sketch. What you add depends on themood you’re trying to create. The garden framed by the window beside the desk in my study, for example, is on the edge of a forest and bordered by an area of wild grasses, brambles and a jumble of wildflowers. Massed together, it’s a bunch of unruly textures against the rough bark of a pine forest that goes on forever, and in winter, the whole scene has a contemplative vibe. So a simple stone statue of St. Francis quietly tucked into a niche of grasses extends the underlying sense of contemplation—and gives me a deep sense of peace when I look up from my work and out the window. Use a touch of color. Select a trio of red-twigged dogwood, a patch of sedum ‘Autumn Joy,’ a grouping of winterberries, even a crabapple tree to add a splash of intense color across the spare winter landscape.

magic light at the and of walkway in autumn park

Nature

Why You Should Turn Your Wishes Into Hopes

Are you wishing or hoping for good things this year?Wondering what the difference is? According to new scientific findings, quite a lot in terms of the results you’ll be getting.Shane Lopez from the Gallup Research organization recently found that eighty-nine per cent of people believe the future will be better than the present. This is what scientists call a wish.Unfortunately, Lopez found only fifty per cent of us believe we can make it so. Yet scientists are adamant both beliefs are required in order for us to ignite enough hope to move us from where we are to where we want to go.The problem with a wish is it makes you passive and less likely to reach your goals. Hope has been found to lift your spirits, buoy your energy and positively change your day-to-day behaviour.The work of you head and your heart, hope happens when your rational self meets your emotional self, Professor Rick Snyder and his colleagues found hope requires three elements:Firstly, hope is built from clearly conceptualized goals that most excite you and fill your mind with pictures of the future. This is called ‘goal thinking’.Secondly, you need to be able to seek out and identify multiple pathways to your goals, pick the most appropriate routes for your situation, and monitor your progress over time. This is called ‘pathways thinking’, but you might want to think of it as ‘way power’.Finally, you need to be able to motivate yourself and to build capacity for persistence and long-term effort in the face of obstacles. This is called ‘agency thinking’, but you might want to think of it as ‘will power’.When it comes to our work researchers have found hope plays a central role in driving persistence, motivation, goal setting and innovation.In fact, other things being equal, hope has been found to lead to a 14% bump in productivity because it makes us feel more engaged and enthusiastic about our work. To put that into context, it means hope is worth about an hour a day.Longitudinal studies of workers have also suggested that employees high in hope experience more happiness and well-being over time.One of my favorite approaches to turn a wish into a hope was created by Lopez and it’s called a Hope Map. Next time you want to turn a hope into action try this simple exercise:Take a piece of paper and place it horizontally on your desk. Then fold it into three sections and open it up once more.On the far right third of the page write the heading ‘Goals’. Then note down below a goal you’re hoping to achieve.On the far left third of the page write the heading ‘Pathways’. Try to note down at least three different pathways you’ll need to initiate to reach your goal.In the middle third of the page write the heading ‘Obstacles’. Try to note down at least one obstacle for each of the pathways you’ve identified. One of the things researchers have uncovered about achieving our goals is we’re more likely to succeed when we plan for possible obstacles at the outset. This way they don’t send us into such a loop.Around the edges of your page note down what you can do to maintain your motivation and will power to complete the pathways and achieve your goal. How will you make the journey enjoyable? Which strengths can you use? Who will encourage you? How will you measure your progress?Once your map is complete your hopes are clear and you’re ready to get on with it.Research suggests no other workplace measure – including job satisfaction, company commitment and confidence to do the job – counts more than hope in determining whether you’ll show up, it’s surely worth a try.So what are you hoping for?Michelle McQuaid, aborn and raised Australian girl, is a best-selling author, workplace wellbeing teacher and playful change activator.

Pretty young woman with sketched strong and muscled arms

Nature

Could Eleven Minutes Change Your Life?

When I first uncovered the science of strengths – those things we do well and actually enjoy – I dreamed of spending more of my days in a blissful haze of fulfilling, joyful and rewarding work.It all seemed so easy.Discover what your strengths are – disturbingly only one-third of us can actually answer this off the top of our heads. Use them as you move through each day. Then luxuriate in the success and joy of doing what you love.How hard could it be?Turns out it was much tougher than I thought. You see between a job I didn’t really like, children to feed and a husband to tend, I just couldn’t seem to find the time to fit my strengths in. Despite my best intentions, after figuring out what my strengths actually were, weeks ticked by with no changes at all being made in my life.Sound familiar at all?Convinced the pay off of increased engagement, easier goal achievement, lower stress and better overall wellbeing was too high to simply give up, I became determined to find a busy-proof way of doing more of what I did best. I haven’t yet found a way to manufacture more time, but I did stumble upon a secret to using my time more effectively.Researchers at Duke University estimate up to forty percent of our actions each day are not conscious choices but mere habits. That’s a little more than six hours each day we risk losing to mere routines.No wonder William James, the father of modern psychology, cautioned decades before that: “All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits—practical, emotional, and intellectual— systematically organized for our weal or our woe, and bearing us irresistibly towards our destiny, whatever the latter may be.”Pretty scary stuff right?Luckily, researchers at MIT have found that our habits run on a simple loop of cue, routine and reward. So how could I harness this pattern to reap all those lovely benefits of strengths-led behaviors?With my challenging schedule in mind, I decided to start small with an eleven minute daily strengths habit. Why eleven minutes? This was the busy-proof number that would fit into even the most hectic of days. No matter what was going on, I could always find 11 minutes somewhere.Choosing to work first on using my strength of curiosity more, I committed to using the first thirty seconds to make it easy to cue up the habit and get it started. A cue can be almost anything, from a visual trigger to a certain place, a time of day, an emotion, a sequence of thoughts, or even the company of particular people. Pulling on every tool available I anchored my habit to turning on my computer each morning and embedded it into my environment by setting my web browser to open at my favorite research sites. Then for good measure, I primed my brain with a “when/then” statement so my head would already know what to do when I found myself in a situation: “When I turn on my computer, then I will use my strength of curiosity to learn more about positive psychology.”Once the habit’s started, routine can take over for the next ten minutes. A routine can be physical, mental or emotional, and it can be incredibly complex or fantastically simple. My curiosity routine was to read the research that fascinated me and luxuriate in the joy of learning new things.The last thirty seconds – perhaps the most important of all – are to reward yourself for the use of your strengths. A reward can be anything that produces a natural rush of dopamine – the feel good chemical in your head – that gets you craving more of the same behavior.I celebrated by writing down one thing I’d just learnt (yes I’m a nerd). Then at the end of each week I’d package these ideas up into an email for my boss.And my eleven minutes were done. Cue. Routine. Reward.It took just days for this strengths habit to become the highlight of my work. It took just months for this email to spread virally through my office until more than 100 people were receiving it each week. And it took almost exactly one year for my boss to move me out of the job I didn’t like and into a new role where my strengths could truly shine.So what eleven minutes strength habit could you design to prioritize the changes you really want to see in your life?Michelle McQuaid, aborn and raised Australian girl, is a best-selling author, workplace wellbeing teacher and playful change activator.

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