Tag: happiness

You

How to Teach Yourself to Be Funnier

patmcgLeave a comment

Comedy does not come naturally to me, especially if I’m trying to be funny. I like this article’s step-by-step approach to being funnier. And I really like the guy who checks into hotels with a fake Elvis driver’s license. 😂

View at Medium.com
👉 https://medium.com/the-cut/how-to-teach-yourself-to-be-funnier-9feaa968c113

Humor is about “benign violation” — disrupting your sense of normalcy in a way that doesn’t present any real harm. So weird incongruities. Or remembering a threatening situation that turned out to be fine, and now you feel silly about it.

So here’s a game plan, and like anything else hard and worthwhile, it’s going to take some conscious effort. Luckily, it’s pretty simple…

Learn to look for funny things

“Look at the absurdity around you. Check for incongruities,”

Make this a conscious habit in every day life.

Seek out humorous situations in your life

Listen, read, watch funny stuff. TV shows, movies, podcasts, etc.

Find an audience and practice on them

Find someone willing to check your humor. Tell them a joke every day. Get honest feedback. Maybe try an improv class.

Keep in mind that humor is vert contextual. “Know how to apply the basic principles of humor to specific situations.” And humor builds on itself over time. So once you get going with someone, you have a foundation for getting funnier.

You

Why It’s Better to Find Success Later in Life

patmcgLeave a comment

👉 Why It’s Better to Find Success Later in Life

Nothing super groundbreaking in this article, but it’s a good refresher. Basically, you earn a certain amount of success, happiness, and confidence by failing and bouncing back over time.

This is a lot of how I look at parenting (hopefully) resilient kids…

…the best way to gain strength is by falling and continually bouncing back, practicing, working around obstacles. But this flexibility is critical to long-term success.

Fortunately, it’s easy to struggle. 😉 This makes me think of George Washington, who failed a lot. Like, he was pretty bad for quite a while before he became amazing.

You don’t need to go out of your way to struggle and stumble, because it will happen naturally to most of us. And many a great has failed before they bloomed.

You

Should You Take That Promotion? Well, Maybe.

patmcg1 Comment

Summary

Consider…

  • Do you know what the new role is clearly defined, you know what the expectations are and why the position is open?
  • Do you have (or want to develop) the skills to do the job?
  • Do you want to do that kind of work?

What does success in this role look like?

Health and lifestyle

The new gig might negatively impact your health if it’s not a good fit. Chronic work-related stress can cause high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol levels.

Goals

If you don’t have specific objectives in mind — identifiable skills you want to sharpen, an idea of the direction you want your career to go — you’re not going to know if this promotion is going to get you to closer to those goals

Use self-assessment tools such as Strengthsfinder to figure out if the promotion plays to your talents.

“Think of what you’re doing now, what you’re good at, what you want to do more of, and see if the promotion will allow you to continue to do that,” she said. “If the promotion is not going to let you do that, it might not be a good fit.”

Priorities

Try ranking the top three things you’re looking for in any position you take. Everyone’s priorities are different. For some, it could be proximity to home, the ability to engage in challenging work and maintaining a certain salary bracket. For others, flexible work hours, being on a cohesive team and access to mentors are priorities

New opportunities

It’s important to keep an open mind and think about the doors that might open if you take the job. You could contribute to an exciting project, break into an emerging industry or learn a new skill set

Take control

focus on the things you can control when it comes to your professional development. Instead of fretting over when opportunities for advancement will present themselves, hone your expertise and strengthen your network so you’ll be a competitive hire no matter what

You

How to Actually, Truly Focus on What You’re Doing

patmcgLeave a comment

Summary

The goal is deep work. Avoid “persistent attention residue” by avoiding “quick checks” of your phone, websites, etc.

Seems like this basically boils down to clearing out the time and space to focus on deep work.

Concentration is like a super power in most knowledge work pursuits

  • Actively include “deep work” blocks of time in your day and protect them. Use your calendar if you need to. Make deep work a habit rather than rely on willpower.
  • Embrace boredom. Frequently expose yourself to boredom. If you whip out your phone every time you get bored, your brain will build a Pavlovian connection between boredom and stimuli. So when it comes time to think deeply (which is boring in the sense of lacking constant stimuli), your brain won’t tolerate it.
  • Quit (reduce?) social media. Be intentional and selective about what digital channels you allow into your life. Helps protect your ability to focus.
  • “Drain the shallows”. Shallow work does not require extended concentration (check email, schedule meetings). If your day becomes dominated by shallow work, you won’t get to the deep work that really moves the needle. Aggressively minimize shallow work and be organized and productive about what remains.

Book – Deep Work