Meaning and Heart

Altruistic Tasks Promote Productivity

2012-06-03T12:21:11-04:00

Half-way down the list of the 32 Innovations That Will Change Your Tomorrow published in the New York Times is No. 15, the Kindness Hack.

"Researchers at Wharton, Yale and Harvard have figured out how to make employees feel less pressed for time: force them to help others.

"According to a recent study, giving workers menial tasks or, surprisingly, longer breaks actually leads them to believe that they have less time, while having them write to a sick child, for instance, makes them feel more in control and 'willing to commit to future engagements despite their busy schedules.'

"The idea is that completing an altruistic task increases your sense of productivity, which in turn boosts your confidence about finishing everything else you need to do. "

A number of the other innovations now in development can also give you a lift and sense of optimism for the future, like No. 24 Sleep Mining, a diagnostic sensor that works while you sleep and No. 25, a simple blood test for depression.

The larger message is that although innovation isn't pretty and demands a high tolerance for failure, innovation also breeds resilience.

Search Inside Yourself

2012-04-30T08:24:57-04:00

"In designing Search Inside Yourself, a popular course at Google, early Google engineer and personal growth pioneer Chade-Meng Tan (Meng) has distilled emotional intelligence into a set of practical and proven tools and skills that anyone can learn and develop.

"Created in collaboration with a Zen master, a CEO, a Stanford University scientist, and Daniel Goleman (the guy who literally wrote the book on emotional intelligence), this program is grounded in science and expressed in a way that even a skeptical, compulsively pragmatic, engineering-oriented brain like Meng's can process.

"Search Inside Yourself reveals how to calm your mind on demand and return it to a natural state of happiness, deepen self-awareness in a way that fosters self-confidence, harness empathy and compassion into outstanding leadership, and build highly productive collaborations based on trust and transparent communication.

"In other words, Search Inside Yourself shows you how to grow inner joy while succeeding at your work. Meng writes: "Some people buy books that teach them to be liked; others buy books that teach them to be successful. This book teaches you both. You are so lucky."

"This is a book about mastery," Tan says. Watch the one hour video. Read the book. And master yourself. That's all.

Cultivate Calm Awareness

2012-04-27T07:43:44-04:00

Tomorrow, April 28, is World Tai Chi & Qigong Day. At 10:00 a.m. , around the world, practitioners gather to practice their form and generate a wave of healing energy. In Washington, the SkyValley Tai Ji celebration is in Greenbelt, Maryland.

"Nurturing the 'water' aspect of the art," my instructor says, "we cultivate gentleness, sensitivity and calm awareness through our practice."

Xie, xie, Taj.

A Platform for Bravery

2012-04-05T07:55:14-04:00

Seth Godin's post, Organized Bravery, struck a chord with me, reminding of me of how I felt when I was responsible for a talented group in a toxic organization.

"The purpose of the modern organization is to make it easy and natural and expected for people to take risks. To lean out of the boat. To be human.

"Alas, most organizations do the opposite. They institutionalize organized cowardice. They give their people cover, a place to hide, a chance to say, “that’s not my job.”

"Our organizations are filled with people not only eager to dehumanize those that they serve, but apparently, instructed to do so. In the name of shareholder value or team play or not rocking the boat...

"During times of change, the only organizations that thrive are those that are eager to interact and change as well. And that only happens when individuals take brave steps forward.

"Giving your team cover for their cowardice is foolish. Give them a platform for bravery instead."

Conferences as Communities

2012-04-04T16:44:53-04:00

Peter Block + Pepperdine University + Your Group = Community Learning

Designed Learning and Peter Block worked with an organizational development alumni group to design their reunion. The charge? Build a community, not jus an event. The group agreed to six decision-rules to guide the design:

Keep it simple.

Keep it small.

Keep it alive.

Keep it close.

Keep it open.

And, keep it going.

Invest in community. Design your meetings to foster conversation and listening.

Buenos Aires 2012

2012-04-02T12:02:19-04:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

What Apps Sustain You?

2012-03-27T09:11:17-04:00

What supports your intention, your rituals, your practice? Increasingly, I am relying on a number of apps on my iPhone to keep me moving, including:

Embracing Change a wonderful way into coaching using the principles of Appreciative Inquiry, integrating media, and probably the most sophisticated app I've seen

Embodied Training is your personal coach, featuring videos of Mark Walsh leading your meditation practice

Insight Timer, one of the simplest and most profound, this app times your meditation with resonant temple bells and connects you to a global community of meditators

Walkmeter, the GPS tracks your route while you walk, providing exhausting detail on your pace, distance, even elevation. Then you get an email capturing the data. Walkmeter won the 2011 Appy Award for best health and fitness app.

What sustains you? Got an app for that?

Give Yourself Some Credit!

2012-03-22T07:35:18-04:00

Give Yourself Some Credit!. Tiny Buddha's Note: This is a contribution by Noch Noch

"Why do we concentrate on the long journey ahead instead of recognizing how far we’ve come in our efforts? They form the building blocks of our future endeavors—if, that is, we learn to trust in ourselves.

"We need a positive mindset to motivate ourselves to keep going.

"Now, instead of reprimanding myself at the end of the day for having left 10 emails unsent, I give myself a pat on the back for having worked through fifty email responses, read a few pages of a book, spent some quality time with fiancé, baked some brownies, and simply enjoyed my day.

"Recognizing what we’re doing right doesn’t mean we become complacent and stop striving for improvement. It just means we’ve learned one of the most important things we can do for our happiness and success. And that is:

"Give yourself some credit!"

The Conversational Nature of Reality

2012-03-21T07:00:00-04:00

Internationally acclaimed poet David Whyte is an Associate Fellow at Templeton College and Said Business School at the University of Oxford. David works with many European, American and international companies, using poetry and thoughtful commentary to illustrate how we can foster qualities of courage and engagement.

In this talk, David encourages us to remain open to know the dialogue with our surroundings inform and inspire our ideas.

Keep in mind that this talk also reveals the opportunity offered by coaching. This post-conventional "conversation with reality" and the reshaping of our true selves is where coaching can take those who are ready.

Here's David Whyte.

If you want to keep hearing that voice in your head, listen to David Whyte's What to Remember When Waking: The Disciplines of an Everyday Life.

Making Ideas Happen

2012-03-20T11:48:34-04:00

Scott Belsky is founder and owner of Behance, Inc., an extraordinary network of creative professionals with millions of visitors each month. Behance's Action Method and products help creative teams make ideas happen. (I am a huge fan of their printed notebooks and journals as well as the productivity app. Love, love, love them.)

Watch Scott's TEDxPuget Sound presentation to not only understand his strategy for making ideas happen, but also to look for the parallels with coaching: accountability, organization, and, leadership.

Scott's new book, Making Ideas Happen, will be released in paperback March 27, 2012.