Issue No. 58

January 2014

How's That Clean Slate Looking?

Dear Friends of Balancing Act,

Here we go - halfway through January - and if you're like me, that resolve is beginning to slip a bit.

As I reported in this month's "Balancing Act" column, just learning to work all the holiday gadget gifts had derailed me from my goals. Right....

So in case you're procrastinating, not feeling the new habits kick in yet, or need to add a bit more soul to your efforts, this month's issue offers a variety of booster shots.

Seems lifting your mood can help cure procrastination, and a quick way to do that might be showing empathy (not sympathy) for others and performing five-minute favors for them. If you're still struggling, don't be too hard on yourself. Turns out habits take longer to form than we thought.

Here's to the best year ever, one step at a time!

Pat

Procrastination and Mood

Do you ever get derailed from a project by a quick Facebook or e-mail check?

Could be you're looking for a mood boost - but in all the wrong places.

Procrastination researchers suggest that more enduring ways of boosting mood can keep you plugging away rather than shoving you off the track.

They suggest four strategies:

Face Forward. Project into the future how great you'll feel when the project is done.
Just Start. Action can help defeat worries that you'll fail, so go ahead and do those first 1-2 steps.
Forgive yourself. Stop beating yourself up over the procrastination and "just do it." Beating yourself up just creates more negative emotion and therefore...more procrastination.
Do easiest first. By diving into the easiest tasks first, you can build momentum and keep on going.

Five-Minute Favors

It's easy to put off doing favors for others, even though helping increase positive mood all around.

What's the hang-up? We perceive that giving can take up lots of time.

Enter the five-minute favor, popularized by screenwriter Adam Rifkin. The idea is to perform favors for others, but limit them to five minutes.

Five-minute favors are especially suited for sharing knowledge with others and introducing individuals who might benefit from knowing each other.

Specific examples might be sharing something useful on Facebook, writing a helpful online review, or writing a virtual introduction.

Wharton professor Adam Grant credits five-minute favors as the single most important thing he learned in writing his business book Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success..

Empathy, Not Sympathy

When we talk about positive mood, it's easy to fall into the "silver lining" trap.

It's helpful to be aware of what's going well and why. In fact, it's foundational to the study of positive psychology. But denying the negative is not required or even helpful.

It can be especially destructive in our interactions with others who are in distress to bypass what they are feeling and instead go hunting for a silver lining.

This video narrated by author/researcher Brene Brown is one of the best illustrations of how positive empathy works, as opposed to sympathy.

RSA Shorts - The Power of Empathy

In This Issue

Procrastiination

Five-Minute Favors

Empathy

Quick Links

Pat's Website

Dog Journal

Latest Column

HOW LONG FOR A NEW HABIT?

The idea that it takes just 21 days to form a new habit may be overly optimistic.

A study conducted by University College London suggests that the 21-day rule may apply to only simple new habits, such as drinking a glass of water before breakfast.
More complicated changes may take longer.
For more about habits, check out this new book by psychologist Jeremy Dean

NEW TIME-SAVING
STRENGTHS TEST

Are you naturally courageous? Creative? Prudent?

The Values In Action inventory, developed by positive psychologists to detect your highest character strengths,
is now faster to take than ever (around 20 minutes) and free.

Why bother? Strengths use can increase your overall well-being and your energy and flow at work.

LEASH LAW

NO. 58:

Coming Clean

There's a reason plastic organizing boxes are on sale in January.

It's therapeutic to leave the holiday season with a clean sweep, de-cluttering all the extra stuff, all the bangles and pine needles and fake snow. A fresh new year is about to begin.

Rush the season with a spring wreath on the front door.

This is based on one of the 74 leash laws offered in Pat's book, The Dog Ate My Planner: Tales and Tips from an Overbooked Life.