Archives for November 2014

Kirby Ingles | November 29, 2014 | 7 Comments

3 Key Benefits of a Journal – Kirby Ingles

Keeping a journal is a type of daily mental muscle work that gradually improves focus. Expression can help solve problems, manage emotion, and improve self development. Writing in a journal strengthens your writing, thinking and learning abilities, allowing you to unpack your experiences. You can use a journal to set goals, organize thoughts or bust out a rant.

A Journal does these 3 Basic Things:

Helps you learn about experiences.
Makes you aware of yourself and others.
Identifies trends that affect you.

Tennis great Serena Williams at Wimbeldon in 2007 said, “Writing…can help clear out negative thoughts and emotions that keep you feeling stuck.”

The Value of a Journal

Reduces stress
Increases self-awareness
Sharpens mental skills
Creates inspiration and insight

A journal allows you to stand outside your experience, see objectively and detach yourself from emotional outcomes. A journal is a bridge between your actions and the reflection of those actions. This bridge aides you in self-directed development.

How to Journal

The process of writing in a journal recalls memories and brings you right back into the moment.

Value the information you are collecting or you will not put much effort into it.

Journal writers fail to explore their experiences and think deeply. You usually engage in top layer reflection. You must think critically. Just logging events with no reflection will get no results. You should describe, analyze and disect the event, so you can reconstruct it with alternative approaches.

Deliberately think about your past actions or ongoing season asking yourself how to improve the future.

When you write with expression you make sense of what you see, read, do, and talk about. Expression allows you to internalize knowledge, making it part of yourself, putting it together in your own mind, reinforcing and mapping it.

One way to create a an expressive and reflective journal is to develop prompts about your interests and activities.

Creating Journal Prompts

Use prompts to guide you in a journal. Prompts can help analyze your strengths and weaknesses. A journal should be authentic and critical. You’re doing real reflection that should matter to you.

Do not write to say what you know, but to think and learn about your experiences.

Create prompts about your day and life. There are examples of great journal prompts already out there. Use a Google search to find some ideas or templates.

Journal prompts invite you to examine your life. They should help you discover how you can plan, reflect, and learn.

Conclusion

Organizing, planning, and reflecting can play a decisive role. A way to meditate, opening up your mind. A journal offers meaningful and practical lessons you can reflect on, offering a glimpse into your life.

Writing in a journal daily can reduce stress, improve focus, solve a problem and help organization. Would these potential benefits be worth 15 minutes of your day?

Reade Milner | November 28, 2014 | 1 Comment

Facebook is Trying to Do Away with “Clickbait” Articles… Thank Goodness! – Reade Milner

If you use Facebook, chances are you are more than familiar with “clickbait” articles and you either ignore them or go ahead and well… click. These articles are really quite annoying and they just litter newsfeeds even if they are ignored for days on end. Indeed, just when it seems like everyone is doomed to a life of clickbait-littered newsfeeds, Facebook decides to do something about.

What are Clickbait Articles?

Before getting into the meat of the matter on why Facebook is cracking down on such articles, you may first want to get a clearer idea of where these clickbait articles come from and what they are for. Clickbait, also known as link bait, is the term used to talk about a type of web page or hyperlink that lures visitors in and entices them to keep clicking just to read an article. Most of the time, these clickbait articles or links will bring the clicker to a new web page or tab that requires payment for them to continue reading or will bring the clicker to the beginning of a series of pages that contains the rest of the article. Most of the time, these clickbait articles come with highly provocative headlines that actually have very little to do with the actual content of the article.

Content writers and social media managers are encouraged to be more transparent in what they post on Facebook and this means not just posting a picture, a link, and a provocative title but providing a description on what the readers will see once they click. They are also encouraged to concentrate on delivering content with actual meaning and not just chase an algorithm. They should remember that it is better to focus on the content, rather than the posting method they use.

What Does Facebook Plan to Do?

Clickbait articles are a royal pain and since Facebook recently found out that people preferred headlines that actually told them about what they are about to read (the exact opposite of clickbait articles), they decided to crack down on clickbait articles. This is a welcome move for the social media site. Facebook also stated that part of the reason for the crackdown is because they are afraid that such articles will eventually drown out other important feeds and articles that their users actually want to see.

This is a very interesting and a rather strong move for the company so just how do they plan to make the changes? Below are the top 2 ways that they plan to do to implement their anti-clickbait campaign.

Facebook team members will carefully monitor just how much time people spend viewing the content that a link leads to after they click on it. If, after they click the link, they immediately go back to Facebook, the action might suggest that they went to the site and did not see what they wanted, which is a sign that the article could be a clickbait.
The Facebook team will monitor the ratio of people that click on a certain content and compare that to the comments and shares that it gets. In the event that a lot of people click on a link, but do not end up liking or commenting on it when they return to Facebook, that is again a sign that it was probably a clickbait article.

Aside from cracking down on these clickbait articles, Facebook has also announced that they might just do the same to “like-baiting” posts that ask users to “like” it directly. Major changes are happening at Facebook these days, and it is hopefully to improve on what its users see on their newsfeed.

Jed Jurchenko | November 27, 2014 | 7 Comments

The Art of Gratitude – Jed Jurchenko

Never underestimate the power of gratitude. Not only does expressing appreciation strengthen our relationships with others, but it also elevates our own mood. While Thanksgiving has long been one of my favorite holidays, I have gained an even deeper appreciation for this celebration over the past five years, as I have come to understand just how valuable gratefulness truly is.

During this time, I’ve had the privilege of supporting children, teens, and families who are frustrated and discouraged. One of my favorite questions to ask is, “What’s going well?”. Often this inquiry results in confusion, because most people expect to discuss problems with a therapist and are caught off guard when I direct the conversation to life’s positives.

Yet, focusing on the bright side of life is imperative because it is the first step to building momentum. Time and time again I have watched people feeling down and out, practice gratitude and as a result, have their entire outlook on life improve. When difficulties arise, it’s easy to hone in on the negative circumstances surrounding us and to forget about the abundance of good things that continue to be present. Gratitude is by far, the best prescription for breaking through negativistic tunnel vision.

If you have found yourself feeling overwhelmed or discouraged lately, there is no better day for getting back on track than Thanksgiving. If things are already going well, then Thanksgiving is the perfect opportunity to build on your current momentum through increased acts of gratitude. One thing that I’ve discovered is that the more thankful one is, the easier gratitude becomes.

Here are three simple strategies for finding the good, building momentum, and refining the art of gratitude this holiday season.

1. Build gratitude momentum by starting small. It’s far too easy to take for granted the abundance of blessings in our life. I’ve learned that everyone ─ yes, everyone ─ has at least a few things going well, and the trick is to find them. Here is a list of some small positives to help you build your gratitude momentum. See how many of them are true for you?

It’s a beautiful day outside.
Yesterday’s problems are now in the past.
You have a home to live in.
You have friends and family who love you.
There is a family pet that can’t wait to see you.
You have food to eat and a bed to sleep in.
You smiled today.
You have time to sit back, relax, and read this blog.
You had a good cup of coffee today.
You are celebrating Thanksgiving.
Someone was kind to you this week.
This week you found something to laugh about.
Your children think you’re the best mom or dad in the world.
You’re physically healthy and strong.
You have learned, grown, and matured over the past year.

Every item you were able to check off on this list is a reason to be thankful, and while all of these things may not be true for you, my guess is that overall, there is a lot to be grateful for.

2. Look for small ways to pass on appreciation to others. Gratitude is the most unselfish, selfish thing we can do. It’s nearly impossible to encourage others without being refreshed ourselves. In addition, small acts of appreciation make a huge difference to those around us. Last week, my wife and I spent some time de-cluttering our apartment before our big move and I came across an old file filled with cards and thank you notes that had been given to me over the years. Those cards, notes of appreciation, and simple acts of kindness continue to mean a lot to me. Simple acts of kindness often matter more to others than we realize. A few weeks ago I brainstormed with friends and family about our top strategies for expressing gratitude and support for the important people and causes in our lives. Here is what we came up with:

Pray for them.
Actively listen to what they have to say.
Provide empathy and understanding.
Freely give your time & energy to help.
Make a financial contribution.
Send encouraging notes.
Laugh with them.
Love them no matter what.

3. Make gratitude a way of life. I can’t think of a better day to begin intentionally practicing the discipline of gratitude than Thanksgiving. But, gratitude is much too meaningful to be reserved for this day alone. Like any other skill, our ability to be grateful grows as we practice it consistently over time. Here is what others have had to say about the power of gratitude:

“It is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful. They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness — just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it; just warmth and shelter and home folks; just plain food that gives us strength; the bright sunshine on a cold day; and a cool breeze when the day is warm.” ― Laura Ingalls Wilder

“It makes no difference where you go, there you are. And it makes no difference what you have, there’s always more to want. Until you are happy with who you are, you will never be happy because of what you have.” ― Zig Ziglar

“A grateful heart is a medicine to the soul.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita

This year I’m especially thankful for my wife and three daughters. I’m grateful that we were recently able to move into a house. I’m thankful for my career and the privilege of being able to serve as a support system to others. I’m also extremely grateful for you. It’s an honor to be able to share my ideas with you each week.

If you are like me, and have much to be thankful for, it’s important to know that the best time to practice an attitude of gratitude is right now. One way to do this is by sharing what you’re grateful for in the comments below. I can’t wait to hear from you, and wish you an incredibly blessed and grateful Thanksgiving!