WOW Word-Of-the-Week #339: Praise
January 31, 2011 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on WOW Word-Of-the-Week #339: Praise
Praise – to voice approval, commendation, or esteem.
When was the last time you praised someone on your staff? How about your children or grand-children? Do you remember the last time someone praised you?
Lots of Praise!
This may surprise you, but the latest study of college students “found that the desire for praise trumped other desires or needs. The USA article written by Sharon Jayson and titled, “Youths prefer praise to sex, booze. Study: Self-esteem takes precedence” goes on to state, “Sex, booze or money just can’t compare with the jolt young people get from a boost to their self-esteem.
“The study gauged the desire for praise, as well as the desire to engage in sex, drink alcohol, get a paycheck, eat a favorite food or see a best friend. They favored experiences that boosted self- esteem, such as receiving a good grade or a compliment.”
Bill Coraro, a sociologist at Indiana University-Bloomington says, “More and more kids are being raised with high expectations. Kids from a very early age are being socialized to do well – to be hard workers. It creates this sense of entitlement. So achieving and being praised for that achievement is what’s most important in their view in terms of themselves. It doesn’t mean they won’t engage in these other activities, but they’re not held up as being as important.”
“Self-esteem is a basic human need. All humans want to have positive emotional feelings about themselves. It’s about confidence in your ability to deal with life’s challenges and a sense of personal worth, rather that generalized praise and undeserved rewards.
This week focus on giving and receiving praise. Does it make you feel uncomfortable when someone compliments you? Do you understand how important it is to specifically state the praise and not make general statements? As a parent can you relate to all the praise that kids today receive?
Reader Responses
“We see the doling out of praise so rarely in my office, it is almost as if the paycheck replaces it. The hard work is taken for granted and the paycheck is considered reward enough. Praise is as important as making eye contact others. Not only does it acknowledge, but it enhances our self worth. Every day I tell a number of people what a great job they do in the office. There is an older woman I work with in the office, and I never fail to tell her what a wonderful job she does every day. Her response is: I wish the people I worked for would tell me that.” There are two reasons for this lack of praise: one, the supervisors or managers are not good communicators. Two, they don’t feel it is important. Understanding that this attitude is pervasive, I have come not to expect any praise. However, I enjoy it a great deal when someone tells me how much they enjoyed reading one of my books or features. It acknowledges and shows people are impressed. As a father, I remind my daughters every day that they are the best and they can do it. I pay attention to their requests and compliment them when they accomplish something. Their self-esteem will be the better for it as they move on in school and in life. We all need praise. Not only is it good for our self esteem, it brightens what could be lousy days. And we all have those. So, let’s remember to tell our co-workers, friends and family how important they are with praise and gratitude. It is very important. Thank you for the word, Susan. And you know, I will always sing your praises.” – “Warrior”Joe
“That’s a real eye-opener!!! Thank you for all your wonderful articles. . . I enjoy them every week.” – Donna
WOW Word-Of-the-Week #338: Exacerbate
January 28, 2011 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on WOW Word-Of-the-Week #338: Exacerbate
Exacerbate – to increase the severity, violence, or bitterness of; aggravate.
When was the last time you were in a situation that went from bad to worse? What was it that exacerbated the situation? 
This is the follow up to last week’s WOW and more of the problems the severe weather caused Holiday travelers around the world. An AP article from Paris titled, “SNOW, ICE TRAP MORE PASSENGERS IN EUROPE’S AIRPORTS – Exceptionally wintry weather causes sweeping shutdowns” reads, “New snowfall and shortages of de-icing fluid trapped passengers and snarled travel across Europe.”
“Cities such as London and Paris, not as accustomed to flying planes in below-freezing temperatures, buckled under the snow. To try to ease the pain of a Christmas under the glaring lights of an airport terminal, Paris’ airport authority planned on handing out gifts to children force to sleep there. The airport also got an early Christmas gift flown in from the US – two shipments of precious de-icing fluid to get planes off the snowy ground.”
“France’s famed strikes played a role in travel troubles too. A walkout at a French factory involved in the production of de-icing fluid exacerbated shortages, forcing France to import the fluid.”
I believe we are so lucky to live in the US! When we stopped in Paris, on our way home from Africa, the city was having a general strike, again. It took us almost two hours and cost $120 for a cab to our hotel. OUCH! Then we found that most of the sites were closed as a result of it. Can you imagine what it would be like to have all of our monuments, museums, tourist attractions, and public transportation closed due to a strike? Maybe that’s next week’s word?
Reader Responses
“Now, exacerbate is a word that I have used a great deal in my personal and professional lives. I have been in situations where another person’s incompetence or stubbornness made things a lot worse. It is hard to deal with because it is something out of our control. When people refuse to change an attitude or way of doing things it makes it difficult for everyone else affected. Saying no or not compromising does not help alleviate the situation. We have seen this especially in Washington, DC, where the new Speaker of the House and his cohorts have insisted that there will be no compromise. They will say no to plans that could help alleviate the unemployment problem in America. As a result, the problem becomes worse – it is exacerbated. Another problem area that has been exacerbated is global warming. We have people in Congress who insist that global warming does not exist or it is a hoax. All while the polar icecaps continue to melt, slowly increasing the sea levels all around the world. This is happening right in front of our eyes, and yet even educated people deny it. Within 30 years the Maldive Islands and Bangladesh will be underwater. How long before the US coastlines start to go under? Thank you for the word. It is a good one. Take care.” – “Warrior” Joe
January Movies & Oscar Buzz
January 12, 2011 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on January Movies & Oscar Buzz
Rabbit Hole – the Academy seems to love depressing, sad movies since they continually get nominated year after year – and this movie is clearly another one of those – SHE
said, “It was very deep and emotionally raw, the main point of the film is about grieving and how everyone does that differently. HE said, “Eckhart and Kidman were both very good – didn’t need to see 2 hours of grieving (enough already).” SHE said, “thumbs up” HE said, “thumbs down”
Blue Valentine – this film is about the very beginning and the very end of a relationship – there is no middle – and felt with all the media hype about the movie I found it to be the same depressing stuff, different theme. SHE said, “Gosling and Williams are great actors, no question, but I am done with going to depressing movies. Several years ago my girlfriend Susan and I needed to see 3 movies that were up for Oscar’s so we went to the theatre where they were all playing and hopped from theatre to theatre to watch them. 30 minutes of each is all we needed to get a gist of the acting and not have to sit through more depressing stuff. I am going back to that!” HE said, “Ditto on the depressing and I found it hard to follow.” – “2 thumbs down”
Casino Jack – the reviewers said this would make a lot of people angry since it the events were too fresh in our minds. SHE said, “Spacey is truly great and I found it so disgusting to watch politicians’ flaunt their power and greed.” HE said, “Kevin Spacey was great. I found the movie too “slapstick,” didn’t present the events with enough seriousness. The rest of the actors were miss cast in their roles.” SHE said, “thumbs up” – HE said, “thumbs sideways”.
December Movies & Oscar Buzz 2010
January 11, 2011 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on December Movies & Oscar Buzz 2010
What makes this Oscar season so interesting is that so many of the movies are based on true stories. Rumor has it that Reality TV is changing Hollywood. The Oscar for best movie this year should be between The King’s Speech and the Social Network.
Our “Oscar Buzz” Picks – The King’s Speech – lots of buzz on this one and now I know why, Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth are exceptional and the chemistry between them is outstanding. Definite Best Movie and Actors contenders – “2 thumbs up”
Colin Firth as King George
The Fighter – and yet another true boxing story, and a dysfunctional one at that – I love anything with Amy Adams (except Leap Year) and she has taken a role that is very different than anything she has ever done (rent Junebug if you haven’t seen it) – Mark Wahlberg is great as usual but Christian Bale’s performance is definitely Oscar worthy – “2 thumbs up”
Black Swan – we had to see this even though the movie trailer didn’t really excite us. Natalie Portman has a shot at Best Actress on this one! SHE said, “Even though it was a bit hard to follow (you don’t know what is real and what is not) this one left me feeling a bit haunted and I liked it. HE said, “Natalie Portman played this role extremely well and she was the only bright spot. The movie used too many flashbacks, was dark and predictable from the beginning. Overall just not very good.” – SHE said “thumbs up” – HE said “thumbs down”.
Our Other Picks – Love and Other Drugs – if you want a light, FUN, movie experience, you’ll love this one – great chemistry between Anne and Jake – predictable from the beginning but they added a twist that gave it more meat – “2 thumbs up”
The Tourist – this got such terrible reviews we almost didn’t go – we both liked it, and why? no special effects! and it felt like a 1960’s “To Catch A thief” kind of movie – Angelina looked like Sophia Loren, with great costumes – and how can you not like the sex appeal of a movie filmed in Venice? HE said, “The chemistry between Jolie and Depp just wasn’t there unfortunately.” – “2 thumbs up”
How Do You Know? – cute, predictable entertainment about denial, trouble, limbo and love – Reese Witherspoon is adorable and Owen
Wilson is just Owen Wilson, which is what I like about him – he plays a self absorbed successful baseball player – Paul Rudd was at his most charming best – “2”thumbs up”
All Good Things –Inspired by the most notorious missing person’s case in New York history, it is a love story and murder mystery set against the backdrop of a New York real estate dynasty in the 1980s – Ryan Gosling is truly one fine actor – and so is Kirsten Dunst! “2 thumbs up”
Not as Good as Expected – True Grit– no question that Hailee Steinfeld stole the movie, but we personally expected more from the Coen Brothers –SHE said, “maybe because they have set us up to feel that way – just felt too slow and hard to understand, too much mumbling” – HE said, “The performances from Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon (out of his comfort zone) were mediocre at best. The storyline was shallow and overall an unbelievably bad movie.” – “2 thumbs down”
The Oscar for best movie this year should be between the Kings Speech and the Social Network.
WOW Word-Of-the-Week #337: Anomaly
January 10, 2011 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on WOW Word-Of-the-Week #337: Anomaly
Anomaly – an occurrence that is strange, unusual or unique.
Would you say you have experienced an anomaly? Is this a word you have ever used? I have heard the word but never really knew what it meant.
Over the Holidays in San Diego and other parts of the world, we experienced severe weather. If you were one of those people that had travel plans, my heart goes out to you. Did you hear about the people sleeping in Heathrow for more than 5 days because of all the snow in England?
Our storm was dubbed the Pineapple Express, because it came in from the Pacific. It started in the Gulf of Alaska at the same time there was moisture developing approximately 500 miles southwest of Hawaii. It had a vacuum effect that created a plume 3,000 miles long and 400 miles wide.
It dumped massive amounts of snow (which was good for the ski resorts) and of course rain at the lower elevations. I was born and raised here and personally never remember seeing so much rain falling for so long over so many days. It broke records all over the county and one city got 3.36 inches.
What is so ironic is, Bill Patzert a climatologist said, “The storms were an anomaly. I still think we’ll end the rainy season with below-average precipitation.” We normally get just less than 10 inches per year. I sure hope he is wrong.
And this week I sure hope you don’t experience your own weather anomaly. Do you have to drive or fly for your job? May all your journeys be safe!
Reader Responses
“I had to chuckle and send you a note because I experienced two of your recent words last week, including one of my favorites: lollygag. I was supposed to fly out last Monday morning for a speaking engagement in Connecticut w/ a connecting flight via ATL. But, because of the weather anomaly in Atlanta my flight was canceled. The result was a re-route on another airline which resulted in my having to lollygag in DFW for 6 hours! :)Hope you 2011 is off to a great start!” – Sarita
“I never use the word anomaly, but it has gained frequency in the media over the last couple of years. The weather anomalies are really something, as you noted. I’m sure we have all experienced anomalies in business and with other humans. We get used to certain behaviors in certain situations, or things that we expect. And when we don’t see or experience them, I think we are quick to point out that they are anomalies. I guess you could ascribe what has happened to our global economy as an anomaly, with all of the so-called businesses and banks that were too large to fail and then did. That through the entire world for a loop. What is it that we can depend on anymore? I guess that we should just get used to anomalies and learn how to adapt. It is survival of the fittest these days. Thanks, Susan. Take care. “Warrior” Joe Moran. P.S. We are getting ready for the mini-Super Bowl this weekend when the Green Bay Packers come to Soldier Field to play the Chicago Bears. The rivalry between the teams is the oldest in professional football, yet the teams have only met once before in the playoffs: seven days after Pearl Harbor on Dec. 14, 1941, at Wrigley Field. The Bears won that playoff in 16 degree weather. The fact that the teams are playing in the playoffs 70 years later, I guess you could say it is an anomaly!” – “Warrior” Joe