Word-Of-the-Week #790: Health
September 26, 2019 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #790: Health
Health – a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.
How important is having good health to you? What do you do for exercise? Do you see the glass as half full or half empty? Do you have friends and family that you like to spend time with?
This Washington Post article by Marisa Iati, “HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL?” states new research findings on living longer.“In the tug-of-war between the world views of cheery optimists and dour pessimists, the happy people just got a big boost. Those who see the glass as half full, according to a new study, live longer.
Pessimists, of course, might have suspected this all along — but now there’s actual research behind it.
Boston-area scientists found the most optimistic people live an average of 11 to 15 percent longer than their more pessimistic peers. Women who are optimists are also 50 percent more likely to live at least to age 85, while male optimists are 70 percent more likely to live that long, said Lewina Lee, the lead researcher and a psychiatry professor at Boston University’ School of Medicine.
“In previous studies, researchers have found that more optimistic people tend to have lower risk of chronic diseases and premature death,” Lee said. “Our study took it one step further.”
Optimists generally expect good things to happen in the future and feel like they can control important outcomes. They tend to stay positive and put the best spin on whatever comes their way.
Not a natural optimist? There’s good news: The mind-set is about 25 percent hereditary, Lee said, meaning people have some control over their level of good thoughts. She said cognitive behavioral therapy and imagining a future in which your goals have been reached are examples of ways that people can become more optimistic.
To conduct their research, Lee and the other scientists compared results from two independently conducted studies — one that followed nearly 70,000 women for a decade and another that followed about 1,400 men for 30 years. People self-reported their optimism on questionnaires by ranking themselves on statements including “In uncertain times, I usually expect the best” or “I’m always optimistic about my future.”
The conclusion that optimistic people tend to live longer holds true regardless of other factors, including socioeconomic status, body mass index, social integration and alcohol use, Lee said. The findings were published Aug. 26 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study leaves one question unanswered: Why are optimists likely to live longer? Although it’s unclear, the researchers believe optimists may be better at regulating stressors and bouncing back from upsetting events. Optimists also generally have healthier habits, like exercising more and smoking less.
Scientists already knew that optimism can give people the self-efficacy to reach difficult goals, protect their health in high-stress times, strengthen their romantic relationships, improve their eating habits and ease their job searches. Now — and this would be hardly a surprise to optimists — researchers know happy people are more likely to do these things into old age.”
This week’s focus is on your health. How optimistic are you about your future? How good are you at bouncing back from upsetting events? Would you change your lifestyle if you knew you would live longer?
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Word-Of-the-Week #789: Failure
September 19, 2019 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #789: Failure
Failure – a person or thing that is unsuccessful or disappointing.
Do you see failure as a negative? Have you ever turned a failure into a success by learning from your mistake? Would you find it embarrassing to share your failures publicly?
This seemed like the perfect follow up to last week’s WOW so I am taking the liberty of re-running it. LA Times article written by Nita Lelyveld titled, “A boss’ convincing fails pitch.” She writes, What if you were asked to write your failures on a wall, in indelible ink, for everyone to see? Would you make a confession? Would you bare your soul? What if the person doing the asking was your boss?
Jeff Stibel, chief executive of Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp., likes to keep his Malibu headquarters hopping. He came up with the Failure Wall one night late in 2010 when he was having a glass of wine with his wife. They were toasting a business success. Stibel said he found failure more fruitful.
He said, “I love celebrating successes – we do it all the time – but personally they do nothing. I can never tell whether it was lucky, whether it was the right time, whether it was an accident. But when I fail, I always know why I failed and I usually don’t make that mistake twice.”
He started his Failure Wall late one night with the help of his assistant. They started by stenciling quotations from famous people on a white 15’ X 10’wall. “Then, with a permanent Sharpie, Stibel scrawled what he deemed a personal failure: He’d waited too long to start having kids. Others soon followed.”
All disclosures are signed. That’s part of the idea. To grow from mistakes, you have to own them.
This week’s focus is on fruitful failure. How would it feel to keep track of your failures like you do your successes? Could you openly bare your soul to your boss? Have you ever had a positive experience as a result of a failure?
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Word-Of-the-Week #788: Successful
September 12, 2019 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #788: Successful
Successful – having achieved wealth or desired visions and planned goals.
Do you consider yourself to be a successful person? Do you know anyone that you consider successful? Is it because they have great wealth? What great achievements have you made?
Would you agree that Warren Buffet is successful? He certainly has made lots of money and to be one of his investors requires loads of money. He is the Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Class A shares of their stock sold for $99,200 as of December 31, 2009, making them the highest-priced shares on the New York Stock Exchange, in part because they have never had a stock split and never paid a dividend.
This week’s word comes from long time friend and subscriber Sandra who responded to the WOW on Achievement by asking, “More importantly lately the question is, what is success?” This comes from my archives over eight years ago and is still relative today.
Success As An Iceberg by Chad Dorman
Last week Buffett hosted an exclusive two-hour retreat for 160 students from eight universities. Can you imagine how exciting it would be to be one of the selected students? What questions would you want to ask Warren? Do you think all he would talk about is the economy, finances, and business?
A SD Tribune article by Pat Flynn, quoted what Buffett thought were three of the biggest ways to be successful. First he said, “Recognize the good qualities you see in other people and adopt them for yourself.” Second, “He emphasized that doing what you like is the most important thing.” And third he said, “If you want to be successful, be the type of person other people want to work with.”
I was so impressed by what he told the students! I have always believed that money in and of itself does not make one successful. I also think we don’t give ourselves enough credit for the achievements we have made. Would you agree?
FUN-fact – Today Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares are selling for $315,000 a share!
This week focus on Warren’s three keys to success. What good qualities do you see in others that you could adopt? Are you doing what you like? How easy is it for to attract and keep quality people in your business and personal life?
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Word-Of-the-Week #787: Interested
September 5, 2019 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #787: Interested
Interested – wanting to give your attention to something and discover more about it; curiosity.
When was the last time you wanted to know or learn about something? How motivated were you to follow through and actually do it? Are you naturally curious?
Once again, Steve Strauss, author of STEVE’S 3-MINUTE COACHING, sent a very thought provoking piece!
Great Question: Interested?
(Great questions lead to great answers; weak questions, weak ones.)
“What interests me?”
Coaching Point: It has become popular to talk about passion. “What are you passionate about?” “Without passion life is dull.” “Follow your passion.” Passion has a point, but it can become consuming and draining. To be Interested is on Passion’s scale, just not so intense.
What’s it like when you’re interested in something – an event, a person, an activity, an item? Interested has its own energy. It creates focus. It can engage others.
When you’re interested you’ll investigate and learn. (Some of you are ‘wired’ to learn, so you can’t help it!) Discovery is a byproduct. Much is created from the simple motivation interest provides.
Interest is ‘clean,’ usually not needy or coming from a place of scarcity. And self-motivating. It’s healthy to think about what interests you.
“What does interest you?“
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