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If You’re Fed Up with Your Job, Try Working More Pauses into Your Day
Harvard Business Review: More than half of Americans feel “overworked or overwhelmed at least some of the time” and 70% say “they often dream of having a different job,” according to a recent study by the Families and Work Institute. That’s a lot of unhappy people at work, and many of them may choose to resign. But my research shows that quitting can be premature; what you might need to do instead is pause and recalibrate. Chances are that if you were to jump into a new role or organization, whatever is causing you to leave may follow you.
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New Research From Psychological Science
A sample of new research exploring the detrimental effects of oxytocin in competitive environments and models identifying the factors that predict ideological prejudice.
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Stanford researchers reveal how to study more effectively
The Stanford Daily: In a recent study published in Psychological Science, Stanford researchers concluded that the key to better exam performance is not to work harder, but to use preparatory materials more strategically. The study’s lead author, Patricia Chen, a postdoctoral research fellow in psychology, became interested in test-taking preparation after conversations with students who were unhappy with their exam grades. Students were often perplexed by the differential they viewed between their perceived effort and actual performance. Read the whole story: The Stanford Daily
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Why You Can’t Concentrate at Work
The Wall Street Journal: After taking down walls to create open offices and foster lots of interaction and collaboration, some companies are finding they’ve done the job too well. All of this social engineering has created endless distractions that draw employees’ eyes away from their own screens. Visual noise, the activity or movement around the edges of an employee’s field of vision, can erode concentration and disrupt analytical thinking or creativity, research shows. While employers have long tried to quiet disruptive sounds in open workspaces, some are now combating visual noise too. The answer could be as low-tech as strategically placed plants or more drab wall colors.
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Is This How Discrimination Ends?
The Atlantic: On a cloudy day in February, Will Cox pointed to a pair of news photos that prompted a room of University of Wisconsin, Madison, graduate students to shift in their seats. In one image, a young African American man clutches a carton of soda under his arm. Dark water swirls around his torso; his yellow shirt is soaked. In the other, a white couple is in water up to their elbows. The woman is tattooed and frowning, gripping a bag of bread. Cox read aloud the captions that were published alongside these images of a post-Katrina New Orleans.
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‘Just Show Up’: Sheryl Sandberg On How To Help Someone Who’s Grieving
NPR: Two years ago, life was good for Sheryl Sandberg. The Facebook senior executive and mother of two had a best-selling book (Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead) and she and her husband, Dave Goldberg, decided to take a vacation. But on that vacation, Goldberg collapsed at the gym from heart failure and died. He was 47 years old. Sandberg went through a period of darkness after her husband's death. She turned to professionals and friends for help getting through it, and now she's written a book with one of those professionals, psychologist Adam Grant. It's called Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy. Read the whole story: NPR
