Podcast 337: Take a Nap, an Easy Hack for Lowering Frustration, a New Way to Use Gold Stars—and Are You a “Song” Lover or a “Music” Lover?

Remember: Fantasy Island will premiere on Fox on August 10! I can’t wait to watch.

Update

In episode 333, we talked about the hack of giving the gift of a personalized puzzle. A listener added another possibility—ordering a puzzle that shows the front page of the New York Times of a meaningful date.

Try This at Home

Take a daily nap (if it’s realistic).

Research shows that naps improve our brain’s day-to-day performance. Naps reduce feelings of sleepiness and increase alertness, and also improve performance in areas such as reaction time, co-ordination, logical reasoning, memory consolidation, symbol recognition, mood, and emotion regulation.

That means it’s easier to learn and remember, and we’re less sensitive to negative emotions like fear and anger. 

In his very interesting book When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing (AmazonBookshop)Dan Pink describes the value of the “napaccino.”

Happiness Hack

To make it easier to match containers to their lids, use a Sharpie to draw a unique design for each container. That way, it’s easy to put the pair together.

Know Yourself Better

Are you a “song” lover or a “music” lover?

Listener Question

A listener asked about using Demerits and Gold Stars for the post-surgical floor at the busy metro hospital where she works.

I mention two books by Kim Scott: Just Work: Get Sh*t Done, Fast & Fair (AmazonBookshopand Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity (AmazonBookshop). We interviewed Kim Scott and Trier Bryan in episode 317.

Gretchen’s Demerit

I didn’t realize people in my life would appear and re-appear.

Elizabeth’s Gold Star

Elizabeth gives herself a gold star for (mostly) sticking to #Read21in21, despite working so hard. 


Resources

  • In episode 324we highlighted the wisdom of teachers with some “Proverbs of the Professions.” I created a free PDF with all of the great insights collected. Click here to download or share with a teacher in your life.
  • Every week, I publish articles, author interviews, and more on my site. If you’d like to be notified when I’ve written something new, you can sign up to receive email updates. Click here and select “New blog posts.”

What we’re reading:

  • Elizabeth: It’s Not All Downhill from Here (AmazonBookshopby Terry McMillan.
  • Gretchen: Milk Blood Heat (AmazonBookshop) by Dantiel W. Moniz.

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