The Nice Blog

Fri, April 01, 2011 - 8:49:31

Humor: A Serious Career Asset

This April Fools Day, a number of companies came up with some clever pranks they played on consumers. From Google’s widely publicized search prank, which automatically converted your browser font to Comic Sans when you queried the keyword “Helvetica,” to Starbucks’ playful announcement of a (unfortunately fictional!) mobile app that would deliver coffee to you anytime, anywhere.

While these humorous efforts certainly helped to drum up publicity, they also underscore an important, yet often-ignored fact. Although business is generally regarded as staunchly serious, a good sense of humor can actually be one of your most valuable career skills, provided you know how to use it wisely.

Why? Because, as a Psychology Today article points out, “Cultivating a humorous mindset helps you see yourself and any situation with a more supple mind so that you are not locked into a negative view.” And when your mind is primed for more flexible thinking, you’ll be more creative and innovative.

Posted by Linda and Robin
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Fri, March 25, 2011 - 8:43:29

Surprise: The Secret to Job Satisfaction isn’t a Big Paycheck

A recent study out of the Australian National University found that having a job you hate can be more harmful to your mental health than being unemployed. According to the researchers, who analyzed seven years worth of data from an Australian labor survey for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, “jobs that came with high demands, low decision making control, high insecurity and decreased rewards had a higher negative effect than joblessness.”

Considering that a number of studies have found that unemployment can increase your risk of depression, these findings are particularly alarming.  But, as Tammy Erickson writes on The Harvard Business Review Blog, there is a surprisingly effective way to make your employees not only happier in their jobs, but more productive, too. And contrary to what you might think, it has nothing to do with a pay raise. Instead, it has to do with another sort of boost: an emotional one. Today, more than anything else, employees crave meaning in their work.

Posted by Linda and Robin
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Mon, March 21, 2011 - 8:47:53

The Pursuit of Happiness: Doing More Harm Than Good?

There’s no question that everyone strives to be happy, but a Wall Street Journal article this week questions whether or not happiness is overrated. Certainly, countless studies have linked a happy disposition to everything from a longer lifespan, to a lasting marriage, and a more successful career. But, some wonder if our “relentless pursuit of happiness” as Shirley S. Wang dubs it, is doing more harm than good.

It turns out that the emotion most people associate with happiness—the rush that comes with the instant gratification of activities like shopping, eating, or watching a funny movie, for example—isn’t really all it’s cracked up to be. What truly makes us happy, it turns out, is the feeling you get from doing something kind for others.

Posted by Linda and Robin
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Fri, March 18, 2011 - 8:39:38

Birds of a Feather Tweet Together

Now more than ever, the social Web’s community of billions reflects the real world communities with which we interact every day. And recent research has found that just as in the real world, like-minded—and like-“mooded”—individuals form their own close-knit groups online.

As Kit Eaton reports for Fast Company, particularly when it comes to Twitter, birds of a feather flock together…

Posted by Linda and Robin
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Fri, March 11, 2011 - 3:40:14

When Two People Really Compliment Each Other

Warner Brothers Studios recently commissioned a study that looked at the causes of dissatisfaction in long-term, committed relationships and the findings were rather illuminating. The research, which looked at 2,000 couples in the U.K. found that today, people are becoming unhappier in their unions much earlier on, or as one Reuters reporter put it, the “seven year itch” has now become the “three year glitch.”

The usual suspects: dirty dishes, towels on the floor, too much work, and not enough time together were all listed as reasons for romantic discord. But, there was another, perhaps less obvious reason many spouses said they felt unhappy. They claimed they weren’t getting the same reactions from their partners as they used to, specifically when it came to compliments.

Posted by Linda and Robin
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