Stac Pollaidh across the Loch, Torridon, Scottish Highlands
By Andrew Peutherer
See more at: http://www.artpistol.co.uk/art-gallery/stac-pollaidh-across-loch-torridon-scottish-highlands#sthash.w07DxD4c.dpuf

Origami Around
Game of Thrones Daily

Janaina Medeiros
will byers stan first human second

blake kathryn

titsay

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we're not kids anymore.
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wallacepolsom
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art blog(derogatory)
almost home
taylor price
trying on a metaphor
One Nice Bug Per Day

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@micronarratives
Stac Pollaidh across the Loch, Torridon, Scottish Highlands
By Andrew Peutherer
See more at: http://www.artpistol.co.uk/art-gallery/stac-pollaidh-across-loch-torridon-scottish-highlands#sthash.w07DxD4c.dpuf
Stag by Cherith Harrison
Words of Emotion
ObviousState
Two churches located across the street from each other. At least the Catholics have a sense of humor.
paranoidrobot:
Isn’t being stuck on the tarmac a drag? Not when you have the Philadelphia Orchestra on board with you. Read more at NPR’s The Two-Way.
How to Generate Enthusiasm with Assessments
http://bit.ly/MNUOZs Those who don’t enjoy measuring results, don’t enjoy achievement. Unmeasured results don’t matter. Hitting baseballs reminded me that effective assessments increase enthusiasm, concentration, and satisfaction. The visit: Dahliah, Asher, and Abram, three of our grandkids, are spending the week with us. Asher, our seven year old grandson, is a sports fanatic. Yesterday, while in his […] from Leadership Freak http://bit.ly/14Gap3c
Bristol Games Hub launch
http://bit.ly/14AZRSF
Ian Livingstone, life president of Eidos and one of the founding fathers of the UK games industry, has officially launched the Bristol Games Hub - a develop-learn-share-create space on Stokes Croft dedicated to supporting Bristol’s vibrant and growing games development community.
Bristol Games Hub is a shared office space just over the road from Poco which houses independent game developers and studios, operating on a non-profit and collaborative model.
“I’m proud to be opening Bristol Games Hub”, said Livingstone, who founded Games Workshop, co-created the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series and played a part in the creation of Lara Croft.
He told the developers at the launch: “You are the future. You will carry on this great legacy we have in this country and sell games to a global audience.”
Bristol Games Hub can be found here:
from Bristol Culture http://bit.ly/14AZQyn
Why my MBA is from an art school? by @LaurenSophia
That’s why I don’t have an MBA!
Creative Confidence
David and Tom Kelley believe their mission in life is to bring creative confidence to individuals. I have been a believer ever since I watched David’s TED talk on the subject. I couldn’t be more excited to give it a read.
Here is an excerpt from Amazon.com:
IDEO founder and d.school creator at Stanford University David Kelley and his brother Tom Kelley, managing director of IDEO and the author of the bestselling The Art of Innovation, have written a powerful and compelling book on unleashing the creativity that lies within each and every one of us.
Too often, companies and individuals assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of the “creative types.” But two of the foremost experts in innovation, design, and creativity on the planet show us that each and every one of us is creative. In an incredibly entertaining and inspiring narrative that draws on countless stories from their work at IDEO and with many of the world’s top companies and design firms, David and Tom Kelley identify the principles and strategies that will allow us to tap into our creative potential in our work lives, and in our personal lives, and allow us to think outside the box in terms of how we approach and solve problems. It is a book that will help each of us be more productive and successful in our lives and in our careers.
I didn’t know there was a book already out! Looking forward to reading it…
Six Big Tech Trends in Education to Follow
http://bit.ly/MNUOZs Many of the predictions in this year's report match those made for higher education too: mobile learning, open content, cloud computing, and yes -- 3D printers. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] from MindShift http://bit.ly/17qlZWk
Teacher’s Most Powerful Tool: Piquing Students’ Curiosity
http://bit.ly/MNUOZs Educator Ramsey Musallam says that a teacher's strongest tool -- the force that draws students deeper into learning -- is piquing students' curiosity. In his classroom, Musallam follows three rules:... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] from MindShift http://bit.ly/15LEykw
Updated Padagogy Wheel Tackles The Problem Of Motivation In Education
One of the biggest problems at the core of education is motivation. That’s according to the newest iteration of the popular Padagogy Wheel (pad for iPad instead of ‘ped’agogy) we showcased a couple weeks ago. Allan Carrington spent what must be counless hours thinking, revising, and refining the wheel you see below which is now at version 3.0. Be sure to click here to view version 2.0 of the wheel and click here to view version 1.0.
Teacher’s Most Powerful Tool: Piquing Students’ Curiosity
Ramsey Musallam, a high school chemistry teacher from the San Francisco Bay Area, has been creatively using digital tools in his classroom for several years as a way to drive students to deeper inquiry. In a recent TED talk, Musallam says that a teacher’s strongest tool — the force that draws students deeper into learning — is piquing students’ curiosity. In his classroom, Musallam follows three rules: curiosity comes first, embrace the mess, and reflect and revise.
Neil Patrick Harris | Punk’d 9x12
#THE AWKWARD MOMENT WHEN SOMEONE IS LITERALLY TOO CHILL TO PUNK #’RELAX’ DEAR GOD
Promoting Shared Leadership
http://bit.ly/14icIg4
Agile methods suggest replacing top-down, command-and-control management with empowered teams and shared leadership. That all sounds nice, but what exactly is shared leadership and how do you get it to happen?
Katzenbach & Smith authors of the book “The Wisdom of Teams” explain that shared leadership can occur “where a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable” - in other words, when we have a well formed team with a strong sense of commitment. In these circumstances team members know that they possess the technical knowledge necessary to make the best local decisions and will self-organize and encourage each other to achieve results.
Examples of effective shared leadership include the Orpheus orchestra that I wrote about in 2008. The Orpheus orchestra has no assigned conductor, instead performers rotate the role, providing unique perspectives and also broadening their experience. Unlike your first guess, this conductor-less orchestra does not sound terrible, but instead have won a number of Grammy awards and perform to sold-out audiences worldwide.
The other classic example is geese flying in “V” formation that reduces drag and extends daily flight range by up to 50% compared to individual birds. All birds take a turn on the front, maintaining direction and parting the air for the following birds. The rest of the flock “honk” encouragement at the lead bird to keep up the speed and when it tires it returns to an easier position in the “V”. If any bird gets too weak or injured, usually two other birds will drop out of formation to rest with it and form a new “V” once it is ready.
These examples are used because they easily show the advantages, but they do not hint at how to transform a dysfunctional group or even normal team into a high performing team using shared leadership. The good news is that providing you have some patience the process is achievable and within your control.
We have to start by understanding and believing in the benefits of leadership ourselves. Jeffery Pinto author of “Project Leadership: From Theory to Practice” describes these core leadership practices:
Willingness to challenge the status quo – Search for innovative ways to change, grow and improve, experiment and take risks by constantly generating small wins and learning from mistakes
Creating and communicating a vision – sharing your ideas of where we could be
Modeling desired behavior – acting honestly, admitting where we lack information, being passionate
Enable others to act - Foster collaboration by building trust and strengthen others by sharing power
Encouraging each other - Recognize contributions by showing appreciation for excellence and Celebrate the values and victories by creating a spirit of community
If these resonate as making sense and represent how you would like to work then you are already at the first step “Conceptualize” – thinking about these techniques and beginning to understand the benefits of leadership separate from management and the power of motivation.
The next step is to practice applying these ideas to your own work. Start following these principles in your everyday work. You will fail at some at first and others will work in easy situations and not in difficult ones. This is normal and to be expected with any skills acquisition. It is easier to ride a bike along a flat straight path than up a rocky, twisting trail, but you will get better with practice. The good news is that if you are just using these approaches on your own everyday work no one will notice or mind if you sometimes stumble.
However, as you get better at them your work and interactions with others will get noticed. The traits of honesty, being inquisitive and open to learning, encouraging others, and sharing praise will likely not go unnoticed. (I am not saying it will be necessarily rewarded well, you might just get given a bunch more work since here is someone who cares and can make a difference.) This leads to the final step:
Encourage others to work this way. Help lead them through the same steps of building empathy for wanting to work in a more meaningful and personally rewarding way. Explain leadership concepts and how a motivated team willingly pulls a rope and management attempts to push it.
The goal is to create an environment within your circle of influence where people understand and want to work in a more rewarding way. Where, yes they have to step up and take a turn at the front which is always hard work and daunting the first time you try it, but is also more rewarding and you get to steer for a while. As you succeed your circle of influence will get larger, moving from a couple of colleagues to a whole team and then a department or organization.
Obviously this is not a fool-proof way of transitioning from management to leadership. It may not work in dysfunctional organizations where people are just looking to do the minimum possible, but then not much will. It does however provide a possible path towards a better working environment, and, as with any lasting change, it starts with yourself - being the change you want to see in the world.
(Note: This article was first published at ProjectManagement.com, here)
from LeadingAnswers: Leadership and Agile Project Management Blog http://bit.ly/14ye8zy
How Not to Be Productive
http://bit.ly/MNUOZs
You must have noticed how your productivity fluctuates day to day: sometimes you can’t concentrate or the mood isn’t right, or your flow is broken by frequent interruptions.
On other days you’ll feel like you could do everything twice over and still climb the Mt. Everest whilst holding your breath!
These extreme fluctuations used to annoy me as I struggled to be in control of my own productivity. To-do lists just made me more anxious, especially on the days when I failed to tick all the boxes.
I thought Jerry Seinfeld’s productivity chain would be a great idea, but I still cheated and then the guilt of having cheated would pile on even more pressure.
In the end I realised I was spending more time trying to learn how to be productive and forcing myself to put a vast array of techniques into practice than working. All too often I felt I was lagging behind and wouldn’t ever catch up.
Even worse, my work wasn’t always consistent because my productivity would oscillate so much.
It’s true that there are many chance circumstances that can affect your productivity and output on a given day, but it took some time before I acknowledged that there are so many other variables over which I had no control. It’s pretty crazy that I hadn’t thought to leverage these to help myself remain consistent.
The good news is that my productivity is no longer like a sheet in the wind. Sure, I still have bad days, but even then I can remain fairly in control of the end result. And, all it took was changing these three “dont’s” into “dos”!
Here are 3 steps to how not to be productive.
1. Not sleeping enough
As sick as I was of hearing advice to sleep instead of stretching my workday well into the night, I learned that sleeping is what makes the difference between being busy and being productive.
Lack of sleep causes our attention to slip more frequently whilst also making it harder to recover from interruptions.[1] Even without factoring in a lack of sleep, our work is likely to get worse the longer we are awake.
This is can be attributed to our need for sleep building throughout the day, making it harder to maintain alertness and remain motivated and engaged.
Getting by on 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night, I thought I was sleeping enough. However, research reveals there is a vast gap between how sleepy we think we are (i.e. not much) and how sleepy we really are[1] (a lot), especially if it’s been a while since we last got a good night’s sleep.
Contrary to my workweek habit, on the weekend I would always sleep in — a telling sign of sleep deprivation and sleep debt.
Studies suggest it’s particularly important for young adults to get enough shut-eye, as their working memory and attention are seriously impacted by repeated sleep loss[2].
I, myself, have often cut back on sleep in order to get something done or read a book. If only I’d known then that following just one night of sub-optimal sleep (less than 5 hours) one’s abilities and performance suffer more than they would after almost two sleepless days.[3]
If science suggests that just sleeping can already increase productivity, why aren’t more of us doing it?
2. Failing to feed positive emotions
Did you not hear that being happy at work increases productivity? It has been shown that a happy worker can take on a bigger workload without the quality of his work suffering.
If you feed and experience positive emotions (e.g. enthusiasm, satisfaction), it is likely you are improving your productivity. I should know — many times after we’ve had a few laughs in the office, I not only get a boost in my mood, but find it easier to get into a task and then just breeze through it.
Other methods to improve the mood at one’s workplace include putting more plants in the office or taking a break for a nap!
If it’s not possible to improve the lighting in the office, just spending some time in the sunshine might also help for a more positive mood.
However, when I’m struggling at work without laughs to boost my mood, there’s nothing like a bout of exercise to refresh my mind, which brings us to the last ‘don’t’…
3. Avoiding physical activity during the workday
It might seem ludicrous to exercise on one’s lunchbreak — it’s a bother, you’ll waste time showering and re-applying make-up, yada yada yada. However, a midday workout has been shown to improve a person’s productivity and it can help them drop a few pounds to boot!
Alternatively, getting exercise in before a shift at work should have the same benefits.
Interestingly, physical activity has been proven to increase productivity both in terms of increasing our ability to manage our workload and increasing how much we actually do. It has been also shown to decrease daytime sleepiness, missed responses and help us sustain attention. As you may well know, exercise also boosts mood and concentration.
Best of all, I don’t always find it necessary to dash off to the gym to do it — a walk around the office and (dare I say it) a run up the stairs will do almost as well in helping me focus and demolish any task for the following few hours.
However once 3pm has rolled around only a walk paired with a breath of fresh air will help me fight the inevitable drop in productivity. You really don’t have to be an avid gym goer to benefit from physical activity.
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Ultimately, each person will likely have their own tricks to boost their morale and productivity, but sometimes it’s worth having a look at the bigger picture – are there any factors you haven’t considered yet that could be leveraged to bring your productivity up a notch, or three?
References
[1] Durmer, J.S., Dinges, D.F. (2005). Neurocognitive consequences of sleep deprivation. Seminars in Neurology 25(1), 117-129.
[2] Van Dongen, H.P.A., Maislin, G., Mullington, J.M., Dinges, D.F. (2003). The cummulative cost of additional wakefulness: dose-response effects on neurobehavioral functions and sleep physiology from chronic sleep restriction and total sleep deprivation. Sleep 2, 117-126.
[3] Pilcher, J., Huffcut, A.I., (1996). Effects of sleep deprivation on performance: a meta analysis. Sleep, 19(4), 318-326.
Image by FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
from Work Awesome http://bit.ly/11tOZnz