The Surprising benefits of standing and puttering around more

There's an interesting study out that claims there is a significant health benefit from simply standing up a puttering around more. Apparently when we remain sitting for long periods of time, important parts of our metabolism system pretty much shut down. Getting up and walking around exercises the big muscles in our legs and backs enough to produce a significant change. It seems that this should apply even if you exercise regularly at a gym but work in an office environment during the day.

So I'll give this try for a while. That means I'll try to establish a habit of standing up and talking a walking break every 30 minutes or so. At my office I can even use the stairs to get a little more intense activity for my legs. And although the article doesn't say this, I suspect that the time right after meals is particularly important. So a nice walk after lunch is also something I'll try to work into my routine too.

Denial - Part 1

A recent article in the NY Times about denial got me thinking about how much of a source of problems this can be for people. We all know intelligent educated people who should know better, yet continue to lead an unhealthy lifestyle. One of the most common problem seems to be poor diet habits. A friend who teaches culinary arts recently taught me about how culture and habits are the overwhelming factors determining our overall diet, and people tend to be in complete denial about the health impacts of what they chose to eat.

Lack of exercise is another big problem. So is getting a regular medical checkup. People intellectually may know that they’re mortal, but in practice they seem to live in denial of this most basic fact of nature. There is also a strong tendency to live in denial about the most basic financial law - you cannot continue to spend more money than you make forever. Sooner or later the bills come due. People seem to be in denial of this both on a personal level, and on a national level. The lack of outrage over the federal debt being run up can only be described as a population living in complete denial of what is happening.

Denial is a psychological device that lets people avoid making changes, or facing anything unpleasant. Living a more effective life requires that we recognize denial when it start happening and takes steps to overcome it and address the problems that we are trying to avoid. How to recognize it and overcome it are topics for future postings.

So should our goal be to live a life completely free of denial? That may seem worthwhile, but the NY Times article referred to above actually suggest that denial has its positive aspects in some select cases. This has to do with the ability to overlook problems and minor transgressions in small group settings. In particular, denial can be very useful when overlooking small problems with your spouse in order to maintain a healthy relationship. So the real challenge is how to recognize unhealthy denial and overcome it.

10 Career Killers to Avoid - part 2

Thomas Hoffman has an interesting article in Computerworld on 10 Career Killers to Avoid. Here are some more interesting thoughts that are worth exploring (part 2)


6. Believing You Knowing all the answers. "... Winners remain unceasingly interested in learning new ideas and approaches. Asking a lot of questions is a hallmark of great leaders" [ Remember, the world keeps changing and that rate of change is increasing. Learning needs to be a life long process, now more than ever. ]

7. Surrounding yourself with "brown-nosers." - Get a good set of friends and advisers that can give you honest views on how you're doing, and good advice when you face difficult decisions.

8. Forgetting to give credit to others. - Your reputation for honesty and integrity will impact how much people are willing to work with you.

9. Failing to self-promote. "Bragging is one thing, but letting colleagues throughout your industry know of your success is quite another" [In any career, I've always maintained that it's your own responsibility to keep your manager informed of what you're doing, the problems you've overcome, and your successes. Finding a way to document or report these to others is also a good idea. Now, if I could just learn how to better promote this blog... I guess that's an important "to-do" task for me.]


10. Losing perspective. "Despite your best attempts to do everything right, sometimes you approach roadblocks and seek the advice and perspective of a respected friend or colleague... Don't forget the reasons why the business exists, why you're in this business, and what you intended to accomplish when you entered this industry. You need to be excited about what it is you're doing, and you need to put more enthusiasm into what it is you're doing. If you're not looking forward to getting out of bed in the morning, you're working on a downward trend"

10 Career Killers to Avoid - part 1

Thomas Hoffman has an interesting article in Computerworld on 10 Career Killers to Avoid There are some interesting thoughts here that are worth exploring.

1. Failing to have a life plan. "This is the No. 1 biggest mistake that I run into with my clients.... Three life aspects to focus on include one's career, personal and family, and financial goals.... this plan should be written down. Only 14% of people do that."

2. Not keeping your skills current. "The business landscape is ever-changing..." [In other words, learning should be a life long activity]

3. Failing to deliver results "... Those who harbor a sense of entitlement for simply having put forth effort are guaranteed to fall by the wayside...becoming preoccupied with creating greater efficiency may be a short-term solution to helping the bottom line, but it doesn't help the organization to grow...Great leadership is all about asking questions." [ I would add that delivering important and valuable results is the key, both in your career and in life]

4. Confusing efficiency with effectiveness. "Those who think that communicating via e-mail replaces the need to actually talk with people around them fail to recognize the importance of personally connecting with others in today's highly automated and technological environment. Communicating in person whenever possible is imperative for success-seekers." [Sending off a quick email with a question is a bad habit that I have fallen into at times. Experience has shown that a personal conversation it often a much more effective way to communicate.]

5. Believing that you are irreplaceable. "There is no room for divas in the workplace [or life]. Comparing notes with others in the organization helps keep people grounded. It helps anyone in the organization to have different trusted advisers' perspective on what's going on and how their performance is being viewed." [In other words, remember the value of being humble and trying to learn from others]

More later....

Having a "Research Attitude"

After working for many years in a development environment, I transferred to a research department last year. After working there for one year I had a discussion with my manager about how I was doing. I commented that I didn't feel like I had changed to a research organization - it's as if I was still doing the same style of work I had been doing in development. His reply was yes, I was still working as if I was in a development group. Specifically, I was working on projects as if I had to succeed on almost everything I did, and if I didn't, I had to explain why I screwed up.

He went on to remind me that in a research organization, you have to be more aggressive at taking risks to explore new ideas. He wanted me to come back at the end of the year and list the 5 big projects I worked on that failed (and if I had maybe 3 that succeeded that would be good too). What great advise! That really produced a change in the way I started viewing things.

I started wondering if there were phases or areas of life that corresponded to research and some that corresponded to development. Starting and supporting a new family has some similarities to development. While there can be periods in college or early adulthood that call for more of a research attitude as far as aggressively exploring new ideas. There may also be times later in life when things start to stagnate or plateau which also call for some more aggressive pursuing of new ideas. In some cases perhaps this might correspond to the infamous mid-life crisis.

Other situations corresponding to transitions or reaching former goals may also call for more of a "research attitude" when it comes to exploring what to do next or what changes to make. The key lesson for today is that trying things that don't work out is supposed to be part of the process of moving forward.