Have you ever thought “man, I had a long day at the office, all I want to do is go home, eat ice cream, and veg out in front of the TV”? Well, you’re far from alone. Some Canadian scientists have apparently proven that the more stressed you are during the day, the less likely you are to exercise later. I can’t believe people get research money for this - I’d happily just take the money and observe my friends for a week. Anyhow, here’s the science:
Kathleen Martin Ginis, an associate professor of kinesiology – the science of movement – who led the study, said we all have a limited amount of willpower which is whittled away by stress.
Miss Martin Ginis, from Canada’s McMaster University, explained: “Cognitive tasks, as well as emotional tasks, such as regulating your emotions, can deplete your self-regulatory capacity to exercise.”
The study, published in journal Psychology and Health, also concluded that willpower can be stretched by constantly challenging yourself to resist temptations such as eating a piece of chocolate cake, or forcing yourself to study an extra half-hour each night.
Miss Martin Ginis added: “There are strategies to help people rejuvenate after their self-regulation is depleted. Willpower is like a muscle: it needs to be challenged to build itself.”
In other news, you’re stressed out and lazy. There’s an extra spot on my couch if you want to join. Bring your own spoon.
I consider myself a bit of an expert when it comes to profanity - in fact, my roommate is not a native English speaker and he relies on me to teach him how to swear. This new study from Keele University in the UK has just confirmed for the world something I’ve known for ages - swearing is awesome and it makes you feel better.
Their study involved 64 volunteers who were each asked to put their hand in a tub of ice water for as long as possible while repeating a swear word of their choice.
They then repeated the experiment using a more commonplace word that they would use to describe a table.
The researchers found the volunteers were able to keep their hands in the ice water for a longer when swearing, establishing a link between swearing and an increase in pain tolerance.
So, I thinks this means you’re now allowed to curse as much as you want at the office. Because it helps you relieve stress, obviously. Funny, perhaps your boss was onto this phenomenon some time ago.
Ashley here. Hollywood gossip maven Nikke Finke is reporting that new mega-agency WME is actually planning on cutting assistant pay from a whopping $13.50 an hour to around $9.50 an hour. Though the amount of the pay cut is still not certain, assistants have confirmed that they’ve pretty been told that they’re just lucky to have a job. And to think that this is the agency being headed up by Ari Emanuel, brother to Rahm, President Obama’s Chief of Staff. At least they’re not blaming the recession.
Read Nikke Finke’s article here and feel free to chime in to the lively comment discussion.
It usually isn’t up for debate whether abused assistants are bitter - the question is usually about how bitter they are. But last week, at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting, the members discussed a new phenomenon they’ve named Post-Traumatic Bitterness Disorder. Similar to its cousin, PTSD, the newly named ailment is described as “angry plus helpless.” It’s becoming increasingly common as already-beleaguered workers cope with the results of a suffering economy, thus compounding their emotions. In addition to being disgruntled, they’re being laid off, forced into a combo job, or hanging on for dear life. Here’s what German Dr. Michael Linden, who coined the PTBD term, had to say:
Embittered people are typically good people who have worked hard at something important, such as a job, relationship or activity, Linden says. When something unexpectedly awful happens — they don’t get the promotion, their spouse files for divorce or they fail to make the Olympic team — a profound sense of injustice overtakes them. Instead of dealing with the loss with the help of family and friends, they cannot let go of the feeling of being victimized. Almost immediately after the traumatic event, they become angry, pessimistic, aggressive, hopeless haters.
Wow, so did he come and spy on me in order to come up with this diagnosis? And believe me, “failing to make the Olympic team” is something so unlikely to happen to me that I am not worried about how I might react when it happens. Trust.
It seems like getting promoted would be awesome for you - you’d earn more money, get a better parking space, and be able to boss people around. However, a recent study at England’s Warwick University claims the opposite. After interviewing 1,000 workers who had been promoted into management roles, researchers determined that a promotion caused one’s mental health to decline.
Experts said being given extra responsibility could lead to more stress, anxiety and depression.
They said the problems could be exacerbated by workers who were promoted having less time to access health services.
GP visits fell by 20% to less than two a year after promotion, the study found.
But what about that major ego boost that comes from getting promoted?
Lead researcher Chris Boyce said: “Getting promoted at work is not as great as people think.
“Our research finds that the mental health of managers typically deteriorates after a job promotion and in a way that goes beyond merely a short-term change.
“People given senior positions need to be given the proper support and training to handle the extra responsibility.”
I feel weirdly vindicated by this article. Maybe they should hire me to do a study about whether being unemployed, conversely, makes people happier? I’d venture to say yes.
There’s an entire cottage industry based around hating Mondays (Garfield comics, the Boomtown Rats song “I Don’t Like Mondays”) and loving Fridays (TGIFriday’s, anyone?). But according to a new study, the most stressful time of the entire workweek is … Tuesday at 11:45 AM. What?
According to the study, which was conducted in the UK:
Most workers coast through Monday getting their brain in gear and catching up with gossip from the weekend through social networking sites.
But on Tuesday reality sets in and staff spend the first part of the day going through emails they ignored on Monday before planning the week ahead.
I can kind of buy this logic, except that I spent time checking Facebook and blogs pretty much every day of the week and not just Monday. I’d be curious to see some data on what times of the week people are most likely to schedule insanely dull marathon meetings, since that was what always caused me the most stress.
What makes a perfect assistant? Well, that depends entirely on who you ask. In this case, Forbes magazine asked several female executives what they love about their PAs.
A friend of mine who went on a job interview for what sounded on paper to be a great assistant gig asked the boss, “What’s your number-one quality in a great assistant?” The boss’ response, in utter seriousness: “Being able to read my mind.” It seems like that answer is, unfortunately, pretty typical. When Marie Claire Editor in Chief Joanna Coles was looking for a new assistant, she told HR to hire “Lloyd from Entourage.” Coles praised her current Lloyd-esque assistant, and said:
“I’m not sure they knew what I was talking about, but I realized I really needed a Lloyd in my life,” says Coles. “At my worst moment I can be a bit like Ari Gold, and I needed someone who, when I speak in half sentences, can finish those sentences.”
Continue reading ‘bosses describe their ideal assistants’
In an age of BlackBerries, iPhones, and constant contact with everyone, it’s no wonder most of us are developing a kind of adult ADD. You feel like you have ten million things to do at work, and therefore instead of focusing on one project at a time you end up doing a bit here and a bit there but never fully commit to anything and therefore often end up with an inferior product. When you have multiple bosses breathing down your neck, everything needs to get done NOWNOWNOW and there’s barely time to breathe, but all those self-help books keep telling you to meditate more often and focus on things.
This phenomenon now has a name–urgency addiction. What can we do to curb it? Well, actually take vacations, for one. But if that’s not feasible for you, then think about taking a “mini retreat.” I’m a big fan of blocking off the occasional 15 minute increment on your Outlook calendar when no one can invite you to a meeting and using that time to take a walk, go get water, or just check your favorite website…anything that isn’t work and lets you chill out a little.
What about you?
Remember when you were a kid, and didn’t want to do something, and your mom said ‘a little broccoli/making the bed/math homework never killed anybody?’ Well, sometimes work can kill you, as any of you who read this site can easily attest. The Japanese, who have a word for everything, have a word for “death by overwork.” This word is karoshi and was officially coined in 1987, when the Japanese government acknowledged overwork of employees as a potential cause of death.
The most recent person to die by karoshi was a senior car engineer at Toyota. The man, whose name has not been released, was working on a new hybrid Camry model. The man’s wife’s lawyers said that ”in the two months leading up to his death, the man averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month.”
Continue reading ‘karoshi: sadly, not a buzzword’
I don’t drive anymore, but when I did I could definitely see why people got road rage. Now, living in New York, I get subway rage–sometimes it’s all I can do not to punch the woman who “accidentally” stepped on my foot three times. But considering how most people spend way more time at work than they do in a car or other mode of transportation, there’s been an uptick in reports of “desk rage.” Whether you’re the one on the giving end or the receiving end of yelling, hitting, name-calling, stapler-throwing, and the like, you have definitely witnessed some desk rage moments in your office.
So why are we turning into a nation of Naomi Campbells?
Continue reading ‘buzzword: desk rage’