Diplo Learning Corner

Get your brain in motion

Page 41 of 124

Why Attitude Is More Important Than Intelligence

16/05/2018 /

It’s easy to think that people blessed with brains are inevitably going to leave the rest of us in the dust. However, the latest studies from Stanford University, summarised in this article, show that your attitude is a better predictor of your success than your IQ.

In particular, people’s core attitudes fall into one of two categories: a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. Those with a growth mindset believe that they can improve with effort. They outperform those with a fixed mindset, even when they have a lower IQ, because they embrace challenges, treating them as opportunities to learn something new.

There are some strategies that will fine-tune your mindset and help you make certain it’s as growth oriented as possible:

  1. Don’t stay helpless
  2. Be passionate
  3. Take action
  4. Go the extra mile (or two)
  5. Expect results
  6. Be flexible
  7. Don’t complain when things don’t go your way

Image source: Effort – JM Fumeau (CC BY-ND 2.0) 

Count your blessings and happiness will come

09/05/2018 /

If you’re happy and you know it… you also know how to count your blessings. Noticing what you have – and learning to appreciate it – is the first step towards being happy, says Stefano Baldi, the Italian Ambassador to Bulgaria, in this TED talk.

And luckily, you don’t HAVE to have Italian food or clothes to be happy. Though it certainly won’t hurt.

Italy

Image source: Flickr – Riccardo Nobile (CC BY-ND 2.0) 

6 Tips to enjoy your travels

02/05/2018 /

Most guides for travel preparations focus on the equipment and necessary documents. But how do you prepare your mind for travel?

In this article, a professional traveller gives 6 advices to prepare for travelling:

  1. Study and gather information
  2. Change your routines
  3. Learn to deal with people
  4. Make quicker decisions
  5. Learn to be with yourself
  6. Just relax

Image source: Travel – Hamza Butt (CC BY 2.0)

Drop Multitasking and focus on Time management

25/04/2018 /

Multitasking is defined as the ability to perform more than one task, or activity, over a short period of time. In today’s world, multitasking is becoming the norm in most offices and households. We’re always short on time so we figure that doing several things at once will help us get more done at the end of the day.

WRONG!

Our productivity actually goes down by 40% when multitasking, therefore eliminating any benefit we might have gained. This is because when we multitask, we are actually “switch-tasking”, which means quickly shifting our attention between multiple activities, constantly interrupting ourselves and losing our train of thought.

So what are some of the benefits of not multitasking?

  • Becoming more mindful of your surroundings and your experiences
  • Making big progress on challenging projects
  • Actually completing those projects in a shorter time
  • Reducing your stress levels

And here are some tips to avoid multitasking:

  • Switch off all interruptions
  • Shorten your deadlines so you can better focus on your project
  • Establish two kinds of office at hours to focus more:
    • Individual work hours – when all distractions are banned.
    • Open office hours – when people can have the opportunity to reach you and get your input on something.

Want to read more about the downfalls of multitasking? Here is a good book you might want to read!

“The Myth of Multitasking: How “Doing it All” gets nothing done” – Dave Crenshaw
(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3346363-the-myth-of-multitasking)

 

man-1633667_1920

Image source: Pixabay (CC0)

The Pomodoro Technique

18/04/2018 /

What do tomatoes have to do with management? Everything according to Francesco Cirillo, the man who invented this time management technique in the late 1980s.

The method is named after the kitchen timer shaped like a tomato some of you might have already seen.

37941061684_f20979c07f_z

Image Source: Flickr – Marco Verch – (CC BY-NC 2.0)

This method consists in maximising your attention for short periods of time by taking frequent breaks to refresh your mind. By splitting a large task into many smaller tasks, you are able to keep up your motivation and enhance creativity.

The method is extremely easy to implement by following a few simple steps:

  1. Choose a task to be accomplished
  2. Set the timer to 25 minutes
  3. Work on the task, without any distractions, until the timer rings, then put a checkmark on a piece of paper
  4. Take a 5 minute break, then return to the task
  5. After four pomodoros (that is, four 25-5 minute splits) take a longer break (15-30 minutes), then get back to the task

The actions of recording pomodoros adds a sense of accomplishment to our work and helps us give our undivided attention to the task during the 25 minutes of work.

The times indicated are those suggested by the pomodoro technique, but we can adjust them to our needs, keeping in mind always to keep a short break and a long break every 4 short breaks.

Though the method was traditionally conceived using a mechanical timer, today there are many apps that can help us in using this technique.
I recommend the app “Clear Focus” – simple and effective!

If you want to read more about the pomodoro technique and its history, you can head over to the official website:

 https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique

 

 

« Older posts Newer posts »

Archives

Archives

© 2026 Diplo Learning Corner

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑