Hey there!
Thanks for checking out the Weekly Learning Roundup. This week, I want to highlight Harvard Business Review’s piece on A Step-by-Step Guide to Structuring Better Meetings. Many of us have experienced poorly planned and executed meetings; all it takes is a little bit of forethought and planning to make a meeting much more effective for everyone involved. A couple of ideas that I’ll be using moving forward is address the urgent issues right from the begining of the meeting and scheduling “overflow” time in case there is additional discussion time required – only with team members who it concerns. Check it out – you may find some useful tips in the article along with all the others listed below.
Have a great week!
Favourite links from the week:
Leadership
A Step-by-Step Guide to Structuring Better Meetings (Harvard Business Review)
A Mini-Guide to Not Being Frustrated All the Time (zen habits)
How Working in Teams Builds Employee Engagement (Business 2 Community)
Brain Science
10 Common Brain Health and Brain Training Myths, Debunked (Huffington Post)
Creativity Is Much More Than 10,000 Hours of Deliberate Practice (Scientific American)
How to Parent Like a Master Strategist [Q&A] (Scientific American)
Brain Training – Can We Really Enhance Our Cognitive Skills? (Brain Blogger)
New Evidence Points to Personal Brain Signatures (Scientific American)
Other
Make decisions with millennials in mind, researcher urges Toronto (CBC News)
Justin Trudeau’s Canada is the best hope for the global economy (Quartz)
Productivity tip of the week:
Creating a packing list template on Evernote
This week, I’m off to New Orleans for the Collision conference. As part of my prep process, I need to make sure I’m packed and ready to go. So I’m using a packing list template I made in Evernote to help me keep track of all the items I need to pack. I specifically like Evernote as the home of my packing list template because you can create a check-box which makes it easy to confirm whether you’ve packed the specific item yet. It’s also quite easy to duplicate the template note and make it specific for the destination.
Yes, not brain science I’m doing here but creating checklists for activities you know you’ll be repeating (e.g. traveling) is well worth the time. Hope this helps!
Product or service I’m loving:
I recently began incorporating a reflection period every morning as part of my morning ritual. I give myself two options to reflect: leave a message with my therapist via TalkSpace or write for 5-10 minutes in my Day One Journal. Giving myself the option to speak or write out my thoughts makes it a lot easier for me to get started with my reflection. Often times I find myself resistant to digging into my feelings but having the option lowers the starting hurdle just enough for me to get started.
Either way, the preferred tool I use for writing down my thoughts is the Day One Journal. I know some people like to write in a physical journal but I prefer typing. I’m a much faster typer than a writer and I feel like I can get more of my thoughts out by typing them out. After all, to me, seeing the thoughts and feelings somewhere outside of my head is the biggest benefit.
Day One Journal has a simple, beautiful interface. It has the ability to password protect your journal. It can also allow you to add photos to your posts if you want to add any additional context. I particularly like how it tags your location with the post to see where you were when you wrote a particular entry.
Reflection is a key component of becoming a better version of yourself so carve out the time to make this happen. It’ll give you a better understanding who you really are and allow you to look at the successes and challenges you face in a more objective way.
Books, documentaries, or podcast episodes I’m enjoying:
A beautiful look at the history of food in our civilization. Michael Pollen, who wrote the book The Ominvore’s Dilemma, navigates the viewers through four themes: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. If you’re interested at all in food preparation or the history of food, this is a visually stimulating and informative documentary. Available on Netflix.
A quote that’s inspiring me:
“Your world is a living expression of how you are using—and have used—your mind.” —Earl Nightingale
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As always, thank you to those that liked, re-tweeted, or commented on my Tweets. See you on next week’s round up!
Peter Nakamura 