Category: Workplace happiness

  • “Charity begins at home.” What does it mean?

    Originally, the word charity referred to a virtue: it meant a loving attitude towards others. More recently it refers to giving to those in need, and charities are organisations that facilitate such giving. Humans are wired to care most about those closest to them, and when times are tough, it can be tempting to draw […]

  • Responding to being ‘put in your place’

    Sometimes a person’s comment leaves you feeling uncomfortable, irritated or even angry. If their words sound neutral, it can be hard to explain why their comment was upsetting. Worse, if you react emotionally, you can come across as unreasonable or oversensitive. We tend to focus on the information contained in the words, but the more […]

  • We Can’t Change Someone Else

    I was once asked to help a family who constantly bickered with each other. The two adults and three children sniped at one another from breakfast till bedtime and they were all sick of it. Each person said they just wanted to live in peace. The problem was that each one wanted the other four […]

  • Trust is earned, not owed

    Banks warn us: don’t share your PINs or passwords. Don’t click on unknown links. Be wary of offers that sound too good to be true. It’s sensible to assume that strangers are not to be trusted until they prove otherwise. Yet when it comes to people close to us, we can be pressured to offer […]

  • Same behaviour, different meaning

    A client of mine came to realise that in his most difficult moments, he would start mindlessly watching K-pop videos on his phone, unable to concentrate on anything else. Once he was aware of it, the compulsion to watch videos became a clue, alerting him that he was avoiding something. He could then tune in […]

  • What Counts at Work…

    Have you ever thought about how your job affects your attitudes? When I worked with children in care, I came to believe that all children were passive and that every generation was doomed to be less capable than the last. Similarly, I knew a store detective whose default attitude to strangers was to be suspicious […]

  • The gift of listening

    Have you ever left a social gathering feeling drained? Chances are you didn’t get to express yourself authentically. Perhaps you felt you had to make small talk or pretend to be interested in topics that didn’t excite you. Have you ever come away from a meeting feeling frustrated and demoralised? I’ll bet you weren’t given […]

  • Purpose and Work

    Marci Shimoff tells a story about three men on a building site. When asked what they’re doing, the first replies that he is laying bricks. The second replies that he is proud to be practising his trade as a bricklayer. The third replies that he is building a beautiful cathedral. This story demonstrates the different […]

  • The Song of Significance

    The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams  by Seth Godin “Management is the practice of using power and authority to get what we want. …Leadership is the art of creating something significant.”  This is one of the many pithy quotes from Seth Godin’s book, all about how the workplace should be a place […]

  • Logical arguments

    Logic is great for puzzles and games, which take place in a finite imaginary world with known facts and rules (and usually only one right answer). But logic has its limitations; it cannot lead to conclusions outside of that world. Regular equations can’t explain quantum phenomena, just as a game of Cluedo cannot conclude with: […]