Interesting Brain Facts...

Some of my favorite psychology classes in school were Cognitive Psych and The Nature of Memory so when I came across this article I was immediately intrigued!  It discusses Nine Stubborn Brain Myths.  Some really surprised me!  Others I've known about for decades and was surprised to see they were even myths.

If you want to read the entire article you can check it out here:  Nine Stubborn Brain Myths That Just Won't Die

Biggest surprise was Myth #1:  Left-Brained People Are Organized, Right-Brained People Are Creative.  As it turns out, that's not true at all!  Those two attributes are a lot more equally split between the right and left brain than most people believe.  Very interesting...not sure what to think about this one just yet!

I was particularly excited to read about Myth #4:  Alcohol Kills Brain Cells.  Not that I really thought it did...but it's good to know those college years didn't ruin me (oh, who am I kidding...it's good to know I'm not killing brain cells today!).

The jury is still out on Myth #8: Your IQ Is Fixed And Stays The Same Throughout Your Life.  I hate standardized tests and have never been a huge fan of IQ anyway so I don't really know how to react or respond to this one.  There IS such a thing as cognitive ability and general "horse power" but I believe there are several types of intelligence and our measurement capabilities are not sophisticated enough to capture them all.  At least not yet!

This is a test...this is just a test

I was recently informed that there was a way that I could publish a post to my blog page directly from my Email application.  Basically, you set up your ‘custom’ email and then just send your blog to that email address and it publishes it for you!  This is my first attempt at testing out this new technology to see how well it works.  Imagine the possibilities and the increase in blog posts by being able to do it this way!

 

Cross your fingers, let’s hope this works!  If you are reading this…consider my “test” successful!!

 

 

 

A year of hiatus and I'm finally back at it

Home remodeling, that is.  Yes, that's right.  I took almost a year off after I worked around the clock for 5 weeks straight on the kitchen renovation last year with multitudes of TV cameras and producers and story managers and directors and sound guys (getting to know me VERY well, if you know what I mean).  I'm very excited for my next set of projects, all in the basement.  A new wine cellar to store all of my wines so that the current wine cellar room can be turned into a bathroom (already has plumbing in there).  I have a vision for that basement that will make it the best Guest Quarters possible!  Along with bar and living/entertainment area.

I knew that I would take some time off after I killed myself working on the kitchen, but I never imagined it would take an entire year to finally be ready to get back into it.  Do you think that the amount of time one needs to recuperate is directly proportional to the amount of stress/work was exerted to require the recuperation period?

Social Networking - Just Another To Do Item?

It recently occurred to me that I haven't really spent any time on any of my "fun" social networking type of websites in 10-14 days (really, it could be longer...I've lost track of time).  I think I posted one quick status at 3am asking if "being busy was a good thing."  Here's what I don't get.  When I go on vacation I LOVE the fact that I'm disconnected from the world.  But for some reason, being home and being too busy to visit Facebook or Yelp or web forums (that I'm typically a regular in) makes me feel REALLY BEHIND.  Just like one might get behind on emails (which is also happening to me, both work and personal).  I finally mostly caught up on work emails the other night when I worked from 6pm till 1am getting "caught up" but I'm still behind on other stuff.  I literally added a task item on my Task List to visit a particular web forum to write a post and update my 'online friends' on recent happenings (and I don't mean Facebook, I mean on relevant news related to the topic the entire forum is about).  I've "snoozed" that task for 2 days now.

What's with this?  I don't like it.  I don't like how I feel obligated to "keep up" with FB or any of the other places I often frequent when I don't have as much going on.  Are social networking sites putting added stress on people like myself?

To my friends who are reading this blog because I posted it on FB, I am taking this opportunity to apologize for not having read any of your status updates in the last few weeks.  If there is something I should know that is going on in your life...please email me.  I'll get to that in a few days :).

To Virtual or Not: A Decision Tree

I came across this article the other day on Fast Company’s website:  Should You Let Your Employees Work From Home.   It talks about how working from home isn’t for everyone and presents a decision tree to help companies decide whether or not an employee should be allowed to work remotely or in-house.   I was very curious to see what this article was going to say. The article doesn't actually say much, it simply displays the decision tree.  I have to say that I’m not overly impressed with the decision tree but it does make some valid points.  Here are some of the good (albeit obvious) questions/points:

·         If they need to be closely managed, then the answer is ‘no’ to working virtually and if they are self-sufficient then the answer is ‘yes.’  In another section of the tree it asks about being organized and self-motivated.  If the answer is ‘yes’ then they can work from home.  Both of these seem obvious in my opinion but it’s worth pointing out. 

·         If you can easily track their progress (or results) then the answer is ‘yes’ but if you can’t the answer is ‘no.’ I generally agree with this *decision* but the previous statement overrides this one.

·         Can they do all of their work on a typewriter/computer?  If the answer is yes then they can work from home.  I would also agree with this (but really…who does all of their work on a typewriter anymore?  LOL).

Some of the questions/points that I did not agree with (and seriously made me question the legitimacy of this type of decision tree and where that data came from):

·         Asking whether or not the employee is hourly or salaried, and then if you are salaried asking if you would let them baby sit your children.  If yes to watching your kids then ‘yes’ to working from home.  Huh?!  What in the world does being good at watching children have to do with working from home?  Is it supposed to be some kind of gauge for responsibility?  I don’t get it.  Loving kids and being good WITH kids has nothing to do with your ability to work from home.  Any why wouldn’t the hourly employee be put to the same test?  Makes no sense to me.

·         Another question that really struck me as odd was, “Do they live in their mother’s basement?” and if they ‘do’ then the tree says it’s “sketchy” to let them work virtually.  Really?  Why?  If you are close to your mother and are saving money and have your own space in her basement why would that prevent you from working from home?  Are they making the assumption that you are financially irresponsible?  Even if you are…so what?  Plenty of people are financially irresponsible and can still get their work done.  What assumption ARE they making here exactly?

Some of the questions/points were clearly put on here just to be funny.  For example, if you work with raw meat or dead animals then you can work from home “if you have a big kitchen, strong stomach and lots of industrial cleaner.”  Ummm…okay?

When I read this article, I had a light bulb moment.  Although I don’t think that THIS is the tree that one should solely base their decisions on, I do think that there COULD be some type of decision tree to help companies make that very tough decision as to whether or not to allow their employees to work from home.  Maybe there is a generic tree and then there are customized trees for each company or even department.  Maybe the decision trees are fluid depending on the type of management that exists within each workgroup or department?

If you are a company that is considering allowing your employees to work from home, I think that the most important thing to remember is that while it’s not for everybody, some employees really will be higher producers if given that freedom and flexibility.  They will work at night and on weekends without even realizing it.  Okay, they might realize it but they most likely won’t complain about it!  In the end what really matters is results.  

Are women better at working from home?

I was out at dinner tonight with hubby and another couple and we were talking about working from home and how "it's not for everybody."  The wife works from home and has for a really long time (and loves it) and was telling us how her husband had the hardest time adjusting to working from home.  We were trying to figure out why and narrowed it down to him not being used to the many distractions that home can provide.  Even when he tried going to a coffee shop he found himself distracted by nearby conversations and other things around him. 

At his wife's company it appears that 80-90% of the virtual employees are female.  Then, when we really thought about it...most of the people that we know that work from home are women.  That is not to say that there aren't exceptions.  Afterall, I do have three male co-workers who work for my company who work very well working virtually.

I haven't decided what I think about this yet but I thought it was a very interesting topic of conversation.  Is there something about women that makes them inherintly better equipped to work independently from home?  Or is it pure coincidence that we just happened to know a lot more women who are able to do it successfully?

Thoughts?

I Miss Social Time Working from Home

When I tell people that I work from home, I often hear the response, "OMG, that is my dream." While I absolutely love the advantages of working from home, there are certainly some disadvantages. One of those is the inability to just walk out of your office when you need a break and go chit chat with a co-worker or catch up on the daily and nightly events of everyone in the office. Of course, the opposite of that often happens (a co-worker comes into YOUR office and wants to chit chat with you). As someone who prefers to just sit alone in my office and get my work done and then only seldemly "chooses" to venture out for a break or some social time...I'm not sure if it's an advantage or disadvantage to work in an office vs. a home environment.

All in all...I would definitely opt for working from home vs. an office environment, however, I DO miss my "social time."  If anyone ever wants to do a 15 minute WebEx "water cooler" break during the day...LMK!  :-)