Brrriiinnng. The alarm clock announces the start of another busy weekday in the morning. You jump out of bed, rush into the shower, into your clothes and out the door with hardly a moment to think. A stressful journey to work gets your blood pressure climbing. Once at the office, you glance through the newspaper with depressing stories or reports of disasters. In that sort of mood, who can get down to work, particularly some creative, original problem-solving work?

    The way most of us spend our mornings is exactly opposite to the conditions that promote flexible, open-minded thinking. Imaginative ideas are most likely to come to us when we're unfocused. If you are one of those energetic morning people, your most inventive time comes in the early evening when you are relaxed. Sleepy people's lack of focus leads to an increase in creative problem solving. By not giving yourself time to tune into your wandering mind, you're missing out on the surprising solutions it may offer.

The trip you take to work doesn't help, either. The stress slows down the speed with which signals travel between neurons (神经细胞), making inspirations less likely to occur. And while we all should read a lot about what's going on in the world, it would not make you feel good for sure, so put that news website or newspaper aside until after the day's work is done.

    So what would our mornings look like if we wanted to start them with a full capacity for creative problem solving? We'd set the alarm a few minutes early and lie awake in bed, following our thoughts where they lead. We'd stand a little longer under the warm water of the shower, stopping thinking about tasks in favor of a few more minutes of relaxation. We'd take some deep breaths on our way to work, instead of complaining about heavy traffic. And once in the office—after we get a cup of coffee—we'd click on links not to the news of the day but to the funniest videos the web has to offer. 

    The world seems gloomy (阴沉的) and gray when you're feeling blue. In fact, being down might even affect how you perceive (感知) the colour blue. A recent study about colour was published in the journal Psychological Science. It shows a direct connection between a person's ability to perceive colour and their emotions.

    Psychologists have long known that emotions can affect the way people perceive things. That's in part because chemicals from your brain might affect how you process what you see. “Color is such an important part of our experience,” says lead author Christopher Thorstenson, a psychologist at the university of Rochester, in New York. There's reason, he says, that sad people commonly describe the world as “colourless” and “gray”, and happy people use words like “bright” and “colorful”.

    In the experiment, the researchers randomly assigned people to one of two groups. People in the sadness group watched a sad scene from The Lion King. Those in the “amusement” group watched a comedy.

    Everyone was then asked to look at red, yellow, green, and blue patches (斑点) that had been changed to a grayish colour. “Some of the patches are pretty difficulty to make out,” Thorstenson admits he says it takes some time to figure out their shade. People were scored on how accurate their colour perception was. Then they completed an emotional evaluation.

    The result? Sad people had a hard time seeing the difference between shades along the blue-yellow colour axis (色轴). But they did not have problems seeing colours in the red-green spectrum (光谱). Thorstenson says this could be the result of an evolutionary need to see red as a response to anger.

    Thorstenson says these results highlight the possible important of dopamine in sight. Dopamine is a chemical that sends signals to the brain. Researchers are hoping to focus more on dopamine in the future. “We know dopamine affects how we see colours, too,” Thorstenson says “How we feel can really influence how we see the world around us” he says.

    You have probably heard of the Mozart effect. It's the idea that if children or even babies listen to music composed by Mozart, they will become more intelligent. A quick Internet search reveals plenty of products to assist you in the task. Whatever your age is there are CDs and books to help you taste the power of Mozart's music, but when it comes to scientific evidence that it can make you more clever, the picture is more mixed.

    The phrase "the Mozart effect" was made up in 1991, but it was a study described two years later in the journal Nature that sparked real media and public interest about the idea that listening to classical music somehow improves the brain. It is one of those ideas that sound reasonable. Mozart was undoubtedly a genius himself; his music is complex and there is a hope that if we listen to enough of it, we'll become more intelligent.

    The idea took off, with thousands of parents playing Mozart to their children, and in 1998 Zell Miller, the Governor of the state of Georgia in the US, even asked for money to be set aside in the state budget so that every newborn baby could be sent a CD of classical music. It was not just babies and children who were exposed to Mozart's music on purpose, even an Italian farmer proudly explained that the cows were played Mozart three times a day to help them produce better milk.

    I'll leave the debate on the impact on milk yield to farmers, but what about the evidence that listening to Mozart makes people more intelligent? More research was carried out but an analysis of sixteen different studies confirmed that listening to music does lead to a temporary improvement in the ability to handle shapes mentally, but the benefits are short-lived and it doesn't make us more intelligent.

    Working with a stressed mind is like swimming with a jacket on, while a mind free from work stress is light like the wind and it can help you accomplish your daily tasks easily. To relieve (缓解)stress and lighten your mind, you must first understand the nature of stress and the reasons why it builds up. Then you can easily beat stress.

    Talk it out

    Talking to others helps relieve work stress especially when you and the person you talk to are in the same boat and under the same work stress. Your worries will be divided! If you are your own boss, you need some good advisers around you, who know your trouble and talk sense. If there is no such persons at your workplace, let there be one at home, who is a friend, a family member or a guide that you can talk to.

    Let music calm your mind

    Music has the power to take you into a new world, away from your worries. Taking a break to listen to some favorite music is also a great way to relieve stress.

    Take a walk

    If there is a park around, go and have a walk there. You can eat some snacks sitting on the grass. Move around, look at the world around you and forget your work for a while. Let your body get some exercise. A walk works as it also clears your thoughts. You can listen to music while going on a walk.

    Have a life beyond the workplace

    If you keep thinking about nothing other than work all the time, there is bound to be stress. So, throw away your thoughts about work after you leave your office and get a life beyond it. Have a life beyond the workplace, and you can relax after work.

Do you need a career launch plan? It isn't absolutely essential but it can be extremely helpful! A well-created plan is not just about landing a job; it is about entering the professional field with a competitive edge. Beyond that, it's a strategy. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Therefore, a career launch plan is your survival guide, helping you avoid the traps and seize the right opportunities. So why not follow the following tips to create a right career launch plan?

{#blank#}2{#/blank#} If you were to plan out your travel routes, what would you do? You're not just randomly moving; you're intentional about where you want to go and what you want to achieve. So is a career plan. It involves outlining specific and achievable goals that give direction to your career trajectory （轨迹）.

Develop relevant skills. Once you've identified the qualifications and skills demanded in your ideal profession, it's time to acquire them! Sign up for courses, pursue certifications, or gain hands-on experience to enhance your skill set. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

Start your job hunt. Your approach to job applications should be more like a precision strike than a messy explosion of arrows in all directions. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} It's not just about quantity; it's about quality. Tailor each application to the specific role and company, emphasizing how your skills and experiences agree with their needs.

Stay flexible and agile （机敏的）. The job market is changing, and being adaptable is an invaluable ability. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Develop a mindset of continuous improvement—always seeking ways to enhance your skills, knowledge, and approach to stay relevant in the ever-evolving professional landscape.

A.Set your goals.

B.Research your options.

C.So, what should you do to deal with it?

D.To achieve this, develop a systematic approach to your job search.

E.By doing these, you're essentially improving your techniques!

F.The job market can be a jungle, especially when you're just starting.

G.The goal is to create a foundation that'll guide your career decisions.