Writing A Letter To Your Future Self

    Just imagine writing a letter to your future self 5 years from now, then opening it at that exact moment to see how much of it has come true. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    As you read the letter in the future, you can assess how many things agree with your expectations in the past. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Often times, the goals we set and our goal achievement process are affected by a lot of changes along the way. The letter lets you recognize how your current idea differs from the past.

    In addition to that, at the very moment you are writing the letter, your thoughts are stored right there in those words. When you open the letter in the future, you as your future self gets to compare how you used to be in the past with how you are now.  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. It's very interesting to do so.

    Take out a pen and paper right now and start writing your letter to your future self. Set a time period to write to. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Then start writing. Think about the type of person you will be, your place in life, what you will have realized then, and so on.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Put it in a safe space where no one can find it. When you open this sometime in the near future, you might gain additional insights(了解) about yourself and your journey in the past few years.

    Injuries and deaths caused by driving after drinking are preventable. Sadly, actions by the police can only catch a small number of drunk drivers on the roads. It is up to each person to make the decisions.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}So we should help guide our friends and persuade them to avoid driving after drinking. Here are some tips.Start talking to the person early. With every drink, judgment becomes increasingly uncontrolled.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}So as soon as your friend starts drinking, you should try to persuade him to make a plan to get home safely. Remember, after he gets drunk, he may not listen to you.Help the person realize he is drunk. Talk to him and show him that he is increasingly clumsy.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}For example, ask who you can call to pick him up, or what public transport he would like to use. If he knows he is drunk, he may follow your advice.Make last efforts. If all else fails and a drunk person wants to drive home, threaten to call the police or take his keys.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}When he is not concentrated, take his keys. This may make it easier to convince him to take a cab home. Remember, don't give him the keys even if he's angry.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}If you once drove home after you got drunk, your friend may not listen to you. So in order to succeed in persuading your friend to avoid driving after drinking, you should behave yourself first.

A. Ask him where his keys are.

B. Set a good role model.

C. Give him an alternative way to get home.

D. But it isn't easy to make the right decisions.

E. Make him realize drinking makes him look like a fool.

F. The police will come to help you out once you call them.

G. It means the more one drinks, the less likely that he will listen to you.

How to not be a slave to technology

    Schwartz, CEO of The Energy Project, shared four of his most important tools for applying technology more productively, and building a work life that supports—rather than wastes—your energy.

    Build daily rituals (习惯).{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Build highly specific behaviors that you do at precise times over and over again until it becomes as automatic as brushing your teeth at night. The best way to prioritize (优先考虑) what's important to us and make sure we actually do the things we care about is to create highly specific habits.

    Take a “first things first” approach to your mornings.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Ninety-five percent of people have more energy early in the morning than they do as the day wears on, and they also have fewer distractions(干扰). So if that's the case, why wouldn't you do the most important thing when you have the most energy?

    Use technologies selectively. If you expose yourself to different forms of technology continuously, they will pull you in the way a drug would, even when you know it is not serving you well. Keep technological temptations (诱惑) away when you find yourself getting too distracted—or as Schwartz puts it: “{#blank#}3{#/blank#}”

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Many of us live our lives in a gray zone—were not fully focused on work when were working, and during our leisure time, we're not fully relaxed. This leaves us feeling distracted. Schwartzs advice? {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Applying less than your full focus doesn't just make you less productive; distraction keeps you from being fulfilled by and connected to your work. Distraction is the enemy to meaning.

A. Be intentional with your energy.

B. Do the most important thing first every day.

C. Taking breaks throughout the workday is a nice thought.

D. If you're trying to lose weight, don't have cup--cakes in the fridge.

E. We've crossed the line of being able to effectively manage all of the information coming at us.

F. When you're working, you're really working; and when you're relaxing, you're really relaxing.

G. The only way to ensure that things that aren't urgent but are important happen is to develop habits.

    All company leaders will face major business decisions throughout their time as the heads of their organizations. Difficult decisions related to activities such as M&A, leadership changes, restructuring, and massive growth plans will directly impact the company's employees.

    If you've already established trust with your workforce, you can significantly minimize potential negative impacts and make sure your employees will buy into your decisions, even if they don't necessarily agree with them. But earning their faith takes time. As a leader, you are trusted only to the degree that people believe in your ability, consistency, and commitment to deliver. The good news is that there do exist some strategies to help you earn confidence.

    Instill trust through an employee engagement program

    By encouraging consistent feedback and establishing an honest environment, employees will trust the direction and information you give them. Create a highly engaged culture by prioritizing real-time recognition, continuous feedback, and ongoing goal-setting.

    Change and react with meaningful conversations. You've likely had to adjust your business plan in the middle of the year. Real-time, continuous communication helps you keep employees in the loop and adjust to expectations as your organization's needs change.

    Giving timely feedback is the most effective way to communicate expectations. Not only that, but saving your big praise until the end of the year isn't just ineffective—it makes it more difficult to deliver.

    Ongoing goal-setting can help people understand where their contributions fit within the organization and where they need to aim. Better yet, these can be transparent across the organization so everyone is held accountable for the outcomes and behaviors that drive your business and cultural success.

    Gather and measure sentiment (情感) during times of change

    Part of the difficulty in making tough business decisions is that leaders don't want to surprise or disappoint employees. Think about the last time you made a major company-wide announcement. Did you know if employees were happy? Were they shocked? Or even worse, did you have no insight into their reactions at all? If you regularly measure employee sentiment through real-time pulse surveys—especially during times of change—you can more accurately pinpoint reactions and cope with issues immediately. The results of these pulse surveys empower your leadership team to be more forthcoming, moving forward, earning the trust of employees and strengthening a transparent company culture.

    If there is a strong link between employees and managers to the goals of the organization, the vision and values of the company will be embraced by all.

    At the end of the day, the mindset shouldn't be about how you can make tough decisions easier, but how you can make those decisions in a way that won't negatively impact your employees or your organization's objectives. Create a cooperative feedback culture, and when the time comes to make difficult decisions, you know that with your team's insights in mind and trust in the leadership, the decision will be accepted willingly.

    One day when I was 12, my mother gave me an order: I was to walk to the public library, and borrow at least one book for the summer. This was one more weapon for her to defeat my strange problem — inability to read.

    In the library, I found my way into the "Children's Room." I sat down on the floor and pulled a few books off the shelf at random. The cover of a book caught my eye. It presented a picture of a beagle. I had recently had a beagle, the first and only animal companion I ever had as a child. He was my secret sharer, but one morning, he was gone, given away to someone who had the space and the money to care for him. I never forgot my beagle.

    There on the book's cover was a beagle which looked identical to my dog. I ran my fingers over the picture of the dog on the cover. My eyes ran across the title, Amos, the Beagle with a Plan. Unknowingly, I had read the title. Without opening the book, I borrowed it from the library for the summer.

    Under the shade of a bush, I started to read about Amos. I read very, very slowly with difficulty. Though pages were turned slowly, I got the main idea of the story about a dog who, like mine, had been separated from his family and who finally found his way back home. That dog was my dog, and I was the little boy in the book. At the end of the story, my mind continued the final scene of reunion, on and on, until my own lost dog and I were, in my mind, running together.

    My mother's call returned me to the real world. I suddenly realized something: I had read a book, and I had loved reading that book. Everyone knew I could not read. But I had read it. Books could be incredibly wonderful and I was going to read them.

    I never told my mother about my "miraculous" (奇迹般地) experience that summer, but she saw a slow but remarkable improvement in my classroom performance during the next year. And years later, she was proud that her son had read thousands of books, was awarded a PhD in literature, and authored his own books, articles, poetry and fiction. The power of the words has held.

    Keeping the memory in shape is important at any age, but it requires a bit more work as we grow. There are some simple activities that can improve your memory.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Awaken your senses.

    Use your senses to help your memory store(储存) needed information. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}You can ask yourself like this: Is the sky a light blue or deep purple? The more involved(参与的) you can be in the information, the easier it is for your brain to store it.

    Use imagination and relation.

    Trying to remember names? Let's say you meet a man named Frank Parker. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Tie the two together by picturing Frank dressed up in a hot dog costume(服装) parking his car in the parking lot. Now each time you see Frank, you should easily recall his name.

    Breathe deeply and relax.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Relax, breathe deeply and slowly and let your mind ease up for a minute. Being relaxed makes it easier for information to be both stored and remembered.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    When you come upon something you need to remember, say to yourself, “Hey, pay attention and remember this!” You are giving yourself a wake-up call as well as giving your mind a marker that it can use to help in storing the new information.

A. Give yourself an order.

B. Get a good night's sleep.

C. Here are four of them to get you started.

D. Picture a hot dog for Frank and a car for Parker.

E. For example, note the colors of a picture you want to remember.

F. When we try hard to remember something we often become nervous.

G. The way you live influences not only your physical health but also your memory.