Thoughts and Insights by Michael Gregory

Did you know that your life is shaped by the emotions you want to feel?

Do you want to be happier, calmer, and more energized? The answer to this question has a direct impact on how you collaborate, address conflict, and disputes, healing, empathy, listening, and leadership. In an article by the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California at Berkeley entitled How Your Life is Shaped by the Emotions You Want to Feel the author, the Managing Editor, Kira M. Newman, shares a series of studies with some enlightening insights. Keys points from that article are summarized here with some personal observations.

What should you do when you don’t feel good enough?

One of the reasons that you may be in conflict with others leading to disputes may have to do with your view of self. In his new book, The Extraordinary Gift of Being Ordinary, Dr. Ronald Siegel of the Harvard Medical School, shares that everyone has doubts about themselves and so does he. You have continual self-evaluative thoughts. This is normal. However, rather than proving yourself he offers ideas and tips to address “not feeling good enough” and how you can build a better self. This ties into the Yale University course on happiness too. These ideas are introduced in this article.

How amazing that our brain can adapt to address conflict and promote collaboration

You may believe that you cannot control your anger. You may believe that conflict and disputes are fixed in our brains. However, our brains are unique in that they are the only organ that has the ability to change and adapt. This is called neuroplasticity. Some interesting research has found how our brains can adapt even when up to half of the brain is missing. Now think about this from the perspective on how your brain can adapt and change when addressing conflict or a dispute.

Uncovering bias in yourself and your organization for better results

Conflict, disputes, and miscommunications can result from both unconscious and conscious bias. We all have formed bias based on our experiences and understanding and based on our inexperience’s and misunderstanding. Unconscious bias plays a major role in our lives on how we see ourselves and others based on our cultural stereotypes and social identities. This article summarizes key points from an article from the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California at Berkley taken from a book, The End of Bias, by Jessica Nordell.  This article will summarize the root of bias, the consequences of prejudice, tips for reducing personal bias, and tips for reducing organizational bias.

How can you relieve your stress? The tax filing season is upon us.

For accountants tax season is all year long, but tax filing season just started, and tax accountants are in for a lot of work over the next three months. This is an annual cycle. So how can accountants and the rest of us address stress? This article explores some great sources of information on how stress impacts the body and what you can do to relieve stress and anxiety from a conventional review on the topic. But then, this article shares commentary with you from the field of positive psychology that I think you will find especially interesting.

Here are ten ideas from positive psychology on how to be happier and more productive

In an article from the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California at Berkley the author, James McConchie, PhD, looks at two of the great minds from the field of positive psychology and shares what he has found from their body of work. The author provides ten lessons learned from these two giants in the field, Ed Diener and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Starting with these ten lessons you are provided with additional commentary that you can use to be happier and more productive

Here are three keys to happiness at work

We are in stressful times with COVID-19, George Floyd, and work. For those of working, we feel for those that aren’t. For those working with kids in school there are many unknowns for this fall with virtual classes, being at school and hybrids. Those are plans, and once something happens parents will have to adjust to changes. With everything going on in our lives at home, in life and at work, what can we do to find more happiness at work? That is the focus of this article.

This is how to get your productivity back on track

Here it is Memorial Day weekend. For most of us that gives us an extra day off. For many of us we are working from home and trying to balance life. This may include kids with school work, buying groceries, doing laundry, maintaining relationships, etc. etc. etc. With everything going on in our lives the question is are you a wonder woman or a super man? The answer is no. We are only human. We can only do so much. There are only so many hours in the day. We are never 100% productive. We all need down time. The question is how do we balance everything and remain sane? Understanding The Collaboration Effect®, associated with connecting relationships, actively listening and educating judiciously let’s explore what to do looking at ourselves instead of others.

What do you do when times get tough? – according to neuroscience

We all know the phrase when the going gets tough the tough get going. We appreciate the idiom. But what about our psyche and the impact of all the negative news on a daily basis. What if your revenues are down? What if you are furloughed not knowing when you will be called back or worse yet, what if you are laid off and don’t have job to come back to? What if you lost a relative or close friend due to COVID-19 or for any other reason? Talk about stress. We know from neuroscience there are 12 resilience practices to help you that are broken down into five categories. These five categories are being offered to help you regardless of your situation. These come from the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California at Berkeley. I am offering these to you here with some additional insights to help you going forward.

This is how to manage stress for attorneys, accountants, appraisers and business owners

Working with attorneys, accountants, appraisers and business owners I see a lot stress and issues associated with balancing work and life. Recently I received a nice article from the AICPA on ways CPAs can manage their stress.  Between that article, chapter 8 from The Servant Manager on “How to Find Work-life Balance” and some additional research I wanted to share some current thinking on the topic to help you. These may not all be right for you, but you may appreciate and be able to implement those that would work for you and potentially with you and your team. Keep in mind not all stress is bad. From the AICPA their four major points that all make sense to me are: get regular exercise, develop good sleep habits, embrace a healthy diet, and practice mindfulness. Reading several additional sources I elaborated on their ideas and added a fifth and that is practice empathy. Read on to learn more.