Todd Thrash, a professor of psychology and a leading researcher on the scientific study of inspiration, conducted a study to track how inspired people were, and how happy they were, on each day of the week. When concluded, he found that people are happier on Fridays than they are on Mondays...which I don't think came as too much of a surprise to anyone. After all, most of us, if not all of us, look forward to our weekends, so it's almost expected that we be happier on Fridays than Mondays. And, it also wasn't too surprising to see that people are also least likely to feel inspired on Fridays than any other day of the week. But what did come as a bit of a surprise was the day he found people are most inspired, which is Tuesday. 

Tuesday is "[t]he same day that Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. The same day that Mark Zuckerberg says he created Facebook. Possibly the most forgettable day of the week --Tuesday--is the king of inspiration. And not just by a little bit: The study found that inspiration is 79% more likely to occur on a Tuesday than on a Friday...On Tuesday, we find ourselves in the thick of the work week, immersed in the challenging and inconvenient and stressful of everyday life. It's a day for making things happen."

So there you have it, it's Tuesday and we're about to make things happen!!

I took an entry psychology course in college and was instantly hooked; I knew I wanted to be in that field. Once I got my degree, I decided to cannonball into the field and got an amazing job working with children with special needs. I didn’t realize how challenging this would be, I was so driven by making a difference in these kiddos lives that I didn’t take the time to think about myself. Working with children is difficult in general but working with children with special needs (some of them with severe conditions) required so much strength, not only physically but mentally.

Here are the top 5 things I learned about working with these amazing kiddos-

1 – How to handle stress – I worked with children, sometimes multiple at a time, who had behavioral troubles. Their challenges included screaming, hitting, biting, throwing, and somehow each of these children had the strength of The Incredible Hulk. I was so confident in myself initially; I had no idea what I was getting myself in to! I was extremely stressed out at the beginning, I felt like these children were too tough for me to handle. I started learning more techniques and day by day starting feeling more comfortable and proud of myself.  I went home with literal battle scars (bruises, scratches, etc.) but seeing even a slight improvement in their behavior was definitely worth it! Dealing with the classroom madness has definitely helped me learn how to breathe and relax… Even while a kiddo is screaming their head off!  

2 – Do not always expect consistency – Every child is unique, you cannot expect something from one kiddo and expect the same thing from another. This rule can also be applied to our jobs! Just because something worked for one guest, you can’t always assume that it will work for the next. I have learned how to keep on my toes and always look for multiple solutions to any problem.

3 – Having fun is crucial – When you’re working with children, special needs or not, you have to be goofy and make it fun! I’ve always been told that I still act like a child, so I was able adapt to this rule rather easily! Being told that you act like a child is not always a bad thing; I always take it as a compliment. Having fun is also crucial in your everyday life, it can definitely take an average day and make it into an awesome day. Be silly, smile more, and have fun!

4 – It’s all worth it – Looking at the big picture is always difficult, especially when you’re really challenging yourself! I feel so honored to be in my kiddo’s lives, I sincerely do think that I made an impact. Your experience with jobs and school also applies to this rule.  While it may be difficult, you’re walking out with so much more knowledge and have tons of new experience under your belt. You not only get to know about the job/subject, you get to find out a little bit more about yourself and how awesome you are too!

5 – Be proud of yourself – Being proud of yourself is an absolute must! Making it this far and overcoming all the hardships that you have endured definitely requires a pat on the back. Feel free to modestly gloat about your accomplishments, you deserve the praise!

I challenge all of you to take on number 3 and have fun during this Labor Day weekend! Do something to make yourself happy, and bonus points if you're the ultimate superhero and do something to make someone else happy! 

I recently picked up a night class at the junior college to work my way toward an AA Psychology. I’m taking Social Psychology at the moment (the study of how people act, think, and feel in the context of society). I was excited last night when I saw the phrase “positive psychology” written on the board of topics to cover that evening. “What luck!” I thought to myself, “he might even mention Shawn Achor and I can share about how we implement these practices at my work.”

But to my shock, when the topic came up, my professor immediately started bashing the concept. He introduced it as a “new psychology method that is honestly for all of the tree huggers out there that just think to feeeeel better and that will fix everything. It’s a bunch of BS.” 

He completely disregarded and brushed past the entire topic. The reason that we here at SlideBelts recommend the Happiness Advantage book is not just because it’s a “feel good fix it” book. That book is full of hard evidence and study after study containing results that are hard to disregard.

I gathered 2 points from this experience:

1: I’m glad that here, one of our seven keys is “open minded policy.” Even if something is new and “sounds like BS” at first, it’s important that we listen and give it a chance before making brash assumptions. Unfortunately my professor didn’t seem very open minded at all in that moment.

2: Once I was aware of his stance on positive psychology, I began to pick up a little more on the overall negativity that was sprinkled throughout his speech and actions. He would often end sentiments with a negative or pessimistic spin on them, instead of a positive one.

Now of course I was looking for the negativity at that point so it was more easily found, and obviously my professor overall is a very intelligent guy that I’ll end up learning a lot from, but it was just interesting coming from work in a very positive and uplifting environment and going straight to one that was almost an opposite environment. It made me grateful that I get to spend the majority of my time here where we actively try to be CEANN...who knows, maybe I’ll lend him the Happiness Advantage.