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For some this may just be the news they want to hear!
In a new book, "Take a Nap! Change your Life," the author Dr Mednick, Harvard University scientist and sleep expert, says that people who take a nap during the day make fewer mistakes and have boosted brainpower.
In one of her studies, she compared the effects of napping to drinking caffeine.
One group of people took a 90-minute nap, another consumed 200mg of caffeine (the amount in a regular mug of coffee), and a control group took a placebo. They then carried out several tasks, including typing and spatial skills (such as remembering the layout of a room or a map). Interestingly, the nappers performed best of all, followed by the placebo group who outperformed the coffee drinkers.
In another study, Dr Mednick put 30 well-rested people through the same set of tasks four times in the course of day, starting at 9am and ending at 7pm.
Performance fell by more than 50 per cent in the people who stayed awake the whole time, while those who napped for an hour in the early afternoon, were able to maintain their performance levels.
Mednick says her findings tie in with studies showing that the brain needs sleep to incorporate newly learned skills into memory.
According to Mednick, the "perfect nap" is 90 minutes. This can produce the same benefits as a seven-hour night of sleep.
"Two shorter, 25-minute naps at lunchtime and after work, may be enough to help catch up on sleep debt. However long and whenever you nap, you will reap health benefits," says Mednick.
Obviously the Spanish have it right - I am off to bed!
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 09:54 AM
"After my house burned down, I saw the moon more clearly."
Zen saying
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 02:31 PM
Many years ago, I came across a statistic that claimed that forty per cent of satisfied customers leave
This weekend I came across another statistic that put the challenge facing the New Leader into clear focus – in a study conducted by Watson Wyatt across ten European countries, between 35-41% of people were considering leaving their employment. 41% of Irish respondents were in this space.
So the key challenge for Leaders in today’s ever changing worlds is keeping their internal and external customers happy.
Providing stable employment or delivering good service is no longer enough.
The leader needs to exceed the expectations of his customers, both internal and external.
Converting customers into friends is one way forward; customers leave, friend's dont.
Honouring this, going outside traditional relationships and securing business for your clients is one way of thinking differently and strengthening bonds.
Similarly, reflecting employees goals and dreams in the companies mission statement/ goals – giving them payed time in the week to make a difference via voluntary commitments, or indeed allowing them to develop other ideas on site are also positive ways to keep your internal customers happier.
Without doubt it is time for new thinking for the leaders of tomorrow.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 09:05 AM
Off to Greece pursuing one of my other passions - supporting Liverpool FC.
Hoping to see us win No 6.
Talk to you on my return
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 07:40 PM
Think about it; more people are afraid of failing than dying, indeed more people are afraid of standing up in front of an audience than dying. These are the results of many studies worldwide.
In essense, this suggests that more people are afraid of living, than dying.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 10:29 AM
Got the following via email today!
"If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn
fool about it."
DONT QUIT! - Learn from your mistakes and try again. Remember the only failure in life is the failure to learn from failure........and success is only another failure away.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 05:58 PM
"Invention is arrived at by intelligent stumblings."
Amar Bose
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 10:44 AM
Should you follow the leader at all costs?
Is there a possibility that as Hindu Wisdom suggests, the blind can lead the blind into a ditch!
In 1989, blind following of the leader played a part in the death of forty seven people in the UK.
One of a plane's engines had caught fire after take off, and the Captain in error shut down the wrong one. One of the cabin crew noticed the error, but decided not to question the Captain's wisdom.
Unbelievably sad but true.
Worldwide research also shows that youths are more likely to commit violence in groups as opposed to being on their own.
Overall, remember the path is narrow, and all great ideas start in a majority of one - so make a stand if it feels right. You never know - you may just be!
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 02:42 PM
Have you ever been sitting on a plane wondering when the hell you are going to be on the move? Or indeed annoyed by the lack of information coming from the Airline?
Well Dragon Air Pilot Les Gordon, understanding the importance of managing these particular critical customer service moments of truths, developed his own strategy to deal with these. When he is advised from the bridge or wherever, that there are going to be delays, he goes into the cabin and addresses all the customers face to face using a microphone. He is convinced that the strategy has served him well in his years as a pilot.
As timing is everything in the context of dealing with negative situations, and sharing information is paramount; when the personal touch is added to the cocktail; a potential disaster can be turned into a positive for the organisation in the long run.
Remember as we have said many times on this blog, a complaint is truly an opportunity to strengthen the relationship with the client.
Les exceeded the expectations of his clients, and thus also geometrically improved the relationship. A job well done!
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Anyone in the West will know that when you buy an item, you will be more than lucky if the customer service agent hands you the product before you leave - normally it is just left on the counter for your pickup; or indeed, depending on the person's humour, thrown at you! Well each day, I purchased a Wifi Card and was very impressed to see that not only did the receptionist hand me the card, she, and her colleagues gave me the small card with their two hands.
Something very humbling and gracious about their execution of a very simple, but for many challenging deed.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 12:55 PM
They say you should never put a price on friendship, but economists have just done that!
A study published in the Journal of Socio Economics, which took information from over 8000 households in Britain values true friendship at ................................................................£85,000!
"An increase in the level of social involvement is often worth many tens of thousands of pounds a year extra in life satisfaction. Actual changes in income on the other hand, buy very little happiness," said Dr Nattavudh Powdthavee from the University of London's Institute of Education which conducted the research.
"One potential explaination is that social activities tend to require our attention while they are being experienced, so that the joy derived from them lasts longer in our memory. Income on the other hand is mostly in the background," he added.
Worldwide studies have consistently shown that friendships are integral to a happy, fulfilled life.
Connect with your friends today!
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 05:55 AM
Recently NBC News reported on a fascinating study that was completed at Villa Assumpta in Baltimore, and at six other convents around the U.S.
After reviewing the short autobiographies of 678 nuns, they found that those who used the most "positive" words lived on average 10 years longer than nuns expressing more negative emotions.
"If we hope, we cope. If we dont, we mope!"" says Sister Genevieve Kunkel.
"Don't look back on the past," she advises, "It's very dear, but it's darn dead."
At 96, Sister Kunkel has never had a major health problem, and only recently started using a cane.
Task: Watch your words today!
Are you using positive, empowering, can do language, or negative, draining, disempowering words?
Choose the latter and watch your life transform over time.
Words truly have transformative power.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 06:57 AM