Better working practices mean better productivity, mean less stress and more profit. Why wouldn’t you want to find out how to improve? Thanks to the abundance of great insight, expert advice and general inspirational content, TED talks offers a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips. Here’s six of the best not just on different tactics to employ but also on questioning the way you approach work and life in general:
Challenging the Science of Happiness
Some things are better than others of course they are but don’t be fooled into thinking that good things are good and bad things are bad. Each and every experience can makes us happy and we can learn from everything we encounter and face. Dan Gilbert, author of “Stumbling on Happiness,” challenges the idea that we’ll be miserable if we don’t get what we want.
Flow, the Secret to Happiness?
“There’s this focus that, once it becomes intense, leads to a sense of ecstasy, a sense of clarity: you know exactly what you want to do from one moment to the other; you get immediate feedback. You know that what you need to do is possible to do, even though [it’s] difficult, and sense of time disappears. You forget yourself; you feel part of something larger. And once the conditions are present, what you are doing becomes worth doing for its own sake,” says Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi as he describes what it’s like to get into the zone
The power of time off
Combating the 7 – year itch – designer Stefan Sagmeister closes his New York studio for a yearlong sabbatical every seven years to invigorate creativity. Often overlooked the value of time off is very important in innovation, creativity and simply avoiding sameness and staleness.
Why work doesn’t happen at work
The office is far from the best place to get work done. In the office we work in very small interrupted parcels, there are too many distractions – not enough to really challenge an issue in front of you. Have you thought about no-talk Thursdays before?
Got a meeting? Take a walk
The tool we use most at work? Our backsides! We are spending more and more time sat down at work than ever before. Get off your bottom and go on a walking meeting and you are immediately improving your health and also getting outside of and thinking outside of the box. If you want to solve problems, you need to re-frame them. Sat down day after day you won’t get the benefit of fresh approach, get moving and talking and suddenly a whole new creativity bundle will open up.
Forget Multitasking, try monotasking
Focus on the single job in hand says Designer Paolo Cardini. Only 2% of the population can in reality multi-task. Short, sweet and though-provoking.
Do you have other videos you turn to for inspiration? Please share them with us.
