Life Habits

Need advice on getting that next job, a new position in your current organization, or any other situation where you'll be evaluated and assessed?  Karel devotes this episode to outlining 10 practical tips for preparing for and handling the interview.

Want to learn to achieve a deep state of relaxation?  Karel provides this special episode with guided instruction to achieve deep progressive muscle relaxation. This episode can be listened to whenever you would like to achieve deep relaxation and it is recommended that you only listen to it in a private and quiet setting with no distractions. The background music used on this episode is Antonio Vivaldi's Sonata 5 Largo (I & III) performed by the Telemann Trio and is used courtesy of Musopen (musopen.org).

Confirmation bias is the cause of many of the problems in relationships, communities, and the world. Learn how to recognize and start to conquer it.

Do you tend to take things personally more than you should?  Karel devotes this episode to a listener request to address the topic of taking things personally. After discussing some developmental and individual difference dimensions related to the topic and some relevant quotes, he provides advice for improving in this important area via a top 10 list.

Do you have difficulty with sleep?  Karel has guest Marie-Josee Shaar back again to do a follow-up drill-down episode on the topic of sleep. Check out Marie-Josee's website at SmartsandStamina.com.

Do you want to improve your skills for managing people either in a formal management position or an informal one (as a parent, coach, etc.)?  In response to a listener request, Karel devotes this episode to providing practical advice for becoming more effective in the management of people.

Do you tend to be too passive or too aggressive? Do you want to optimize the effectiveness of your communication?  Karel devotes this episode to providing advice on becoming appropriately assertive.

Are you dealing with a difficult person in your life? In response to a listener request, Karel provides 10 suggestions for dealing with difficult people.

Do you have to work with others in groups? Pretty well everyone does. Do you want to improve the teamwork exhibited by those teams? In response to a listener request, Karel devotes this episode to the various ways teamwork can be optimized.

Do you think about the insights you've gleaned from your parents and family?  Have you captured and communicated them?  Karel recommends that you do and provides a top 10 list to provide you some advice on how to do it.

In response to a listener request, Karel provides a brief recap and review of each of the podcast episodes recorded to date, episode 1 through to episode 44.  See which episodes you missed or want to listen to again.  Also, consider recommending a particular episode to a friend or the whole series.

Do need help in getting advice and finding a mentor.  That's the focus of this episode.  Karel goes through the top 10 list of suggestions for approaching getting appropriate help and also giving it as well.  Please refer to the show notes for episodes 32, 42, and 40 for contact details for people you can contact for professional advice as well.

Are you stuck or in a rut?  Are you finding that you're not able to get going effectively on the improvements you'd like to make to your life?  This episode is devoted to getting you unstuck so that you can make effective progress on whatever improvements you'd like to make in your life with a practical set of top 10 items.

Joining Karel for this episode is Marie-Josee Salvas Shaar.  While most other episodes deal with a single topic, this one is different in that it deals with four topics and, importantly, the integration of them together - sleep, food, mood, and exercise.  Refer to the top 10 list on this site and visit Marie-Josee's website for more information.

Take some time to step back, reflect, and provide feedback.  Karel gives a preview of what topics are on the candidate list for future episodes and then provides a top 10 list for reflecting and providing feedback on this and other podcasts and similar technology mediated content and conversations.

Learn to develop Psychological Capital during this episode when Karel has special guest Kathryn Britton back again.  Kathryn was also on Episode 16 and talked that time about Positive Psychology.  This time she focuses on Hope and Resilience the latter of which she has also recently co-edited a book on which is available at Amazon.  She is also available for individual coaching sessions. You can reach her at Theano Coaching.

Do you find that the meetings you lead and/or attend aren't as effective as they could be?  Karel provides a context for evaluating the cost of a meeting and the resulting need for increased effectiveness and then provides a top 10 list of practical advice to use in making meetings you lead as a formal leader or as an emergent one much more effective and enjoyable.

In this episode, Karel takes the approaches, methods, and techniques used in product design and applies them to designing the product, you.  The quotes and top 10 list provide you a way to think about and approach self-improvement by designing your life.

Have you wondered how long it should take to develop a skill into a habit?  In response to a listener request, Karel addresses the very important topic in this episode.  He describes the factors that determine the length of time that it takes and then summarizes the rules of thumb for simple and complex behaviors as well as what it takes to get to mastery.  The top 10 list for this episode provides advice on optimizing the realization of the development of skills into habits.

In response to a listener request, Karel reviews key points from ten previous episodes in order for you to assess your progress, celebrate successes and identify additional areas of continued and intensified focus.