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Friday Faves is our weekly blog series highlighting a few select pieces from the REG team’s reading lists. You can catch up on past Friday Faves on the archive. 

Focus is important to productivity. But it’s daydreaming that makes us happy

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Anne says: Last week I wrote about innovation and serendipity – this week’s article is connected, again, to how we work and challenges some of our accepted approaches to productivity. Stay focused now… well, actually, that’s what we’ve been told to do. Stay on the task, stay focused to be productive – but – there’s now research to challenge that assumption. There’s evidence that allowing your mind to wander can make us more creative and happier.

However – there is a right and wrong to mind wandering. And a couple of warnings.
Rumination over past events is not useful, it can make you depressed and distracted and less productive.
And, there are times when allowing your mind to wander is just dangerous, such as operating machinery or performing surgery.

The research indicates that mind-wandering needs to be “free-moving”, like daydreaming about future events that you’re looking forward to, or imagining that you’re going to do. The study has explored the different ways the brain reacts during mind-wandering and the positive effects that can lead to more creativity. We’re reminded of the lightbulb, aha moments when we’ve been attempting to solve a problem, get distracted or allowed our mind to wander away from the problem and suddenly the solution appears.

“…the link between mind-wandering and creativity has three components: how freely moving your thoughts are, the content of your thoughts and your ability to be removed from everyday concerns…”

The research into the use of mind-wandering is exploring different ways it could be used, including improved performance on tasks, increased creativity and managing depression.

Perhaps right now, while levels of anxiety and lockdowns are consuming our lives, it may be a good time to try to let your mind wander to more pleasant things. Try envisioning different scenarios, try guided meditation, listen to music and allow your thoughts to drift away from current tasks and contexts. Take a walk through gardens, even sitting in the garden, and listen to identify different sounds like specific birds, insects, the direction of the breeze – once your mind is distracted, let it just wander. Then return to your task and notice if you feel better, more focused. Find the most effective method for you, practice it, refine it and enjoy it!

Happy daydreaming!

Read: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/08/02/daydream-mind-wander-happiness/

How to make stress your friend

Jakkii says: Stress is tough. It’s not a good feeling, it can make things feel and seem harder than they might be, and it can be overwhelming. It also has – or can have – negative impacts on our health. And worse, we can’t necessarily avoid stress, whether from work, from family, or from other aspects of our lives.

But, fortunately, stress doesn’t necessarily have to be terrible, either. Some stress can be motivating, a good reminder that we care, an indicator of where we need help or support, or even an indicator of gaps in our knowledge or experience we could benefit from working toward filling.

This TED Talk is a good, fairly brief (12 minutes) look at just that – reframing stress, when we can, into something more positive than negative, and maybe avoid those negative effects on our health after all.

…the harmful effects of stress on your health are not inevitable. How you think and how you act can transform your experience of stress. When you choose to view your stress response as helpful, you create the biology of courage. And when you choose to connect with others under stress, you can create resilience.

Give it a watch and let me know what you think – can stress be your friend?

Watch: https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend?language=en

At home

Finally I became a meme 😂 http://pic.twitter.com/fWF5j6hzRk

— Rob da Bank (@RobdaBank) August 3, 2021

Jakkii says: Well, as I write, half of Australia – population-wise at least – is back in lockdown. Hopefully, everyone’s staying safe and sane – and, whenever possible, staying home! Here’s a few ways to keep yourself occupied this week while you’re cooped up at home.

• Celebrate life on Earth with 4 films that look into the great beyond

• Dive into wellness at home with these 87 ways to feel healthier at home

• Things to do in lockdown besides streaming more movies and TV shows

• Find out what space sounds like (if sound could travel in space)

• Zone out watching these videos of cutting and playing with kinetic sand

• Learn how to grow a lemon tree indoors so you can make your own lemons instead of waiting for life to hand them to you

• Work your way through the 20 best Stephen King movies of all time

• Play a round of trivia – join Isolation Trivia livestreaming on Facebook tonight (6 Aug) and again on Thursday 12th, both at 6.30pm

Friday Fives

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Hybrid workplace

• The job roles that will lead hybrid work strategies in the workplace

• 4 emerging patterns about hybrid work and the future of the office

• How to adapt your workplace habits to the era of hybrid work

• 9 tips and tools for effectively managing your hybrid meetings

• Fostering a culture of belonging in the hybrid workplace

Remote work and the digital workplace

• Will remote workers get left behind in the hybrid office?

• Staying visible when your team is in the office…but you’re WFH

• Don’t lose the democratizing effect of remote work

• Why Zoom apps won’t eliminate Zoom fatigue

• This should be remote workers’ ‘Bill of Rights’

Communication, collaboration, engagement, and culture

• How to be mindful of mental health during lockdown

• Embracing tension to fuel creativity

• Employees want wellbeing from their job, and they’ll leave to find it

• Building workplace culture using cognitive behaviour

• Why the pandemic will forever change D&I

Community management, moderation and misinformation

• These self-described trolls tackle climate disinformation on social media with wit and memes

• Twitter partners with AP and Reuters to address misinformation on its platform

• Disinformation for hire, a shadow industry, is quietly booming

• Facebook accidentally lost a piece of its moderation policy for three years

• This new way to train AI could curb online harassment

Privacy and data

• You Anon

• Does your organization need a chief data officer? Probably

• Here’s how police can get your data — even if you aren’t suspected of a crime

• The privacy battle that Apple isn’t fighting

• Leaked document says Google fired dozens of employees for data misuse

Big Tech, tech and regulation

• She risked everything to expose Facebook. Now she’s telling her story.

• Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse already sucks (you might also like: the metaverse has always been a dystopian idea)

• Go big or go home: what sports can teach business about technology

• Facebook blocks researchers from scrutinising data

• Google says it has created a time crystal in a quantum computer, and it’s weirder than you can imagine

Social media

• ‘May be an image’: what it’s like browsing Instagram while blind

• How TikTok became a haven for queer and questioning kids

• New report finds asymmetry in social media moderation favours dominant groups

• These Hawaii residents are using social media to fight overtourism

• K-Pop’s fandom platforms are changing what it means to be an idol

Extras

Can’t believe we gave up hunting n gathering to pay rent

— paulo (@pauIoini) January 13, 2021

This is interesting: Iceland is the tip of a vast lost continent beneath the ocean’s surface, scientists propose

Things that make you go hmmm: Who owns my name?

Space: Scientists just ‘looked’ inside Mars. Here’s what they found

Podcast: Why your business strategy should be a learning strategy

Friday playlist: This week, take a trip to Sweden with this Swedish hits playlist