Amazing Apps and Advent Calendars

Chocolate or Cheese?

Hello.

It’s December, and there are only 19 days until Christmas!

Can you believe it? I certainly can’t. I have no idea where 2022 disappeared to.

I was about to mention that the years seem to get faster each year, but then I had a flashback of how my mum would say this every year when I was young. And I, being the delightful angelic girl I was, would give her the biggest eye roll each year. So, I’ll stay zipped. 🤐

The good thing about the start of December is that advent calendar season is upon us, which gives me an excuse to have some chocolate for breakfast every day! I’ve loved hearing about all the weird and wonderful advent calendars people have been getting this year, from tea to cheese and even wine.

It’s also been getting festive, with Christmas lights and decorations going up early. Even my LinkedIn and email signatures have been looking festive.

After two years of not having a proper Christmas, it seems people are starting early and going all out to make this a special one. 

The countdown to the big day may be on, but that doesn’t mean we’ve taken our feet off the pedal. Next on my to-do list is to finish creating and filming my Showing Empathy masterclass. A little incentive I have is that once I’ve finished filming I can put the Christmas decorations up in the office and really start getting into the festive spirit!

So, I’d better crack on and let you peruse this week’s top picks.

Empathetic people are more likely to move into and do well in leadership roles. However, is this determined by genetics or a skill we can learn and develop like any other?

It’s another interesting debate, and in this article, we look at both sides of the nature versus nurture debate.

We all love a good time saver at Christmas because there’s so much to do!

This cheat sheet will give you ideas for your Elf on The Shelf without having the usual nightly panic, trying to rack your brains for an idea.

If you’ve got some great ideas for the elf on the shelf, we’d love to see them.

Download LastPass and never worry about forgetting your passwords again!

‘Password not recognised.’

We see the phrase and immediately let out a sigh of exasperation. Maybe even a “For crying out loud!” or something a little more colourful.

It’s annoying, especially when you try every password you can remember, and none of them let you in. Or, even worse, you lock yourself out! And is it just me, or does this always happen when you’re in a rush?

Anyway, we have a solution! Down the ‘LastPass’ app. It stores all your passwords in an encrypted vault – so all you have to do is remember your one LastPass password, and you’re in!

Whether you love or hate Christmas or celebrate it, it’s a busy time for most people. I haven’t spoken to anyone who said they’re winding down or will be doing soon.

The end of the year is the end of a chapter—with goals and targets to achieve, sales to push through and planning for the following year. It’s all well and good keeping your pedal to the floor, but if we go too far and stop taking care of ourselves, we can burn out.

This was what had happened to a coaching client I began working with in January this year. He’d worked 70- and 80-hour weeks consistently in November and December to complete everything. But when it came time to relax and spend some quality time with his new children, he got very ill.

The stress, on top of not looking after himself, led to his immune system not being able to fight off the illness as well as it could have. As a result, he spent much of the Christmas period in the hospital.

During our coaching sessions, we worked on helping him create a healthy balance between work and well-being in general. But we also created a plan that would work for him during particularly busy times so that even when the scales were tipped more in favour of work, there was still enough on the well-being side to prevent burnout.

If you missed out on previous editions of our Tuesday’s Top Picks, you can find a list of our back catalogue here.