Online Publications Best Picks for October

Topics on career development and personal discovery featured highly in many of the online publications in our monitor. On the research front, studies are showing that there is more to intelligence than brain genes, and that your handwriting and temperament can tell you much about yourself and your true potential. Additional findings on multitasking focused on its detriments to performance and success.

In uncertain times like these, researchers also stressed on taking life easy, and taking time to enjoy the simpler things in life – mostly because the other alternative is insanity.

Our Top Five Picks for the Month

Office Arrow

Too Busy Doing Business To Do Business?
Ruth Holmes, a professional handwriting examiner, says that your handwriting tells much about who you are. The basis of this is in an intimate relationship between your brain and your hand, which is seen by experts like Holmes as an expression of your personality. While the techniques involved in examining handwriting have been used in criminal forensics, corporations are now looking to handwriting experts to help recognise and develop human potential. Doodling on notes no longer advertises disinterest, but instead suggests creativity, and choosing a pencil over a pen to write indicates a cautious personality.

Some interesting handwriting traits are listed below:

1. Writing slants to the left — introspective, guarded personality.
2. Slant to the right — subjective personality.
3. Straight up and down — objective personality.
4. Angular letters — quick, smart.
5. Combination of printing and cursive – high intelligence. The brain says to go faster and the hand just can’t keep up. This is known as “printscript.”

Scientific American

Searching For Intelligence In Our Genes
Finding the genetic basis of intelligence, as scientists are discovering, is an elusive search. While there are plenty of comprehensive studies into sets of identical and un-identical twins, developing children, and genius-level adults, the astounding multitude of factors affecting intelligence defy the most extensive research.

An example: Researchers cite birth canal genes as having an impact on intelligence. They explain that females with narrower birth canals tend to have higher risks of oxygen deprivation for their infant, which tends to adversely affect intelligence. While some studies also show the powerful effect of the environment on infants regardless of genetic makeup, other experiments with breast-fed babies show that babies with a particular gene develop higher intelligence. Also, while scientists have found that intelligence is attributable to well organised white matter (affecting brain processing speed) and more massive grey matter (affecting processing power), they have found that the intelligence network within the two structures may feature differently for different people of similar mental capacities.

The Times

Do These 5 Things Every Day To Stay Sane
Hundreds of scientists from the report “Mental Capital and Wellbeing” have found that attending to the simpler things in life make you happier and more efficient. While critics insist that personal happiness is subjective, it is hard to explain statistics that correlate debt with mental illness (half of those in debt in Britain suffer from mental ailments). Apart from keeping a good income and working in flexible careers, the article suggests the following tips to be happy:

1. Connecting with your loved ones, friends and family – they give you support and enrich your life.
2. Active participation in sports and hobbies to maintain physical well-being.
3. Maintaining curiosity for everything, including the simple things in life.
4. Learning something new, which brings personal satisfaction and self-esteem.
5. Giving and sharing with friends, strangers and your community.

New York Times

Multitasking Can Make You Lose … Um … Focus
Modern psychology and neuroscience is telling us that multitasking not only makes us less efficient, but adds unnecessary stress as well. When it comes to activities that demand the same cognitive resources, like emailing and talking on the phone, rather than saving time, multitasking will cost a person in terms of focus and engagement. This finding came from studies on people switching between all types of tasks, which actually resulted in more lost time. This was particularly the case with more complex tasks. Multitasking also leads to the feelings of panic and guilt, and eventually causes the brain to be unable to attend to anything fully. The solution is to create boundaries, and work at establishing singletasking as a rule in all areas of life.

IKnowNow

Understand Your Temperament To Accomplish Life Goals
If you are to understand how to accomplish your life’s goals, you will need to understand your temperament, says Dr. David Keirsey. Similar to an entry of one of our readers in our Reader to Reader Section, Dr. Keirsey talks about the four basic temperaments that are common throughout humanity, offering insight on these types and how one should go about setting goals and achieving them.

He lists them as follows:

1. As Concrete Co-operators, “Guardians” speak of duties and responsibilities. They obey laws and follow the rules. Concrete Cooperators prize experience; they know what worked in the past, and see no reason to fix what is not broken.
2. As Abstract Co-operators, “Idealists” speak mostly of possibilities, always trying to reach their goals without compromising a personal code of ethics.
3. As Concrete Utilitarians, “Artisans” speak of things that are in front of them, doing whatever works, even if it means bending the rules.
4. As Abstract Utilitarians, “Rationals” are problem-solvers who might ignore arbitrary rules and conventions in order to achieve a goal.

Top Ten Online Publications in October

Office Arrow

Brand Yourself Successful: Managing The YOU Brand
What Does Your Handwriting Say About You?

BusinessWeek

Mentors Make A Business Better

CNN

Why Can’t I Remember That Thing, Person, Task?

National Public Radio

Bad At Multitasking? Blame Your Brain

New York Times

Multitasking Can Make You Lose … Um … Focus

Scientific American

Searching For Intelligence In Our Genes

The Huffington Post

How To Deal With Tears At Work

The Times

Do These 5 Things Every Day To Stay Sane

IKnowNow

Understand Your Temperament To Accomplish Life Goals

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