If you do two things at the same time, both things will suffer.

Email, texting, social media, managing tasks.

The average office worker gets interrupted every 11 minutes.

Yet it takes 25 minutes to return to the original task before the interruption.

In tests conducted by the University of California, interrupted groups answered questions correctly 20% less often.

It’s not just that multitasking is an addiction, but that it is adversely affecting our brainpower.

Prepare for distractions by consciously expecting them. 

Research shows you’ll actually outperform people who get no interruptions at all.

Expecting distractions but – and this is important – also being aware of that expectation constantly is one of the most effective ways to deal with distractions.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my permission.

Order my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Do one or two things daily that will remind you of the child within yourself.

When we are children, we enjoy the wonder of being carefree.

As adults, we forget discovery, joy, impulsiveness, fun.

In other words, we forget how to be childlike when we take on adult responsibilities.

Wander off and explore something new today.

Do something just for the fun of it.

When the adult in us says maybe we’d not, say maybe we had better. 

No one taught us how to be children but being an adult often teaches us how to forget the benefits.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my permission.

Order my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Don’t wait for a job interview, do it now.

Can you name it – quickly?

What is your best personal strength?

Honest

Loyal

Fair

Hardworking

Inclusive

Positive

Sensitive

Good listener

Generous

Continue this list until you’ve added more personal strengths and then identify the one that best describes you.

Without trying to turn yourself into something you are not, you may just find out that you’re pretty impressive as is – if you can just identify your best personal strength.

Listing some of the others won’t hurt either.

Remind yourself once a day of your best personal strength because no one can ever take it away from you unless YOU forget it.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my permission.

Order my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

What kind of a screwed-up world do we live in where passengers pay to get mistreated by airlines?

The man who wouldn’t give up his spot on a United Airlines flight recently was dragged off the plane, his face bloodied and glasses hanging off his face.

All this because the crew said the flight was oversold and couldn’t get volunteers to give up their seats, so this abused man was forced to give his up.

United’s CEO fumbled two attempts at an apology.  The first, luke-warm, the second where he accused the assaulted passenger of being “disruptive and belligerent” and finally in his third try, admitting that customers should be treated better.

He also admitted the flight in question was not oversold after all.

When you apologize, make it sincere.

Don’t point an accusing finger at another unless you can recognize the three you have pointing back at you.

Compassion cost nothing.

An airline or anyone who treats another person this way should seriously seek help.

The world is a rough place, but if this is the way a company treats its customers, they don’t deserve to be in business.

Customers should be treated as if they are our loved ones and then you can never go wrong.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my permission.

Order my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

It’s hard to even get out of the house in the morning without our moods being ruined with news, email and texts and leftover anxieties from the day before.

Be on the lookout for good.

Good people.

I had a dear friend who always used to say to me, “JD, you’re a good man”.  How could you not want to hear that?  How could he say it without feeling good about finding something positive in me and sharing it with me?

Marriage counselors would go out of business if we could tell our spouses something positive about them every day because, sadly, most couples stop doing what worked so well when they met.

Our children are too easily praised for showing up (i.e., the soccer mom syndrome).

Here’s an effective alternative:  Catch them doing something right and tell them what it was (i.e., “it was good of you to include Bethany in the game”).

Praise plus evidence.

Even an employer or boss that we don’t like can hear something positive from us if we look hard enough (“…that was very fair”).  Not liking someone’s management style is one thing but not being able to find anything positive in another person – even a boss – means we have some work to do.  That may be on us.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my permission.

Order my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

In economics, the theory of loss aversion describes our tendency to prefer avoiding losses to acquire equal gains.

Some consider losses twice as powerful in our minds as gains that explains why people hate to give up something even if they could get something equal and better.

It is why people stay in bad relationships for fear of losing what they have no matter how bad even in the hope of getting something better with someone else.

Some argue that replacing the current health care law falls into this category – fear of losing what they have even if it is far from perfect rather than the expectation of something better gained.

Overcoming the fear of losing makes you special.

An achiever because you are willing to take a prudent risk to get something better.

A new job in a different field out of your comfort zone may be better than another one like the other one in your present field.

Sitting in the first row at a meeting or event where you might ordinarily sit near the back that shows you are willing to temporarily lose your anonymity to get closer to the speaker, participate more or become actively involved.

The helpful rule that applies to the fear of losing anything is …

Do the thing you fear to do and the fear will go away from you.

What a way to build genuine self-focused confidence.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my permission.

Order my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Steve Jobs started all the digital living we are enjoying and that sometimes also makes us miserable.

But Jobs, the inventor of iPhone, iPad and instant mobile communication, had one rule that he strictly enforced in his family.

Steve Jobs limited the amount of screen time his children could have.  Yes, the leader of the digital movement enforced balance.

Then the other day an Apple employee at the Cherry Hill, NJ store told me that store employees were not allowed to conduct business email after closing time.

You’ve heard me mention that France passed a law forbidding companies from requiring employees to do business emails after they leave work.

Almost everyone except those so lost in cyberspace that they can’t see they are ruining their lives are coming to realize that they must find a way to limit connectivity, email, texting and particularly social media to be able to enjoy their lives.

A 20-something Millennial in New York told me just a week ago that she is working very hard to come back to now and not just live on the digital devices.

Millennials are getting it, but believe it or not, many older adults and even parents are willing to let things get out of hand.

Here’s the most effective order of communication among people:

1. Face to face, in person, 100% present and not talking about yourself.
2.  A phone call, Skype or FaceTime with the same conditions above.
3. An email or text to schedule the above not conduct a relationship.
4. Social media use limited to staying in touch not a level of obsession that requires constant checking.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my permission.

Order my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

There is an Atlanta-area company called The Break Room that charges a fee for people to come in and blow off steam, relieve anxiety and get rid of anger.

They reportedly did a brisk business when the Falcons lost the Super Bowl to New England where people smashed the likenesses of Tom Brady’s face and the Patriot’s logo.

It would be understandable if those rooms existed just for the rare occasion of a Super Bowl loss but they do not as people are proving they are willing to pay between $20 and $90 for a 20-minute session to relieve stress by trashing things.

For everyone else, keep the money and follow these suggestions:

Lower your expectations – keep motivation high and expectations low.

Deep breathing, relaxation, letting go always helps to lower the heart and breathing rate. 

Keep a constant reminder of gratitude in mind – the people and the things that you are grateful for because this can lessen tension. 

Exercise.  The best physically effective way to reduce stress is to get moving, workout or even walk.

Not good enough – then beat a pillow.

Our connected world brings many challenges but one of the best ways to meet them is to let go of stress, worry and pent up anger by doing things that are actually good for us.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my permission.

Order my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

How did Don Rickles get away with insulting people often in a brutal way and yet his targets and audiences loved him?

Between politics and the false empowerment from social media the world is full of vicious insults but these insults are despised by everyone.

Maybe it’s because Rickles also made fun of himself (“Fat Jew”) and his wife (“Likes to lie in bed, signaling ships with her jewelry”). Even his own mother didn’t avoid Rickles’ vitriol (he called her “the Jewish Patton”).

That’s it.

Rickles also made fun of himself and his own family. Off the stage he was known by actors and entertainers as a nice guy.

Politics was also a contact sport, but during the last election cycle on both sides of the spectrum insults cut deep, honesty was at a premium and according to polls, both candidates running for president had the lowest favorability ratings of any two candidates ever.

Insults characterize the way we live now.

But malice toward others is not funny unless it is used in jest and with a heavy dose of self-deprecation.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my permission.

Order my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore? Unsubscribe below.

The world’s second best golfer on the pro tour this year, Jason Day, walked off the golf course at a tournament in Austin, TX and conceded the match.

He said his mother was diagnosed with lung cancer at the beginning of this year and it’s terminal.

His father died of cancer when he was 12 and Day said he’s going to be with his mother for her surgery to hopefully extend her life.

Because his father died when he was young, it was Day’s mother who motivated his golf game.

Many people make sacrifices for their loved ones who are ill or dying but it is less common to see a public figure who has so much money on the line to put it all aside to do the right thing.

As often is the case, when a child makes a choice like this, they got good upbringing.

We will never miss one more golf tournament or a special occasion as much as we will miss a little more time with someone we love.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media with my permission.

Order my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.