Deal With Perfectionism,
Lower Stress
Do you think you need to always do a
good job? That is, you think you should never have a day when you don’t
perform well. If that’s the case, then you are setting yourself up for
failure, because it’s impossible to always be at the top of your game.
You’re going to have off days every once in a while and when you do, you
should remember you are human.
If you have an impossibly demanding supervisor who believes that
anything less than perfection is unacceptable, you might be prone to
feeling like every mistake you make, no matter how small, is a grand
failure. Don’t fall victim to someone else’s unreasonable expectations.
Give yourself a break.
 It’s
especially important not to fall victim to chronic stress. A recent
study by Harvard Medical School and its affiliate, McLean Hospital,
found that mice that were given stress hormones for more than two weeks
developed anxiety and were less likely to come out into the open.
“Our results suggest that chronically
high levels of cortisol [a human stress hormone]…can increase anxiety on
the one hand and dull responses to external stimuli on the other….[C]hronic
stress exposure has detrimental effects on brain and behavior,” said the
authors of the study, which was published by the American Psychological
Association.
So take it easy on yourself by incorporating these suggestions into your
life:
q
Accept
yourself as you are.
q
Forgive
yourself.
q
Look at the
``ideal'' as a guideline instead of a goal.
q
Be realistic
when setting goals and deadlines.
q
Stop those
negative thoughts.
q
Love yourself
and believe you deserve good things.
q
Embrace the journey as
much as the destination.
q
Keep things in
perspective. When your are unhappy with the way something happened, ask
yourself how important it is in the grand scheme of things.
q
When things don’t go as
planned, ask yourself what can you learn from the experience. Remember
there are no mistakes only opportunities to choose again.
Internet
Use Increases Test Scores
 According
to the American Psychological Association, the Internet has its
problems, but it can be a good educational tool for populations that
traditionally have been difficult to reach. Researchers from Michigan
State University looked at whether the Internet could positively
influence the academic performance of low-income students (“Does home
Internet use influence the academic performance of low income children?
Findings from the HomeNetToo Project”).
The research was based on 140 children ages 10 to18 years old (83
percent African American and 58 percent male) who lived in single-parent
homes (75 percent) with median incomes of $15,000 or less. The
participants were followed for two years to gauge how home Internet use
might influence academic achievement.
The children in the study were online for an average of 30 minutes per
day. It was found that children who used the Internet more had higher
standardized test scores in reading and higher grade point averages when
they were compared to children who used the Internet less. Internet
usage had no bearing on standardized math scores.
Lead author of the study, Linda Jackson, said the improvement in reading
scores is probably due to the fact that if you spend time on the
Internet, you are probably reading.
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