EmpoweredEd2020

  Waking up at an arbitrary time won’t help you succeed. Making a thoughtful decision to wake up at the time that’s most productive for YOU is all that matters. Apple CEO Tim Cook starts his morning routine — not just his morning, his morning routine — at 3:45. General Motors CEO Mary Barra gets to the office by 6 a.m. Best-selling author Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code) gets up at 4 a.m., has a smoothie and a cup of bulletproof coffee, and then grinds away. Ben Franklin of course woke at 6:30 each day and coined the phrase, “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man health, ealthy, and wise.” Clearly, waking up early works for them.  But not for everyone. As Adam Grant says, “The world’s most successful people aren’t worried about what time others wake up. They wake and work on the schedule that works for them.” What seems right for early birds may not be right for you, because what time you start your day has nothing to do with your level of success. Success is all...

Forget Cialis get Chocolate! From the time the first coca beans were harvested by the Mayans, there has been the belief that chocolate has a euphoric impact on the body’s senses. The conquistadores saw the Emperor Montezuma of the Aztecs consuming a large quantity of cocoa in the form of a beverage called “chocolatl” before entering his harem. The invading Spaniards spread the Emperor’s belief that cocoa was an aphrodisiac and brought it to Europe. This belief was also shared by one of history’s most famous lovers, Giacomo Casanova. Since then, the use of chocolate as part of the mating ritual has been firmly established. More recently it has been shown that not only does chocolate increase the sexual appetite but also produces a sense of elation similar to an orgasm. It has only been in recent times that scientists have unraveled chocolate’s psychotropic properties and the effects it has on us. Chocolate has been found to contain modest amounts of the stimulants caffeine and theo-brom...

Carbohydrates, such as pasta and breads produce insulin in the blood stream, which in turn makes a chemical called tryptophan, which in turn produces serotonin. Serotonin puts the breaks on stress and tension and produces a calming effect. When you eat some pasta for example, it calms your nerves and your mind becomes more focused. To achieve this effect, however, don’t combine these foods with protein-laden ones, because the process will be blocked. If this is the case why are we Italians so high strung? We eat pasta or pizza virtually everyday. Imagine if we don’t get our pasta or pizza fix. SHARE THIS:

Interesting people have a special magnetism. They tell incredible stories and lead unusual lives. But what exactly makes them so captivating? They are curious more than anything else. An interesting person is always excited to explore the world, and this energy radiates outward. Some people are naturally interesting, but there are also ways to  learn  to be more engaging. Anyone can learn to become more interesting, which is a wonderful thing, because being interesting can help you strengthen your network, win more clients, and lead more effectively. There are several habits that many interesting people have in common. Sometimes these habits form naturally, but they are more often than not the result of conscious effort. Here’s what interesting people do to make themselves engaging, unusual, and hypnotizing . They are passionate.  Jane Goodall, a bona fide interesting person, left her home in England and moved to Tanzania at age 26 to begin studying chimpanzees. It became...

Are you the kind of parent that’s always hugging your kids? If the answer is yes then don’t stop doing what you’re doing. According to new research, physical affection during a baby’s development period is even more important than we thought.  The more you hug a baby, the more their brains grow, according to a  recent survey  from the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio. 125 babies, both premature and full-term, were included in the study, which looked at how well they responded to being physically touched. The results indicated that premature babies responded to affection less than babies who were not born premature. What was also revealed however, was that babies that were subjected to more affection by parents or hospital staff showed stronger brain response. According to researcher Dr. Nathalie Maitre, this last revelation tells us that something as simple as body contact or rocking your baby in your arms will make a big difference in how their brain...

Babies will begin to respond to language in-utero and this will prime their brains for early language nutrition. What's happening before birth? Your baby can hear you, and can begin learning language even now! Begin reading to, talking, singing or even humming to your baby. This will help your baby get used to your voice and begin to recognize what makes up language. Rubbing, patting or touching your tummy throughout the day, is another way to communicate with your unborn baby. Because a baby’s brain is constantly developing, connections in the brain will increase and become stronger each time your baby hears new words. What most babies do before they are born:  Recognize mother’s voice Respond to mother rubbing her tummy Startle to loud noises Can see light Open and close eyes Hear external noises and conversations Gain preference for native language Make facial expressions Recognize rhythm and patterns of stories and rhymes Recognize mother’s voice (and later, father’s) Hear soun...

A child’s early years are perhaps the most important, because they lay the foundation for the rest of their life.  Research  shows that early childhood education is highly beneficial because the human brain is the most receptive to learning between birth and three years of age. Early education has been linked to both cognitive and socio-emotional gains. Early childhood education relates to the teaching of children, both formally and informally, from birth up to the age of eight. Education at an early age doesn’t just help them excel academically, either. There are a number of benefits to early childhood education, including: 1. Social skills  – Even young children need a diverse social life. Access to early education gives kids the ability to be entertained, happier, and more communicative. The earlier that children are introduced to others their age, the quicker they can overcome shyness and gain self-confidence. 2. Personal development  – Relationships are an essen...

David Schatzkamer wrote this fantastic piece after the Super Bowl. The cost of a 30-second commercial spot for Super Bowl 54 was about $5.6 million, according to AdAge 30 seconds gets your attention – now do the same with our own kids. So how can 30 seconds improve you relationship with them? Our children know when we’re engulfed in our own technological or work-driven tasks; perhaps you have heard an eager voice say “Daddy, look what I colored,” or “Mommy, you wouldn’t believe what I built, come and see.” For adults, it seems obvious that you simply cannot give them that attention all the time. Get The Timer Out! I challenge you parents out there, along with myself, to stop all that you’re doing in one 30-second long moment (yes, you can time it). 1) Get down on their level 2) Turn your body towards them 3) Listen to what they’re saying. Take that time to acknowledge what they are doing and how they are feeling, and be fully present with your child. It is amazing how just 30 seconds c...

With news of the Coronavirus, COVID-19, everywhere, many parents are wondering what to say to their children to be reassuring. Don’t be afraid to talk about it. Assume most children will have already heard a lot about it. When children don’t have the facts, they fill in the blanks with their own beliefs. It is important to start a conversation and to continue sharing the facts about what we do know and to remember.                                                    Children look to adults to know how to respond. Look at the conversation as an opportunity to convey the facts and to set the emotional tone.

“The sun did not shine, it was too wet to play. So we sat in the house all that cold, cold, wet day.  I sat there with Sally. We sat there, we two. And I said, ‘How I wish we had something to do!’” These are the immortal opening lines from Dr. Seuss’ classic book,  The Cat in the Hat .  Having read these lines thousands of times to my three children, at one time I had virtually the whole book memorized! I used to love reading and rereading the story of the mischievous feline, doing voices and intonations and asking questions as I went along. Of course, the major question is, “would you have let the cat into the house?” Reading  The Cat in the Hat  was clearly as much fun for me as it was for my kids and now my grandkids. The value of reading to young children cannot be overemphasized. Many studies over the past 20 years show that spending time reading to preschool children is vital for boosting low-income children’s vocabularies, language development, sound awar...