Cold-Brewed Ice Coffee

Yield: Two drinks

1/3 cup ground coffee (medium-coarse grind is best)

Plant milk (optional)

1. In a jar, stir together coffee and 1 1/2 cups water. Cover and let rest at room temperature overnight or 12 hours.

2. Strain twice through a coffee filter, a fine-mesh sieve or a sieve lined with cheesecloth. In a tall glass filled with ice, mix equal parts coffee concentrate and water, or to taste. If desired, add plant milk.

According to Aldo Civico Ph.D., "matching and mirroring is the skill of assuming someone else’s style of behavior to create rapport. When you match and mirror, you don’t only listen with your ears, you listen with your entire body. You are present to the other person.

Matching and mirroring is not mimicry. To the contrary, it’s about being in tune with the other, by using your observations about the other’s behavior. Here are the four things you need to do, to match and mirror your interlocutor:

Body postures and gestures
What posture is the person you are having a conversation with assuming? What is he or she doing with his or her arms and hands? Is the person leaning forward or backward? Observe, and then match the posture and gestures. If, for example, the person is reserved in using the hands, there is no point for you to gesticulate frantically!

The rhythm of the breath
Pay attention to how the other person is breathing, and then match it. This technique helps tremendously in bonding with the other. If the person you are having a conversation with is breathing with her diaphragm, it will not help building rapport if you breath with your upper chest. Instead, match your interolocutor’s rhythm of breath.

The energy level
What is the energy level of your interlocutor? Is he or she shy, reserved or exuberant and extroverted? If he or she, for example, is timid, it might be perceived as aggressive and invasive if you are exuberant. If your interlocutor uses few words to express a concept, it does not make your communication effective if you are very wordy.

The tone of your voice
What is your interlocutor’s tone of voice? Is he or she talking softly, almost whispering? In that case, to build rapport, you need to mirror his or her tone of voice. Being loud, in fact, will not help establishing a bond with your interlocutor. In addition, pay attention at the speed of the speech. Is your interlocutor speaking slowly or fast?

Paying attention to these four characteristics and mirroring them when communicating with others, helps you with rapport building (By the way, I am currently sending free videos to individuals interested in learning techniques on how to build rapport. Just sign up here for my weekly advice on effective communication).

Read the full article here on Psychology Today. 

"Careers that rely primarily on fluid intelligence tend to peak early, while those that use more crystallized intelligence peak later," according to a recent Atlantic article. 
 
British psychologist Raymond Cattell introduced the concepts of fluid and crystallized intelligence in the early 1940s. He defined fluid intelligence as "the ability to reason, analyze, and solve novel problems—what we commonly think of as raw intellectual horsepower." In contrast, crystallized intelligence "is the ability to use knowledge gained in the past, [like] possessing a vast library and understanding how to use it. It is the essence of wisdom." 
 
"Innovators typically have an abundance of fluid intelligence. It is highest relatively early in adulthood and diminishes starting in one’s 30s and 40s." Older people can find innovation more challenging. Crystallized intelligence is enhanced by "accumulating a stock of knowledge, and it "tends to increase through one’s 40s, and does not diminish until very late in life." 
 
This contrast is illustrated by two example careers. "Dean Keith Simonton has found that poets—highly fluid in their creativity—tend to have produced half their lifetime creative output by age 40 or so. Historians—who rely on a crystallized stock of knowledge—don’t reach this milestone until about 60." 
 
The good news is that "no matter what mix of intelligence your field requires, you can always endeavor to weight your career away from innovation and toward the strengths that persist, or even increase, later in life."
 
For example, "teaching is an ability that decays very late in life, a principal exception to the general pattern of professional decline over time. A study in The Journal of Higher Education showed that the oldest college professors in disciplines requiring a large store of fixed knowledge, specifically the humanities, tended to get evaluated most positively by students. This probably explains the professional longevity of college professors, three-quarters of whom plan to retire after age 65—more than half of them after 70, and some 15 percent of them after 80. (The average American retires at 61.) One day, during my first year as a professor, I asked a colleague in his late 60s whether he’d ever considered retiring. He laughed, and told me he was more likely to leave his office horizontally than vertically." 
 
Are you craving a career change but don't know where to start? Work with a Thrive Wellness Coach to plan your next move. 
 

1. The quality or state of being healthy in body and mind, especially as the result of deliberate effort. 

2. An approach to healthcare that emphasizes preventing illness and prolonging life, as opposed to emphasizing treating diseases.

The Definition of Wellness on Dictonary.com.

We have all been making merry for weeks. 

Schedule a free wellness coaching session to set up some new heathy habits for 2016. 

Happy new year and, ahem, welcome back to reality today. 

A big thank you to Funny or Die for the laugh as we adjust this morning to an intense case of the Mondays.

Read the full Psychology Today article, Be a High Performer (Not a Workaholic) in 2015, for those of you looking to work SMARTER, instead of harder and/or longer this year. 

The full piece provides practical advice to work smarter, rather than harder, with these four key shifts:

1. "High performers are proactive in creating their own value. Workaholics are reactive, thereby allow others to determine their value."
2. "High performers give 100% at the right time. Workaholics give 110% all of the time."
3. "High performers take the initiative every workday. Workaholics are reactive to whatever the workday tosses them."
4. "High performers put themselves first."

Living in a way that is authentic to yourself and your personality strengths plays a large role in overall happiness and wellness. 

So where do you start? The VIA Institute is a nonprofit that offers a free online character strength survey, as well as resources related to making the most of your results. 

According to VIA, “Research shows that knowing and applying our unique character strength profile increases our life satisfaction and well-being. [The institute provides] simple and effective tools for each of us to learn more about ourselves and our personalized pathways to happiness. Developing your character strengths can have a significant impact on quality of life, as well as a positive effect on relationships, careers and personal growth.” 

The VIA Survey takes approximately 10-15 minutes to complete and only requires basic personal contact information so you may receive your results. 

Launch your personalized survey from the VIA Survey webpage.