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Welcome to our #MTtalk review of the year: the topics, favorite tweets and ideas that really caught our eye.
Every two weeks, #MTtalk – now heading past its 150th edition – takes Mind Tools live with our Twitter chat, tackling the issues of work, wellness and how to reach your potential in a world that is not getting any easier to traverse!
Hosted by our global coaching team, each hour-long chat poses 10 questions to our online community, to help find solutions that work in the real world. One of the team then curates the best answers alongside their personal reflections, in a follow-up blog.
These, then, are some of our favorite themes and tweets from this year's MTtalks...
Guilt, it turns out, is the enemy when it comes to maintaining your boundaries, a subject we explored in March.
But Community and Coaching Manager, Yolande Conradie, has got past that. She said in her #MTtalk blog, "In recent years, I've become good at managing people who don't respect my boundaries – including family.
"I even taught my husband that a closed office door means, 'Do not enter unless the house is burning down or you're having a heart attack and can't phone the ambulance yourself!'"
So our Twitter chat that week centered around the importance of having and maintaining boundaries…
@SustainedLeader Those with weak or no boundaries are doormats and people will take advantage. Rigid boundaries without reason make people difficult to work with. Rigid boundaries bolstered by principles allow healthy discussion and a clear playing field.
@TheToniaKallon Those who benefit from your lack of boundaries will try to make you feel guilty for asserting yourself. Those who fully respect you will adjust in time.
Race, gender, class, and the stigmatization of mental illness are all targets of language that divides and attempts to conquer.
It's a subject Yolande tackled in her blog in May. She concluded, "Some people will justify an offensive or hurtful comment by adding, 'I'm just joking.' Such language is designed to make the person on the receiving end feel like they're the one in the wrong, and shouldn't take things 'too seriously.'
"Will it not be to our benefit across the whole world to use language as a tool to unite people, to build peaceful nations, and to foster co-operation?"
We asked our online community for their experiences of, and lessons learned from, divisive language.
@SizweMoyo Words can change a person's position in social spaces – what we think a person can do and how well we think they can do it. For a long time, the use of certain words meant that those branded with certain words [had] a smaller chance of enjoying life to the fullest.
@JKatzaman Language that is culturally embedded is tough, because it's what children learn from parents and playmates. Bess Truman was asked why (U.S. President) Harry said "manure." She replied, "You don't know how many years it took us to get him to say that."
What we eat, think, read, watch, and listen to, and who we spend time with, are all things that we "consume."
And in July, Yolande highlighted the need to consume with caution, after falling victim herself to doomscrolling – chasing one grim headline after another.
She admitted, "During the height of pandemic lockdown, I became fixated with the news. I felt as if I had to know, hour by hour, what the COVID statistics looked like."
In our #MTtalk Twitter chat on the subject, we talked about why it's important to be mindful of our consumption.
@chase_csc If we eat bad foods, we will get sick. It's similar to consuming content: if we consume negative content, it will also affect our mindset.
@Dwyka_Consult I heard a voice in my head that sounded like someone whom I didn't want to sound like – and it was because I didn't consume a diverse range of material. If I wanted to be different, I would have to consume differently!
We're talking To-Do Lists, here. And what makes it worse is, you know how to do it – but you just can't bring yourself to do it!
Our Twitter community weighed in with some top tips in that week's MTtalk.
@MicheleDD_MT I create my goal. I need the end point to help me see the path forward. I make the goal as vivid as possible to motivate me.
@ColfaxInsurance Focus on what you can accomplish now, no matter how small. As an example – have to start getting out of bed at 6am, but keep hitting snooze? Move the alarm so you physically have to get out of bed to shut it off.
Joining the Club and downloading the Mind Tools Life Plan workbook is another great way to help yourself to set meaningful goals and to take action to successfully achieve them!
It's a given that the world of work will never return to its pre-pandemic self. In its place has rushed hybrid working – a combination of online and in the workplace.
In September, Mind Tools coach Sarah Harvey looked ahead at the transition. She said, "Managing a hybrid team requires an element of over-communication. We need to create the time and space for better quality conversations to take place.
"This will help to develop that deeper sense of human connection in a hybrid world. And this needs persistence."
In our MTtalk, we found out how our online community were handling and reacting to the changes.
@MindfulLifeWork Real motivation comes from connecting our personal meaning to our work's meaning. If that connection is solid, motivation is overflowing. Staying organized also helps!
@TheTomGReid As a strong introvert, most workplace relationships were a bothersome distraction to me. I've been called anti-social, and perhaps I am a bit. But I'm AT work TO work, not to socialize.
Of course, you could decide you're through working for other people and decide to go it alone.
Yolande's grandfather did, and did it well, until he took pity on an old friend who ended up running off with every cent he had.
In November, she recalled, "My grandpa was a wealthy man. He owned a successful transport business. His work ethic was beyond reproach. However, his inability to say 'no' would eventually lead to his downfall."
We asked our online community for their tips for budding entrepreneurs.
@TheTomGReid Think twice. Maybe three times.
@Dwyka_Consult Be wise, ask for help, and don't let anyone pressure you into decisions that your gut isn't comfortable with.
We hope you enjoyed our highlights from the year. You can find all 20+ Twitter hour blogs from across 2021 by searching the Mind Tool site for #MTtalk.
Our first #MTtalk of the new year is on Friday, January 14 and is entitled, "CTRL ALT DEL – Rebooting for 2022!" Please join us! More details in our #MTtalk blog on January 11.
What topics caught your eye in 2021? Have you got any favorite tweets of the year, whether from MTtalks or elsewhere? Let us know in the comments, below.
Being able to apologize sincerely, without getting defensive or huffy, is a sign of maturity and strength. It shows that you're not too big or important to be vulnerable, too.
This is the third of a three-part series called Your Career. Recap on Part One (Resume Prep & Job Search), here; and Part 2 (Interviewing), here. Getting a new job can be exciting, confidence-building and a little bit nerve-wracking. It means you performed well at your interview and showed your potential new employer that you […]
In Part Two of our Career Journey series, our coaches share their top tips to help you prepare for an interview.
In our "Leaning Into Who You Are" https://www.mindtools.com/blog/leaning-into-who-you-are-mttalk/ chat, we asked the question "How and where did you learn to make excuses/apologise for who you are?" @nitinwelde said, "When we keep searching for the the Q “am I enough...? That makes us apologise for our perceived shortfall. Rather than giving excuses we must accept who we are. That is the mantra, ain’t it?"
It's a tweet that stayed with me.
In the last #MTTalk of the year we asked the question "What is the difference between giving someone a helping hand and rescuing them?" This sparked numerous lifesaving metaphors, including from me as I believe sometimes you have to throw someone a lifeline as when they're drowning they are in panic mode and can't always see how to get out of their situation. @Midgie_MT said "It's one thing to throw someone a lifeline, yet they still have to reach out for it if they want what you are offering."
This is so worth remembering.
I enjoyed our "How Do You Run a Business?" topic https://www.mindtools.com/blog/mttalk-roundup-how-do-you-run-a-business/ from 5Nov2021 because we commemorated the 150th #MTtalk on Twitter! It was a pleasure to participate in the first chat AND a coach/moderator on this chat. I also wanted to include corporate identity with the preparation list: your business name, domain name, and branding. (What will you call your company? How do you want to be found online? How do you want to be known to your customers/audience?)