Here are this week’s Life Pro Tips.
1. No matter how much your workplace pushes “team-building” and “family culture” – remember, they’re not your friends and it’s still a workplace.
2. Take regular photos of the everyday happenings around your home & family. Someone on the sofa, cooking, doing yard work, a regular old dinner, etc. The big milestone events are memorable enough and easily reminiscences. Pictures of everyday life are the real nostalgia bombs when looking back.
3. Amazon will be enabling a feature called sidewalk that will share your Wi-Fi and bandwidth with anyone with an Amazon device automatically. Stripping away your privacy and security of your home network!
This is an opt-out system meaning it will be enabled by default. Not only does this pose a major security risk it also strips away privacy and uses up your bandwidth. Having a mesh network connecting to tons of IoT devices and allowing remote entry even when disconnected from Wi-Fi is an absolutely terrible security practice and Amazon needs to be called out now!
How to opt-out:
- Open Alexa App.
- Go to settings
- Account Settings
- Amazon Sidewalk
- Turn it off
4. Dreading something? Avoidance makes it 100x harder because it completely disempowers you. When the only way out is through, turn and face the discomfort, take a deep breath and walk towards it. This is neuroscience-backed.
The following is from a Harvard Business School neuroscience-based behavioral course.
Your brain is your hype man and tries very hard to prove you right using emotions as feedback. Once you decide on your goal, emotions are the hints your brain uses to help you decide whether a certain situation HELPS or HINDERS your progress towards that goal. In turn, this influences your behavior. Thoughts – Feelings – Behaviour. Nothing is inherently good or bad, it is all relative to what you are trying to achieve. Read that sentence again.
If your goal is avoidance, then any progression or confrontation is going to feel very uncomfortable because your brain will be going “nope, this is bad. This is not what you wanted. Sending bad feedback.” You can just as easily shift your goal (this is what mindset is, and it IS up to you) and in turn, change your brain’s response to the stimulus around you (emotions). Even if it is an uncomfortable situation, your brain will recognize that it’s helping you achieve your goal, so the feedback it gives you (emotions) will be much more positive. It all starts with what you want to achieve and if you don’t know, then spend some time figuring that out. Goal clarity is like giving your brain a quest marker.
You are hardwired for struggle, go forth in courage my comrades!
5. Around 18 and having problems at home? Kicked out, running away, or abuse/neglect? The US funds a $300 million dollar Runaway and Homeless Youth Program with the taxes. Assistance could just be advice over the phone all the way to shelter, food, clothing, life skills, and housing help.
A state by state list is here: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/fysb/grants/fysb-granteesJust click the state and then click Runaway and Homeless Youth in blue.
The real value of the places outside of the material support they provide is that they’ve been there! Wondering what happens if you run away at 17 years old in a specific state when you’re being neglected? They know! Did you just move to a new state and are considering reporting abuse by your parents but don’t know what the foster care system looks like in your new state? They do! Can you open a bank account without a parent, etc. – they likely know! They also take calls from siblings, parents, extended family, kinship placements, child welfare workers, etc.
There are 5 very important services funded by the RHY program.
Basic Center Program: Shelter program which includes counseling, trauma-informed care, life skills, and other help. Usually for kids under 18, depends on the state.
Maternity Group Home Program: Shelter for youth with kids, must be between the ages of 16 and 22 to enter the program. Life skills, child development, parenting help, budgeting, nutrition, etc.
Transitional Living Program: Must be between the ages of 16 and 22 to enter the program. Life skills, job help, nutrition, budgeting, etc.
Street Outreach Program: Outreach workers meet youth where they are on the streets, in parks, etc. These outreach workers adjust to whatever level of support you need- they could just drop off food and warm clothes or they could help you access emergency shelter and sign up for health insurance.
National Runaway Safeline: 1-800-RUNAWAY or http://www.1800runaway.org/. They were an actual switchboard back in the day that would allow kids to contact their families if they ran away. Now they have forums on their website where thousands of kids ask a ton of questions FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD about how to be safe. They work with Greyhound to provide bus trips home for runaway youth and also do a lot of outreach around issues concerning runaway and homeless youth.
In lieu of awards, please google your local youth/adult/domestic violence shelter and donate to them! Or start a group with your friends to help people out!
#3 makes me laugh. Anyone who owns an Alexa (intentionally purchased listening device) can’t complain about privacy.