1 . Despite what most people might think, you really don’t need much time to work out. In fact, even ten to twenty minutes of challenging exercise a few times a week is enough to burn fat, build muscle, boost strength, and contribute to a healthy, active lifestyle.     1    

But sometimes, the resistance isn’t really about the actual time the workout takes. It’s about the energy it takes to get ready for it. Maybe your stress levels are over the top, or your energy levels have been so low that you keep talking yourself out of a workout. Or maybe you just don’t want to get all sweaty and have to take a shower afterward.     2     In such fast-paced life, we’re all struggling. But when it comes to exercise, being healthy and fit isn’t as black and white as the fitness world tries to make it seem.     3     Doing something is always better than nothing when it comes to movement. Micro workouts, like getting out for a fifteen-minute walk instead of doing the strength training workout, are significantly better than doing nothing at all.

    4     They are time-saving, since they can be done in seconds or in as little time as 15-20 minutes. They require minimum space and equipment. Many can be done at home, in the park, or even while waiting in the checkout line. They are also money-saving as these can be done without a gym membership, coach, trainer, or class instructor.

So in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, make time to move.     5     If all the movements like push-ups and pull-ups add up, you will still get many of the same benefits of a longer, harder workout.

2 . Ten years ago, the professors Brian Lucas and Loran Nordgren encountered a contradiction. On the one hand, we recognize that other people are more likely to make creative breakthroughs when they persevere. On the other hand. when we feel stuck on a problem, most of us fail to sec how successful we’ll be if we just keep trying. We tend to believe that our creativity drops over time — that if our best ideas don’t come to us immediately, they won’t come at all.

Lucas and Nordgren call this misunderstanding the “creative cliff illusion”, which refers to the false belief that our creativity sharply declines after an initial period of effort, leading us to underestimate our ability to generate new and innovative ideas with continued perseverance. In one experiment, they asked participants to spend 10 minutes generating “as many original ideas for things to eat and drink at a Thanksgiving dinner as you can. ” Afterward, participants were asked to guess how many ideas they would come up with during a second 10-minute period. Most expected to generate far fewer ideas the second time around, but in fact they produced just as many during that second period — 66 percent more than they had guessed. And those were rated by other people as more creative than the initial ideas.

Though we tend to think our ability to come up with ideas is easily consumed, we actually get more creative the longer we focus on a problem or task. One major reason for this is known as the “serial-order effect”. Each next creative idea we have is likely to be better than the one that came before.

The serial-order effect isn’t always easy to see. Most of us have adopted the belief that creativity should feel easy, or “fluent”. And so we associate mental difficulty with pointlessness. But working through bad ideas is a necessary step in the creative process. The first solutions that come to mind tend to be either preexisting ideas or popular wisdom. These are the paths of least resistance. Though avoiding them requires some work, it’s the surest way to find original ideas that aren’t immediately manifest.

The serial-order effect applies to tasks that last minutes or days, but creativity also improves across years, decades, and even careers. The life’s work of most successful entrepreneurs proves it.

3 . Earlier this year Rodney Smith Jr. made headlines when he drove eight hours from his home in Huntsville. Alabama, to cut the lawn for an elderly soldier in North Carolina who couldn’t find anyone to help him with his yard work.

That wasn’t the first time the twenty-nine-year-old Bermuda native had gained such attention. To do his good deeds, Rodney often finds leads for those in need through social media.

Back to one August afternoon in 2015, Rodney Smith Jr. was driving home. That’s when Rodney saw an elderly man struggling to mow his lawn. He would take a couple of shaky steps, using the handle to stabilize himself, pause, then slowly push the mower again. Rodney decided to help. Mr. Brown thanked him greatly, and Rodney went home feeling satisfied.

Sitting at his computer to do his homework, Rodney couldn’t get Mr. Brown out of his mind. There must be many Mr. Browns out there. He went online and posted that he would mow lawns for free for senior citizens. Messages flooded in.

One day a cancer-battling woman said she wasn’t having a good day. Rodney decided to do more than mowing lawns. After he finished mowing, he knocked on her door. “You're going to win this fight, Madam”, he said. Then he asked folks to pray for her on social media.

Word of Rodney’s mission spread. A grandmother in Ohio said he’d encouraged her 12-year-old grandson to mow lawns. He got a letter from a seven-year-old boy in Kansas. “Mr. Rodney, I would like to be a part of your program, and I’ll make you proud,” he wrote.

That gave Rodney an idea. In 2017, he decided to establish a programme Raising Men Lawn Care Service to make a national movement for young people. The kids learn the joy of giving back.

Yard work seems like a small, simple thing, but taking care of the lawn means a lot to the people they do it for. “When we mow their yards for free, they can use the money for healthcare and food etc. It means more than you would think,” Rodney said.

4 . Science on Wheels travels across Washington bringing engaging STEM programming to grades K-8 with a focus on interactive and hands-on programs that bring the joy of scientific exploration to life and enable learners to see themselves in STEM.

Registration now! Open for 2024-2025 school year!   

PROGRAM OFFERINGS LOGISTICS

*Funding is available for qualifying schools, libraries, and community groups.

**Some partial-day programming is available regionally with additional travel fees. Inquire for more info.

Programs are designed to support current science standards and arouse curiosity and a love of exploration and experimentation in students. We have a series of classes for each age group for each theme. Pacific Science Center educators bring all of the activity materials for these programs, but schools will need to provide tables.

7 . As a junior economics reporter, I was once given an assignment to write a story about an economic concept I didn’t really understand. Just then, Martin Wolf, the chief economics commentator, walked past my desk. I took a deep breath and asked him. He explained it clearly in a few sentences, and if he thought I was a silly man because I had asked, he never made me feel that way. Ever since then, I have been a big believer in asking “stupid” questions, by which I mean questions that you fear make you look stupid. But I’m worried this is a dying art.

Best questions from students, the ones that they worry might be silly but are actually very useful, tend to come during breaks or on the walk between buildings after the lecture has ended. When teaching moved online, those opportunities disappeared. But many academics discovered online tools actually made it easier for some, students to ask questions. Platforms like Mentimeter added an extra layer of comfort by allowing students to ask questions without stating their identities. Some academics have integrated these online tools into their face-to-face lectures.

There is clearly some value in this. But what if we are losing something too? The more we use technology to remove ourselves from the discomfort of asking questions, the more fearful we might grow about doing it face to face. One academic got so frustrated by the silence in lectures that he brought in a softball and told his students, “I’m going to throw this out and whoever catches it has to ask me a question. Any question.” He said they looked at the ball like it was a hand bomb.

Yet asking someone questions face to face can be the best way to ensure you really understand something. I know not everyone is lucky enough to have a Martin Wolf wandering by. But most people really don’t mind being asked something “stupid”. If they do, it is probably because they don’t really understand it themselves, or they have something to hide. In that sense, you learn something useful either way.

8 . It’s no secret that our jobs can have a major impact on our lives outside of work. But what many employers don’t realize is that how employees spend their time at work can have substantial spillover effects on their children.

To explore the impact of parents’ work on their children’s development, my team conducted a study that followed more than 370 low-wage, working-class families over more than ten years. We intentionally focused on low-wage families, as they generally receive far less attention in the work-family literature while facing some of the greatest challenges. We, therefore, could get more authentic data. We completed in-home interviews and first-hand observations of parent-child interactions with strict assessments and reports from parents and teachers.

The data showed that parents who experienced more autonomy on the job and who had more-supportive managers and coworkers were in turn warmer and more engaged when interacting with their kids. Checking back in with these families years later, we consistently saw that the children of employees who had had more-positive work experiences in their first years as parents had better reading and math skills, and better social skills.

So it is important to promote workers’ physical and mental health. Some organizations tend to focus on high-level policy changes such as flexible scheduling options, more paid leave, etc. And to be sure, these systemic initiatives are certainly important. But our research suggests that ensuring workers feel respected and supported in their daily work is often just as critical. That means employers should give employees the time and space to share their experiences and ideas. In this way, employers will ensure workers feel buoyant in their daily work. The workers will feel bright and lively, enjoying more autonomy and respect.

Ultimately, how companies treat their workers today will determine how the next generation grows up tomorrow. That means building workplaces that value the welfare of working parents — and that of their kids, too.

9 . Last week, three days of cold rain had everyone in our house feeling a bit bad-tempered, especially my kid, who couldn’t go out to play. Then the music app on my phone recommended a station called “Rainy Day Jazz.” As the soft piano played, my daughter and I hugged closely, feeling comfortable and relaxed. Suddenly, our day was enjoyable. It turned out that Rainy Day Jazz was just the thing we needed.

Life — especially life with young children — can often feel very busy and rushed. One of the great benefits of music is that it offers a safe and dependable place to feel our feelings. When we are afraid, sad, or happy, we can invite music in. Kids can be great at expressing their emotions, but they don’t always have the ability to regulate them and move through them. When kids engage with music, a sense of emotional security is increased, allowing them to feel safer to fully experience their feelings.

Music has been a community practice throughout human history. Studies show that in early childhood, playing music in groups can increase cooperation skills and a sense of social belonging. In Pinkalicious and Peterrific, an educational children’s TV series, Peter is eager to share his musical experiences with others. Together, Pinkalicious and Peter make up their own happy song to sing and play, which cheers up the whole town.

Music is for everyone. Lots of parents feel like they don’t have enough talent for music. Actually, they should let go of their insecurities about what they think music should be. Kids will love singing, dancing, and playing music with you no matter how it sounds. What’s the most important is to get them emotionally engaged.

Ready to rock and roll? Here are some ways your family can interact with music. Make music accessible. You can empower your child to use music as an emotional support by giving them access to the tools they need. Talk about music. You can help your child explore the relationship between music and emotions by talking openly about your own relationship with music. Get your bodies moving. Children experience music in their bodies — not just in their minds! Music and movement are partners.

10 . Volunteer with Philly Food Rescue (PFR)

In one hour, you can do something to reduce food waste and resource local community. Download the Philly Food Rescue app to get started.

What’s the service opportunity?

PFR is the sustainability, food recovery, and donations arm of Share Food Program. You’ll use your own car (or bike) to rescue leftover food from a grocery store, restaurant, or farmers’ market, delivering it to the matched nonprofit takers. Those include senior centers, shelters, schools, and more. You can claim a one-time or weekly food rescue.

What difference does food rescue make?

PFR works to increase access to fresh food for our neighbors. Our team recovers half a million pounds of food every month thanks to volunteers like you. We resource more than 283 partners across Philadelphia, its suburbs, and South Jersey, impacting food security and sustainability every day of the week.

What’s required?

● If driving, a driver’s license and insurance are needed. For smaller food rescues, a bike may do.

● Food rescue volunteers should be able to lift at least 30 pounds.

● Clear the trunk and back seat to make space for boxes or bags of food.

● Complete the food rescue within its scheduled window.

Additional information:

● PFR matches donations within five miles to keep food local, honor volunteers’ time, and ensure food safety.

● You’re welcome to bring a friend or child as a passenger to help with loading, unloading, and delivery.

● Questions? Ask Britt at bkorn@sharefoodprogram.org or (215)301-3734.