DREAM BIG ... "Cari kerja apa buka usaha ya?" ...: 9 Ways to Love Your Job

4 Ways to Help Your Family Lose Weight

Trying to help your family lose weight? Here are four tips to help them fight the fat, and keep it off for good.

1. Set an example: "Kids model their parents—they learn healthy, as well as unhealthy, behaviors from them," says State University of New York at Buffalo psychologist Leonard Epstein, PhD, a pioneer in family-based obesity prevention. Telling a child to go out and get some exercise is far less effective than asking him or her to join you for a bike ride.

2. Set goals: Consider having everyone in the family sign a healthy-living contract. In the short term, don't focus on weight loss. Instead, have everyone agree to specific daily goals, such as recording a certain number of steps on a pedometer.

3. Use nonedible weekly rewards, says Daniel S. Kirschenbaum, PhD, clinical director of Wellspring weight loss programs. A small gift or a few dollars—or even allowing a child to have a friend sleep over—will help reinforce the importance of working toward specific goals.

4. Sit down for a family dinner: Kids who do this at least five or six nights a week are a third less likely to be overweight than children who never eat dinner with their families, according to a 2006 University of Alabama study. Other research shows that kids who eat more family meals consume less fried food and artery-clogging trans fat and saturated fat. Get started with quick, easy recipes for the whole family.

See how one family lost the weight—and kept it off

Timothy Gower is a journalist and the author of several books on health.

The Male Brain: What's Really Going On in There

Is he truly incapable of putting down the toilet seat? Can he really have passionate sex and not even think about calling you again? We go exploring for answers.

The more science learns about how men are different from us (right down to the structure of their brains), the more we find ourselves hoping it will finally explain some age-old mysteries. For instance:

Why do men keep their cars spotless but live like pigs at home—while for women it's the other way around?

According to Simon Baron-Cohen, PhD, author of The Essential Difference: Male and Female Brains and the Truth About Autism, men's neurological wiring tends to make them better at systems, while women are superiorly rigged for empathy. Which could help explain why—although the culture is changing—guys still take such pride in their machines, while women often care more about maintaining a clean home. Another clue comes from a 2007 study (conducted for BMW by a British team that included Oxford psychologists), which found that male drivers actually view their cars as extensions of themselves. Women, whose self-image is tied more directly to their bodies, are likely to think of their vehicles as separate entities, the authors suggest. But because men are less tuned-in to their bodies, they easily project their identity onto an object. If only that object were a sink full of dirty dishes.

Why do men like to watch violent sports, while a good number of women would rather do almost anything else?

The truth is, football has a lot of female fans (44.3 million women watched the 2009 Super Bowl, for example). But guys are drawn to football (and boxing and wrestling) in ways that women aren't. Men tend to be more aggressive, says Lucy L. Brown, PhD, a professor in the departments of neurology and neuroscience at Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. The difference likely involves hormones (like testosterone) and sensitivities to those hormones in parts of the brain such as the hypothalamus—which, in animals, is associated with aggression. Fine, but does he really have to shriek "Kill him!" when the other team's quarterback is about to get sacked? Yes, he does: If you're a guy, watching your team win increases testosterone levels, according to a 1998 study in Physiology & Behavior. Viewing combative sports also helps men identify with traditional ideals of masculinity like domination, risk taking, and competition, explains Douglas Hartmann, PhD, associate professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota. "In fact," he says, "the less physically competitive his daily life is, the more sports can become a means toward achieving those ideals, at least in his mind."

Why can a man enthusiastically (very enthusiastically) sleep with a woman he knows he'll never see again?

Well, there's the old Evolution Did It theory: Men are hardwired to spread their seed; women, to find a mate who will protect the children she may bear. Physical differences may play a role, too. According to Lisa Diamond, PhD, an associate professor of psychology and gender studies at the University of Utah, not only do female rats have more extensive brain circuits for oxytocin—which helps mammals to bond—than males but in humans, women show greater release of the neurochemical during sex (especially orgasm) than men. Also, biological anthropologist and Rutgers University professor Helen Fisher, PhD, notes: "The two brain hemispheres are less well connected in men than in women. This gives men the ability to focus on one thing at a time and be very goal oriented, whereas the female brain is built to assimilate many feelings at once, and to connect sex and love much more rapidly." Interesting, plausible theories all, but Lucy Brown cautions that we're still really just guessing. And in the end, the fact that men forever remain a bit of a mystery may be part of what keeps us intrigued.

Next: What men aren't saying

By Carol Mithers
O, The Oprah Magazine

Thursday 4 February 2010

9 Ways to Love Your Job

Cinta pada pacar bisa membuat Anda mabuk kepayang. Cinta pada pekerjaan? Anda akan makin produktif dan kreatif.

LIHAT SISI POSITIF

OK, saat ini Anda meniti karier di bidang yang tak pernah diinginkan sebelumnya. Ditambah lagi, perjalanan dari rumah ke kantor seringkali bikin mangkel karena jauhnya minta ampun.Tapi, menurut Paul Powers penulis buku Love Your Job: Loving the Job You Have... Finding a Job You Love, selalu ada sisi positif dari segala hal. Di balik berbagai hal yang membuat sebal itu, pasti ada satu hal yang Anda senangi dari profesi saat ini. Entah gajinya yang memuaskan, atau kesempatan Anda bertemu orang baru sangat besar. Pastikan Anda selalu mengingat hal yang menyenangkan itu di dalam benak.

FOKUS PADA TUGAS YANG DISUKAI

Susun daftar berisi langkah apa saja yang Anda lakukan dalam bekerja. Baris teratas adalah hal-hal yang paling Anda sukai dan yang terbawah adalah tahapan kerja yang paling Anda hindari. Diskusikan dengan atasan apakah Anda diperbolehkan untuk lebih sering melakukan hal-hal yang Anda suka. Misal, bila Anda adalah seorang staf komunikasi, tanyakan apakah Anda boleh melakukan tugas lapangan lebih sering ketimbang melakukan riset di dalam ruangan.

DELEGASIKAN TUGAS

Jika memiliki staf untuk membantu pekerjaan, Anda bisa mendelegasikan tugas-tugas yang tidak terlalu menarik kepada mereka, dan memfokuskan diri pada hal-hal yang lebih Anda sukai. Tapi, lakukan itu hanya jika memang minat Anda berlawanan dengan mereka. Terkadang ada orang yang lebih menyukai tugas bersifat administrasi ketimbang yang memerlukan interaksi dengan orang lain. Begitu pula sebaliknya. Tapi ingat, tugas yang menyenang tidak sama dengan tugas yang ringan. Jangan sampai Anda dicap mau enak sendiri karena hobi melemparkan kerjaan yang berat kepada anak buah.

FROM AND FOR ME

Tidak mungkin Anda bisa terhindar dari tugas yang tidak disukai selamanya. Pasti ada saatnya Anda tidak dapat mendelegasikan pekerjaan tersebut kepada orang lain. Supaya prosesnya lebih menyenangkan, berilah hadiah ada diri sendiri setiap kali Anda sukses melakukan tugas tersebut. Sebungkus cokelat, waktu makan siang yang lebih lama, atau sehelai pakaian dari butik favorit, pasti ampuh untuk memulihkan perasaan Anda setelah tugas selesai.

ATUR WAKTU KERJA

Dalam buku 101 Ways to Love Your Job, Gerard O'Donovan menganjurkan Anda untuk mengatur jadwal kerja menurut prioritas waktu serta berdasarkan besarnya minat Anda terhadapnya. Jika Anda merasa lebih bersemangat di pagi hari, maka kerjakan tugas-tugas yang kurang Anda minati pada saat itu. Dengan demikian, Anda akan lebih cepat menyelesaikannya dan kian lekas pula terbebas dari pekerjaan tersebut. Sebaliknya, ketika semangat mulai meredup, lakukan tugas yang Anda sukai agar gairah kerja membara kembali.

HANGOUT DENGAN REKAN KERJA

Salah satu hal yang mampu membuat seseorang merasa betah dengan pekerjaan yang digelutinya adalah hubungan yang harmonis dengan rekan sekerja. Di luar jam kantor, luangkan waktu untuk nongkrong bareng dan saling mengenal. Tugas seberat apa pun tentunya akan terasa lebih ringan apabila dilakukan bersama teman-teman yang menyenangkan, bukan?

PILAH-PILIH TEMAN

Dekatilah rekan kerja yang selalu memasang tampang happy dan bersikap optimis. Dalam waktu beberapa hari saja, dijamin semangat kerja Anda akan meningkat pesat. Oh ya, jangan terlalu akrab bergaul dengan mereka yang selalu berkeluh kesah dan pesimis dalam menyikapi hidup.

CARI PELUANG

Jika pekerjaan sekarang tidak menarik lagi, mulailah pasang mata dan telinga, siapa tahu ada posisi yang lebih cocok bagi Anda di perusahaan. Jika memang tidak ada, mengapa tidak mencoba mengajukan posisi baru pada atasan. Besar kemungkinan perusahaan akan mengabulkannya asalkan argumentasi Anda kuat dan job description yang ditujukan bagi posisi tersebut memang pas dengan kemampuan Anda.

RAIH KESEMPATAN BELAJAR

Di sela-sela urusan kerja, manfaatkan waktu Anda untuk mengikuti training ataupun konferensi guna meningkatkan ilmu dan kemampuan, memperluas jejaring dan meng-update berita seputar bidang yang Anda geluti. Ada banyak perusahaan yang sudah memiliki jadwal pelatihan rutin bagi karyawan mereka. Menurut Alexander Kjerulf, penulis buku Happy Hour is 9 to 5, jika perusahaan Anda belum memberikan fasilitas tersebut, tak ada salahnya untuk mengajukan diri kepada atasan. Di masa depan,jika Anda berniat untuk pindah, tentunya nilai tawar Anda akan semakin tinggi setelah mengikuti rangkaian kursus tersebut.

CUCI MATA

Manfaatkan waktu luang untuk cuci mata di kantor.Cobalah lirik divisi atau kantor sebelah, siapa tahu ada wajah-wajah bening yang bisa menjadi penyemangat kerja. Ketika Anda stuck dengan pekerjaan, melanconglah ke tempat itu, otak yang tadinya buntu dijamin tokcer kembali.