Author: Daniel Tomasulo

Recent research reveals that just the right amount of procrastination may be the perfect thing to spawn originality and creativity. About one-fifth of the adult population would identify themselves as chronic procrastinators. All-in-all procrastination gets a bad rap—but wait (no pun intended) there is a real possibility that it isn’t a bad thing for everyone all the time. In fact, according to Adam Grant in his new book, Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, the fine art of procrastination may be the driving force behind more highly creative thought. 

Grant has been able to identify that a dose of procrastination may be the ticket to the fountain of creativity. He highlights famous procrastinators—such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Bill Clinton, and Steve Jobs—to make the argument that some very creative and productive people procrastinate. For the rest of us, he points to research showing that being given a task and then being asked to delay working on it produces something called divergent thinking—the very stuff of creativity.

Divergent thinking pulls information in from lateral thoughts and ideas. If I asked you how many uses can you think of for a paper clip, the answers would be drawn from divergent thinking. Grant’s central point about this delay in responding is that creativity doesn’t happen in spite of procrastination—it happens because of it. Waiting awhile after a task has been initiated gives us the advantage of generating more thoughts about the project. More thoughts increase the likelihood of some of them being better than the initial ones generated.

Adam Grant identifies himself as a pre-crastinator—meaning that he often completes material ahead of time, long before the deadline. As the youngest professor of management and psychology at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he found that getting things done sooner rather than later has served him well. But after one of his students, Jihae Shin, challenged his pre-crastinistic tendencies, he has begun to mend his ways. Shin was able to show a link between workers who procrastinate and a higher rating by their supervisors on their creativity. 

As it turns out, too little procrastination cuts off lateral or divergent thinking—and delaying working on something too long produces anxiety and stems the flow of the creative juices. This should inspire us to build in a bit of delay to help open up our thoughts. As a writer, I’ve always found this helpful. I’ll write something and put it away for at least a few days. When I come back to it through the lens of fresh eyes, my mind has generated some renewed and (almost always) better thinking.

So which are you? Are you a pre-crastinator? Or a procrastinator? If you get everything done early you may be robbing yourself of more leisurely and creative thought. Getting things done without letting them incubate produces fairly predictable results that generally lack originality. On the other hand, if you’re procrastinating too long the pressure to produce also limits the production of more original or creative responses. If we wait too long we typically default to a less inspired creation. Why not try an experiment and let one of your projects simmer for a little bit and see what happens? Not too long or short—but just the right amount.

I’ve given this some thought and I think I’m an amateur-crastinator. I definitely don’t do things ahead of time—but I’m not a pro just yet. I’ve yet to find the perfect amount of time to delay a task. This is something I plan to work on.

Tomorrow.

If you have ever struggled with depression you are not alone. About 350 million people in the world battle symptoms such as a lack of energy; excessive or too little sleep; problems with eating, thinking, concentrating or making decisions; suicidal thoughts; and feelings of worthlessness or guilt. When your energy is gone and these symptoms arrive, depression can feel overwhelming.
According to the World Health Organization, depression is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, and antidepressants have been the typical go-to choice for maintenance. Although there are many effective forms of psychotherapy and medications for depression, nearly 80 percent of those who have recovered eventually relapse without ongoing treatment. This means that for most people depression is a chronic concern. It can be held at bay for a while, but eventually it comes back.
The good news is that an antidepressant does well to alleviate the symptoms. The bad news is that these same antidepressants often have unwanted side effects: nausea, vomiting, insomnia, sleepiness, increased anxiety, diarrhea, lack of libido, headaches, and fluctuation in weight are just some of the reactions. These and other concerns are the main reason people stop taking the medicine—and consequently, the main reason for relapse.
Having the blues on occasion doesn’t mean you are clinically depressed, but when the symptoms last for two weeks or more it meets the criteria for a major depression. Researchers are now exploring alternatives to antidepressant medicines with the goal of giving people tools to prevent relapse. One of the more promising areas for effectively treating depression focuses on the ancient practice of meditation.
Long known for its physical and mental benefits, meditation has become commonplace in the Western world over the last 50 years. Researchers have found that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT)—a blend of an ancient Buddhist meditation practice and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)—is just as effective as medication at preventing depression relapse.
MBCT was developed to help people initiate a constructive response from an awareness of their depressive thoughts and feelings. The goal is to recognize, respond, and reverse a potential downward spiral of depression.
In one study of known depressives, researchers gradually took half the group off medication and provided MBCT through eight group therapy sessions along with daily homework assignments. The other half stayed on their medication as prescribed. Two years later the relapse rates for both groups were essentially the same: 44 percent of the MBCT group relapsed compared with 47 percent of those who continued to take their medication. The meditation worked just as well as antidepressants.
This new finding adds to the ever-growing list of benefits for those who meditate. Some of the known advantages include lowering blood pressure, improving mood, strengthening the immune system, increasing energy, boosting creativity, and reducing the risk of panic attacks, migraines, ulcers, insomnia, muscle soreness, and joint pain.
If you want to start experimenting with meditation there are several ways to learn more about it. First, we’ve got a great resource on mindfulness and meditation right here!
Or you can check out a local yoga studio or meditation class if you want a group experience and a trainer to walk you through the steps.
There are hundreds of types of meditation, and part of the journey is to experiment to see which ones fit you best.
Second, you can go on the web and find thousands of sites that give instruction and guidance. Just search “guided meditations” and try a few during your week. You can return to the ones you find interesting.
Finally, there are apps (of course). Look for ones with built-in timers for use with any meditation you are experimenting with—as well as guided meditations and a place to journal afterward.
How to get started? I recommend that you begin with something under 10 minutes a day and try building it into your daily routine. For the time invested and the potential benefits, you couldn’t ask for anything more.

If you are reading this, you already know the basics. You are probably aware that there are a few silver bullets when it comes to feeling better: eating right, getting enough sleep, meditation, and exercise are always on the list. The wonders of nutrition, restorative rest, and mindfulness are everywhere–and of course, we know how good exercise is for keeping lean, building strength, promoting sleep, and burning off stress. But there is something about exercise that you may not know. It is one the best investments of our time for general well-being and happiness for another reason: It actually makes our brains work better.
The biochemistry of the brain is fragile and affected by almost everything we can think of. Headlines, photographs, hugs, a touchdown, too little or too much sleep, the sun, a poem, a cup of coffee, a lump of sugar, your commute, a nasty email, or a sip of wine all make their way into the brain, affecting the delicate brain chemistry–and more specifically, our neurotransmitters.
The primary job of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and glutamate is to help the neurons in our body communicate with each other. The precise balance needed to function optimally is always being monitored. When there is a problem, like too little serotonin for too long, it can cause depression. Many antidepressants are designed specifically to boost serotonin in an effort to relieve the symptoms. However, these medicines can often come with unwanted side effects, such as low libido, weight gain, and in some cases (believe it or not) depression. This is one reason why some experts have estimated that the relapse rate for depression is as high as 80 percent.
The good news is that there are other ways to improve the functioning of these and other neurotransmitters. These alternatives to antidepressants can reduce these same symptoms. Chief among these is exercise. In fact, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, it would be hard to beat exercise as one of the most effective (and natural) ways to alleviate this type of suffering. The question is: How does exercise affect the brain’s neurotransmitters?
By engaging in moderate levels of exercise for 30 minutes, five times a week, and strength training twice a week, you can change the chemistry in your brain in ways that not only attack the biochemical issue at its core, but also reduce symptoms of depression naturally. Exercise does this through the production of a protein known as BDNF (brain-developed neurotropic factor), which helps brain neurotransmitters function better. Dr. John Ratey, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, describes BDNF as “Miracle-Gro for the brain.”
While exercise isn’t the only thing that can increase the expression of BDNF, it may be the more preferred. Antidepressants and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) also increase BDNF–but often come with the side effects mentioned above for antidepressants, in addition to memory loss, in the case of ECT. In fact, exercise is so effective that it is now considered an evidence-based treatment by the American Psychiatric Association as both a stand-alone and an augmentation therapy for depression. This is worth repeating. Exercise can help improve the effectiveness of antidepressants or it may be able to do the job all on its own. Even moderate levels of exercise can be helpful because they enhance the effectiveness of neurotransmitters in your brain.
If you haven’t taken a walk around the block or used that gym membership in a while, it may be time for a workout. There is a very good chance you will feel better afterward. Your brain will thank you for it.

We can all recite the top things that cause us stress, yes? Money, jobs, and relationships are always on our mind. Inevitably these are some of the most popular things we point to as causes of chronic stress. What about the effects? If you were to ask around, most people would say that stress–worrying about these things–makes you sick. It clogs our arteries, hurts our immune system, and causes all kinds of illness, right? Well, actually, not exactly. Some very exciting research is pointing toward the fact that it isn’t stress that causes all these things. It is, in reality, what we believe about stress that does.

This is a subtle yet powerful difference in understanding the effects of stress. Let’s say you are worried about whether your relationship is going to last. If you believe that worrying will be harmful to your health, then it will be. But if you believe that concern about your relationship will give you the courage to deal with it, the effects on your body will be very different. They will be beneficial rather than harmful.

The degree to which our beliefs and temperament can influence our physical condition was first dramatically demonstrated by the Nun Study, which looked at the impact of positive emotions and attitude on longevity and well-being. Researchers chose to study hundreds of sisters because they live together, have regularized diets, no children, and typically do not smoke or drink to excess–perfect subjects for a study. The investigation looked at the degree to which a positive or negative approach to life would affect lifelong physical health. The dramatic results show that attitude can profoundly influence not only the quality but also the length of our life.

The scientists analyzed autobiographies the sisters had written seeking entry into the convent as young women from the 1930s and 1940s. They looked at sentences for positive, negative, and neutral words and a variety of positive emotional expressions. The analysis took place nearly 60 years later when the nuns were between 75 and 94 years old. What the researchers found about how positive feelings affect longevity was nothing short of amazing. At age 85, 90 percent of the most cheerful quartile were still alive, while only 34 percent of the bottom quarter survived. At age 94 the numbers were even more striking, with 54 percent of the top quartile still alive–compared to 11 percent of their less optimistic counterparts. The probability of survival was consistently in favor of the more positive nuns. The investigation shows there is a direct relationship between positive beliefs and longevity. So, it seems that having a positive attitude can affect our health–but what about our attitude toward stress itself? How does that affect us?

It is what we think is happening to us that determines our reaction. This perspective is a game-changer. In one study involving 30,000 people, researchers asked a simple question: “Do you believe stress is harmful to your health?” In this study, the highest rates of mortality were for those who’ve experienced a high degree of stress and believed it was harmful to their health.

In this eight-year study, those with the lowest risk of dying had the same high rates of stress as their counterparts, but didn’t believe stress was bad for you. To put this in perspective, this would put the belief that stress is bad for you among the top 15 causes of death in the U.S., killing more people than HIV/AIDS, skin cancer, and homicide. As it turns out, modifying our thoughts and beliefs about how stress affects our health may be one of the healthiest things we can do.

Kelly McGonigal (How To Make Stress Your Friend) is a health psychologist from Stanford University who has been studying the effects of stress on the body and performance. She has been finding that if we perceive stress as having a negative impact on our well-being and performance, then it does. However, if we interpret the signs of stress–like a faster beating heart and accelerated respiration–as signs of readiness to meet the challenge, it may actually be very beneficial to our body and performance.

In fact, research out of Harvard demonstrated that when participants in a stress-induced situation were told to experience these physiological reactions as positive responses (being helpful for preparation), their heart and breathing rates were similar, yet their blood vessels did not constrict as they do when we think stress is bad. The actual biological measures of the heart pounding and quicker respiration with more relaxed blood vessels are physiologically similar to what our body experiences in times of joy and courage.

It turns out that what we believe about stress matters greatly. Perhaps the most powerful intervention you can do for yourself is to think about the signs of stress as helpful indicators of getting your body ready for the challenge. This can transform how our bodies interpret stress and help us meet the challenges in our life.

Scientists tell us that money alone doesn’t make us happy—it’s what we spend it on that matters. Although buying things can make us feel good for a while, buying an experience—like a vacation—tends to make us feel even better for a longer period of time. Why? Because we can take a much longer time planning it, and more importantly, we can savor the memory of the experience forever.

Planning a vacation begins with thinking about the occasion you want to have rather than the kind of satisfaction that comes from acquiring objects. Haven’t you had this happen to you before? You thought those shoes, or that sweater, or those earrings would make you feel good for a longer time than they did? 

Things tend to give us a boost when we first acquire them—but typically this fades once we’ve had them for a while. Materialists get caught in this trap. They will often put very high hopes on what a thing will help them feel only to become disappointed when it doesn’t live up to their expectations. The emptiness is fueled by a cycle that begins with an unrealistically high expectation of what a new possession will bring.

Planning a vacation starts in a different place. 

First, it typically isn’t an impulse. So much of shopping for things has the emphasis on an urge or a whim. The immediacy of the purchase and payoff nudge us to the next desire. Thinking about what we would like to experience in planning a vacation ushers us into the future in a different way. We begin thinking about what we want to feel and what other experiences we want to have. The anticipated excitement generates good feelings now about the future. When we think about an upcoming break in this way our anticipated enjoyment pays off immediately—and draws that good feeling into the future.

Then there is the vacation experience itself. For most of us the occasion generates good feelings, even if it wasn’t perfect; it provides a break in our routine because we’re engaged in different activities than usual. We now have three features going into the payoff of feeling good: First we have the planning, followed by the anticipation, and then the actual holiday. The event has already given us more than what we would have gotten from buying some gadget or article of clothing.

The big payoff comes with our forever memories, photographs, recollections, and discussions. What comes after the vacation is savoring a positive rumination about what took place and the excitement that went into it. From the beginning plans to the savoring we create an extended time of feeling good. Rarely can the purchase of an object give us this kind of sustainable joy.

Of course, there are exceptions: The new car we’ve been waiting for, the unique piece of furniture we found in an antique shop—many things can repay us every time we encounter them. However, in general, our money is often better invested in experiences rather than belongings.

Ultimately, the distinction between what makes us happy and what doesn’t tends to be about how much gratitude we have for something. If we buy an object and our gratitude for it fades rapidly, so will our sense of how pleased it makes us. We are inclined to give vacations a higher ranking on our gratitude list. In this way they tend to move to the top of our mind when we think about what we appreciate—and what brings us delight when we recall it.

I had a fight with my girlfriend in college. It was a big one. I do not remember what it was about or who was to blame—if anyone. All I know is that after a year and a half of going out we were disappointed enough after the argument that we decided to split. This was my first breakup.
We were inexperienced when it came to fighting. Small disagreements usually ended quickly and we had no clue how to weather a significant battle. Once this disagreement blew up we had no idea how to restore ourselves. It felt final. In a matter of minutes the whole relationship was lost. After we exchanged our frustrations we turned and wandered away from each other.
After a moment my walking pace picked up and as I scurried away I became like a scare mouse looking around for shelter. My mind became unfocused and racing. Agitated, I could feel my heart pound and my breathing accelerate. I was walking fast—darting my way across campus to get something to eat. Then it happened. I got light headed and my heart rate soared. It was as though I had no control over my own body. I’d been marching along—then suddenly it seemed hard to lift my legs and couldn’t take a full breath. I was trembling.
A terrible feeling of dread—like I was about to die—came over me. It gripped me. Although I was an athlete and only 20 years old the first thought was that I was having a heart attack. My mind scrambled for a solution. I alternately tried to calm myself down—then freaked out because I couldn’t. But it was my heart that was causing all this. I was having a panic attack.
Going to the college infirmary the nurse practitioner calmed my fears. She told me it was unlikely I was having a heart attack. When I explained what just happened with my girlfriend she said it sounded more like an anxiety reaction. That was the first time she used the phrase panic attack. The term panic didn’t resonate with me. I was certainly having a reaction—but panic? Panic over what?
A panic attack isn’t the normal fear or stress reaction you might have to a situation. If you have a near accident in your car, or a barking dog with sharp teeth comes toward you—these are fear-based reactions—reality based—that have many of the same symptoms. The difference is that panic attacks seem to come out of nowhere. They have been found related to such things as family history, substance abuse, and major stressors. But, I had none of these indications. The only thing that seemed related had to do with the timing of the fight. Could that be enough to trigger a panic attack? The answer was a resounding ‘yes.’ But the reason why surprised me.
It wasn’t the novelty of the fight, or the fact that it raised my heart and breathing rates. It also had nothing to do with the intensity of the argument itself. The panic attack was about us separating–and to be more specific, separation anxiety. The fact that we were going to break up triggered the panic. Like a baby parted from its mother panic attacks are often related to issues around separation and loss. It was the fear of separating from my girlfriend that triggered the reaction.
After graduate school I went on to become a licensed psychologist. After many years in practice, I’ve learned a great deal about what these disorders are all about and how to treat them. Nearly 2.5 million Americans are affected by panic disorders, and experiences like mine are typical as it usually begins in late adolescence and early adulthood. More than twice as many women experience panic attack than men.
The treatment usually involves cognitive behavioral therapy, a particular form of psychotherapy designed to identify and change negative thought patterns beneath anxious and difficult feelings. This and other forms of therapy have the objective of uncovering what the triggers are causing the anxiety. Medications can also be helpful, such as antidepressants like Paxil and Zoloft, and anti-anxiety prescriptions like Xanax and Ativan. Learning to meditate or use relaxation and breathing techniques can also be useful.
But as a psychologist helping someone understand the trigger, particularly the potential loss of something or someone, is key. Helping people trace back their panic attack to the fear of separating from someone, or a recent loss (such as a death, or a divorce, or the ending of a relationship) is typically very insightful. Most people seeking treatment don’t realize how profound a loss—or a potential loss—can be in triggering their panic.
Of course fear of separation isn’t always the cause. Yet, there is ongoing research that suggests it may often be a significant part of the problem. There are other conditions, such as agoraphobia, where people avoid places or situations that could cause panic, which have other activators. In the case of agoraphobia people usually dodge places that make them feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed.
Panic attacks typically last only a few minutes. Learning the coping skills to get through it will help lessen the anxiety—and learning what the separation triggers are that may be at the root of it can help even more.

I was appalled to catch myself on a TV monitor inside an electronics store. The monitor was demonstrating the quality of a home surveillance system. It was sharp, clear, and accurate. When I stopped to check myself out I was stunned by the grumpy look on my face. Grumpy–as in one of the Seven Dwarfs grumpy. If ‘Cantankerous’ or ‘Sullen’ were one of the 7 characters they could have been contenders.

There weren’t many shoppers around so I practiced smiling. The difference was amazing. I indulged myself in becoming 3 of the dwarfs and transformed from Grumpy to Happy to Silly and spent some serious time experimenting with different faces–all the while watching in the monitor. When the salesman came by to see if I were interested in purchasing something–I immediately added a fourth to my repertoire and became Bashful. Somewhere in the mix I am certain he contemplated calling security. It isn’t usual to see a grown man making faces into a surveillance system in mid-town Manhattan.

The grumpy me looked like a face from the wanted flyers in the post office or on newspaper mug shots of the recently convicted– quite a disagreeable character. This is what bothered me most. My face didn’t match who I thought I was–and certainly didn’t seem to reflect how I felt. However, there it was–this is how I look to the world.

The message our face conveys is central to human development and social interactions. Cues from the mother’s face are among the first thing an infant notices to see if the surroundings are safe. If mom is smiling all is right with the world and the baby proceeds. If mom makes a frown–the infant goes on high alert. This is how a child begins to understand social cues. If a baby spotted Mr. Grumpy on the monitor I am certain shoppers would have been treated to a significant wailing.

It was Darwin who elaborated on the nature of a smile and the effect it has on one’s self and others. In the introduction to his book, Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Darwin gave credit to the French anatomist Guillaume Duchenne for his unique description of the muscles involved in the expression of agreeable emotions. Darwin relied on the pioneering work of Duchenne, who made an interesting observation: There is a way of determining a genuine smile from a false one. The genuine smile (what scientists now refer to as a Duchenne smile) involves contraction of two major muscles. The zygomatic major muscle, which is responsible for raising the corners of the mouth, and the orbicularis oculi muscle that pulls the cheeks upward. When the latter happens it helps form crow’s feet–the little crinkles around the eyes. According to Duchenne raising the corners of the mouth is something that can happen by will. However, only “…the sweet emotions of the soul…” cause the second muscle to pull the cheeks upward to form crow’s feet. Duchenne believed that when we are experiencing a genuine positive emotion the eyes and the mouth are in sync.

Later research would show this genuine smile predicts a better marriage, less depression, and even living longer. In a famous 2001 longitudinal study researchers looked at Mills College yearbook photos of 114 women from the classes 1958 through 1960, all but three of the young women smiled. However, 50 had Duchenne smiles and 61 had non-Duchenne courtesy smiles.

Thirty years later the genuine smile group was more likely to get and stay married, and had higher scores on physical and emotional wellbeing. In 2010 scientists went a bit further. They studied the intensity of smiles in photographs of Major League Baseball players prior to 1950. They separated the photographs into three categories: no smile, partial smile, and a full Duchenne smile. Guess what? The bigger the smile–the longer the player lived.

However, the big news is they’ve found you can learn to generate a Duchenne smile. The results show that this can help you feel better–and has a major impact on how others see you.

To practice making your Duchenne smile first pull up the corners of your mouth (the ‘say cheese’ position). Now, flex your orbicularis oculi and pull up those cheeks until you see the crow’s feet form around your eyes. What science tells us is when you do this it will lower your heart rate and make you feel more positive emotions–but it also affects others. Studies have shown when you do this people will see you as more competent, more hirable, more intelligent, spontaneous, intense, agreeable, generous, and more attractive. One study even found that a Duchenne smile was more important than the clothes you wear.

My recommendation is to practice that Duchenne smile so you’ll be ready to use it. But please–use the bathroom mirror–not a surveillance monitor.