Dr Natasha Wilks

Do you celebrate your wins? Or do you brush them off and move on to the next thing?

Our daughter plays basketball. Last week she shot her first 3.

She has been practicing this for a long time but has never had the strength or confidence to go for the shot.

In her Rep game the next day against a really tough team, she shot another 3. 👏👏

To help her celebrate her achievement and remind her what she is capable of, I bought some number 3 balloons.

On Wednesday night, she shot another 3 and up went another 3 ballon in her room.

I may have underestimated the size of the balloons and I will run out of room soon!

Her Rep team mates have been shooting 3’s for ages. However, this is a big achievement for our daughter and important to celebrate.

While she may not have the same level of skill as her team, we focus on her strengths and where she can make a difference.

I want you to focus on your strengths, your skills, what went well every single day in practice and your achievements. Celebrate them, no matter how minor you consider them. It sets up a pattern of success.

Yes, it’s important to be aware of your areas for improvement but that should not consume all of your focus.

Never compare yourself to others, unless you’re looking for inspiration.

Comparison is the thief of joy.

Run your own race.

How will you celebrate your achievements?

Dr Natasha Wilks

I highly recommend learning from Andrew Hubermann.

Practical information we can all benefit from.

LEARN WHILE YOU SLEEP (OR NAP)

Learning anything is a two step process: we must focus intensely to trigger the learning but it is only during periods of deep sleep or shallow naps, that the circuitry of the brain changes—a process called neuroplasticity.

To learn faster, focus intensely then make sure to nap for 20-90min later that day (or immediately after the learning trigger session). Also: focus on getting deep sleep the next 2 nights.

If napping hinders your nighttime sleep don’t do it, and never nap for more than 90 minutes—that can really alter your sleep cycles and impair learning.

If you are not good at focusing, or sleeping, check out the Huberman Lab Podcast episodes on focus and on sleep at hubermanlab.com.

Also check out the Neural Network Newsletter at hubermanlab.com for summary protocols on sleep and neuroplasticity/learning.

Meanwhile, please put any questions you have in the comments section below this post.

Thank you for your interest in science!

Have you ever had a good nights sleep and still feel tired? The article below explains the different type of rest.

What’s also important is rejuvenation. This is a result of activities that excite and energise you.

Have you ever had a holiday where you slept in, had time on the beach, enjoyed those evening cocktails but you’ve come home not feeling truly refreshed?
You missed rejuvenating activities.

Have you had a busy activity filled holiday where you were on the go the whole time? You had a great time but you’re so tired as it was so busy?
You didn’t plan enough rest days.

It’s important to gain adequate rest during the week and plan a rejuvenating activity each week.

For your holidays, ensure you make time for both.

Natasha Wilks

The 7 types of rest that every person needs Are you getting your seven or eight hours of sleep a night — yet you still feel exhausted? Here’s why that could be happening, according to physician Saundra Dalton-Smith.

Very sad news. 😢

Learning about flow has impacted how I practice.

It’s so important for learning and development. Being able to find the sweet spot of where your skill meets the challenge. To high a challenge results in stress and too low results in boredom.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_flow_the_secret_to_happiness

We are sorry to announce that on October 20th, 2021 Prof. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has died at the age of 87. He spent his last days at home, surrounded by his family.

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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi was born in Fiume, Italy on September 29, 1934, the son of Hungarian diplomat Alfred Csikszentmihalyi (né Hausenblasz) and Edith Jankovich de Jeszenicze. As a refugee in postwar Rome, he attended the Classical Gymnasium “Torquato Tasso,” and later developed an interest in psychology. He moved to the United States in 1956 to pursue that interest, attending the University of Chicago where he wrote a Ph.D on artistic creativity with Jacob W. Getzels. After spending six years teaching at Lake Forest College, he returned to Chicago to join the faculty in 1971. He remained there for three decades before moving to Claremont Graduate University where founded the Quality of Life Research Center in 2000 and taught until his retirement.

Csikszentmihalyi is best known for his work on the concept of “Flow,” used to describe a state of optimal experience where one’s skills match the challenges of a situation, and also for his role as a founder of the subfield of positive psychology. Underlying this work was his groundbreaking use of pagers and questionnaires to produce a database based on people’s self-reports of their ordinary experience. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience became a bestseller in 1990, introducing conclusions based on his experiential database using warm, humanistic prose. The Evolving Self (1993), Creativity (1996), and Good Business (2003) expanded his theories in a variety of directions. Because his method generated a cross-section of daily experience, his psychology paid more attention to positive states like enjoyment and creativity than many of his predecessors, and formed the theoretical background of his collaboration with Martin Seligman on their influential 2000 article in American Psychologist that introduced positive psychology. This work was recognized by appointment as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and his receipt of the 2009 Clifton Strengths Prize and the 2011 Széchenyi Prize.

In Chicago, Mihaly met Isabella Selega, a graduate student in Russian history, and they were married in 1961 at Saint Hyacinth’s. She was at her husband’s side when he passed away sixty years later. Their two children, Mark and Christopher, followed him into academics, and currently teach at UC-Berkeley and Cornell University. Mihaly was a loving father-in-law to their respective partners Annie Hope and Gemma Rodrigues, and a caring grandfather to Emily Isabella, Henry Stephen, Kinga Jane, Aschalew, Zofia Rose, and Iris Althea Diana Isabella.

Mihaly had a sharp sense of humor, especially his penchant for making absurd or ironic comments in a deliberately impassive manner. His empathetic nature and low-key style of presentation could also take people by surprise, and were one reason for his popularity and long-lasting friendships with students, colleagues and readers. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Center for Biological Diversity (www.biologicaldiversity.org) and Habitat for Humanity.

I make this important point all the time in my talks. The absence of mental illness doesn’t mean you’re mentally healthy.

Teams are struggling at the moment. The sprint that was the chaos and uncertainty of early 2020 has become a marathon. That marathon has now become an ultramarathon in 2021. You can’t just push through the workload and chaos like you normally do.

If you’re feeling a bit meh, you may be languishing.

‘It wasn’t burnout — we still had energy. It wasn’t depression — we didn’t feel hopeless. We just felt somewhat joyless and aimless. It turns out there’s a name for that: languishing.

Languishing is a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It feels as if you’re muddling through your days, looking at your life through a foggy windshield. And it might be the dominant emotion of 2021.’

Natasha

There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing It’s the neglected middle child of mental health, and can dull your motivation and focus. It may be the dominant emotion of 2021.

In November, we got a JRT puppy.

I didn’t want a puppy. I know how much hard work they are. I see what clients go through. I didn’t have the energy for a puppy or bandwidth for the chaos!

I’ve never bought a dog. They’ve all come to me via family or from work. Our last 2 retrievers came to us as adults.

So we applied to the rescues and never heard back, which is understandable with the influx of applications they were dealing with.

My daughter cried for a year after we lost Bailey. I eventually caved and paid pandemic prices for a JRT! 😂

Along came Millie. We wanted a little dog for camping and boating. I didn’t want a dog that needed clipping as I don’t even prioritise getting my own hair down.

You all know what JRT are like. 😂
I don’t need to tell you the mischief she’s gotten into.

Every morning she bounces around so happy and full of life. I’m so glad we got her. She brings so much joy to our family.

This morning she went to the local dog beach for the first time and had a ball. It was a beautiful morning on the bay. Seeing the dogs living their best life brought me so much joy.

So every time you are walking your dog, be present and notice what’s around you.
It’s great for your health. You’re outside in nature. It reduces your stress levels. You get a dose of Vit D and morning light is important as well. You can forget what’s going on in practice and just be.

Natasha Wilks

Self-care, as psychologist Agnes Wainman explained, is “something that refuels us, rather than takes from us.”

What refuels you?

Natasha

Women Tending to Their Basic Needs Is Not Self-Care That kid-free trip to Target is not going to bring you back to life

Today I’m speaking about Confidence & Resilience at the U18 Basketball Queensland State Champs Referee Development Sessions.

Yesterday was a great day with a fantastic bunch of passionate and enthusiastic refs.

Thanks to work for the penguin mask. We need animal print today.

Natasha

What a fantastic day presenting to such an enthusiastic and passionate group of referees at the U18 Queensland Basketball State Championships.

After chatting about stress and how it impacts you physically, emotionally and cognitively, I could recognise how fatigued I was driving home.

I’m resting, refuelling and enjoying puppy cuddles with Millie ready to do it again tomorrow.

Thank you BQ for investing in the development of your referees.

Natasha

Yes, that’s a cat collar on Millie so I can hear where she is. When it’s quiet I worry as she’s either escaped or chewing up something!