IF YOU DO ONE THING THIS MONTH...
‘Think positive.’ Ugh. No two words have more power to induce both an eye-roll and a longing to punch the provider of such perky advice in the face. Well, actually, we hate to say it, but those glass-half-full types? They might be on to something. Research published in The Journals Of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences found that merely expecting a day to be stressful is enough to make you less productive – regardless of how it actually turns out. For two weeks, participants responded to questions about their stress levels and completed memory tasks throughout the day. Researchers found that greater stress anticipation in the morning was associated with poorer working memory later in the day. And we’re not just talking about a hampered ability to recall what happened in the last episode of House Of Cards – a reduced working memory can make you more likely to mess up while doing your job. So, in the words of someone who’s way too perky, overly caffeinated, or both: pull on your positive pants, goddammit.