Why you want your culture to be jungle, not a garden

Your teams need to be cultivated, but not like a garden that requires constant tending, says futurist Latia Vaughan, but more like a jungle that grows, adapts and evolves as conditions change. To achieve that goal, allow your team members to develop and grow individually, celebrate your teams' small wins and don't neglect your "middle" members who chug along in their work but are not your top performers but also aren't struggling, Vaughan recommends.

Put it into practice: Get a read on your team's aspirations by asking them where they are now and where they want to be so you can engage them in their own growth, Vaughn suggests. "If you can bring clarity and awareness to the mind, then you can ignite the human spirit."

When you're so unhappy at work that you're thinking about quitting, your first step should be defining "unhappy" -- what precisely is turning you off? "Employers can't give you what you want unless you tell them what you need," says Kathleen Quinn Votaw, CEO of recruiting firm TalenTrust, who offers several ways to prepare for a conversation with your boss.

Put it into practice: Make a list of what you like and dislike about your job, examining the things that drain you. Handing off a client mismatch or minimizing paperwork will make all the difference, Quinn Votaw says. Before talking to your boss, get guidance from a trusted colleague. Use specific words, such as feeling unsuccessful rather than unhappy, and suggest solutions.

Anger that gets out of hand is terrible and can make a situation worse, but anger also can be a force for positivity when kept in check, Michael McKinney of LeadershipNow writes. McKinney recommends following Leslie Charles' 10 ways to keep anger at bay, such as living with purpose and making conscious choices.

Put it into practice: Work to be more self-aware, and quit judging others, Charles advises in "Why Is Everyone So Cranky: The Ten Trends Complicating Our Lives and What We Can Do About Them." Build up your support network, maintain positive thoughts and replace irritation with compassion, Charles adds.

Eggs offer a budget-friendly source of whole protein along with nutrients including choline, lutein, zeaxanthin, vitamins D, B12 and A, as well as iron and selenium, says registered dietitian nutritionist Janet Helm, who adds that research has "rehabilitated" the egg's image as a healthful food and not as one to be avoided due to the high cholesterol value in its yolk. Helm offers a comprehensive guide to the many types of eggs available to buy and innovative and healthful ways to prepare them including air fryer eggs and chili crisp fried eggs.

The names for cities didn't happen by chance but were deliberate, such as Cincinnati, which was named for Roman statesman Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, or Chicago, which originated from the Algonquin word for a striped skunk, or "shikaakwa," which was seen by early explorers. The team at WordTips dug into the etymology of US state and city names, producing a map sectioned off by regions.

Wendy M. sent in this photo her daughter, Julie, took on a recent trip to Zion National Park. Truly breathtaking!

What places have taken your breath away recently? Send me your photos to share!

I used to be a very angry person. Many things in my past contributed to this state of mind, but there was one thing that turned me around. I went to see a talk by a couple of authors I admire, and one of them said that his motto was, "Don't take anything personally."

He went on to say that if someone becomes angry with you, something you did or said may have triggered something in them, but it doesn't have anything to do with you. It's all about them and their stuff. A friend of mine once said, "If you get triggered by someone else, that's your stuff. If they get triggered by you, that's their stuff."

We all have stuff -- things from our past that get set off by circumstances around us. I learned to not take what others said or did personally, especially if it didn't hit any of my triggers. If I got angry, that was a reminder that there was something I still needed to work on. My own anger is a call to go within and remove that trigger.

I can't say I've done it perfectly, but I am far less triggered now than I was even a year ago.

The ten principles Michael McKinney offers from author Leslie Charles are a great place to start if you're still trying to wrangle your anger. Just remember, as my friend says, "If you have stuff with other people's stuff, that's your stuff." Meaning that if you get angry, it's not about them; it's about you, and vice versa.

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