high-achievingwomen.com

Check out my newest article that just posted at Associated Content on extraversion, chance, and intuition and their relationship to "luck."

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5541172/extraversion_intuition_and_happenstance.html?cat=5

Here's an excerpt from a new article written by Darragh Worland and published today on Excelle.

"Ever wished you had access to your therapist 24/7, without the high price tag of all that supervised navel gazing? Well, help is on the way in the form of what some psychologists are calling “mobile therapy” — applications you can download to your cell phone to help you track and manage your moods between therapy sessions. Dr. Margaret Morris, a clinical psychologist and health technology researcher at Intel Corp. is designing a cell phone app to help patients manage stress levels, with a view toward reducing cardiovascular disease, reports NPR."

Check out the entire article at: http://excelle.monster.com/news/articles/4756-stressed-out-theres-an-app-for-that

Okay, no more excuses from all my high-achievers who say they're too tired to work out--

Here's an inspiration ... a 73-year-old high-achiever who looks great and has an amazing story to tell.

Watch the video.

http://www.bvonsports.com/2010/04/22/ernestine-shepherd-fitness/?icid=main|welcome|dl5|link5|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bvonsports.com%2F2010%2F04%2F22%2Fernestine-shepherd-fitness%2F

Act Now to Appoint a Third Woman to the Supreme Court

The retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, a champion for women and social justice, gives President Obama an opportunity to appoint a new Supreme Court justice who will also stand for equality and fairness -- and there are many qualified women who fit that mold.

Tell President Obama After taking action, please support our work!

Send an e-mail urging President Obama to nominate a woman to the Supreme Court who will advocate for equality and fair treatment under the Constitution. 

Here's the link: http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5996/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1650

Background:

Women's rights advocates cheered the appointment of Justice Sonia Sotomayor last year, who joined Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to raise the representation of women from 11 to 22 percent of the Supreme Court. Researchers estimate that women achieve critical mass when they make up at least one-third of a group's membership of a group. Now we have an opportunity to create that critical mass and get one justice closer to gender parity on the Supreme Court.

But any woman won't do. Women need a justice who will stand up for women's fundamental rights and freedoms. Given the role played by Justice Stevens, it is both acceptable and preferable that his replacement be a woman who will stand for:

• Fundamental privacy rights
• Enforcement of fair pay laws
• Equal opportunity and affirmative action laws
• Abortion and reproductive rights
• Full rights for all people regardless of sexual orientation

With radical right-wing activists attempting to codify marriage discrimination, overturn Roe v. Wade through fetal personhood laws and even criminalize miscarriage in the states, it is absolutely critical for the next Supreme Court justice to stand on the side of social justice. President Obama should choose from the list -- and it's a very long list -- of qualified women who fit that description and throw the full weight of his presidency behind her during the confirmation process.

Send an e-mail urging President Obama to nominate a woman to the Supreme Court who will advocate for equality and fair treatment under the Constitution.

The NOW Conference is July 2nd through 4th in Boston this year. You can register at https://www.now.org/registration.html?srce=emaa040610. And for those in Florida, the Florida NOW Conference is April 30th to May 2nd in St. Pete Beach. You can register for the Florida conference at http://www.flnow.org/conference/index2010.html.

A recent analysis of 223 studies conducted between 1967 and 2008 published in the March 2010 edition of the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, suggests that if you're happy and satisified with your life, you're likely to feel the same about work. On the other hand, if you're unhappy and dissatisfied with life, you're likely to be unhappy and dissatisfied on the job. These findings suggest that if you're feeling unfulfilled and are hoping to fill that void through work, you may not be starting in the right place. Try to make changes that will make you feel happier in life, and the rest is likely to follow.

Just in time for Easter and a story near and dear to my heart--apparently in more ways than one. A new study out of the German Institute of Human Nutrition has found that one small square of chocolate a day can help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk for heart disease. Studying the diet and health of close to 20,000 subjects between the ages of 35 and 65 for at least ten years, researchers found that subjects who ate an average of 7.5 grams of chocolate a day had lower blood pressure and were 39% less likely to have a heart attack than subjects who are only 1.7 grams of chocolate per day.

But chocolate lovers shouldn't get too crazy. To give this some perspective, six grams of chocolate equal one small square of a 3.5 ounce chocolate bar. Researchers also caution the obvious--chocolate intake should not take the place of healthy foods or add extra calories to your diet. They're just suggesting that it might make sense to exchange another similar calorie "snack" with a small daily dose of chocolate (the darker the chocolate, the better) to take advantage of what may be chocolate's health benefits.

The full press release describing the study, published this week in the European Heart Journal, can be found at: http://www.oxfordjournals.org/news/research/2010/03/30/chocolate.html.

So enjoy your square of chocolate and have a happy and save weekend!

I just finished reading an article by Gina Trapani, author of Upgrade Your Life and founding editor of Lifehacker.com, that was published on-line at the Harvard Business Review. It's so basic and simple that I almost didn't write this post, but then I thought that high-achieving women often make things more complicated than they need to so I thought a little reminder to keep it simple wouldn't hurt. In fact, I'm hoping it helps.

Trapani's article has to do with writing to-do lists that actually work. We're all guilty of having tasks on our to-do lists that we keep pushing further and further down the list because they're a bit daunting, right? It would take so much work to get the task done that it just keep getting buried underneath easier things to accomplish. And therein lies the problem!

Trapani suggests that all too often our to-do lists are actually lists of projects or goals rather than simple, one step tasks that need to be accomplished in order to complete a project or goal. Yet that's exactly what a to-do list should be - tasks that move you closer to the ultimate goal. For example, instead of writing, "Plan the Houston trip," which is a goal, you should break it down into smaller steps, such as "Go on-line to check flight schedules for 5/25/10 from Fort Lauderdale to Houston." Once that task is done, scratch it off and move on to the next step.

Trapani also suggests that your to-do list should be action-oriented and as detailed as possible. Instead of "Get tickets," the to-do should read, "Call the box office at 1-800-430-3030 and order four tickets to Les Mis for the matinée on 6/23/10." It's a specific action, it's detailed, and it makes it easier to do so you can scratch it off the list!

What's the point of having a list if nothing gets scratched off? It just becomes another source of stress in your already stressed lives. So keep it basic. Keep it simple. And get it done!

I've been missing in action for a while because I've been writing my book. But I am happy to announce that I finished it yesterday and it's in my editor's hand at Prometheus Books as we speak! Hopefully, it will be in the stores by the end of 2010!

I'm also happy to announce that Prometheus and I have agreed on a title. The book title is going to be High-Octane Women: How High-Achievers Can Avoid Burnout. I'm looking forward to working with my editor over the next month to get it ready for print.

Thanks for everyone who follows the blog. And I promise to be more active now that I've got the bulk of that exciting project finished.

Hope all is going well with you!

Just when you think gender discrimination has sunk to the depths of hell where it belongs, it rears its ugly head. Check out this article on a law firm who questioned a female attorney's ability to "commit" to the firm because she was a new mother.

http://www.abajournal.com/weekly/article/firm_hit_over_partners_hiring_question_how_can_we_identify_new_moms_commitm