Fight Brain Drain at Work

By Ashley Vickney, Intern, Leonard & Finco Public Relations, Inc.

Working in public relations means that you have to learn how to multi-task. Making the most of every minute is important, and many of us are proud of our ability to do more than one task at a time. However studies show that multi-tasking is bad for our brain, even causing us to lose IQ points.  An avid multi-tasker myself, I’ve started to take steps to concentrate on one task at a time. Here’s how I’m trying to retrain my brain. 

• Be Aware of What You’re Doing: I check my email and news notifications a little too much. One day this week tally how many times you stop what you’re doing to do something else. If you’re aware of it then you can change it.

• Train Yourself: Instead of trying to spend an entire hour on one task right away, set a timer for 5 minutes. In that five minutes consciously stop yourself from checking email, social media or your cell phone.  Do this a couple of times, and then try 10 minutes. As you train your brain to concentrate, you’ll be more effective and efficient with your time. 

• Manage your energy, not your time: I know that writing an article right away in the morning is better for me because I naturally have more energy right away. For others, waiting until later in the day is more effective. 

• Schedule Time: Try to schedule time for checking your email, phone and social media accounts. It’s easier to concentrate on one task knowing that soon you can check in with the world. 

Soon you’ll notice yourself being more productive and maybe even creating better work! What do you do to make the most of your day?

The changing meaning of words and why you should care

By: Susan Finco, President, Leonard & Finco Public Relations

At the end of our weekly staff meeting, we wrap it up with a word or a phrase. It’s selected by our Operations Manager, Melissa. She looks for words that we may have heard but don’t know what they mean, or words that spark the imagination, or words that have changed in meaning through the years.

It’s amazing how a word or phrase that meant one thing when it was first used, now means something completely different. Sometimes it’s just a process of our evolving language and other times it’s the result of our ever-changing culture. Take a look at a few of the words in a list developed by the Huffington Post: 

• "Fantastic" meant "existing only in one's imagination" centuries ago. Today, it means something is really incredible. 
• "Hook up" used to mean getting some kind of device or service or appliance up and running, i.e. "hook up cable television." Today, it has two different meanings: "hooking up" with someone to have sex or just "hooking up" with someone as in meeting up. 
• "Bad" used to describe someone who'd done something wrong or something that was poor in quality. Today, it also means "good" or "great" when used as slang. (And "breaking bad" means to challenge conventions and defy authority.) 
• "Backlog" meant the biggest log in the fire during colonial times. Today, it means a reserve or a pile of work you still need to plow through. 
• Years ago, 'thongs' were another word for flip-flops. Nowadays, thongs are underwear. 
• "Cell” used to mean jail! Or a tiny part of your body. Now, of course, it means your cell phone.

As PR professionals, we really should keep up to speed on these types of changing words.  Since words play a major role in our daily work, we need to know the correct – and incorrect – meaning and use of words. After all, you don’t want to announce to a client or your boss that you’re going home to put on your thongs. Totally wrong meaning and impression!

Note: To see the full Huffington Post story, go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/26/words-that-have-changed-meaning_n_4847343.html