Illustrated Blog

We are living in complex times. It’s fine to repeat proven ways to do good at work. Not everything worthwhile is an innovation. PS: If you’re just learning of the Purposeful Palm, it’s the tree outside my office window that my gaze lands on when I’m stuck, looking for ideas or trying to solve something. Thankfully, it is generous with its advice!  

The above Purposeful Palm tip was shared by Dr. Angela Demaree when she interviewed me (Bea Boccalandro) on her Beyond the Stethoscope podcast. If you doubt that your surprises will make a difference, know that the book Compassionomics by Anthony Mazzarelli and Stephen Trzeciak found that a 40-second caring interaction improves the wellbeing of the recipient. So, apply Dr. Demaree’s tip confidently!

To welcome the year of the Ox this Chinese New Year, the Purposeful Palm is sharing what it learned from studying the 10 Ox Herding pictures, a series of drawings and short poems that describe the stages of progress toward Zen enlightenment.

This week, the Purposeful Palm is apparently suggesting you read an article I wrote for Harvard Business Review last week. I hope you find it inspiring, informative or otherwise of value. Go to article.

It’s that simple! At the time of the appointment, start exploring what you might contribute and then go do it. Half the effort —and fun — will be selecting the good deed of the week. Consider searching for options in your company’s volunteer program, resource groups or other employee programs. Or do a Google search. You might end up picking up the phone to check-in on a laid-off colleague, nominating a local nonprofit for an award or switching to using renewable energy. The possibilities are endless. at first, this weekly practice might be challenging. By March, though, you’ll be on a roll! Your actions will improve the lives of the 52 people and causes you select, of course. But this practice will also brighten your life. My research finds that adopting the Purposeful

Yes, the Purposeful Palm is right: A report published by the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen suggests that the 2020 global decline in happiness is as sharp as if all eight billion of us were divorcing. The study also found that for every 100 new COVID-19 cases another 7,200 people, on average, become anxious. In the United States, COVID cases are still skyrocketing so it’s likely that suffering will continue escalating through Christmas and New Years. (Yet, the Palm’s tip is not just for Americans. The rest of the world might have handled the pandemic more competently than we did, but meaningful declines in hardship and restoration of healthy normalcy are still far off in the future.) And yes, as we would expect, the Happiness Research Institute also found that our kindness toward others will help

In honor of Tuesday’s launch of Do Good at Work: How Simple Acts of Social Purpose Drive Success and Wellbeing, the above tip from the Purposeful Palm is a quote from the book that is apropos of Black Friday.

Above is the election-week advice the Purposeful Palm, which lives outside my office window, offered us.