Here’s a great animation of a brief, compelling lecture by Dan Pink on the nature of motivation in which he describes the paradox that money is a terrible motivator for complex tasks. It turns out that autonomy, mastery and purpose–not money–are the prime motivating factors for sophisticated work.

“If we start treating people like people, and not assuming that they’re simply horses–slower, smaller, better smelling horses–if we get past this kind of ideology of carrots and sticks and look at the science, I think we can actually build organizations and work lives that make us better off. But I also think they have the promise to make our world just a little bit better.”

The longer, full (unanimated) talk for The RSA is here.

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As promised, this is the link for the powerpoint handout from today’s training on suicide prevention.

Psychiatric Disorders and Suicide Assessment

Please feel free to email any additional questions to me at:
amy (at) amysjacob (.) com

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Suicide Prevention Handout for Morris County Educators

April 23, 2010

Welcome members of the Morris County Education Association! Thank you so much for being a wonderful audience this evening.
As promised, the powerpoint handout is available right here.

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And, we’re back!

March 11, 2010

I’m happy to report that my blog has finally been fixed! I think it was a miracle or something. I was hacked and had not been able to get things up and running for well over a year, as the date on the last post implies.
A lot has happened in that time. To start, I [...]

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Bullying advice: letter to a friend

October 17, 2008

A close friend of mine wrote me for help the other day. Her eight year old son is getting teased a lot at school. She was picked on a lot when she was a little kid, and the memory is still a painful one. Watching her son go through it has understandably made her angry [...]

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How to abandon your teen, legally

October 2, 2008

I was more than dismayed today to learn that in Nebraska, some parents are using the cover of a “safe haven” law to abandon older kids and teenagers to hospitals and police stations. According to a New York Times article:
In total last month, 15 older children in Nebraska were dropped off by a beleaguered parent [...]

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Get to know your brain!

June 28, 2008

Do we really only use 10% of our brains?
Am I making my baby smarter by playing Mozart?
In their book, “Welcome to your brain: Why you lose your car keys but never forget how to drive,” Authors Sandra Aamodt & Sam Wang discuss answers to these common questions from a neuroscientist’s point of view. They happen [...]

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The other tragedy of war – PTSD and suicide among soldiers

May 29, 2008

When we think of war, we think of a lot of things. Movies. Death. Destruction of property. Ideals. Security. Safety. Risk. Rewards.
Yet it seems we know just a little of the sacrifice we accept from our warriors. Yes, we know that we’ve lost over 4,000 of America’s heroes in battle, not to mention the [...]

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Laws catch up with cyberbullying after 13 year old’s suicide

May 19, 2008

It’s a sad, sad case.
A 13 year old girl, Megan Meier, took her life after receiving a nasty message from what she thought was a 16 year old boy – but turned out to be a 49 year old woman. Lori Drew, a mother herself, now faces up to 20 years in prison for [...]

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Trauma and Youth Training, May 21st

May 2, 2008

Presented by Amy Jacob, LCSW
May 21 2008, Edison NJ
Who should attend? Guidance counselors, clinicians, case managers, social workers, child study team members, in-home behavioral health providers, teachers, parents, advocates, and others who work with children and adolescents who have experienced trauma.
What Will Trainees Learn? This workshop provides practical strategies for those [...]

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