The Sokanu Blog

Helping you find your passion in life

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By Renee Masur

Everywhere people are grunting and hacking; gripping their chests and throats, glassey-eyed, slothing around town. And everyone else is trying to stay away. Is this the zombie apocalypse? 

No, it’s flu season. 

So far the sickness has taken down half of the team at Sokanu, including myself. Slowly, we are all recovering. And while there always seems to be an endless amount of emails, meetings, and work, when you are sick, there is only one thing on your list: go home. 

1. Nobody Wants What You’ve Got

Let’s face it. You sound terrible. You look awful, and everyone can see it. You’re touching everything and germing up the place. It won’t do anyone any good to get sick from you. I’m sure you are awesome when you’re healthy. So head home, and go get awesome. 

2. You’re Brain Wants a Break

Your body is shutting down and your brain is going down with it. When you feel sick, there are constant interruptions in your mind. 

“My throat feels awful”….cough….sneeze…..cough…..”have to blow my nose”…this hurts….”ok, focus”…COUGH.  Your body needs time to heal, and with that, comes the third reason you need to go home:

3. You Know You Want That Nap

It just feels so good. If only for the sweet relief of your magma-burned throat and leaky nose, a nap is a quiet escape from the pain of your sickness. It gives your body the time it needs to fight the raging war in your body. And really, don’t we all really love sneaking in a nap during the day?

4. Your Job Wants You To 

Pushing yourself to suffer through your sickness while working will only cause a kind of resentment that you don’t want associated with your job. A friend of mine told me, “Don’t be a hero. When you are sick, go home. That’s the best thing you can do for your job.” Come back when you are feeling alive again and do your work with energy and passion. 

Go home, sickie! And feel better. 

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Rachael Pontillo 

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What do you do?

I am am award-winning board certified holistic health practitioner and wellness educator. I work with clients individually and in groups in the Philadelphia area, and nationwide via telephone or video conferencing. I am also a holistic aesthetician and I make all-natural skincare products. I teach natural skin care classes in the Philadelphia area, hold free monthly webinars on various health and wellness topics, and write the popular blog www.holisticallyhaute.com. I also write for a well respected aesthetics trade journal, as well as other online publications, and speak at national aesthetics and health-related conferences.

How did you get there?

It’s been a long and winding road—I began my college education as a design major and ultimately graduated from Philadelphia University with a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies with a minor in Humanities. I liked architecture, but I realized that my interest was more in the history and theory behind it rather than the actual design work. I had a sales background from working years of retail jobs through high school and college which helped me land my first job after graduation as an advertising sales rep for a healthcare publishing company.

I moved from sales into marketing and copywriting, and from then I moved more into editorial writing and editing. I continued my writing and editing work on a freelance basis for several years (and still continue) for one of the best known medical publishers in the world. I became a mom in 2004 and again in 2007 and continued to freelance while staying home with my kids. Skincare and makeup were always strong interests of mine (much of the retail sales I did was in the beauty industry), so I decided to go back to school for aesthetics. I realized I needed to set myself apart in the job market to try to find the perfect part-time job, so I used my writing and editorial skills and began writing www.holisticallyhaute.com. My focus within the realm of aesthetics leaned more towards the holistic and more natural approach.

Personally and professionally, I began to see the connection between a healthy diet and having great skin. I decided to go back to school again for nutrition, to enhance my education in this area and open more doors for my career. I started taking health coaching clients and quickly realized that the importance really lies more with overall health and wellness rather than just having healthy skin—but great skin is a bonus you get from taking care of yourself on the inside. I had no idea I’d be doing the work I do now because of it.

Why do you like it?

I love my work for SO many reasons. I help people improve their overall level of health which greatly improves their overall happiness and quality of life. I help people feel great about themselves. I empower people to take control of their own health and their own lives and become educated consumers. I spread the message about the importance of making healthier diet and lifestyle choices as well as choosing skincare products with safe ingredients. My work is incredibly rewarding and I feel that I make a difference in the lives of individual people, and help to broaden the minds of larger audiences with my writing and public speaking.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A model or a performing artist on a Broadway stage…maybe in my next life :)

Follow Rachael Pontillo on Twitter 

By Sarah Halickman

You’ve likely gathered from my last blog post that food makes up a very important part (or parts) of my day. I’ve found that what I eat really affects the way I feel all day long; there’s nothing worse than being too full from lunch and too sleepy to work, or having a salty lunch and being thirsty all afternoon. As a result I’ve made a point to stick to a food routine for most workdays, and pick foods that will boost my energy and keep me feeling fresh. I’ve found a few things that work, and a few that don’t for workday lunchtimes.

1.      Pack ahead: I always pack my lunches the night before. In my experience if you leave it to the morning of, you end up being in a big rush and not having enough time and surrendering to a food court lunch.

2.     Bring plenty of snacks: snacks keep me going and I always bring an assortment to work. Yogurt, fruit, veggies, and nuts are all great options and they are perfect for in between meals to keep energy levels high

3.     Make extras: something I like to do is make a few things on Sunday to have ready to go for the first few days of the week. One of the easiest recipes is a quinoa salad; they’re easy to make and very filling. You can find one of my go-to recipes here. It keeps for a few days in the fridge and is great cold. The same can be said for dinners; if you add a bit to whatever you’re making for dinner you’re sure to have enough for the next day’s lunch and the work is already done.

4.     Keep spares: I keep some extra granola bars in my desk drawer just in case. It’s a great solution on days where there weren’t any snacks that excited me for lunch at home. It also gives you the opportunity to be a savior for a hungry coworker!

5.     Tomatoes on the side: I absolutely hate soggy sandwiches. When I make my sandwich I pack sliced tomatoes on the side in some tin foil so my sandwich isn’t wet by the time I eat it.

6.     Be adventurous: I often put almost anything I can find in my salad; canned corn, chickpeas, sundried tomatoes, tons of vegetables, olives, tabbouleh, and anything else that may be in the fridge. It keeps my meals from getting boring and makes each lunch a little bit different. Don’t be afraid of strange combinations; you might be pleasantly surprised with what you come up with! 

Super Study Techniques: Peter Bjork’s Method

Jeremy Newcombe

You’ve probably heard before that people learn in different ways. Some are visual learners, some learn by doing things hands on, etc. The “learning styles” system is something that’s been around for some time in education. Is it really true, though? This study published in the journal Psychological Science might suggest otherwise, that learning styles aren’t exactly the whole truth to how we go about learning (or the key to help teach students, for that matter).  

I’ve always assumed myself to be a hands-on type of learner. I like to try things for myself and learn from the outcomes. Hearing this got me to thinking, however, perhaps the way I’ve been going about learning isn’t exactly correct. Is there a better way for me to remember things I’ve read? Can I master new skills faster if I try something different?

Then I came across Robert Bjork’s works on studying and learning, and I sincerely wish I had found them when I was still in university (and no, before you ask, he is not related to the Icelandic singer that shares his namesake).  He’s written an excellent article called “How to Succeed in College: Learn How to Learn.” It’s a very good read. At one point, quoting a student of his, he writes, “people are not, in general, good judges of what’s best for the in studying and learning…some recommendations may seem counterintuitive.” Indeed, reading down his list of note taking and study techniques, I did find a few things that I found a little odd. Allowing myself to forget things is actually helpful for learning? I wish I could have told that to my German professor. Be wary of teachers who make you feel all there is to know about a subject? Well, if that’s the case then my German prof did a pretty good job, I guess. He backs these claims up with some pretty interesting notes though, and the more I read his work the more excited I got about it. That’s right, excited. Reading his many (many) articles made me want to learn.

Eventually I found myself watching some interviews he did for goCognitive that have been posted on YouTube (I’ve posted a good one at the bottom if you’d care to take a look). They may not be the most riveting things I’ve seen on the internet lately, but I all the same I felt a real connection to them. I could appreciate him saying that learning was the ultimate survival skill—as dramatic as that could sound, it’s true both in the sense hunter gatherer survival and survival in the modern day workplace.

If you want to brush up on your learning abilities, I’d recommend taking a little time to check this stuff out. Here’s a link to a helpful PowerPoint presentation talking about his techniques as well, just in case you want another source to read.

Happy Learning!

By Spencer Thompson  (original post from Sokanu Posterous blog)

Life is an eternal education. We are almost always students of life, learning more every day. Every person we meet, show we watch and book we read - we are learning. Part of the problem with our society is that we seem to define education as the standardized years in which we go to “school”, when of course this is not the case. 

What most people don’t realize is that we are also teachers. For every person we are influenced by, we in turn influence others. Our actions cause other people to stop and question why we did what we did. Our actions show kindness and compassion towards others. We are always leaving an impact, day by day. Our circle of influence grows along with ourselves.

The way that I try to see life is as a giant classroom. In that classroom there are teachers (your mentors, parents, and influencers) and there are students (the people you influence). Your job is to learn and to represent both sides. If you are constantly growing, your platform for teaching will grow. Your words will become more powerful, and your influence will spread further. 

One of the things we must realize is that the world is completely open. You are influencing others whether you believe so or not. We are all teachers now, more than ever. We all tell stories every day. Remember:

Every life has a story. Stories are made up of experiences. Your experiences make up the lesson plan for your life. Use your life as a class.

Vince Rotello

What do you do?

I am a Professor in the Chemistry Department at the University of Massachusetts. I have a group of 30 researchers working on biomedical applications of nanoparticles, including new anti-cancer strategies and diagnostic tests for cancer and other diseases. 

How did you get there?

Undergraduate and graduate school, a postdoc, and a lot of hard work!

Why do you like it?

It’s like running a start-up company focused on making peoples lives better. I work with a great group of students, postdocs and visiting scientists, and have the ability to move in new direction—as long as I can get someone to fund it.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a chemist—I’ve always liked making things, and that’s what we do now.


Check out the Rotello Group and follow their discoveries on their Facebook or Twitter page

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