You should compliment yourself more, using improv to tackle bullying at work, and more top insights

What’s happening in the world of work: The Saturday edition of the Daily Rundown highlights the business trends, perspectives, and hot topics you need to know to work smarter. Read on and join the conversation.

Go ahead, start complimenting yourself: Celebrating your victories, even the small ones, can have a powerful effect on your mood and your ability to accomplish even bigger things going forward, according to Harvard’s Teresa Amabile. Praise, even when self-directed, triggers our brain’s reward centers and helps boost our ability to remember new skills. How can you get started? Make a habit of regularly listing and reflecting on your accomplishments, little and big. The practice can come in handy during performance reviews or job interviews. ? Here’s what people are saying.

We’re programmed to resist our resolutions: ‘Tis the season for making all kinds of promises to ourselves, many of which we’ll break. Desiring change is admirable. But, as psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic writes, there’s a big difference between longing for the results that come from change and committing to do the work that such change requires. Research suggests that our traits are fairly fixed, so seeking change that requires a personality reboot is more likely to fail. Instead, the key is to pursue shifts that play to our existing qualities and strengths. ? Here’s what people are saying.

You Asked: “If the common rhetoric for career satisfaction is to ‘follow your passion,’ is one doomed to fail in their career if they're not absolutely passionate about what they do? I cannot honestly say I have a passion that is my calling in life. I chose software development in college because of the predictable 9-5 lifestyle it would provide, according to people I've talked to in the industry. Did I go about this all wrong?” — Paul Weaver, freelance developer at Southwest Tennessee Community College

• “What I know from our research on interest is that people typically have a number of interests and, perhaps surprisingly, can develop new interests at any age. If someone is going to develop an interest, typically this comes from thinking and talking with other people who enable them to stretch (challenge) what they presently know. This, in turn, leads to new understanding. Interest will fall off or go dormant if it isn’t possible for knowledge to develop. If you want to jumpstart an interest in your job, it might be helpful to: (1) develop a working relationship with others at your job who are passionate and inventive about the product and (2) find some aspect of the coding, or your work, that you don’t yet know too much about and investigate it.” — K. Ann Renninger, Dorwin P. Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College and co-author of “The Power of Interest for Motivation and Engagement”
• “The common career advice to ‘follow your passion’ rightly recognises that you’ll have better odds of achieving lasting satisfaction if you are in a career that honors your talent and curiosity, but I prefer the word ‘mission’ to passion. Passion by itself is a fair-weather friend. Mission is passion plus all-in commitment; it is a joyful willingness to do the hard work – and often suffer – in a noble journey. If you’re someone who hasn’t found your mission yet, you have time, but don’t waste it. Find a good mentor or peer group and explore ideas. When you find your mission — that merging of your gifts, passions and willingness – go all in.” – Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes Magazine and author of “Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement”

Looking for career advice from the pros? Submit your questions in the comments with #YouAsked and we’ll take care of the rest.

Companies turn to improv for a culture assist: Improv exercises are increasingly being used to tackle workplace challenges, including bullying and sexual harassment, The Washington Post reports. Companies like Uber and Hyatt have hired Chicago’s Second City to help them with communication and culture issues. Why improv exercises? It’s less about comedy and much more about how improv can help us become more aware of our words and body language, and how we relate to others. ? Here’s what people are saying.

A horrible boss can come with a silver lining: Those who have had to work with an abusive boss are more likely to treat their own direct reports ethically and with respect, according to research published in the Journal of Applied Psychology. The key to breaking the cycle? Disassociating yourself from your terrible manager; remembering that you are not like them and that you don’t need to behave like them, says study co-author Shannon Taylor of the University of Central Florida. ? Here’s what people are saying.

One last idea:  When we talk about how members of different generations relate to each other, we focus on the areas of conflict. But Altimeter’s Brian Solis suggests that we benefit when we think of our different perspectives as valuable resources.

“These gaps represent opportunities to explore new ways to learn, unlearn, work and grow. But this can only happen if everyone believes that they have something to gain and contribute. They have to believe that their way isn't the only way.”

What's your take? Join the conversations on today's stories in the comments.

— Scott Olster