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Golden Retriever's unbridled excitement over new dog bed is too sweet not to watch

Who wouldn’t be excited?

@wackowinston/TikTok, used with permission

May we all find something that makes us as happy as this dog bed makes Winston.

Dogs of every breed are able to show such excitement over the littlest thing, but Golden Retrievers are just a bit extra. Be it with their favorite toys, snacks, or in this case, their dog beds.

One proud goldie named Winston is winning hearts online, thanks to his adorable reaction to a dog bed upgrade. Which is honestly understandable…the bed is more of a mini couch. Who wouldn’t be excited?

Winston’s mom, Ashley Jance, not only manages to capture the wholesome moment, but provide the perfect narration.

"This is my old bed... and THIS is my new bed!" Jance says as, indeed, we see Winson jump on one bed then bounds to the other, as though he were a kid on Christmas showing off his new toys.

And just like a kid, Winston doesn’t love the idea of sharing, as indicated by the playful growls when Dad tries to sit on his new plush throne.

“He’s like, ‘get up!’” Jance says through giggles.

Down in the comments, viewers seemed to catch Winston’s enthusiasm.

“I love this for you Winston!” one person exclaimed.

Another added, “that is the cutest thing I’ve seen in a long time.”

@wackowinston

im very proud and excited

♬ original sound - Winston The Golden

Of course, not all dogs might take to dog beds as happily as Winston did. A survey by the American Pet Products Association found that 62% of small dogs, 41% of medium-sized dogs and 32% of large dogs sleep with their owners.

But even for pups who don’t take to their own bed immediately, there are certain steps that can be taken to make the bed feel a bit more appealing. Mostly it takes establishing routine and safety along with some patience as a pet owner.

Or..maybe pet owners could just show their furry friends this video of Winston…because boy is his energy contagious.

By the way, if you're interested in getting a dog bed just like Winston's, they're available on Amazon.


This article originally appeared on 3.17.24

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Education

Jeff Bezos explains why he always speaks last in meetings. It's great advice for everyone.

It's all about listening.

via Seattle City Council/Wikimedia Commons

Jeff Bezos at Amazon Spheres Grand Opening in Seattle.

Amazon and Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos recently sat with podcaster Lex Fridman for a rare, long-form interview. Over 2-plus hours, he discussed his thinking process, space exploration, Day 1 mentality, Amazon principles, morning routines and more.

During the conversation, Bezos shared some insights into his work philosophy and one big takeaway was his belief in always speaking last in meetings. The advice is helpful for anyone, whether they want to be a better leader or more persuasive in social situations.

The strategy makes a lot of sense for Bezos. As one of the most influential and successful business leaders in American history, it has to be hard to get an honest opinion from your team when you have such an incredible record of success.

When Bezos speaks first in a meeting, it can significantly affect the feedback he gets from his team.

“In every meeting I attend, I always speak last,” Bezos told Fridman. “I know, from experience, if I speak first, even very strong-willed, highly intelligent, high-judgment participants in that meeting will wonder, ‘If Jeff thinks that? I came into this meeting thinking one thing, but maybe I'm not right.’”

“If you're the most senior person in the room, go last,” Bezos continued. “Let everyone else go first. Ideally, have the most junior person go first—try to go in order of seniority—so that you can hear everyone's opinion in an unfiltered way. Someone you really respect says something? It makes you change your mind a little.”

Executive leadership coach Hortense Le Gentil, author of The Unlocked Leader, agrees with Bezo’s approach to leadership and believes that it allows people to become better listeners, which can help them in all facets of their lives.

“Leaders who keep practicing becoming better listeners develop deeper and stronger connections with their teams, which in turn contributes to boosting their engagement and performance,” Le Gentil writes for Fast Company.

Personal Grown Blogger Brian Walsh says that when we speak last, we give greater accountability to the people we communicate with, whether it’s family, a sports team, a community organization, or coworkers.

“Let’s say you have an idea that you think is best and that you want to be implemented,” Walsh writes at An Insight Into Life. “By speaking first, it may result in people feeling like they are being told what to do, removing them from the creation process. However, you wait until everyone else has spoken and find that someone else also has the same idea. Now by allowing them to suggest it and by agreeing with them, they feel like it is their own.”

“This can also be applied to our personal lives,” Walsh continues. “If you are arguing with someone, they often don’t hear what you are suggesting because their emotions have taken over, and you trying to correct them just adds fuel to the fire. Allow them to talk and keep your suggestions to yourself.”

Although Bezos framed his advice around choosing when to speak, the more important lesson may be deciding when to listen. Being a great listener is valuable because it’s a hard skill to develop. It’s not just about hearing what someone’s saying but understanding, empathizing and withholding judgment at the same time.

Being a good listener is the key to connecting with others, but it’s also a vital tool in personal growth. You can’t learn if you can’t listen.

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Joy

Neighbor does an amazing act of kindness for father of 3 who lost his wife

“I see him doing the absolute best that he can with what he has.”

via Colin313/TikTok

Colin McConnell surprises his neighbor with an incredible amount of gifts.

An incredible story out of Detroit, Michigan, shows how the power of kindness can multiply. Colin McConnell is a writer who lives in a duplex next to Donald Wilson, a single father, who lives with his 3 young kids, ages 5,3 and 1. Sadly, the mother of the 3 children passed away a few months ago, leading Wilson to raise them by himself.

"He told me that the kids are going to be around a lot more because their mother had passed," McConnell told WXYZ. "And the kids were walking up the stairs at the time. I just saw their little legs and my heart just broke instantly. I wanted to do something more for them. And he said, 'We don’t really have winter coats.’ I thought he had three daughters because the son was wearing his sister’s clothes — it was because he didn't even have clothes."

McConnell had tried to help the single dad by watching his kids from time to time or picking them up some donuts from the coffee shop. But he felt he had to do more. “I see him doing the absolute best that he can with what he has,” McConnell said. “I know from having conversations with him that he's having a difficult time, and so are his [kids],” he said in a viral TikTok video.

As a writer and entrepreneur, McConnell has a substantial following on social media. So he shared Wilson’s story on TikTok, hoping that maybe 1 or 2 people would help.

“If anyone wants to help me help this family and spread some kindness, you can go to my Amazon and it'll come right to my house and I'll give it to the family,” McConnell said in his video, posted on November 16.

@colin313

My neighbors daughters lost her mom not too long ago. I put some things in an Amazon wish list to try to help them. If anyone’s interested in helping me spread some kindness, please feel free to check out the link in my bio

The video received a tremendous response, and in the 3 weeks since it’s been posted has over 5.7 million views.

"I posted it, and I woke up the next morning and there were already boxes on my porch. I was like, ‘What?!’" he told WXYZ. “I didn’t think it would do that big and all of a sudden, it was thousands! I was like, ‘What! Oh my God!'"

@colin313

Replying to @user3549350178798 heres an update on the video i did @Colin313 o did on the little ones who lost their mom recently. Dad was moved to tears and cant thank you enough. Ill be doing more updates soon #commUNITY #bethegood #spreadkindness.

In a follow-up video, McConnell shared Wilson’s reaction to seeing all of the presents, and he couldn’t believe the generosity of strangers. Over a thousand people sent the Wilson family food, clothes, toys and gift cards. Later, after McConnell shared that the family had no furniture, the children received bunk beds.

The generosity was overwhelming for Wilson, who had difficulty accepting the gifts at first.

"That was the biggest thing for me, not feeling like I’m able to do it, or I’m not capable to do it, but Colin made it easy. He made me feel at home, he made me feel like a brother, like family,” he told WXYZ.

McConnell later shared that Wilson has 3 older children, half-siblings to the younger 3, and he was able to help them out through the donations, too.

santa, colin mcconnell, kindness

Colin McConnell with Santa Claus.

via Colin313/TikTok

The young children are going to get quite a surprise on Christmas day. McConnell found someone to play Santa and deliver their gifts on Christmas morning. McConnell says he’ll be dressing up as Santa’s little helper for the occasion.

Here’s the address to send the Wilsons a Christmas card.

The Wilson Family

℅ Colin McConnell

POI Box 32973

Detroit, MI 48232

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Education

Finance expert explains how much money Jeff Bezos has using a giant sack of rice

That rice could feed a lot of families.

via HumphreyTalks/TikTok

What a billion dollars looks like in grains of rice.

The high percentage of wealth concentrated in a tiny fraction of hands in America is a big concern for many people. The top 1 percent of wealthiest Americans owned 32.3% of the nation’s total wealth at the end of 2021, while the share of wealth held by the bottom 90% was just 30.2%.

It can be hard to comprehend how much money billionaires have when discussing tycoons such as Warren Buffett, Elon Musk, or Jeff Bezos. So, finance educator Humphrey Yang created a TikTok video to give people a good idea of how much money Jeff Bezos has.

In his first video, he provided some perspective on how large a billion is by juxtaposing one grain of rice ($100,000) with 10,000 grains of rice ($1 billion). The bonkers part of the experiment is that he counted out the 10,000 grains by hand, which took him over 12 hours.

@humphreytalks

This took me hours don’t let it flop #billion #money #personalfinance #rice #xyzbca

To take things a step further and show how much money Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has, he went to Target and bought a digital food scale, then hit up Costco to purchase some large restaurant-size bags of rice. After measuring out $122 billion, it reached 58 pounds of rice.

@humphreytalks

Rice. Part 2: Jeff Bezos net worth. #rice #billion #billions #amazon #jeffbezos #money #personalfinance #xyzcba

One must note that this video was created in February of 2022, and since then, Bezos' wealth has grown to over $150 billion.

The video was eye-opening for a lot of Yang’s followers. "This visualization really puts everything into perspective. Great job!" M_o_n_t_a_n_a wrote. "How do people watch this and not go blind with rage at the inequity of this situation?" Sarah Robinson added. "Imagine owning just one grain of rice. Can’t relate," LeeExplored added.

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