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Archive for November, 2009

What Hidden Emotional Anchors are Holding You Back?

When you are happy you are confident. You make choices that give you a better chance at success. Don’t let the fear of making a mistake take over.

Pulling up your emotional anchors and letting the “happy you” sail is hard.

“Some people are afraid of what they might find if they try to analyze themselves too much, but you have to crawl into your wounds to discover where your fears are. Once the bleeding starts, the cleansing can begin.”
- Tori Amos

When you think too hard, too many problems arise. This is when worry and fear take over. Your fears are just trying to protect you from emotional pain. It’s you trying to protect yourself.

It’s a weird dynamic that stunts us from creating great stuff.
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Hard, Fun and Beautiful – God Hugging Butterflies Edition

(Can’t see the video? Then try watching it at Work Happy Now – The Hard, The Fun and The Beautiful – God Hugging Butterflies Edition)

Where we are free to talk about the hard, the fun, and the beautiful of our work week.

This week was filled with anxiousness. I couldn’t wait to get to lunch. I couldn’t wait to get home. I couldn’t wait to get to bed.

Maybe because Thanksgiving was soon to arrive. I’m still not sure, but it was a struggle.

It was sad.

I’m all about working in the moment, but this week I just felt like I was grasping and missing every time. Now that Thanksgiving has arrived I look back over the week and wonder why I struggled so much. Life really is a mental game. When we have the right attitude, feel good, and are surrounded by good people it makes things so much easier. The thing is we can’t always have all the right pieces in place to make things easy to enjoy.

That’s why we need to give thanks to the days where we struggle. It’s all a part of helping us grow into a more resilient person.

Before I begin…

I want to take a moment to thank all my readers. Without you I wouldn’t have the motivation to continue. I bow in gratitude to your generosity and love. For those of you in the USA I hope you have the best Thanksgiving ever.

Let’s begin:
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Work Happy Tip – Alarm Stretch

I caught myself deep in work, hunched over my keyboard. I must have been working for four hours straight, with just one bathroom break and one tea break.

I was so in the zone that I didn’t realize that my back was killing me. I stretched out my neck and back, but it was too late. My back was throbbing.

The more I stretched and brought awareness to the pain, the more it ached. It was a catch 22 of pain.

I told myself that I was going to stretch every two hours.

Yeah, that worked really well. I just went back to my same old routine. So I decided to set my cell phone alarm for 10:30 am and 3 pm.

Worked like a charm.
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Need an Edge Up on Your Career – Part 2

Yesterday’s book review of “The Wow Factor” (Amazon link) was fun, but now you get to hear 22 minutes of how Frances came up with her ideas and how to apply them to your life. I’m not bragging or anything, but it’s pretty good. My skills as an interviewer are growing by leaps and bounds.

I’m leaping and bounding my way into your working heart. I hope.

Here is the interview:

(Right click the image to download the audio. You can also click on the image to play the Quicktime format.)
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Need an Edge Up on Your Career?

You want that promotion? You need to wow your employer.

You want to land that client? You need to impress them.

That’s why I asked Frances Cole Jones for an interview. I read her book “The Wow Factor,” and I knew that a podcast would be a good resource for people who want to get an edge up on their career.

I’m going to be honest. You can skip over some of the chapters. There is one on proper hygiene that most people don’t need to read, but this is easy to do since the chapters are so short. You can pick and choose what you need.

My favorite part of the book is the last third. She has so many good ideas that will help you improve your life. You won’t be disappointed.
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Hard, Fun and Beautiful – Red Skin Edition

(Can’t see the video? Then try watching it at Work Happy Now – The Hard, The Fun and The Beautiful – Red Skin Edition)

Where we are free to talk about the hard, the fun, and the beautiful of our work week.

Dealing with negative emotions isn’t easy. This past week I made a couple of blunders that made me beat myself up. I guess the event didn’t make me. I made the choice to beat myself up.

I’m learning to just be with my emotions, instead of trying to force change.

Emotional intelligence is maybe the most important factor to achieving work happiness. The more we can develop our ability to interact with our emotions, the more we can enjoy work.

Let’s Begin…
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Be One With Your Work

I’ve been playing with drawing in relation to work happiness. I’ve found that there are parts of me hidden within a pencil that don’t come out on the keyboard. I’ve been messing with this medium on and off for about 12 years, but in the last year I’ve really been enjoying myself.

I drew this piece when I felt really frustrated after trying to write a blog post. In my head the concept sounded brilliant then it came out of me like a big blob of stink. I was frustrated and wanted to punch my screen.
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The Secrets to Workplace Leadership

I shared a drink with a friend who manages a team of five people. He was wondering how people’s moods can fluctuate in such a broad range, which affects the quality of their work. One of his employees is always up and down. He is engaged with his work one week and then he seems to lose interest. His interest fluctuates and he isn’t sure why.

We all have this problem it’s just that most of us force ourselves to stay focused. My friend told me that he has tried giving this employee various kinds of work to see what interests him, but that didn’t work either.

I asked him if he ever sits down with his staff to explain the reasoning behind the work.

He said he didn’t. He never really thought of that because it’s pretty obvious to him. They need to design websites that exceed the customer’s expectations.

He was losing out on a huge opportunity. People often stop looking at the larger picture because they get comfortable. This comfortable feeling reduces their desire to go above and beyond the normal effort.

A study at the University of Alberta showed that people need a sense of purpose in order to feel engaged with their work. A ‘Spirit at Work’ intervention program for a group of long-term health-care workers boosted morale and job retention. This program urged employees to rethink their job, which reduced absenteeism by 60% and turnover by 75%.

“We discovered that people who are able to find meaning and purpose in their work, and can see how they make a difference through that work, are healthier, happier and more productive employees,” said Val Kinjerski, a University of Alberta PhD graduate who co-authored the study.
- E-science news gathered this information from the Journal of Gerontological Nursing.

By helping your people understand why they do what they do – you can increase happiness and productivity.

I’m going to give you a few ideas that might help your employees/coworkers to connect with their work.
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Hard Fun and Beautiful – Ripped Web Edition

(Can’t see the video? Then try watching it at Work Happy Now – The Hard, The Fun and The Beautiful – Ripped Web Edition)

Where we are free to talk about the hard, the fun, and the beautiful of our work week.

This week has been uneventful. I realized that I kept trying to make it more exciting by creating more worry. I needed a little more drama to keep things interesting.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been noticing this pattern lately. I’ve been feeling the need to spice up my life with larger emotions. Next week I’m going to try to focus on relaxing with what is going on. Because this is it. This is my life, and it can be a good thing or a bad thing, all depending on my perspective.

Ok, let’s begin…
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Nothing is 100%

This past Saturday I was going to take all day to work on my book. I woke up early, did some Yoga and was all set to go. I sat down in my office chair, opened the document up and stretched my neck a little, then jotted down a quick note into my calendar,

then made myself a quick cup of tea,

then heard my wife and son wake up and checked on them,

then watched a quick Neil Young interview for a little inspiration,

then laughed at myself for procrastinating,

then got angry at myself for procrastinating,

then (in my head) listed ways that the book will help my career,

then finally got down to writing.

This writing only lasted for 15 minutes before I decided to put some Mozart on.

I was about to get upset at myself again, but then I realized that I was just being a big bully to myself. I know that I talk about being kind to yourself and listening to your needs, but I’m not perfect either.

I was hating on myself.
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