Archive for the Productivity Category
Chest Clearing Club – Turds, Arch nemesis and Jerks
The winter is a time for reflection.
I used to be a very bi-polar and unhappy person. It’s why I started writing. I needed to release the crappy thoughts sitting on me like a big stinky turd, so I could move on to projects I enjoyed.
There was nothing medically wrong with me. I was just me.
It’s actually been a beautiful ride so far. I realize this after many hours of yoga, meditation and journaling. My ability to reframe a difficult situation has helped me improve my happiness by leaps and bounds.
I remember the time my first boss called me a monkey. It was a slap in the face. I literally felt the sting of pain when I heard those words.
Read the rest of this entry »
Recharge Your Battery Throughout the Day
Your internal battery needs to be recharged on a regular basis. You can’t continue at break neck speed and expect to stay happy and keep reaching your goals.
The hard part is making your recharge a daily habit. If as many people meditated as much as they drank beer we would not be so stressed out and exhausted.
Drinking alcohol is fun. I enjoy a good dark beer every so often, but I stopped drinking every day because of the drag on my body.
I also stopped relying on vacations to recharge my battery. Needing a vacation is a myth that I want to crush right here. You don’t need a vacation. Yes, it may be nice, but you don’t really need one.
Read the rest of this entry »
17 Comments »
How to Be More You
Just be yourself and they will love you. How many moms have said that to their little boys and girls?
What they should really say is just be yourself and screw everyone else because people will find ways to hate you no matter what you do. This is true in business and life.
Happiness
You want to be happy. That means you can’t let other people dictate your decision making process.
I’m trying to be more me, but I find it difficult.
I still remember the first day of school during my 7th grade year and a popular student telling me to sit down and stop being so annoying. The pain goes deep. I don’t want to be annoying. I want people to like me.
Read the rest of this entry »
11 Comments »
Where Do You Hide Your Happiness?
As my 1 Sentence Journal fills up I’m beginning to see my happiness patterns. For example when I start writing early in the day I can get my thoughts on this track that allows me to write in large quantities. I plant the seed early and I can’t let go. I almost always end up surprising myself with my productivity levels.
I never would have discovered this if I hadn’t taken the time to contemplate my workday. You don’t need to meditate in the typical sense to enjoy the benefits of contemplation. The idea is to find a way to relax your thoughts and be in the now, so you can improve just a little bit each day.
Read the rest of this entry »
4 Comments »
Is Work Stress Hurting Your Family Life?
Has your boss ever put an extra task on your plate because they had to disperse the work due to a round of layoffs?
You shake your head because you wonder why (put co-workers name here), who loves his hourly coffee breaks, didn’t get the extra work. You can’t complain now because you don’t want to be a part of the next round of layoffs.
Stress plays a huge role in whether or not you are happy at work. When you are unhappy you often take these feelings home with you.
Read the rest of this entry »
13 Comments »
How to Deal with the Daily Grind Between Now and the Holiday Season
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Eileen Habelow of Randstad
Labor Day has come and gone and so has summer vacation. If you’re like most full-time employees you won’t have another break until Thanksgiving or perhaps even Christmas, and the thought of that three month stretch could be just short of terrifying.
But I have good news. The beginning of fall can feel like just that – a new beginning. Randstad’s latest Work Monitor survey shows that 73 percent of employees believe they perform noticeably better at work after they’ve had a few days off. That means even a short break such as long fall weekend could give you the jump start you need to stay motivated until the holidays, as long as you start it off right.
For generations people of all ages have struggled with the “back-to-school” grind that comes with fall, so why not adopt a few best practices that have worked for hundreds of people (regardless of age) around this time every year? Dive into a new “school” year armed with a few old-school habits.
Read the rest of this entry »
12 Comments »
Your Attitude and How it Affects Your Career
Have you ever noticed how positive people are more resilient?
Lately I’ve been thinking about the importance of attitude. Back in 2009, I put myself on a no complaining diet for 30 days. It was a tough and enlightening experience. I realized how much I complained and that I needed to do something to change.
After looking back on my career, I realized how much my complaining has affected my productivity. Whenever I complained, I would wreck my confidence. I used to get so down on myself that I couldn’t do any meaningful work. I thought it was just the way I worked. I did busy work that didn’t challenge me or demand me to be creative.
At one point my complaining was so bad that I caught myself complaining about gifts that I received from generous friends and family. It was a splash of cold water down my back. I was sabotaging my own happiness.
I knew it wasn’t helping my career or my personal life, so I vowed to make some changes.
That’s when I put myself on the no complaining diet. It was one of the best 30 day trials I’ve ever experimented with.
Read the rest of this entry »
12 Comments »
21 Reasons a Smart Small Business Coach is Worth the Money
A few of my friends asked me if a small business coach is worth the money. They knew my answer would be a resounding yes, but wanted to rile me up a little bit. Hey, what are friends for?
I began to talk about all the successes that I have had with coaching clients. I could see their eyes begin to glaze over.
It’s like reading people’s testimonials. Of course they are going to put the best ones up on their website. You don’t get to read about the failures.
I’ve had plenty of failures. It comes with the territory. I can’t help everyone; that would mean I was superman. I have superpowers, but I can’t fly faster than a speeding bullet.
Read the rest of this entry »
9 Tips to Boost Your Motivation
There are days when you will struggle to do even the easiest task. A short email can feel like an hour long torture session. These days can really test your will.
These rough days also give you a great opportunity to achieve significant personal growth at work. When you are struggling the most, you should rely on every resource you have.
I put together a list of 9 things you can do to shake off your blues and boost your motivation:
Read the rest of this entry »
20 Comments »
How to be Fearless and Fear Less
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Susan Chambers of SAGE Editing and Research Services.
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unjustified, unreasoning terror which paralyzes needed effort…” (Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1st Inaugural Address, 1933)
Did you know that 12% of Canadians (source: Canadian Mental Health Association) and 18% of American adults ages 18 and older are diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in a given year (source: National Institute of Mental Health) When you convert the abstract numbers to real people, these findings translate as a distressingly large number of individuals suffering the often debilitating impacts of fear and anxiety; health concerns, a sense of being overwhelmed and helpless, an inability to take action or make changes, and a reduced quality of life. My guess is that it was in fact the side effects of overpowering fear, the “…nameless, unjustified, unreasoning terror which paralyzes needed effort…” rather than the emotion of fear itself that concerned Roosevelt, back in 1933.
According to an article in Psychology Today by Gordon Livingston (2009), a psychiatrist, the inaction that stems from excessive, irrational fears or fear-based thinking often shows up as a decision to live life from a “safe” position and not take risks, even if that means forsaking opportunities that might provide greater joy and expansiveness to one’s life. But what are these fears—or perhaps more accurately, anxieties—that keep so many of us immobilized to some degree or another? How are they triggered? And how do we overcome our fears or at least control them so they don’t take over and imprison our spirits and minds, leaving us depressed and further discouraged (a loss of heart)? Let’s start with human nature and the nature of fear.
Read the rest of this entry »
9 Comments »