Taking care of our belongings is easy. Why is it so difficult to take care of ourselves? Wouldn’t the world be a better place? My logic: we are in control. If we take that control, we will be healthier. If we are healthier, we will be happier. If we are happier, the world around us will be a better place. If nothing else, we will be better equipped to handle the world around us and hopefully it won’t seem so scary.
Coming soon
I’d like to revisit the topic of taking care of ourselves, the affect that it will have on us and the world around us.
Stay tuned for more in-depth thought. Also, feel free to share your thoughts on the subject. I’d like your input.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Stress: What other problems is it causing?
Stress management is a vital part of a healthy lifestyle. We all deal with it. We all try to minimize it. We may even have a good plan in place to make sure that we are able to make it through our days. No matter what we do to manage your stress, it affects our lives.
But how?
A recent study has shown that stress is the related cause of 85% of all illnesses. Stress can certainly make us physically ill as well has mentally taxed. Stress brings all kinds of challenges into our lives that it actually affects many areas. In my experiences, I have seen many examples of this.
Let’s take a look at how people have had other (seemingly unrelated) areas affected by stress in their lives.
Nutrition- “Since my job has been more stressful, I have noticed that my appetite has been different.” “When I get home, I want to eat and eat and eat!”
--Bonnie
Exercise- “I have no energy to exercise since my shift changed at work.”
--Mark
Smoking- “I quit smoking until my sister had problems, now I need to smoke again to manage my stress.”
–-Renee
Back care- “I had quite a stressful week.” “My neck is killing me!”
--Brenda
Since my passion is coaching, I feel obligated to do more than just point out problems. Now that I have shown you some examples of stress causing issues in other areas of peoples’ lives, let’s take a look at how they were able to overcome it.
Nutrition- “I drink water in the evening so that I am not feeling hungry and I’m occupied.”
–-Bonnie
Exercise- “I have made time to exercise now that I realized that the more I did it the more energy I would have.” “Plus, now my stress level is better.”
–-Mark
Smoking- “I remembered why I quit smoking in the first place and was able to re-focus.” “Now I am managing my stress with exercise and deep breathing and still smoke-free.”
–-Renee
Back care- “By stretching my neck and back, I am able to feel much more relaxed.”
--Brenda
Problems are tough, but there is always a solution. If stress is the problem, there is still a solution out there for you. It is even more important to find that solution because, as these situations indicated, there may be other areas that stress is affecting.
But how?
A recent study has shown that stress is the related cause of 85% of all illnesses. Stress can certainly make us physically ill as well has mentally taxed. Stress brings all kinds of challenges into our lives that it actually affects many areas. In my experiences, I have seen many examples of this.
Let’s take a look at how people have had other (seemingly unrelated) areas affected by stress in their lives.
Nutrition- “Since my job has been more stressful, I have noticed that my appetite has been different.” “When I get home, I want to eat and eat and eat!”
--Bonnie
Exercise- “I have no energy to exercise since my shift changed at work.”
--Mark
Smoking- “I quit smoking until my sister had problems, now I need to smoke again to manage my stress.”
–-Renee
Back care- “I had quite a stressful week.” “My neck is killing me!”
--Brenda
Since my passion is coaching, I feel obligated to do more than just point out problems. Now that I have shown you some examples of stress causing issues in other areas of peoples’ lives, let’s take a look at how they were able to overcome it.
Nutrition- “I drink water in the evening so that I am not feeling hungry and I’m occupied.”
–-Bonnie
Exercise- “I have made time to exercise now that I realized that the more I did it the more energy I would have.” “Plus, now my stress level is better.”
–-Mark
Smoking- “I remembered why I quit smoking in the first place and was able to re-focus.” “Now I am managing my stress with exercise and deep breathing and still smoke-free.”
–-Renee
Back care- “By stretching my neck and back, I am able to feel much more relaxed.”
--Brenda
Problems are tough, but there is always a solution. If stress is the problem, there is still a solution out there for you. It is even more important to find that solution because, as these situations indicated, there may be other areas that stress is affecting.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Assessing Your Priorities
In a conversation with a client today, I realized something. The realization I made was that we all need to assess two things in order to reach our goals. We need to assess our priorities and we need to assess our current path. If we take the time to look at these, we are able to test the success and make necessary adjustments to our plan.
Let’s take a look at two important situations. The first is getting started on a game plan toward a goal. The second is at any particular point along the way to that goal. What happens if we don’t assess our priorities before we set out to reach a goal? Well, we run the risk of starting on something that we don’t really need (or even want to) to accomplish.
Take Tim for example:
Tim is a hard-working man that cares about the people around him. The most important people in his life are his wife and two kids. When he was thinking about leaving his company, he was promised more money, a bigger office and a company car to reconsider his decision. As soon as they offered him these things, he took them and stayed with the company. He moved into his new office and continued on his routine. He worked hard (just as he had before) and was being paid more. After another month of the same job he started to feel the same way he did before. He came home to his wife and kids exhausted and remembered why he wanted to leave the company in the first place.
When he first started with this company he was in a customer service position where he got to talk with customers and help make sure they were happy with the service his company was providing. He interacted with people all day, solved problems and even got to teach his coworkers some ways to keep the process going smoothly. I loved his job and would come home energized, ready to enjoy time with his wife and kids. It was after his last promotion that things began to change. He was moved from the role he loved so much into a management role. Sure he was being paid more and had a new title, but he was no longer dealing with the customer. In fact, he wasn’t dealing with anyone. The only things he interacted with were the performance reports of his employees. The only time he got to talk to them was to tell them that they had to improve their performance. This was not the interaction he wanted, so he started to look at other companies for positions like his old one.
When the company offered him more money and perks, it sounded like a great deal. He thought that with more money he could put up with the same job. He thought that it would be easier to cope with his inability to enjoy family time after a long, unfulfilling day. When in reality, he made the decision without assessing his priorities. His priorities were: interacting with customers and feeling good at the end of the day so he could enjoy time with his wife and kids in the evening. The decision to not change companies was based on a different set of priorities. The offer was made by someone else (his boss) and the reward was not what he was looking for. After that month Tim decided to change companies after all. Once he realized that he was not getting what he needed, it was easy for him to go for something that would give him what he needed. Sure he had more money, but money was not what he wanted.
Tim actually did both of these key points in his decision. His priority was happiness, family and the ability to enjoy his work while still able to come home happy and energetic. His current path was not giving him those results. In fact, the opposite was true. He had to take a step back to look at his priorities and then his current path to see if they were in line. So the moral of the story is that you need to do both in order to be successful. Not only do you need to assess both, but you need to make sure that the current path is leading (or going to lead) you toward your goal. Our priorities are just that: PRIORITIES. If we don’t put them where they should be, we base our goals on other factors. Those other factors may be someone else’s goals, something we saw on TV or even an something we once wanted. But remember, once or at some point is not always the same as right now and usually is not in the future.
So, in order to reach your goals: Assess priorities before setting the goal and deciding what path to take. As you go, take time to assess the path and whether it is leading you to that goal that is in line with your priorities. If not, change paths!
Let’s take a look at two important situations. The first is getting started on a game plan toward a goal. The second is at any particular point along the way to that goal. What happens if we don’t assess our priorities before we set out to reach a goal? Well, we run the risk of starting on something that we don’t really need (or even want to) to accomplish.
Take Tim for example:
Tim is a hard-working man that cares about the people around him. The most important people in his life are his wife and two kids. When he was thinking about leaving his company, he was promised more money, a bigger office and a company car to reconsider his decision. As soon as they offered him these things, he took them and stayed with the company. He moved into his new office and continued on his routine. He worked hard (just as he had before) and was being paid more. After another month of the same job he started to feel the same way he did before. He came home to his wife and kids exhausted and remembered why he wanted to leave the company in the first place.
When he first started with this company he was in a customer service position where he got to talk with customers and help make sure they were happy with the service his company was providing. He interacted with people all day, solved problems and even got to teach his coworkers some ways to keep the process going smoothly. I loved his job and would come home energized, ready to enjoy time with his wife and kids. It was after his last promotion that things began to change. He was moved from the role he loved so much into a management role. Sure he was being paid more and had a new title, but he was no longer dealing with the customer. In fact, he wasn’t dealing with anyone. The only things he interacted with were the performance reports of his employees. The only time he got to talk to them was to tell them that they had to improve their performance. This was not the interaction he wanted, so he started to look at other companies for positions like his old one.
When the company offered him more money and perks, it sounded like a great deal. He thought that with more money he could put up with the same job. He thought that it would be easier to cope with his inability to enjoy family time after a long, unfulfilling day. When in reality, he made the decision without assessing his priorities. His priorities were: interacting with customers and feeling good at the end of the day so he could enjoy time with his wife and kids in the evening. The decision to not change companies was based on a different set of priorities. The offer was made by someone else (his boss) and the reward was not what he was looking for. After that month Tim decided to change companies after all. Once he realized that he was not getting what he needed, it was easy for him to go for something that would give him what he needed. Sure he had more money, but money was not what he wanted.
Tim actually did both of these key points in his decision. His priority was happiness, family and the ability to enjoy his work while still able to come home happy and energetic. His current path was not giving him those results. In fact, the opposite was true. He had to take a step back to look at his priorities and then his current path to see if they were in line. So the moral of the story is that you need to do both in order to be successful. Not only do you need to assess both, but you need to make sure that the current path is leading (or going to lead) you toward your goal. Our priorities are just that: PRIORITIES. If we don’t put them where they should be, we base our goals on other factors. Those other factors may be someone else’s goals, something we saw on TV or even an something we once wanted. But remember, once or at some point is not always the same as right now and usually is not in the future.
So, in order to reach your goals: Assess priorities before setting the goal and deciding what path to take. As you go, take time to assess the path and whether it is leading you to that goal that is in line with your priorities. If not, change paths!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Keep Trying
Does it ever feel like you have been working really hard and not getting anywhere? I know I have felt this way before. There are times during our lives when we struggle just to keep up. There are other times when we just fall down. I just had a conversation with a friend that made me think about this. He felt that lately he has been “flapping his wings, but not taking flight”.
If you are a bird flapping your wings and not getting off the ground, what do you do? You keep flapping and your wings continue to get stronger. As your wings get stronger, you eventually take flight. As a kid trying to learn to ride a bike or throw a ball, you didn’t quit doing it because it was too hard or because you thought you couldn’t do it. You knew it was something you wanted, therefore you never stopped trying. Eventually you were able to ride that bike and throw that ball. Now you can do both without thinking a second thought about it.
Health is the same way. We want instant results and if something presents a challenge, it is easy to give up. It is harder to keep going, but that is what we want to do. We want to be healthy just like we wanted to ride the bike. My advice: keep trying!
If you are a bird flapping your wings and not getting off the ground, what do you do? You keep flapping and your wings continue to get stronger. As your wings get stronger, you eventually take flight. As a kid trying to learn to ride a bike or throw a ball, you didn’t quit doing it because it was too hard or because you thought you couldn’t do it. You knew it was something you wanted, therefore you never stopped trying. Eventually you were able to ride that bike and throw that ball. Now you can do both without thinking a second thought about it.
Health is the same way. We want instant results and if something presents a challenge, it is easy to give up. It is harder to keep going, but that is what we want to do. We want to be healthy just like we wanted to ride the bike. My advice: keep trying!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Vacation Eating Strategies
As you know from reading last week’s article, I just had a vacation. In fact, I’m actually still on that vacation. I always say that the vacation doesn’t end until you get home! As I return home to the “normal” routine, I can’t help but think about the challenges I just faced on the vacation. While I have always understood what my clients have been dealing with during holidays and vacations, I suppose I was more in tune with them during this one.
What was I in tune with? If you have ever been away from home, with family and friends or both, you know what challenges I speak of. Now add the prospect of a diet or other change being made and you can see how difficult things can be.
Let’s discuss some specific aspects of vacation to shed some light on the challenges. Let’s also look at some practical strategies that can help you keep things going in the right direction. After all, no one wants to regret going on vacation.
Eating out
Eating out can present a major challenge for anyone. This applies to vacations and everyday life, so let’s get right into some of the strategies:
Menu: What should I look for?
1. Look at the ingredients- Checking the menu for ingredients (and descriptive words): Fresh, Lean, Whole-grain, Grilled, etc- this will help you choose foods that are made from valuable ingredients and prepared in a healthy manner.
2. Look for ½ or lunch portion offerings- this can keep portions and calories down. As we have discussed many times, it is all about portion control. The biggest problem we run into at restaurants is the amount of food given to us, which brings us to the next point (below)
3. Order off the menu- if possible, try to order from the menu as opposed to the buffet. Although, this may feel like a “better deal”, it is much more difficult to stick with the plan when we are in that situation. The more is available, the easier it is to go for it. Ordering from a menu makes that decision for you and with options 1 and 2, you should be in good shape.
Actions: What else can I do to make my meal more practical?
1. Share something with a friend- We are enjoying the company of friend and family, so why not enjoy the meal WITH friends and family. We’ve all seen the portions and know all to well that we could eat half (or sometimes less!) of the meal and still be satisfied. Sharing is a great way to keep things under control and helps you all team up to set a standard. By doing this you are adding them as a support system. Not only can they empathize, they can physically help you too.
2. Box it up- If you are not able to come to an agreement on what to share, or are not with a group, simply ask the server for a box. Now, some of us can stop eating when we get half way, but others need to have the decision made in advance. By splitting your food before you eat, you make the decision before the taste and habit have taken you further than you wanted to go. It is much easier to stop eating when the food is gone. Plus, this way, you get another meal out of it. No matter what the food is made up of (healthy or unhealthy), spreading the calories out over two meals makes a great deal of sense.
3. Scan the buffet and plan your trip(s)- Buffets offer us great choices. They also offer us great challenges. It is very difficult to keep things reasonable when there is more food available…more good food available…and lots of it. One thing that has helped me is to take a quick look at the offerings before I have a plate (and a serving spoon!) in my hand. Once I have seen what’s available, I can decide what I want and more importantly, how much of it. This takes a restraint and practice, but once you get used to it, it really is satisfying to accomplish. You know you aren’t going to starve and you paid either way, so stop thinking about the value of getting as much food for the money and look at it as a set price and your health and personal goals being the most important aspect. When you look at it that way, being healthy and fit is more valuable than an extra plate’s-worth.
These tips are fresh on my mind because I just went through it. It wasn’t my first time, so I was prepared and have been practicing for a while, but that doesn’t mean that it was easy. As I mentioned earlier, I completely understand what my clients are dealing with. For that reason, I wanted to relay my own experiences to you. Hopefully they can help make it easier for you next time. More importantly, I hope you can look forward to your next holiday or vacation instead of dreading the decisions or consequences. After all, we are supposed to relieve stress with vacations, not cause more.
What are your strategies? If you have your own strategies, we would love to pass them along to others. Please share your experiences and strategies that have helped you keep things on track.
What was I in tune with? If you have ever been away from home, with family and friends or both, you know what challenges I speak of. Now add the prospect of a diet or other change being made and you can see how difficult things can be.
Let’s discuss some specific aspects of vacation to shed some light on the challenges. Let’s also look at some practical strategies that can help you keep things going in the right direction. After all, no one wants to regret going on vacation.
Eating out
Eating out can present a major challenge for anyone. This applies to vacations and everyday life, so let’s get right into some of the strategies:
Menu: What should I look for?
1. Look at the ingredients- Checking the menu for ingredients (and descriptive words): Fresh, Lean, Whole-grain, Grilled, etc- this will help you choose foods that are made from valuable ingredients and prepared in a healthy manner.
2. Look for ½ or lunch portion offerings- this can keep portions and calories down. As we have discussed many times, it is all about portion control. The biggest problem we run into at restaurants is the amount of food given to us, which brings us to the next point (below)
3. Order off the menu- if possible, try to order from the menu as opposed to the buffet. Although, this may feel like a “better deal”, it is much more difficult to stick with the plan when we are in that situation. The more is available, the easier it is to go for it. Ordering from a menu makes that decision for you and with options 1 and 2, you should be in good shape.
Actions: What else can I do to make my meal more practical?
1. Share something with a friend- We are enjoying the company of friend and family, so why not enjoy the meal WITH friends and family. We’ve all seen the portions and know all to well that we could eat half (or sometimes less!) of the meal and still be satisfied. Sharing is a great way to keep things under control and helps you all team up to set a standard. By doing this you are adding them as a support system. Not only can they empathize, they can physically help you too.
2. Box it up- If you are not able to come to an agreement on what to share, or are not with a group, simply ask the server for a box. Now, some of us can stop eating when we get half way, but others need to have the decision made in advance. By splitting your food before you eat, you make the decision before the taste and habit have taken you further than you wanted to go. It is much easier to stop eating when the food is gone. Plus, this way, you get another meal out of it. No matter what the food is made up of (healthy or unhealthy), spreading the calories out over two meals makes a great deal of sense.
3. Scan the buffet and plan your trip(s)- Buffets offer us great choices. They also offer us great challenges. It is very difficult to keep things reasonable when there is more food available…more good food available…and lots of it. One thing that has helped me is to take a quick look at the offerings before I have a plate (and a serving spoon!) in my hand. Once I have seen what’s available, I can decide what I want and more importantly, how much of it. This takes a restraint and practice, but once you get used to it, it really is satisfying to accomplish. You know you aren’t going to starve and you paid either way, so stop thinking about the value of getting as much food for the money and look at it as a set price and your health and personal goals being the most important aspect. When you look at it that way, being healthy and fit is more valuable than an extra plate’s-worth.
These tips are fresh on my mind because I just went through it. It wasn’t my first time, so I was prepared and have been practicing for a while, but that doesn’t mean that it was easy. As I mentioned earlier, I completely understand what my clients are dealing with. For that reason, I wanted to relay my own experiences to you. Hopefully they can help make it easier for you next time. More importantly, I hope you can look forward to your next holiday or vacation instead of dreading the decisions or consequences. After all, we are supposed to relieve stress with vacations, not cause more.
What are your strategies? If you have your own strategies, we would love to pass them along to others. Please share your experiences and strategies that have helped you keep things on track.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Health Management
The term health management has been something that many of us in the industry have worked into corporate vocabulary. It is more than something that businesses to though. Health management is something we all do…at least we all should be doing it. Just think about it this way:
Each day there are things we can do to improve and maintain our health. If we don’t do those things, problems come up. Sure we can fix those problems with rushed and drastic measures. Medication or surgery could be an option, but isn’t it “easier” to manage it little by little? Day to day health management is the key. See you next week!
Joe
Each day there are things we can do to improve and maintain our health. If we don’t do those things, problems come up. Sure we can fix those problems with rushed and drastic measures. Medication or surgery could be an option, but isn’t it “easier” to manage it little by little? Day to day health management is the key. See you next week!
Joe
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Growth: Positives of Challenges
As I sit on a flight, I can’t help but think about life’s positives. I’m normally a positive person anyway, but there is nothing like a trip to bring good things out. As the flight grew longer, my thoughts kept creeping back to the vacation itself and what it meant to me. Vacation is that much sweeter when you are actually taking a break. The beauty of a break is that you get to change the routine. But if you don’t have a routine, or if it is not the one you want, how can you enjoy a change? That is the challenge around rewarding yourself. We all need time away from the grind, but it is important to think about what the grind really entails.
Is your grind, getting to the office early and staying late? Is it the family schedule that doesn’t seem to stay the same? Maybe it’s just getting out of bed in the morning. There are many tasks that quickly turn into challenges. Depending on who you are, your grind might be filled with challenges.
But challenges present positives in our lives. It is easy to look at the challenge as something that is taking away from our goals. It is easy to look at challenges negatively. But, think about where you are after you’ve overcome a challenge. What happens when you are able to overcome something you thought was. What do you get? You get accomplishment, achievement and all kinds of positive things.
So next time there is a challenge in front of you, think about all of the positives that may be coming your way. It may be difficult, but the gains will be worthwhile. If the cause is worthwhile, the effort will be worthwhile and of course, the reward will be worthwhile. Each challenge presents a solution.
(That brings me to the subject of motivation. When a challenge presents itself, we have to decide to work through it. There is a clear reason…or reasons to proceed. We will discuss motivation and the importance of WHY we are doing something in a future segment.)
Also, stay tuned for specific information on how to take your vacation from stressful to stress relieving with: Vacation Eating Strategies.
Is your grind, getting to the office early and staying late? Is it the family schedule that doesn’t seem to stay the same? Maybe it’s just getting out of bed in the morning. There are many tasks that quickly turn into challenges. Depending on who you are, your grind might be filled with challenges.
But challenges present positives in our lives. It is easy to look at the challenge as something that is taking away from our goals. It is easy to look at challenges negatively. But, think about where you are after you’ve overcome a challenge. What happens when you are able to overcome something you thought was. What do you get? You get accomplishment, achievement and all kinds of positive things.
So next time there is a challenge in front of you, think about all of the positives that may be coming your way. It may be difficult, but the gains will be worthwhile. If the cause is worthwhile, the effort will be worthwhile and of course, the reward will be worthwhile. Each challenge presents a solution.
(That brings me to the subject of motivation. When a challenge presents itself, we have to decide to work through it. There is a clear reason…or reasons to proceed. We will discuss motivation and the importance of WHY we are doing something in a future segment.)
Also, stay tuned for specific information on how to take your vacation from stressful to stress relieving with: Vacation Eating Strategies.
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