We're talking about the common sources and types of conflict at work and how to address them constructively. Listed in no particular order:

• Task conflict: This involves issues related to work assignments.
• Relationship conflict: This involves personal clashes based on emotions, personality differences, or preferences. 
• Status conflict: This involves disputes over power dynamics or hierarchy in an organization. 
• Value conflict: This involves differences in beliefs, values, or ethics that affect how people view a situation. 
• Cross-cultural conflict: This involves clashes based on different cultural backgrounds, values, norms, or expectations that affect how people communicate and behave. It can lead to misunderstandings, mistrust, resentment, or hostility if not handled properly.

We may or may not have had a visitation interruption during the recording of this episode that added to our relationship conflict, listen or watch to find out what happened.

To learn more about what we do, check out https://mythoughtpartner.com

We are talking about communication and how to set yourself up with success and set the right expectations. This is one of the simplest things to adjust and yet, has a very large impact.

Understand Yourself

• Can be frustrating to work with others who don’t have strong communication skills
• Have to set the bar, create communication plans, let others know the expectations
• This episode may be for you if you are either a strong communicator and irritated with others, or if you’re not so great with communication and interpersonal skills and want to up your game

Foundation of Building Relationships

• Trust - can do this through transparency
• Adapting to the needs of the person you’re working with
• Remembering little things about the other person, what they’ve said, who’s in their family, etc. This is a little thing but it goes such a long way in building a relationship with a colleague.

Communication Skills and Tools

• Organization can ease a lot of tension and anxiety. Send out an agenda ahead of time, and wrap up each meeting with decisions made, next steps, and who’s responsible
• Matching the person you’re speaking with. Nicole excitable; MDD confidence not dominance. We can be a lot–it’s important to match the other person’s energy, posture, etc.
• Be naturally curious. Ask lots of questions to uncover needs, how you can align, etc. Start with a list of questions or a questioning pallett, but feel free to go off script to build deeper connections and uncover more.
• Set the tone and expectations for how you communicate, and check in with others. We talked about adaptability in building relationships–this is how you put it all together with communication, too. Inviting feedback and input from others–”how is this working for you?”

We cover a lot in this episode about how you can do a few things to improve your own self-care in your workspace. It doesn't matter if you're working from home or at the office. These are universal tips that work in either place. Check out Michael David's edited bullet points below. He does listen to Nicole afterall.

Beating the Sunday Blues - "Mindful Monday: Starting the Week Off Right"

• We are discussing the importance of starting off the workweek with a positive mindset and strategies for doing so.
• How to identify the Sunday Blues or as Nicole likes to call them the "Sunday Scaries."

Good Leaders/Bad Leaders; Managing Up

• Then we take on the impact that positive workplace relationships can have on mental health and job satisfaction.
• Strategies for building strong connections with colleagues, such as actively listening, showing appreciation, and seeking out common interests.
• We also encourage employers to prioritize building relationships with coworkers as a key component of their mental health toolkit.

Getting Moving: The Connection Between Exercise and Self-Care

• We will discuss the link between physical activity and mental health, and how incorporating movement into the workday can have a positive impact on both.
• We're sharing tips for incorporating movement into a sedentary work environment, such as taking walking meetings and doing stretches at the desk.
• We ask leaders and employers to prioritize movement as part of their employee's self-care routine.

The Art of Saying No

• We explore the challenges of setting boundaries in the workplace and how saying "no" can be a crucial part of self-care.
• How to communicate those boundaries assertively and respectfully, such as using "I" statements and suggesting alternative solutions.

Learn more about what we do at My Thought Partner (https://mythoughtpartner.com)

We are talking about all the tools we use to increase our efficiency. From an egg timer to sending calendar invites to friends. We try to cover the ones we use on a daily basis and share how they will help you.

We soft dive into the psychology of our process of deciding which tools to use and how it’s worked out so far.

We learn Nicole doesn’t want to be called illustrious and Michael continually stands on soapboxes.

There’s lots of tools out there that we didn’t mention or cover because let’s be honest, there’s so many to choose.

Remind yourself to choose the tools that make the most sense for your situation and use case.

Our opinions are our own and you may disagree or agree with them and how we use them.

We’re happy to learn about more or any of the ones you use. Reach out to us and let us know what tools work for you and why.

Here’s a short list of ours and the ones we mention in the show.

The direct links, not affiliate links (missed opportunity right?) can be found on our website mythoughtpartner.com.

We are not paid by any of these companies or receive free licenses from them. We pay for and use them just as you would.

Monday.com

Jira

Asana

CRMs - Hubspot, Salesforce, Zoho

LucidSpark

Miro

Hootsuite

Canva

Chat GPT

Pomodoro

Zoom

Google Meet

Calendly

Momentum

Looking for an unbiased opinion to share insight on a challenge you may have? Head over to mythoughtpartner.com and get a free consultation.

In this episode we talk about your ability to eliminate distractions and how it will be easier to streamline your processes doing so. We know getting in the mindset to focus your day can be challenging and we share some of our best practices to help ease yourself into having a more productive day.

You'll learn how an analog item like Post-its can actually make your digital life easier. There's mention of another common household item that will further surprise you.

We'll answer these questions:

• How can a messy desk bring you ease and peace in your work area?
• Why does Nicole like being bogged down in her work?
• What do coat hangers have and notebooks have in common?
• Who meditates three hours a day?
• What's the best mantra before having a meeting?
• How do you get out of your own way?
• How do I make an "I Hate This" list?

It might appear random, but we can assure you'll take something away from this episode that you can start using today. 

In this kickoff episode our founder Michael David Davis discusses time blocking with his thought partner and wife, Nicole Davis. They each share how they handle dealing with the day to days of work. They share their best practices and ideas on how to regain value back in your life through time blocking.