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As a leader, are you having trouble adjusting to your team working remotely?

We know that how we do our work is changing and so is the way that we are working as a team.

As a leader, you may be biased against having your team work remotely and this may be causing them and you more stress than it needs to.

Do you find yourself thinking that your team is not as productive as they would be if they were all in one location?

This bias may be from thinking that it is difficult to confirm if an employee is performing adequately – if I can see them, then how do I know what they are doing?

Or, it may be around inconveniences in communication. What if there is a problem, how will I get a hold of them?

Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency!

Here are today’s Tips For Building Resiliency and Celebrating World Productivity Day:

Start by asking yourself a few basic questions.

What do I need to let go of to see this as an opportunity for my team and myself?

Is a lack of trust or the need for control possibly holding me back from fully embracing this opportunity?

And if the answer is yes, how can I build more trust within my team or how can I satisfy my need for control while making the need for working remotely work for everyone?

What are the resources that will make working from home more effective and efficient for my team? It may take a bit of a learning curve, but the time investment in these resources, can dramatically increase productivity.

What guidelines do we need to ensure that we have effective communication, without losing the opportunity for informal collaboration and brainstorming?

Finally, ask yourself if I am creating an environment were my team feels safe in bringing up challenges and voicing an alternate opinion.

If you’ve been reluctant in embracing the opportunities that come from working from home, you may owe it to your team to address these biases.

Remember, If you like today’s wellness tips, let me know. You can leave me a review on amazon or through your #alexa app.

Looking for resources to build your healthy workplace? Check out my top 10 tips under Resources and Courses at worksmartlivesmart.com

#mentalhealth #hr

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It is time to take make sure that we take our lunch break. 

North American workers who take a lunch break every day scored higher on a wide range of engagement metrics, including job satisfaction, likelihood to continue working at the same company, and likelihood to recommend their employer to others.

And though we would like to blame others for not taking our lunch break, that doesn’t seem to be the case in reality.

It seems that our workload is a much greater influence on whether or not we take a lunch break than our boss or company policy. And if we do eat, we tend to stay at our desks and nibble while we work.

Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency!     

Know that it is essential to take that lunch break in order to maintain your energy and productivity.

38% of employees don’t feel encouraged to take a lunch break.

It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure healthy habits within the workplace. 

So, invite a friend to go for a lunchtime walk. The light break and exercise will boost your mental health and your immunity.

If you are the boss, model healthy habits by not calling lunch time meetings.

Encourage your team to leave their desks for lunch.

Prolonged sitting is a health risk, so get up, stretch, grab something to eat, and change the scenery.

Your mind and body will thank you.

Remember, If you like today’s wellness tips, let me know. You can leave me a review on amazon or through your #alexa app.

Take One Action Today To Build Your Resiliency!

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I remember running out of the school double doors to get to the swing first.

We all hated when it rained, and we had to stay indoors in the classroom reading quietly.

Recess was the best part of my school day. In fact, we know from our research that school children who receive more recess time behaved better and were likely to learn more. But recess time is declining. Since the 1970s, children have lost about 12 hours per week in free time. And adults are suffering too.

In our workplace we don’t call it recess, we call it break time. And according to research, 1 in 4 of us barely even get up from our desk to go for a bio break, let alone get outside. There is no excitement. No energy. And almost certainly, no fun.

When we don’t take a break we create a stressful workplace. And when we don’t restore our energy, we are setting ourselves and our companies up for higher stress, lower morale and engagement, poor creativity and employee performance issues.

Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency!     

Change your mindset. Breaks are a necessity, not a luxury. Workers who failed to take breaks were at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease.

A recess mind-set is an opportunity to build resiliency, create team spirit, engage employees, increase morale, improve health and wellness and share some fun with those that you work with.

So, What are you favourite workplace fun activities?

Remember, If you like today’s wellness tips, let me know. You can leave me a review on amazon or through your #alexa app.

Looking for resources to build your healthy workplace? Check out my top 10 tips under Resources and Courses at worksmartlivesmart.com

#mentalhealth #hr

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I hate donating blood … to mosquitoes.

They are ruining my lovely gardening morning.

Frogs and bats: it's time to step up and do your part!

Get rid of the angry, blood-sucking, pesky mosquitoes, so that I can enjoy my outdoor sanctuary again!

Please and thank-you!

It's National Mosquito Control Awareness Week.

Mosquitos are one of the few downsides to where we live in cottage country. Fortunately, for everyone else, if I am around the chances of you getting bit is far less.

I was out in my garden for just a few minutes and was being attacked by these mini monsters.

I love this kids poem that I found:

Mosquitos, Mosquitos

You are hard to ignore,

I itch and I scratch,

I can't stand anymore,

you've bitten my bottom,

you've bitten my top,

mosquitos, mosquitos,

I'm begging you stop.

Unknown.

Sometimes it is the big things that challenge us and get on our nerves. Sometimes it little pesky things that send us over the edge.  Resiliency is all about our ability to bounce and move forward.  Today seems more of a fly swatter day, than a bouncing kind of day.

If you like today’s wellness tips, let me know. You can leave me a review on amazon or through your #alexa app.

Want to check out more health and wellness related celebrations? Visit my wellness calendars under the resources and courses tab at worksmartlivesmart.com

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Men tend to deal with stress differently than women. 

Women tend to share, while men tend to bottle the stress up inside of them.  This can eat away at them causing high blood pressure, gastrointestinal issues, sleep issues and a loss of perspective.  According to the Centers for Disease Control, men die at higher rates than women from the top 10 causes of death, with stress being one of them.

Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency!     

Men need to develop positive outlets to relieve their stress while they are at work.

Many men suffer from ‘terminal seriousness’ in the workplace.  Terminal seriousness can hamper communication, problem solving and teamwork.  So incorporate a play break and have fun. This break can help to increase productivity and creativity, while decreasing stress.

The purpose of Men’s Health Week is to heighten the awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among men and boys.  Finding outlets to work out stress throughout the day, such as squeezing that stress ball or throwing that paper airplane, can prevent stress from building and negatively impacting your health.

Lighten up and play – your body and mind will thank you.

Remember, If you like today’s wellness tips, let me know. You can leave me a review on amazon or through your #alexa app.

Looking for more ways to build your resiliency? Take my free on-line vulnerability test at worksmartlivesmart.com under the resources and courses tab.

#mentalhealth #hr

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Once there was a time when photography didn’t exist.  A time when precious moments couldn’t be captured, uploaded and shared.

I look back at my baby pictures and there were only a handful. My mom and dad had a single picture each and I don’t know if I have ever saw one of any of my grandparents when they were really young. Compare all of that to the albums upon albums that I have of my sons who are now young adults.

Today, we don’t even print all of our pictures, but save them to on-line albums or files to be viewed at any given instant.

Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving.

Photography is a great hobby that can help us build our resiliency. It is something to take our minds off of all of our stressful life situations.

Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency!     

Here are today’s Tips For Building Resiliency and Celebrating Nature Photography Day:

Photography can be a means to get out and physically active. Use your camera to take note of the awesome or the bizarre. Have some fun looking for the humour in everyday life.

Photography is a good activity to strengthen relationships. Make it an outing and invite others to join you. Visit the park or a natural habitat and spend time discussing what you see.

So what is the funniest photograph that you have ever taken?

Remember, If you like today’s wellness tips, let me know. You can leave me a review on amazon or through your #alexa app.

Looking for more tips to build your resiliency? Look for my book on Amazon called Stress Out. 52 Weeks To Letting More Life In

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Today is a world-wide celebration to honour and thank those people who donate their blood without any reward, except the knowledge that they have helped to save lives.

This day has particular significance as it is the birthday of Karl Landsteiner, the Nobel Prize winner who discovered the ABO blood group system.

Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency!     

Get others involved and it makes it easier to remember to donate, and less anxious for those who have never gone before.

Get your office or organization involved and promote it through your on-line or internal communications

Get your family involved – go together and make it a family-giving project

Be a role model for others – I love how my mom still goes regularly to donate.

With our lives being so busy it is easy to forget to do this simple little act of kindness. But this little act can mean the difference between life and death.

Remember, If you like today’s wellness tips, let me know. You can leave me a review on amazon or through your #alexa app.

Looking for more ways to build your resiliency? Take my free on-line resiliency test at worksmartlivesmart.com under the resources and courses tab.

#mentalhealth #hr

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“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

This quote by Edith Wharton encourages us to bring light to someone who has been touched by the darkness.

Many are living in darkness while struggling with illness. These illnesses may be depression, chronic pain, or battling cancer and the struggle they are facing may be draining the light from their life.

Random Acts of Light encourage everyone to show a random act of light for a friend or loved one with cancer or other illness. Initiatives are being taken across the country to show support, one person at a time.

Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency!     

Light The Night showcases the progress being made in the cancer arena along with the importance of supporting patients, one at a time.

Bring light to someone you know. This can be any random act, big or small.

Surprise someone at the hospital with a meal, gift certificate or kind gesture.

Gift a cancer patient or survivor with tickets to a sporting event, or gear from a favorite team.

Treat a local survivor or patient or colleague to a manicure, pedicure or massage.

Take those in need out for coffee, ice cream, breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Sometimes it takes just one gentle word or small token to help overcome darkness.

Remember, If you like today’s wellness tips, let me know. You can leave me a review on amazon or through your #alexa app.

Discover how to take small steps towards a healthier, happier, less-stressed, you by visiting my website at worksmartlivesmart.com

#mentalhealth #hr

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Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It’s Superman.

Superman has always stood for what’s best about humanity and for bearing adversity and emerge stronger on the other side.

Though we may not be superman, we may be suffering with the Super-Human Syndrome.

Are you running on empty and lying to yourself saying, “I can handle this”?

Do you believe you can, should and must do it all?

Feel you could and should do more?

Neglect your personal needs because others are more important?

Or believe that if I don’t who will?

If so, you are probably dealing with the Super-Human Syndrome and are risking your physical and mental health.

Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency!     

There is a saying that I love – How thin can I spread myself before I know longer exist?

We must take care of ourselves first and foremost if we want to be in a position to take care of others.

Sometimes we need to let go of those things that are causing us to get stressed – unnecessary tasks and unrealistic beliefs and expectations

What is it that you need to let go of – the need for control – approval - to do it all – to be superhuman – and get is all done?

Start by knowing what is important to you and then actively decide how to make those things a priority.

Sometimes all that is needed is some fine tuning – some simple strategies that energize or relax us and enable us to enjoy the life situations that we are facing. 

Remember, If you like today’s wellness tips, let me know. You can leave me a review on amazon or through your #alexa app.

Discover how to take small steps towards a healthier, happier, less-stressed, you by visiting my website at worksmartlivesmart.com

#mentalhealth #hr

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Today is a day dedicated to encouraging and celebrating those who are making life beautiful.  Whether you’re creating beauty through your art, music, relationships or helping others achieve personal success.

One small action can lead to a ripple effect.

Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency!     

Help someone achieve a personal goal.

Donate time to a worthy cause.

Clean up a community space.

Create a work of art.

Refinish and repurpose something old.

Plant a garden or send someone some flowers.

Connect with a friend.

Thank a colleague.

Share a smile.

Expect the best, not the worst.

Choose joy. Making life beautiful starts with you and choosing joy will get your attitude on the right track to making an impact in the world.

There’s no real wrong way to celebrate National Making Life Beautiful Day, as long as you do something and keep focused on making life beautiful.

Remember, If you like today’s wellness tips, let me know. You can leave me a review on amazon or through your #alexa app.

Looking for more ways to build your resiliency? Take my free on-line vulnerability test at worksmartlivesmart.com under the resources and courses tab.

#mentalhealth #hr