The Art of Hartful Living
F5: Focus on Fulfillment and Future Financial Freedom
March 19, 2016 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Are you living a fulfilling life and doing what feeds your soul right now? At what age do you want to retire and what does retirement look like for you? The average American retires in their mid-sixties with only $10,000 – 13,000 in savings, which is far, far below what is needed for a comfortable life in America.
Plan for fulfillment now and for the future – you have a choice between short-term gratification and long-term satisfaction. Fulfillment is not necessarily in monetary terms – there is a balancing act of emotional, financial, spiritual, and intellectual fulfillment. Knowing you have a secure financial future will give you peace of mind as well as increased energy for today. Living on excess today means there may not be enough left in the future. Our futures are uncertain, as much as we’d like to think otherwise, so hoarding everything today and living meagerly in hopes of living well in the future may not turn out in your favor.
It’s always a personal choice of balance between today’s wants and tomorrow’s needs and ensuring that our resources can provide for us in both accounts. What are you doing now to take advantage of compounding interest rates and to make your money work for you in the future? What percentage of your income are you regularly saving?
Do you have at least 6 months to a year’s worth of income saved for emergencies or other unforeseen situations? Do you know where you want to retire and what the cost of living is in that locality? Do you know how much assisted living, nursing homes, or home health care will cost? Have you researched long-term care insurance plans or life insurance? Have you filled out a retirement worksheet that can be easily downloaded from many of the investment or mutual fund websites? Do you know how much of your savings account will be eaten up by inflation and how much you will need to have put away to live in the style you are accustomed to today?
Take the time to focus on these issues to give yourself some peace of mind and alleviate the burden of anxiety or fear over your future well-being.
Things About Energy, Empowerment, and Employee Retention that Make You Go Hmmmm
March 4, 2016 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Work-life programs are keeping workers at work and experts are attributing fewer sick days to these programs. With more flexibility to arrange their schedules and more workplace help with dry-cleaning, day-care, and car washing; workers aren’t as tempted to take “mental health days”. According to a CCH, Inc. survey of absenteeism, it declines to 2.1% as compared to 2.7% last year and 2.9% in 1999. Absenteeism costs companies more than $600 per employee per year which translates to $9000 for a 15-person operation or $3 million for a 5,000 employee organization. Research shows that only 40% who call in are really sick – the other 60% are taking care of personal business.
* According to www.realage.com, laughing can make your “real age” up to 8 years younger.
* What steps does your organization take to help keep workers at work by offering some conveniences or assistance for staff so they can handle life’s responsibilities? Some organizations: have a car detailing service 1-2 times per week in the parking lot, have a corporate concierge who arranges to meet plumbers or the cable guy at a worker’s home while the worker stays at work or makes dinner reservations or arranges for concert tickets, have a dry-cleaning operation on site, have pet-care centers, have arrangements for eldercare options, have a massage therapist come on site for breaks, or have take-home dinner options available from the employee cafeteria.
* The National Association of Colleges and Employers reports that 62% of recent college grads expect to leave their first job in 3 years. What will you do to retain your top talent when they come to you with this expectation?
I wanted to share some energy boosting tips to improve your personal energy and keep stress at bay:
- Spend time deep breathing to oxygenate the body.
- Get fit in bits – even bursts of 10 minutes three times per day will help.
- Mind your posture and stand or sit straight to help your diaphragm and aid in deep breathing, it is also less fatiguing on your back.
- Sit properly with your knees at right angles and feet and back flat. Pat attention to your chair or elevate your feet to help your back – stretch and move often if you sit at your desk for long periods.
- Get outside for fresh air and sunshine.
- Learn to use acupressure points to release more energy doors for better energy flow throughout the day.
- Practice yoga for body movement and breathing techniques – it helps relax you, tone and strengthen muscles, and add flexibility to aid in energy flow.
- Laughing reduces stress hormones and invigorates the circulatory system, the respiratory system, and muscles throughout the body. Contrary to popular belief, it does not release endorphins, but it does have other healthy effects.
- Dance and since for physical and emotional release.
- Rest with intensity – get plenty of sleep nightly to rejuvenate and refresh.
- Eat smaller meals and eat more frequently to keep your blood sugar stable and your metabolism on track to help balance your energy levels.
F4: Full Attention to the Fundamentals of Family and Faith
February 19, 2016 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Your faith and your family can pull you through most anything at all. The strength of your aspirations is based on the solid foundation of these two factors. It’s not necessarily about religion, but the true spirit of the goodness in people and the faith that there is kindness, love, spirituality, and caring in the world. Family isn’t always blood relations either; rather it is the people who trust, love, and support you in a united group.
Are you providing full attention to your faith and your family? How you spend your time is a telltale sign. Where our intention goes, our energy flows. If we state that our family comes first, yet we are spending 80 hours per week at the office, then we need to refocus our attention. What have you done lately to show your family or your faith that they have your attention?
Do you have special rituals with your spouse, kids, parents, or siblings that mark certain dates or commemorate specific milestones? Are there certain times you make phone calls or other ways that you show each other you care that are special between you? Creating these connections keeps your attention focused in the right areas and energizes you and the people around you.
Inspiration and Incentives that Work to Improve Work
February 4, 2016 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
According to CCH, Inc. – an HR research firm, the Unscheduled Absence Survey found the number of employees missing work for personal reasons has increased to 21% from 11% last year. Of the 333 human resources executives surveyed, personal illness was cited 33%, with 67% absent due to personal reasons resulting in a cost of $789 million.
The study found that an increase in morale significantly lowers the number of absentees. Organizations with good overall morale has a 1.9% absentee rate while others averaged 2.4%. The more options employees have, the better the morale and the lower the absentee rate. Two of the major things to do this are provide more flexible time off and offer more work/life programs such as childcare, working from home or compressed work weeks.
The top four most cited incentives to keep workers working for you according to a survey of 352 employers by the American Management Association:
- Sending employees to conferences and training
- Tuition reimbursement
- Skills training
- Pay for performance
A “new” way to recognize employees: ask them to participate in an important project they might not otherwise work on. Using involvement to reward workers tells them that you value their performance and it provides you with a pool of creative thinkers.
Beat the turnover odds: in the fast food industry with turnover rates close to 100%, one owner explains his staff longevity of 8-10 years at a Chick-Fil-A is due to his treating them like customers and greeting them daily, talking to them throughout the day, and saying good-bye when they leave. Talking to them -what a concept!
When the economic times are tough – it’s time to energize employees and make sure you hold on to your top talent. Here are some hints to keep them around:
* Celebrate all the victories, no matter how small
* Look for other incentives besides money – ask them
* Consider changing some work hours – be flexible
* Take more time for personal connections at work
* Don’t focus on the negatives, keep the talk positive
* If business is slow – take the time to do foundational things and create new programs or write personal
notes to staff thanking them for their work – do the things that you normally wouldn’t have time to do
* Keep networking in your industry – invite a colleague
* Create a terrific atmosphere in the break room or the bathrooms to make people feel as if they matter – take care of your team by taking care of their space
F3: Find (F)understanding Friends
January 19, 2016 | Posted in Leading Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Surround yourself with these people and your life will be filled with good times, support, laughter, camaraderie, and somebody to keep you in line when your energy is waning. Research suggests that having a support system with your friends or family decreases stress and the frequency of colds and flu. Of course, laughter and fun are the best medicines around with no harmful side effects.
Those who play together stay together and have enhanced energy and enjoyment, as well as a better outlet to cope with negative situations. Collect a diverse group of friends to attain a well-rounded perspective on life and to bring more interest and opinions. To find fun and understanding friends, practice being one first. Like energy attracts like energy. If you find yourself surrounded by deadbeats, then you may need to take a second look in the mirror and re-direct your energies.
Family and friends are extremely important to personal energy. Remember to prioritize people first before things to help you sort out what is important in life. Regular social contact can lower potentially harmful hormones that are released by the body during stressful situations, not to mention more perspectives to help you gain awareness of other avenues around your stressful situations.
Keeping in touch with open communication in any form helps build support, trust, and a sounding board to keep you on track while adding years to your life as well as life to your years. Talking to close friends or a complete stranger can be uplifting. Communicating can be a challenge, but when it gets through, it is a victory. Celebrate the thrill of sharing ideas and dreams. Look at the explosion of cyberspace chat rooms and email; we are all just dying to talk, be heard, and befriend others.
Humor and Laughter as Stress Busters
January 4, 2016 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
As a Certified Laughter Leader for over a decade; I feel the need to share some resources and statistics with you on the benefits of laughter at home and in the workplace to help reduce stress. Just 20-30 minutes per session of the laugh exercises help reduce stress, diminish social isolation, and improve general well-being. It’s a hoot and it’s a hit!
The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor: www.aath.org is a big proponent of laughter, humor in your life and the benefits of Laughter Clubs and just plain laughter. Many members are in the healthcare field and who bring humor and healing together in different environments. Others of us were speakers and facilitators who help bring humor to life and to businesses to help people deal with stress or change, or tragedy.
The organization is a leader in the scientific side of the benefits of laughter and humor. AATH is the expert resource center for research on what we all know to be true – that laughter is the best medicine and that humor helps us cope with life. In these times of change, trauma, and trepidation about the economy, it is imperative that we keep our sense of humor about what’s important and also be aware of how others may deal with these uncertainties. The morale may be on shaky ground at your organization and you may be just the catalyst that is needed to help get things back on track and one way may be to start a Laughter Club.
* Nearly 2/3 of workers experiences some level of stress at work. 50% are somewhat stressed, while an additional 13% feel extremely stressed at work and only 9% feel that they are under no stress at all at work.
* Too much work (38%) and too little time (59%) are the two most common causes of stress in the workplace.
* Fatigue is the most frequently mentioned result of work-related stress that spills over into the lives of those surveyed 67%. Nearly 50% report that impatience and moodiness caused by work also has a negative impact on their lives at home.
These statistics were reported by a survey of American workers at Careerbuilder. What are you doing at work to prevent yourself and your colleagues from becoming statistics?
Exercise Your Empathy and Compassion as Leaders
December 19, 2015 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Research from the neuroscience field has demonstrated that we’re actually hard-wired to empathize with those around us, thanks to a neural network called mirror neurons. We see it when we hear of natural disasters, which causes a deep emotional response. Our empathy makes it so that we can’t help but feel concern and care for those we don’t even know. Not to be confused with sympathy. I watched a stirring, animated short video on Youtube regarding empathy with a little fox. Check it out. One of the points to the video was that when you make an empathetic statement, it should not start with “At least….). Oh how that resonated with me. How often do we mention something to a colleague that did not go well and they being their response with “At least it didn’t….” Responses like this don’t help and don’t solve the issue, they just annoy you.
Though we are hardwired for empathy, we don’t see evidence of this behavior in the workplace. It seems too mushy. Why are so many workplaces suffering from a lack of human compassion, connection, and shared belonging? We care about the realities our colleagues face in our organization – of the challenges and opportunities they see going unaddressed and thus, our compassion arises from our curiosity to listen and learn, paired with our innate drive to relate to the realities of those around us.
This type of compassion is vital in today’s leadership because it’s the key to the internal driving force found within each us to understand what motivates our employees, what matters to them, and how we can connect the work they do to the shared purpose that defines why we do what we do. Many studies have shown that compassion in the workplace leads to higher levels of employee engagement and job satisfaction and reduces employee absenteeism and burnout. The Gallup organization’s major study asks employees if they have somebody they can call a best friend at work and if they have been asked about how they contribute to the organization and shown by their leadership that what they do matters. If they don’t feel they matter, they walk.
Here are some steps to help you to reconnect with your sense of curiosity and empathy to bring more compassion into the workplace:
- See your team mates beyond the roles they play in your organization and remain curious about what challenges them along with the willingness to listen to what opportunities they see for our organization to succeed.
- Make efforts to discover their true strengths by seeking to better understand and know those we lead – of what serves as the fuel for their internal motivation.
- Be open about not having all the answers because it’s impossible for anyone to truly know or understand the complexities of the work we do today and its impact.
Most of the daily decisions we make are not driven from a rational mindset, but from a response to our emotionally-driven, network of mirror neurons where we seek commonality and connection both to the work we do and to those around us. And that means that compassion in leadership involves an honest and more outward-focused approach to leadership that allows us to tap into the native talents, creativity, and insights of those we lead. Leaders must show their team members that they are present to hear, understand, and provide them with what they require to succeed and thrive. How will you show compassion and empathy to your colleagues, clients or customer today?
Back: Back Up Important Plans, Documents, and Data
December 4, 2015 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Free yourself from the stress and worry over losing your hard work, your critical information, or your well-crafted plans. Create systems and methods to save yourself from accidents such as fire, flood, earthquakes, computer crashes, power surges, theft, unexpected emergencies, famine, or locusts.
Worrying about the possibilities of such loss or worse, after such a loss actually happens creates great stress and angst. Creating a back-up plan or strategy for saving your stuff creates an insurance policy and peace of mind. Have a fire-proof box at home, a safe deposit box off site with valuable documents or computer flash drives containing back up data and important information. You could ask a family member to keep copies of important documents and have a will and an estate plan in place in case of unforeseen circumstances.
Having a Plan B for major decisions just in case will free your energies to be put to better uses. What are your back-up plans for emergency contacts, travel situations, car accidents, natural disasters, or power outages? Do all your family members know the plans, codes, passwords, combinations, phone numbers, or hiding places of your back-up plans?
