Attitude Equals Profits: Take Your Vacation Days to Improve Your Attitude and Improve Company Income
May 4, 2018 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Attitude equals profits: satisfied workers drive company results according to the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement who found a direct link between employee satisfaction and a company’s fiscal performance. I say, “Duh! – what have we been saying from anecdotal evidence and other research all these years!” It’s time to take your vacation days to improve your attitude. If you won’t take time off for yourself, then do it for your colleagues or for the bottom line of your organization.
At any rate, key findings of the study included:
1. High employee satisfaction is often the result of strong internal communications efforts throughout the organization.
2. Another satisfaction driver: internal competition among work teams to implement organizational goals.
3. Satisfaction leads to a status called “employee engagement.” Organizations with engaged employees have customers who use their products more.
4. Employee attitudes affect those of customers.
5. It is less expensive to foster employee satisfaction than it is to acquire new customers.
6. Organizational culture is the single greatest driver of employee satisfaction levels.
Here are some additional reasons to take your hard-earned and well-deserved vacation days:
- According to a recent survey of 1400 US workers, by www.Careerbuilder.com, more than one-third of workers will be taking work with them on vacation by either carting along their laptop, checking emails, or being in voice mail contact. 16% said their supervisors expected them to check in during their holiday and 19% said they would check in voluntarily. Of these workers, 61% said they would check their voice mail and email daily.
- In the same survey, 40% said a vacation of 3-5 days is enough to feel refreshed, 17% said they would take a shorter vacation or no time off this year, while 44% plan to take more than 5 days.
- Not surprisingly, half of the workers said they feel stressed at the office and 22% of these workers indicate some stress while taking time off because they have to check in. They also indicated that vacations were the #1 event they have postponed in order to progress in th
eir careers.
Your Housekeeping and Hard-Work Habits Are Telling Your Story
November 4, 2016 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
All work and no play make Americans sick according to a study of 632 people by Oxford Health Plans that found 1 in 5 workers can’t use up annual vacation time because their jobs are so demanding. 33% never leave their offices once they arrive at work and that same number work and eat their lunch simultaneously and the pace of work is so relentless that 34% say they never have downtime. Taking a vacation for creative renewal is essential to staying healthy and productive, although the US gives the least vacation time among the industrial nations. (US – 13 days vs. Italy – 42 days).
Your work space may be telling on you. An IOGEAR survey found that 73% of respondents said their impressions of colleagues were influenced by the way their desks were organized and 70% said a messy desk was perceived as less career driven.
Although I advocate some executive toys and stress-busting items, there needs to be appropriate balance to alleviate the perception that you may not be a team player. On the other hand, a desk strewn with fast food wrappers and old coffee cups may denote an unbalanced workaholic. Visit these sites or stores for great organizing ideas for your home or office:
The Container Store
Pier 1 Imports
Target
Other tips from the world of Feng Shui to help improve your space and your energy:
- Tired of being tired – sweep away eyesores to release energy. Every messy pile has a negative force field around it that draws energy and deleting the clutter releases the energy.
- Down in the dumps – lift items off the floor to feel happier since low-lying items attract low, sad energy. Find a higher space to store things to elevate your mood.
- Slim down with less stuff – subconsciously we may be holding onto stuff the same as we are holding onto our extra weight – to protect ourselves and feel less emotionally vulnerable. Try shedding some outdated sentimental items that were once treasured and are now clutter.
Taking Stock of Your Best Personal Practices to Improve Your Happiness and Your Life
April 4, 2015 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
You know how businesses regularly share best practices with each other or study their competitors or benchmark other industries and copy their best practices, right? It’s how they improve in areas they’re not so great in. Well, how about taking inventory of your own personal best practices and sharing them with your mentors, coaches, friends or other role models to lift everybody up? When groups of people get together to do what they do best, they thrive. It gives them energy do to what they like to do and feel successful at doing. When they spend most of their time trouble-shooting, putting out fires and fixing problems, they become exhausted, unhappy and inefficient.
Focus on how you best run your life and build on it and take from others what they do best and see if it fits. If it doesn’t, throw it out. Gain energy by building on your successes and not fixing your failures. This is a great exercise for your mastermind group or success team or personal board of directors – whatever you call it – your support system. These are gleaned from the good folks at Canyon Ranch Spa.
Here are some constructive questions as a place to start. Now get out your pen and paper or digital tablet and start writing/typing:
- What makes you happiest?
- When were you happiest?
- How did you become happy then?
- What do you like most about yourself?
- What creates that quality?
- How do you make that quality last?
- When did you have that quality the most?
- How could you create more of it?
- What gives you peace of mind?
- What brings out the best in you?
- Who appreciates you the most? Why?
- What are your primary strengths?
- What re your core beliefs?
- What values do you live by?
- Who is in your emotional support network?
- What best helps you feel creative?
- What are you doing when you feel at your best?
- Who are you when you’re at your best?
There are hundreds more similar questions to help us take stock of our best practices in every area of life. These should help you get started and light the fire to illuminate what may be hiding in the shadows. All the best in your personal Q and A session.
Invite Awe and Inspiration into Your Life – Use Your Vacation Days
February 4, 2015 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
At the dentist recently, I discovered that my dental hygienist hasn’t taken a vacation in 30 years. I nearly fell out of the dentist chair on the spot when I heard the sad news. The first words out of my mouth were not diplomatic, “What the hell is that about?” I was so incredulous, I lost all sense of decorum and social graces in that moment of shock. I really count not relate on any level to that statement of not taking time for yourself in 30 years. I guess I’ve been very, very fortunate to not relate to something out of my realm of understanding. If you’re going to be a good role model for your kids or your work team, or a good leader of any type of group, you need to be inspired. What are you doing to invite awe and inspiration into your life to keep you going and keep you interested and keep you interesting?
I live for exploration, discovery, learning new things, seeing new sights and being awe-inspired every chance I get. I seek out beauty and inspiration, and surround myself with what I love as often as I can in daily life to keep the happy factor pumped up. Taking inspirational vacations is one of my favorite past times. These can be mini weekend get-aways, an overnight in a cool place, an afternoon at a local haunt, a multi-week extravaganza, or a multi-month sabbatical. I just don’t understand people who lose vacation days each year because they never took time off. This is your time, you’ve earned it. You deserve to refresh, recharge and get inspired by adding a little awe into your life.
I recently returned from a holiday Caribbean cruise and though I’ve done many, many cruises; this one held some awesome and inspirational experiences for me. Kayaking has been part of my life for a few decades and I wanted to try something I’d never done. We went kayaking at night in a bioluminescent bay that glows with movement from the organisms similar to fire flies. There are over a million organisms per gallon and they each glow only once per night when they sense motion. So off we paddled through the bay into a canopy of mangrove trees that was so narrow and so dark, you could only see the glow sticks on the kayak in front of you, the glow of the water off your paddle and from the bottom of the kayak and the glow of schools of fish you paddled through or if they jumped. It was a very eery feeling to paddle by feel instead of sight. A new and awe inspiring experience. Only when the guide turned on his head lamp could you see the tree roots hanging down from the branches, the iguanas hanging from the branches and the crabs scurrying across the roots. The tunnel of mangrove branches opened in to a lagoon a few hundred acres in size and we free paddled around and played in the water. It looked like glowing glitter as it slid down your arm. It was such a natural treat, nothing like it. We were giggly, gleeful, amazed, and agog with wonder of this ecological experience.
Coming back to the ship, I experienced a couple other types of awe and inspiration. One was the after-dinner entertainment, which is usually quite cheesy. These guys had won America’s Got Talent national talent show and now had an act in Las Vegas – Recycled Percussion. They gave everybody in the audience drum sticks and things to bang on and they put on such a highly –charged show, there wasn’t a face in the place that didn’t have a smile. They also gave out ear plugs for the faint of heart. By the end of the show everybody was boogying to the rock and roll they remembered. It was awesome. The inspiration continued as we danced our way to the after party show with the BB King Blues Club All-Star Band. The best band I had heard in countless years. They had the ship rockin’. We enjoyed them so much, it was a nightly pilgrimage to wherever they were playing and I carried home a CD so I can recapture the inspirational sounds of the classic, funky blues music.
So it turns out that experiencing awe and inspiration can come in many forms. I just Skyped with a friend in Germany who visited a surprise Monet exhibit never before shown to the world in a mansion outside of Paris. Hearing about it and experiencing it through her was vicariously inspiring. Make your list for the year – what do you want to do to invite awe and inspiration? Add these things to your Hot 100 List – you know the list I’ve been writing about for years. Your annual exercise to write down 100 things you want to have, do or be. Next on my list of awe and inspiration is experiencing the aurora borealis in Iceland and seeing Machu Picchu. What’s next for you?
Keys to Energize Your Life, Pump Up Performance & Practice Safe Stress
March 15, 2014 | Posted in Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
By popular demand, I’m offering a series based on my first book Keys to Energize, A Caffeine-Free Guide to Perk Up Your Life. The ideas have built a career, launched over 500 articles, inspired over 1500 programs and touched many thousands. I’d like to share one key at a time – the idea being that you have the answers at your fingertips – on your computer keyboard. Each of the keys in front of your nose hold the answers to dynamize your life so you can live and lead hartfully.
I dedicate this series to everybody who is burned out, stressed out, rusted out and looking for a way out of the energy drainage trap.
Are you feeling tattered, tired, tested, toasted, and roasted? Are you overworked, overwhelmed, and overdue for a personal energy overhaul? Look no further than your fingertips for your solutions to sanity, less stress, more fun, and more energy. The keys to practicing safe stress and energizing yourself and your life are right in front of your face on your computer keyboard. Knowing that one in four workers suffer from an anxiety related disorder brought on by stress, that 80% of the hospital beds are taken up by stress-related afflictions, that five minutes of exposure to negativity can affect our central nervous system for up to six hours, and that Americans consume at least 15 tons of aspirin per day is enough to move me to action and share my insights and inspiration with my audiences and my readers.
Use this series as your easy-reading travel guide, and your keyboard as a visual reminder to lighten up and unlock the secrets to revitalization. Filled with quick bytes to give you a quick boost to recharge your batteries and refresh your memory; your keyboard holds the keys to quick quality tips for distressing, decompressing, and delighting yourself. So hang up your phone it’s time to get re-connected with yourself and access your energy stores.
From research, reading, interviews, personal experience, and interaction with thousands of people around the world; I would like to share my insider secrets for the keys to enhanced personal energy and the simple, yet effective coping mechanisms I’ve come to believe are the key ingredients to a more satisfying and more energized life.
It’s all about energy and our total energy force field which includes both physical energy and emotional energy. Emotional energy comes from our spirit, our hope for great things, our passion about life, and our sense of vitality for living. What I have witnessed is primarily an emotional energy drainage from those feeling less than optimum. These are the people who feel emotionally fatigued, unable to cope, irritated at the slightest thing, feeling that their heart isn’t into whatever it is they think it should be, or just going through the motions and not really being able to make an effort.
Other researchers have confirmed my findings in interviews with energy experts such as endocrinologists, nutritionists, and specialists in sports medicine. Mira Kirshenbaum’s work studying the emotional energy factor in her book The Emotional Energy Factor, reports that only 30% of our total energy comes from physical energy while 70% of the energy we need to make up out complete energy comes from emotional energy. That’s why some people going through tough times can get all the rest in the world and still feel fatigued, while others in love or going through a boom time at work can get very little rest and still have boundless energy.
Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it just takes on different forms. This book will give you some tips on how to mold energy into the most positive form for your use. The good news is that since energy cannot be destroyed, it is still inside of us and under our control to tap into it. Once we know how to tap into this wellspring of well-being, we can begin approaching life differently in order to keep that well from running dry, and to keep ourselves from running on empty. It stems from the universal truths of giving to get, or what you throw out to the universe will come back to you.
I appreciate all my clients and attendees who have demonstrated the dire need for this book and who have asked for more information on this topic. From those inquiries, I offered Live Wire, my monthly E-zine with the freshest ideas to refresh, renew, and recharge your team, your family, and yourself for 10 years. I offer my blog with tips to ignite work, wealth and well-being and the art of living and leading Hartfully to give you the ammunition you need to stave off stress and revitalize your life.
Stress itself isn’t all bad. There is good stress called eustress that we need to keep us interested, engaged, and alert and that some of us thrive on to keep us going. Then there is bad stress called distress that can be disabling and distracting. When the stress hormones of cortisol and adrenaline remain elevated, they suppress our immune system, making us more susceptible to colds, flu, and infections. They also increase blood pressure, may contribute to memory loss, and raise the risk of heart disease, depression, and autoimmune diseases like type I diabetes. And then there’s smoking, overeating, drug abuse, drinking alcohol, and not exercising which are other common results of stress. The longer those stress hormones course through our veins, the greater the chance for mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical damage.
Stay tuned for more of the Keys to Energize series – there are many more keys to come.
Your Time is Your Life: Learners are Leaders
May 16, 2013 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
If we are wasting time, we are wasting our lives. We trade out our energy for time and our life is made up of time. So when we waste our energy, we waste our time, and we waste our lives. What are you doing with your time? What are you doing with your life?
What I’ve found in my years of consulting, working with leaders of organizations, entrepreneurs, solo-preneurs and from self-study is that leaders are learners and those that learn more, earn more. What I believe to be true from my experience is that when you’re done learning. . . . you’re done. I view life-long learning as something to look forward to in the quest for continuous improvement.
Some studies suggest the average American watches 6 hours of TV per day, making the average 60 year old an avid TV viewer of 15 years of his life, a quarter of a lifetime vegging on the couch! So what if we all eliminated 1 hour of TV per day = 365 hours per year, which equals 2 months of additional time. That equates to 9 average 40-hour work-weeks to do what is more important in your life than click away in front of a screen. And many of us wish we had more time to do the things we like to do. May I suggest re-organizing your time?
My experience has also shown that leaders are readers. If we read just 1 substantive book per week, that’s 520 books in 10 years and if those books are in an area of interest where you make your livelihood, that would make you an expert in your field, and experts are in demand. If you’re reading the gossip publications all week. . . that’s another story altogether.
What about the time spent in your car commuting? The average American commutes 30 minutes each way from work which equals 1250 hours in your car in 5 years. That’s enough time spent in your car for a college education. Are you listening to schlock or are you learning a language or something useful to society or your family or yourself? How are you choosing to spend your time and spend your life?
What about delegating the tasks that can be done better by somebody else, somebody you will gladly pay to take the work off your hands. I have chosen in the past to do some home improvements on my own. It somehow always looks better in my mind than in real life; hence the electricians and carpenters parading through my home at the moment. I know my limits and I know what don’t want to do and what I need to be doing. . . . what I do best . . . which is not installing crown molding, or cleaning windows, or doing my taxes. I pay others to have those little pieces of my life back and save a few gray hairs in the process.
What are you trading your life for? What could you outsource that fits somebody else’s genius to save you the stress? How could you better use your time? What are you reading/watching/listening to? Are you moving yourself forward with your choices or are you treading water in your comfort zone and checking out? Learning new things gives us energy, passion, zest and zeal. Teaching does the same. Once you’ve learned something new, why not pass it along to others?
Here’s your challenge: don’t just delegate, eliminate. Create a stop-doing list along with your to-do list. Name your list a “policy” because most of us follow policies and we respond to policies vs. mere suggestions because a policy is a boundary. What is on your stop-doing list?
Personal Well-being Before Your Professional Well-being
July 19, 2010 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
An organization can only be as good as the people who run it. We do business with PEOPLE in an organization, not the organization itself. If the people behind the organization aren’t feeling well, treated well, doing well or being well, then the business isn’t doing well either.
If you’re part of a larger organization, the team members must bring their best self to the job. One person can drain the energy of the work group and clients alike. People like doing business with people who like doing business. If you don’t bring your best self to the marketplace, it’s a downward spiral.
Taking care of our personal well-being is essential to organization well-being, whether it’s a solo-preneur operation or a multi-national organization. We can’t focus on work if we feel lousy, have anxiety about our mortgage, worried about our kid’s safety or our family’s health. We need to get our priorities in order and take care of ourselves first, watch out for our well-being so we have the energy to look out for other’s or our organization’s well-being.
Here are some qualities of well-being. How do you measure up?
1. Is your life purposeful with direction? Do you have a bigger vision and purpose and is it fulfilling to you? Are you in alignment with it? Does your work foster your purpose?
2. Have you experienced life transitions and have you handled them with aplomb, in your unique or creative way. You can solve problems and have others for support in times of need and transition. You can weather the storms of life, or at least know how to dance in the rain.
3. You feel optimism for your life and believe the universe conspires in your favor. You feel more optimistic than pessimistic and experience gratitude over disappointment.
4. You have a Life List (similar to a Bucket List, but couched in more positive terms) and you have attained many things that are on your goals list. You feel accomplished in different areas of your life and are a life-long learner. You list may grow larger are you grow older and learn there is so much more to learn about the world. You have a sense of discovery, adventure, curiosity and joy about life.
5. You are coachable, remaining open to learning more about yourself and the whys and hows of your decisions. You are interested in not only personal development but enrichment and have a willingness to share your lessons with others to enrich their lives. You share yourself with the world through your abilities, gifts and talents.
6. You have love in your life from friends, partner, pets, family, clients and colleagues. You have mutual respect, support, admiration, loyalty, friendship and companionship.
7. You have laughter in your life and seek the humor in situations. You choose to laugh through things now rather than wait until time passes to see the humor. You bring laughter to others.
8. You are resilient to stress, criticism, bad behavior and the little annoyances in life. You have learned how to masterfully handle life’s irritations and know how to diffuse stress in your own way.
9. You are physically and mentally healthy, taking time to practice self-care, eat healthy and live a healthy lifestyle. You choose health and incorporate daily rituals and practices to keep your spirit, mind and body strong and flexible.
10. You keep things in perspective, have an open mind, and keep fear at bay. You dwell in the realm of possibility and positivity. You think the best of yourself, others and situations. You let things flow and believe in the rhythm nature. You believe in the power of the Universe, Source and Spirit to work things out how they are supposed to be. You believe the Universe has more control than you and you let go and let it flow.
Keep in mind these key areas to creating your well-being so you can go out and do well in the world. Keep your balance so you may bring your best self to your work and to the world.
A Dozen Energizing Super Foods
July 16, 2007 | Posted in Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
I discovered the power of nutritional cleansing a couple years ago when I moved from a house with black mold to a home in a drier climate. After doing a program of nutritional cleansing, ridding my body of toxins and drinking shakes that flooded my body with the proper nutrition. I realized a few things:
No more aches and pains that once irritated me.
My cholesterol dropped over 50 points.
I dropped 25 pounds in a few months and several clothing sizes.
My clarity and focus became much greater and my usually high energy went through the roof.
My craving for certain foods ceased and my taste for foods became sharpened. Everything tasted better.
Here are a dozen Superfoods that you can introduce into your daily or weekly routine to help pump up your energy and cleanse your body of toxins or boost your immune system so you can be more resilient to stress.
1. Flax Seed – a great source of omega-3 fatty acids – especially for vegetarians like me who don’t eat Salmon or other fish to get those essentials to help prevent Alzheimers, obesity, sunburn and even depression. Flax Seed also has high levels of lignans, a natural anti-oxidant to help maintain breast and colon health. It has 75 times more lignans than any other plant source – just 2 tablespoons equals about 30 cups of broccoli. It’s also a rich source of fiber.
2. Blueberries – high in fiber, vitamin C and antioxidants to help improve motor skills and memory.
3. Cinnamon – It is an anti-bacterial and can help reduce blood sugar levels and can produce a brain boost by smelling it.
4. Kale – Loaded with beta carotene to keep eyes health and fights off certain cancer cells.
5. Pumpkin – A potent anti-oxidant to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease, high in vitamin A and carotenoids.
6. Soy – Can help reduce cholesterol and the risk of osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s certain cancers, and kidney disease as well as help with menopausal symptoms.
7. Walnuts – The mono-saturated (good) fat in walnuts is believed to reverse some of the effects of eating foods high in saturated fat. Also filled with omega-3 fatty acids.
8. Avocado – The combination of fat, protein and carbs is ideal in this fruit and it’s high in glutathione, which blocks op to 30 different carcinogens.
9. Oats – Filled with both types of fibers – soluble to help reduce cholesterol and keep the heart health and insoluble to support the digestive system.
10. Dark Chocolate – whoopeeee! It’s rich in flavenols that boost hte production of nitric oxide in blood vessels and it can lower blood pressure and improve circulation.
11. Whey – It can help with mood levels, depression, fills you up so you don’t feel hungry and optimizes muscle and improves insulin sensitivity. It supports serotonin levels and boosts the immune system aiding in the fight against cancer. It helps support the body’s overall biochemistry and weight management systems.
12. Isagenix Nutritional Cleansing Superfoods – is a program packed with different products filled with Superfoods. Their fruit drink contains superfruits in a powder form that can give you an entire day’s supply of your fruit in one drink. Their healthy greens drink can supply your leafy green veggies. Their vanilla and chocolate shakes are made from whey and using their cleansing system along with their shakes and 30-day cleansing program can render dramatic results. See below some before and after shots of me and my friend, Sue. The results are on the inside and the outside when using these products and natural Superfoods.
Give me a call at 866.386.2896 or send an email to Gail@YourEnergyExpert.com for more info on these Superfoods and nutritional cleansing…or check out the link above for videos and other info on the toxins that bombard us every day and how we can cope with it and energize our lives.