Archives for January 2018

Get out of your comfort zone

Posted on: January 25, 2018, in: , , , , , , , , ,

The same old, same old is the same as becoming stagnant. Said differently: don’t be a stick in the mud! Try to do something new a couple times a year to take you out of your comfort zone. What it is depends on you.

Maybe it’s trying something new, like hiking or Pilates. Maybe it’s attending a class or conference on a subject that interests you but has nothing to do with your career, which will allow you to meet people outside of your usual circles. There’s an endless amount of possibilities, as long as it’s something you don’t normally do.

Stepping out of your comfort zone is a way to engage in self-discovery, keep life interesting, and expand your interests, horizons, contacts, etc. These are the type of actions that make you and your life significantly more interesting and valuable.

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Get enough sleep

Posted on: January 10, 2018, in: , , , , , ,

This seems so obvious, yet most of us don’t. You might; I know I generally don’t. I try, but so much to do and so little time…

I read something that said adults generally need at least seven hours of sleep per night until the age of 60, after which most people need more. It seems like that should be easy, but it’s not always so simple. When you are busy at work (including the time spent commuting), household projects, children, and extracurricular activities like volunteer work or sports leagues, who has the time for sleep? Oh yeah, and we should also fit in exercising and socializing. Time is precious, but so is taking care of yourself.

I also read it helps to try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day. Yes, even on the weekends, which sounds bad if you get up early during the week, like me. Supposedly, it’s better for your sleep cycles. I know when I keep the same schedule, I wake up early without an alarm clock—my body becomes used to the schedule. But if I don’t get enough sleep, I inevitably have a morning when I sleep later than I planned.

Living tired makes everything harder, whether it’s work or fun activities. If you can regulate and normalize your sleep patterns and timing,  it’ll likely help you feel better and be more productive. Sweet dreams.

 

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Turn you New Year’s resolution into a SMART goal for a better chance to be successful

Posted on: January 03, 2018, in: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It is the first week of January. We all are back at work trying to recover from the holidays as the new year kicks into high gear out of the gate. Many of you likely made New Year’s resolutions. It could be one of the standards such as losing a certain amount of weight, starting an exercise program, drinking less soda, eating less candy, etc. Maybe it is something different and more personal to you. Or maybe it is work related such as meeting new professional contacts, listening better to others, or having more balance in your life.

The problem is resolutions are hard to keep. How many times have you had a resolution and it last for a week? Or maybe it lasted a month? Odds are you were not keeping the resolution by the end of that year (assuming it was something that would take a year to accomplish or was a permanent change you were trying to make to a behavior or habit).

If you made a New Year’s resolution, I propose you try something new. Have an action plan on how to stay on task to meet your resolution. To do so, make your resolution a SMART goal. I know many of you have heard this acronym before, and maybe even have set SMART goals in the past.

For those that haven’t, it stands for:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Timely

Resolutions generally fail because trying to do something or stop doing something by sheer force of will is a recipe to fail. If your resolution doesn’t fit within the SMART goal parameters, revise it so that it does – you will have a much better chance of success.

Know that your SMART goal/resolution may be achievable in less than year – remember one element is the time you think it will take to reach your goal. If you meet your resolution, come up with a new SMART goal. It doesn’t matter if it is January 1 or May 22. You should constantly look to improve yourself, your business, your life – well, you get the idea. Try it and see what happens.

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