Maribeth has the best marketing ideas, many are very innovative.
Red Zone Marketing - Blog
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
The Toxic Behavior of Judging
I have been facilitating a lot of corporate wellness programs lately and am pleased to see there are companies who see the value in giving their employees new information and tools to use to manage their stress and work/life balance. The ROI is quite eye opening. Not only does this proactive approach cut down on health care costs companies incur but it also helps alleviate employee turnover. People will get disengaged in their job performance if they feel they don't matter, are not appreciated or don't see any opportunities in their employment. People are working longer hours, are required to handle more responsibility with less pay and in many cases working the jobs of two people as companies cut back on expenses and have become lean.
It's no wonder stress shows up, work/life balance has jumped out of the window. As human beings, we only have control over how we react to outside triggers. We can choose to handle and manage our stress through making time for habits such as deep breathing, physical activity, listening to quiet music, being outdoors in nature, etc. Or, we can choose to just be frantic, worried, anxious all the time. One helps us stay young, keeps us healthy - mind, body and spirit and calm or one will age us quickly, cause health issues and relationship issues. It's a personal choice we have to make.
I like to educate people on the factors of what causes stress and how it impacts the mind and body; help people discover their triggers and where it shows up and then guide them to figure out how to manage it, the most important part of our discussions. Sometimes we have to get an accountability partner to help us implement a change in behavior or we see the value in hiring a coach who will help guide us to long-lasting change.
If you are reading this and you don't handle stress or work/life balance very well. Step back and ask yourself: How is this impacting me and those around me? What would I like to change or add to my life that is nurturing and calming? What needs to change? Why is this important? It's never too late to grab a hold of our lives and decide that some things aren't working anymore and needed changes have to occur. As Nike says - "Just Do It".
It's no wonder stress shows up, work/life balance has jumped out of the window. As human beings, we only have control over how we react to outside triggers. We can choose to handle and manage our stress through making time for habits such as deep breathing, physical activity, listening to quiet music, being outdoors in nature, etc. Or, we can choose to just be frantic, worried, anxious all the time. One helps us stay young, keeps us healthy - mind, body and spirit and calm or one will age us quickly, cause health issues and relationship issues. It's a personal choice we have to make.
I like to educate people on the factors of what causes stress and how it impacts the mind and body; help people discover their triggers and where it shows up and then guide them to figure out how to manage it, the most important part of our discussions. Sometimes we have to get an accountability partner to help us implement a change in behavior or we see the value in hiring a coach who will help guide us to long-lasting change.
If you are reading this and you don't handle stress or work/life balance very well. Step back and ask yourself: How is this impacting me and those around me? What would I like to change or add to my life that is nurturing and calming? What needs to change? Why is this important? It's never too late to grab a hold of our lives and decide that some things aren't working anymore and needed changes have to occur. As Nike says - "Just Do It".
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Innovators and Entrepreneurship
Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending the open house and ribbon cutting ceremony of the new FAU Research Park incubator center located in Boca Raton next to the campus of FAU. Walking around and seeing/meeting the young innovators located throughout the space was so much fun. I love hearing people's passion about new ideas and new concepts they are creating with excitement. One company, an IT consulting company has only been in business four months and have already gone from a staff of six to a staff of twelve and have plans to continue expanding. All Generation Y folks with an eagerness to take their concepts and ideas to their market and transform their client's ideas into realty.
In attendance at this event was the city mayor, a councilwoman, a county commissioner, members of the Business Development Board, Chamber of Commerce, staff and faculty of FAU and business owners, investors, etc. I met some very interesting people from this group, many I know. One new person I engaged in conversation was a college professor of engineering who is also a beautiful artist - Thomas Fernandez. His artwork adorned the walls of the building and it is simply exquisite. He created some pieces to depict math formulas in art form. Truly intriguing coming from a traditional left-brain thinker who is also very much a right brain creator of beauty.
Innovators and Entrepreneurship are buzz words for this decade. The more open we can be with accepting of new ideas and concepts to make processes easier, the less stressed we can become. If you live near a college campus, check out what's going on around it in the business community. When they join forces, fertile ground of new ideas being created by a whole new generation. These are exciting times.
In attendance at this event was the city mayor, a councilwoman, a county commissioner, members of the Business Development Board, Chamber of Commerce, staff and faculty of FAU and business owners, investors, etc. I met some very interesting people from this group, many I know. One new person I engaged in conversation was a college professor of engineering who is also a beautiful artist - Thomas Fernandez. His artwork adorned the walls of the building and it is simply exquisite. He created some pieces to depict math formulas in art form. Truly intriguing coming from a traditional left-brain thinker who is also very much a right brain creator of beauty.
Innovators and Entrepreneurship are buzz words for this decade. The more open we can be with accepting of new ideas and concepts to make processes easier, the less stressed we can become. If you live near a college campus, check out what's going on around it in the business community. When they join forces, fertile ground of new ideas being created by a whole new generation. These are exciting times.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
We Can Never Forget
"No matter how
much time passes, no matter what takes place in the interim, there are some
things we can never assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away. They
remain with us forever, like a touchstone."
— Haruki Murakami
Eleven years ago today, actually this morning - the United States was attacked to the core of our being. From September 12,2001 forward, our lives have been changed dramatically. Just like the holocaust during WWII, mankind continues to be plagued by unrest, hate, personal agendas and suffering. These wake up calls give us opportunities to not only be alert to not allowing these atrocities to happen, but to stand in the power of Love, compassion, forgiveness, gratitude and maybe just maybe make a difference in someone's life to see the value in others and in being alive in this world. We have the ability to speak, to make a difference, to be aware of what's going on around us and alerting officials if something doesn't seem right. Yes, there is tremendous bureaucracy in our government and dysfunction in how some governments around the world are led. But again, we have the ability to take a step forward in the direction of helping someone else be a better person. Own this power or get help to be better at owning your power. There is tremendous good in our world as well and events such as these mentioned brings out the best in people who come together to help.
We must never forget and we must never not get involved. We can change things, one step at a time.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Difficult Conversations
I am reading "Difficult Conversations" by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen. Most of us struggle with conversations that need to be said whether it's on difficult performance feedback, addressing dysfunctional behavior, taking teams to their greatness, etc. The biggest lesson I gleaned from the book is that our assumptions about other people's intentions can also have a significant impact on our conversations. The other person can judge our intentions, feel falsely accused and have to be defend themselves.
The lessons around disentangling the impact and your intention is to ask yourself three questions:
1. What did the other person actually say or do?
2. What was the impact of this on me?
3. Based on this impact, what assumption am I making about what the other person intended?
From these thoughts, practice sharing the impact on you with the other person and ask them what their intention was the comment or action. If you can create a way to take a moment to think about your reactions and respond in a different way, you may find these difficult conversations become easier. Please remember that you only have control over yourself - your reactions, your actions and your thoughts. The same is true for all of us as each of us is wired as individuals with our own histories, our own life experiences, education , life lessons and culture exposure.
Read the book, hire a coach, practice and be mindful of where these conversations show up and try to handle them a little differently.
The lessons around disentangling the impact and your intention is to ask yourself three questions:
1. What did the other person actually say or do?
2. What was the impact of this on me?
3. Based on this impact, what assumption am I making about what the other person intended?
From these thoughts, practice sharing the impact on you with the other person and ask them what their intention was the comment or action. If you can create a way to take a moment to think about your reactions and respond in a different way, you may find these difficult conversations become easier. Please remember that you only have control over yourself - your reactions, your actions and your thoughts. The same is true for all of us as each of us is wired as individuals with our own histories, our own life experiences, education , life lessons and culture exposure.
Read the book, hire a coach, practice and be mindful of where these conversations show up and try to handle them a little differently.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Creative Lifestyle Through Mind Mapping | CraigDesmarais.com
The article on this link is well written and shows how we humans think which can cause of stress, worry or harmony.
Creative Lifestyle Through Mind Mapping | CraigDesmarais.com
Creative Lifestyle Through Mind Mapping | CraigDesmarais.com
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Stress Management
I facilitated a workshop today inside of a pharmaceutical company on the topic "Stress Management". There was a health fair going on in the office as well and staff had the opportunity to get chair massages, meet with a rep from a gym, get their eyes tested and learn about shoe fitting.
Stress Management is a becoming more mainstream in companies who really focus on keeping their employees healthy, which impacts the healthcare costs of the company, in a positive way. It doesn't have to be hard to put a process in place in the company giving employees tools, ideas, opportunities to learn more about managing their stress. Just the simple technique of taking deep breaths will lower stress which we did during the workshop. Most importantly, it has to start at the top with leadership who "walk the talk" and see the value of making sure stress is managed in the company environment and they too participate.
Today the staff wasn't interested in talking too much about what stress is, what the signs are, etc. They wanted to know how to manage and control it. From a coaching perspective, it's a very personal thing as we are all wired differently with different life experiences, culture driven habits, physical and emotional make up. The big challenge most in the room experienced and needed help with was around exercise and how to integrate exercise in their busy lives. This is especially hard for young working mothers who have to juggle children, being a housewife and working. I gave them some ideas but also more importantly wanted them to reflect on what they could manage and implement into their busy lives.
Regarding exercise, if you can't afford to join a gym then maybe taking family walks or walking by yourself sometime during the day may help bringing exercise into your life. Maybe investing in a treadmill or bicycles for the family may be an option. Here in South Florida, we have the beach which is free. People play volleyball, talk walks, go swimming or run. If exercise is important and needs to be in your life, think about what the benefits will be and what needs to change to allow some time for this most important part of keeping you healthy. I love to ask "what are your options?" "let's get creative and think outside of the box and look at all of your options. If "I don't have time" comes into the conversation, I ask people to monitor how they spend their day for about a week, writing down every little detail without judgment and then look at it and see if there is a pattern of activity or Doing that could be shifted a bit into adding a stress re-leaser or bringing some personal pampering into their life. It's good to have an accountability partner or a coach to help make this shift happen and keep the person on track for change.
I love this work and hope to get more of it. People simply need to slow down, get out of their minds and into their hearts and just enjoy life. Smiles, laughter and gratitude show up more often. Try it.
Stress Management is a becoming more mainstream in companies who really focus on keeping their employees healthy, which impacts the healthcare costs of the company, in a positive way. It doesn't have to be hard to put a process in place in the company giving employees tools, ideas, opportunities to learn more about managing their stress. Just the simple technique of taking deep breaths will lower stress which we did during the workshop. Most importantly, it has to start at the top with leadership who "walk the talk" and see the value of making sure stress is managed in the company environment and they too participate.
Today the staff wasn't interested in talking too much about what stress is, what the signs are, etc. They wanted to know how to manage and control it. From a coaching perspective, it's a very personal thing as we are all wired differently with different life experiences, culture driven habits, physical and emotional make up. The big challenge most in the room experienced and needed help with was around exercise and how to integrate exercise in their busy lives. This is especially hard for young working mothers who have to juggle children, being a housewife and working. I gave them some ideas but also more importantly wanted them to reflect on what they could manage and implement into their busy lives.
Regarding exercise, if you can't afford to join a gym then maybe taking family walks or walking by yourself sometime during the day may help bringing exercise into your life. Maybe investing in a treadmill or bicycles for the family may be an option. Here in South Florida, we have the beach which is free. People play volleyball, talk walks, go swimming or run. If exercise is important and needs to be in your life, think about what the benefits will be and what needs to change to allow some time for this most important part of keeping you healthy. I love to ask "what are your options?" "let's get creative and think outside of the box and look at all of your options. If "I don't have time" comes into the conversation, I ask people to monitor how they spend their day for about a week, writing down every little detail without judgment and then look at it and see if there is a pattern of activity or Doing that could be shifted a bit into adding a stress re-leaser or bringing some personal pampering into their life. It's good to have an accountability partner or a coach to help make this shift happen and keep the person on track for change.
I love this work and hope to get more of it. People simply need to slow down, get out of their minds and into their hearts and just enjoy life. Smiles, laughter and gratitude show up more often. Try it.
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