Remember, the key word is rest, relaxation.
Never go against rest and relaxation.
Arrange your life in such a way,
drop all futile activity, because ninety per cent is futile;
it is just for killing time and remaining occupied.
Do only the essential and
devote your energies more and more to the inner journey.

Osho

It’s tough to be effective when you do not have everything you need—including information. There may be individual hoarders or it may be encouraged in your practice to hoard information.(This is not to be confused with information that has nothing to do with you personally, or your ability to perform your job, or information that is not available to share with the team yet.)  Here’s a few suggestions:

• DO reign in competition. A little bit of competition at work can challenge people to come up with creative new solutions, but when it gets out of hand, instead of a team, you might have a group of individuals that start only looking out for themselves. They may only think of winning for personal gain (like a bonus) or it may be they have some insecurities that make it difficult for them to work with someone they perceive as more skilled or knowledgeable.
• DO create a shared vision. Serving your patients ultimately should be the goal. Anything that encourages shortcuts or focus on anything other than serving your patients to the best of the team’s abilities will create problems in the long haul.
• DO keep people focused. We recognize that information is power, and that is why people will hoard it or try and control it. By focusing on the big picture and keeping people informed, you can help keep everyone pointed in the right direction. The easiest way for this to happen is for the leader to model the kind of behavior that you would like to see.
• DON’T allow fear to take hold. There was a study that showed that 75% of employees got scared when the boss closed their door. Just the act of the closing the door stirred up fears that something was about to happen. Doing everything possible to keep  people informed will help keep your staff more relaxed. No news, in today’s world, might be interpreted as bad news by some employees.

“We are not cisterns made for hoarding, we are channels made for sharing.”—Billy Graham

A common obstacle……….when things are given to us over and over again, we start taking them for granted and we forget to appreciate what we receive. You can overcome this tendency by dedicating some time daily just to be thankful and maintain an attitude of gratitude.

How?………………….. Simply sit somewhere undisturbed, think of anything you have. It is not a matter of comparison, just remembering for a moment all the millions of people who are not blessed with what you have, or are simply in a worse condition than you. You can use thankful phrases to express what you are grateful for. You could start a gratitude journal to record what you are grateful for, or you could use a gratitude rock–people will carry this symbol in their pocket to remind them throughout the day to find opportunities to be grateful.

Through gratitude you are making an investment in a positive energy which won’t cost you a cent! What are YOU most thankful for?

I Give Thanks For The Journey………….

the best day of your life

is the one when you decide your life is you own

no apologies, no excuses

no one to lean on,

rely on, or blame

the gift is yours………..

it is an amazing journey

and you alone are responsible for it

this is the day your life

really begins.

——–bob moawad

How can hope improve your life?

Hope makes us feel lighter and stronger. Hope gives us strength and keeps us persistent and determined to move forward. Hope reassures us that things will get better in time, and helps us come alive during moments of recovery.

Hope helps us look forward to the future. Anticipating our future with positive expectations, which gives us motivation and enthusiasm to take action. When we are excited about the future it leads to resolve and tenacity, keeps us strong willed and steadfast in achieving our goals. Not only does hope propel us into our future, but it can also help us let go of the past.

Hope helps us see improvements and focus on the positive. There will always be difficulties and hope helps us focus on the positive, this allows us to be more optimistic and expect good things to happen. This can lead to transformations in many areas of our lives, such as relationships, work, and self-esteem.

Hope gives us the desire to learn and grow. Hope helps us regain interest and get more fully involved in life. By growing as a person we can make improvements that lead to greater satisfaction and well-being, When approaching our goals, an appreciation for learning provides us patience and the knowledge that it may take small steps to reach our aspirations.

When it comes down to it,  hope helps us feel better about ourselves, and take an empowered view toward life. Begin to instill a greater sense of  hope in your life.

So what are some effective ways to manage emotions in the workplace?

• Good self-care is the best medicine. An employer or team member that tends to their own physical, emotional and mental needs regularly is going to be more adept at managing negative or hostile emotions at work. Start with adequate sleep, good nutrition, and regular exercise.
• Know what anger and frustration feels like to you–both in your head and in your body. Sometimes we can really cut off from our feelings and act rashly without knowing why. Spend some time knowing what anger feels like to you, and where you notice it in your body.
• Take a 10 minute walk. When you desire to vent, excuse yourself  and take a brisk 10 minute walk. This will clear your mind and may save you from losing your temper.
• Vent to a mentor, coach, or trusted colleague. The act of sharing your frustration and fears will calm you down. These people can support you and help you move forward.
• Ask “What am I afraid of?” Most often, anger or frustration appears when one of our fears has been activated. By going directly to the source of your feelings, you may be able to short-circuit them.
• Make an exhaustive “do not want list.” In this list, you write down everything you do NOT want in this situation—such as, “to look foolish”, or “to be unprepared”, etc. Once you write it all down, you can clear your mind and be ready to generate productive solutions.
• Distract yourself. Getting your mind off what is upsetting you can be enough to calm you down. Shifting your focus will shift your attitude.
• Ask “What’s working about this situation?” This suggests that we could all manage stress better if we tried looking at “what’s working” rather than “what’s wrong.”  Many times communication breakdowns can show you where better systems need to be created that will ultimately enhance the practice.
• Take an action. Sometimes, when one piece of the business isn’t moving, it may mean another part is ready to be acted upon. Rather than feeling annoyed and frustrated, transform that energy into positive movement forward.
• Makes a strong request. If you would like something to be different, start the process of making it so. Make your needs known, sometimes, just communicating about your desires in the form of an appropriate request can move situations along.

Using these tips will help you stay balanced and happy as your business grows and flourishes. Try them and see!

Here’s a few Do’s and Don’ts for managing yourself more effectively:

DO know yourself. You may be thinking– Duh! But most leaders spend so much time managing others that they don’t take the time to take a hard look at themselves. A 360 evaluation can help, but more importantly is just being open to feedback. Just because you have an open door, doesn’t necessarily mean that your mind is open to what you are hearing. What do you value? What are your blind spots? What have been your biggest mistakes and what did you learn from them?

DO know what you do best. Most people can rattle off a long list of weaknesses, but they are challenged to come up with a clear list of their strengths. If you think this is an exaggeration–be enlightened—sit down with a few of the people you trust most and ask them to give you feedback on what you do best. A few of the things you hear will shock you–in a good way.

DO take control of your career. It is fascinating  how many people are passive with the direction of their careers. They may wait for opportunities to fall into their lap as opposed to  creating their own opportunities. Each week try taking a small amount of personal time to focus on your career goals–you will be surprised how much you can accomplish.

DON’T get stuck in management. Management can end up being your destination each day–spending more time on those details than where your strengths lay and you could be more effective (remember delegation? I know–I know–this requires letting go!) If you find yourself dreading going to work each day, stressing over paperwork, tasks, staffing issues and ready to bite off the head of the first person you see—–it’s time for a change.

Implement some of these tips and people will be looking to you for advice on how to stay sane in a mostly insane workplace.

A message from Sandy. Building an inspiring work culture and investing in the health and development of the team is an additional priority for long-term business success. Positive emotions and related processes can lead to greater motivation, fulfillment with work, and the ability to cope with stress and uncertainty.

Whether you are experiencing particularly rough times economically or professionally, or perhaps you are just coasting along without much satisfaction or joy in the work you do——here are a few suggestions to advance your performance and work experience:

1. Strengths, virtues, and self-determination: Research shows that employees that are fully engaged in the work that they do, and who have a sense of intrinsic motivation, are likely to perform better and have a better work outcome. Allowing for  self-management which takes discipline and self-determination offers freedom and autonomy for team members to flourish and become absorbed in the work they do best. This involves the team member (which includes the doctor) to  uncover their strengths and have the freedom to use them. These traits also lead people to experience flow, where they are fully engaged in a productive challenge–they are now “in the zone.”
2. Emotional Intelligence: Emotional intelligence is the capacity to identify and regulate emotions in ourselves and others, and has implications for both internal and external customer relationships. It allows us to recognize our own personal tendencies, and better understand the personality traits of others so we can most effectively interact with them. More specifically emotional intelligence is the ability to manage counterproductive emotions, such as anger and stress, and begin to harness more positive feelings like optimism, hope, and creativity.
3. Positive Organizational Behavior: Have you ever wondered how to apply human strengths, resources, and psychological capacities to improve performance in the workplace? Four basic capacities that would typically be explored are: self-efficacy; hope; optimism, and resiliency. The higher the levels of these four, the more confident people are, the better they are able to manage stress and adversity, have higher levels of motivation and drive, and more likely to pursue growth and development.
4. Level of Innovation and Change: A major factor in a healthy organizational culture is the fit between the organization’s values and the disposition and values of the employees. Some businesses are prone to change where others are much more stable and stagnant.  How your employees respond to change and innovation is important to consider in order to have a good fit with the organizational culture. Having a good fit will help the team be energized, have a positive attitude, and feel safe and secure in their roles.
5. The Virtuous Organization: “Virtuous organizations infuse an ethical perspective into their cultures, have multiple bottom lines, promote self-management, emotionally intelligent, and team-oriented behavior patterns and develop supportive leaders that enable others to succeed, all of which can lead to productive and creative outcomes.” (Froman 2010)

During times of economic stress and uncertainty, a business can benefit from developing a culture of high integrity, trust, and respect. An environment of negativity, cynicism, and mistrust of course is not as productive or satisfying as those of positivity, confidence, optimism, hope, and resilience. Encourage your team to set challenging, measurable, personally valuable goals, as well as realistic pathways and strategies to accomplish these goals and overcome obstacles—-this will enhance job satisfaction and performance—-”a different kind of bottom line.”

The major cause of micromanagement is a trust issue (probably–big ones). There is that constant doubt, concern, or fear that your team cannot achieve or complete things in the way that you would like. This in turn creates great pressure on the team and  morale suffers. (If you really believe the team member can’t do the job–maybe it’s time to re-evaluate that team members responsibilities.)  It’s funny——Wikipedia includes the word “symptoms” in describing micromanagement, as if it were an illness. If you really think about it, how successful has micromanaging your team been for you?–This behavior and lack of respect usually backfires and shows up in some form of undesirable behavior later.

Still not sure if you are a micromanager? How do you know if you have an addiction to micromanaging people? Watch for these signs:

1. You want to keep tabs on what everyone is doing—all of the time.
2. You leave no room for suggestions or ideas from your team.
3. Your employees avoid  having a one-on-one meetings with you.
4. You feel swamped at work, because you are not delegating to your team properly.
5. People are awaiting your approval, even for tasks that don’t require one.
6. You feel like you have to do everything yourself as no one can get the job done right.
7. You have high turnover in your staff.
8. Even if you have assigned someone the responsibility to head up a task, you feel you must still oversee it.

Imagine the negative impact. If you have ever been annoyed having someone watch your back while you attend to your daily duties, you will start to understand the feeling of being micromanaged. And that could be just the tip of the iceberg!

1. Your team members stop being straight with you because they are finding they are not heard, or stopped before they ever get started. This means you lose access to fresh ideas that can help your business and your team grow.
2. Your team members may become disengaged and will not go the extra mile to see your business succeed.
3. Your employees lose their confidence in doing a job well, and the fallout? It now diminishes their abilities to develop new skills that will help them work more efficiently and productively.
4. Apathy, confusion, resentment and anger seeps in as your employees lose interest. Imagine what that is doing to productivity.

You may be wondering is there a cure? (the first step– admit you are a micro manager–I am sure there is a support group) Behaviors can be altered, it’s just a matter of perception, a willingness to change and a huge dose of TRUST. It starts by unlearning the old ways and accepting that no one is perfect, but working as a team can help you put all of your imperfections together to come up with a flawless plan. There is nothing wrong with being detailed oriented, so long as you are not shutting down the lines of communication. Just pause for a moment and ask yourself, “Is it really worth it for me to spend the time micro managing and what is the long term impact?”

• Growth by Adversity: Think back on a time when you experienced adversity. How did you handle it? Did you shrivel up and hide, or did you persevere and come away stronger? Adversity can appear in many ways—personal, professional, financial, or spiritual, regardless of what area in life we encounter the adversity–it offers us a chance for personal growth. Working through setbacks, trauma, or failure teaches us many lessons and we learn how resilient we really are.
• Growth by Awe and Beauty: Sometimes experiencing inspiration and pure wonder can lead to a change in how we view the world and our existence. Think if a time when you witnessed something so awe-inspiring, maybe the Grand Canyon, an amazing piece of artwork, a truly inspiring person, the mountains, or a favorite ocean view——the list goes on and on. Maybe an inexplicable spiritual experience left you feeling astounded. Whenever we are able to experience the vastness of the world and move beyond ourselves it provides us a chance to change how we see things and become more open to what is possible. Make time to notice and embrace the beauty around us everyday.
• Growth by Doing Good: Another way to grow is to explore how we can serve others. When we focus on others instead of ourselves we can begin to make a difference in the world around us. We are able to connect with a purpose and make a conscious effort to help others. The decisions we make will be based on our personal values and convictions that are aligned with our personal moral principles. We’re on our way to being our best selves!

Growth comes from personal transformation, whether it is intentional or circumstantial. As we change and become more courageous and humble, it will open our eyes to the fullness of life, and expand our willingness to put ourselves out there. When was the last time you bounced back from a problem and experienced personal growth?

Change your perspective--be more grateful

A message from Sandy. Many times we take things for granted. We tend to focus on what we lack and forget about all the things we have. Our lack of appreciation can come in many forms, we might wish we had more money, were in better physical shape, or were smarter. These areas where we perceive lack can be consuming and really steal our joy and satisfaction with life.

When things aren’t going well, and we are dissatisfied, we focus on the things that we wished were different. When things are going well, it’s easier to appreciate things and feel more satisfied. This in itself is a good reason to cultivate gratitude in order for us to experience greater satisfaction overall, and get off the roller coaster that may impact our satisfaction based on if things are going well, or not.

Satisfaction can be explored by examining the different aspects of our lives, such as relationships, health, finances, and spirituality. We may have varying levels of satisfaction in different areas, and by recognizing these areas we can gain greater awareness of where we struggle to be grateful.

There is an exercise for enhancing gratitude called 3 GOOD THINGS. This exercise is a simple activity where you reflect on your day and write down a few things you appreciate and are grateful for. It requires just a few minutes a day and can include anything from relationships, interests, or personal traits.

Here are a few questions to consider asking yourself:

• Who are 3 people in your life you are grateful for?
• What 3 things you are grateful for relating to your physical health?
• What are 3 things you are grateful for regarding where you live, or your home environment?
• What are 3 gifts of unique talent and skills that you possess?
• What are 3 things you appreciate about your work?
• What are 3 gifts of knowledge and experience you have been exposed to?

When we start to focus on what we are grateful for it can be an eye-opening experience. We can learn that even though we may not be where we want in life, we can still be content and thankful for what we have.