Wilma Jones - Living Happier

Is It Monday Already?!

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is it monday already?! book coverIs It Monday Already?!

Happy Monday to you. For a lot of people Monday isn’t always happy. That’s why the phrase, ‘Is It Monday Already?!’ is a common refrain for millions of people. They think it every week. I know I used to think this quite a bit in a few jobs I had. Although I have been very lucky, blessed, or both because in most of my jobs I’ve been more happy than not. But this pic which is the cover of my new book says it all.

The new book is about how to start living happier at work. How to get over the things that irritate you and look at things more positively. I’m getting great feedback and blurbs from folks about the content. I am so excited and nervous all at the same time. I can’t wait to share it all with you. This is like having a baby all over again, only this time it’s my second book!

Building on the lessons learned from book #1, ‘Is It Monday Already?!’ is all about using the strategies from Positive Psychology to start living happier at our jobs. The subtitle, ‘197 Tools and Tips to Start Living Happier at Work,’ gets to the gist of the subject. Implementing the little things that help to reduce the micro-aggressions that happen everyday at the office while increasing the micro-affirmations that build better teams and help us work more productively.

Look for more info and excerpts coming soon!

 

This Memorial Day Make Sure You’re Unplugged

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This memorial day make sure you're unplugged

This Memorial Day Make Sure You’re Unplugged

Today is the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S. It is the day we recognize and remember men and women who died in service to our country. It’s also a day off work. In almost every industry except for retail and a few others, office workers get Memorial Day day as a company -paid holiday.

Memorial Day is one of the big holidays. Even stingy companies give employees the day off on Memorial Day. You know those companies where you only get 6 company observed holidays per year? New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yup, that’s it. President’s Day? Veteran’s Day? Martin Luther King, Jr. Day? Naw, those are work days at many companies.

Memorial Day is the unofficial start to the summer season for Americans, so it’s a holiday we hold close to our hearts. Barbecues, cookouts and trips to the beach are annual rites of passage to summer and this is the weekend those traditions begin. This is the weekend we should all unplug and step away from work. For these three days, don’t check your email. Each time a thought about something work-related enters your mind, brush it away and think about something else. Be mindful about it.

It’s critically important to take time away from your job to completely disconnect. There has been a lot of buzz this week about a new law proposed in France that would prohibit companies with 50 or more employees from emailing/communicating with employees after work hours, including weekends and holidays. It’s all about allowing staff to know that no digital communications would come from their boss at night so they can feel comfortable disengaging from their work responsibilities after hours.

I think this is an awesome idea, because many times we check mail at night to make sure nothing urgent is happening that will catch us off guard in the morning. No one wants to find out something critical happened and there is a string of email communication with everyone but you contributing to the conversation. I’ve felt that before and so I when I was working in corporate environments, I would routinely check mail a few times in the evening.

It would be a nice feeling to have work completely stop in the evening every day. To know that nothing would require your attention over the holiday weekend. For many office workers with corporate-issued cell phones that ping when emails are received or with instant messaging apps, that doesn’t happen. A law like the one being considered in France could go a long way toward encouraging that behavior.

Do you think we need a law to prohibit our bosses from contacting us during non-work hours?

A Brilliant Strategy to Reduce Workplace Stress

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A Brilliant Strategy to Reduce Workplace Stress

The biggest benefit to using mindfulness at work is the potential for stress reduction. Workplace stress is real and it’s one of the primary reasons for employee turnover. Mindfulness instruction teaches breathing techniques and strategies for clearing your mind that help to reduce or eliminate stress. One of my favorite characterizations about mindfulness at work is that it helps to “clear out the cobwebs,” in our brain. That helps to improve focus.

Mindfulness helps you to stay in the moment and remember that whatever you’re going through will pass. Then I usually try to throw in a little gratefulness. I’m always thankful that whatever happened to stress me out wasn’t even worse. I know that’s probably a negative way to look at it, but it really works for me. Because it’s the truth. Whatever happens to you, things can always be worse. That’s my way to find the positive in it.

Mindfulness also helps me to find another Living Happier at Work program pillar – kindness. It’s important to be kind to me, no matter what I am going through. As I go through the finishing touches of my new book, “Is It Monday Already?” I am finding how critical both mindfulness and kindness are to all the facets of living with positivity. So many of the tips for living happier at work incorporate both those life tools.

Mindfulness also helps you develop courage. In order to make the changes to live happier at work, you have to have enough courage to make the small changes consistently. Then you’ll develop the chops to take bigger steps because you’ll see the effect on your life.

Mindfulness allows you become the master of your brain because you begin to really control your thoughts. The reason we feel stressed is usually because of fear and loss of control. So it makes sense that a strategy that helps you regain control would help reduce stress.

One of my favorite quotes that sums it all up perfectly:

Watch Your Thoughts quote

 

The Spring Season of Reorganization

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The Spring Season of Reorganization

[RANT] There was another re-org at someone’s day job yesterday. How many has this been? We don’t know. We’ve lost count. But it seems like every other season, big leadership changes are being made.

This time the savior who was brought in a few years ago to boost sales has been appointed to a new position. He was brought in under great fanfare to help in a product line growing in the industry, but declining at this company . Now he’s in a new job. One made just for him. We all know this is a job created by executive management. It’s purpose is to give him time to find another job, somewhere else. Too bad other people don’t get this kind cushion to avoid unemployment.

For the souls who will remain at the company for the long term, they listen to the promises of streamlined processes and revised policies. They are all promised to help make everyone’s job better. To make customers happier. And to drive more revenue. We hope, we dream that one day those things will happen. But for now, we are just freezing in place, waiting for all the bombs to drop.

Divisions are moving under new leadership. Some silos break down. Others are being newly formed. Will these better better or worse? No one really knows. It is a time when using mindfulness and kindness will be so very useful. These tools will help you stay focused. It’s times like these that you remember to be thankful for the job and stay present in performing your job function.

We appreciate our management team who always find the positive slant and a colorful bow to put on the face of the pig they’re bringing to us. But we see it and we understand it to be just what it is. We are hopeful for something better. But we also marvel at our ability to succeed and move things forward when every six months, the corporate direction changes.

‘Tis the season of reorganizations and management changes. Has your company made these types of shifts lately?

5 Ways to Practice Mindfulness @ Work

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5 ways to practice mindfulness at work

5 Ways to Practice Mindfulness @ Work

Almost everything you have to do at work can be improved by using mindfulness. When you start applying mindfulness to your workday, you learn to control your thoughts. Studies have shown you can improve your focus and control your emotions better when you’re more mindful.

I learned to be mindful by taking yoga classes. It was hard for me at first. I had never been interested in stopping to focus on my breathing. But I after I started thinking of my yoga as a ‘practice,’ and learning to really concentrate on being in the present moment, I saw all these great benefits begin in my life.

You can’t just break out in a Downward-Facing-Dog at the office when something happens that stresses you. I wanted to figure out the best ways to implement mindfulness at work into my day.

1. The first step starts before work. Take at least a 10 minute walk. If it is raining try to jump rope on the covered porch. If both those options are out, walk in place with high knees to get my body moving. Thirty minutes would be the best option, but I’ll take what I can get.

2. As your computer powers up, stop and breathe. Focus on breathing in and out and quieting your mind. Be in the moment.

3. Take a short walk mind-morning. Just step away from the desk and give your brain a mental break. Maybe you ride the elevator to the lobby and go outside to walk around the building. That burst of fresh air will help you think more creatively and have better focus when you return to your job.

4. Eat a good lunch. If you go out, try to walk and get more body movement during the day. If you eat at the office, try not to do it at your desk. But if you have to, reserve 5 minutes of quiet time or time for a little movement before you return to your tasks.

5. When the 3 PM slump hits walk right by the coffee pot to get water. Hydrate your body and your brain works better and faster. As you drink, quiet your mind. If you can, add a quick walk around the floor to your afternoon water break.

There are lots of other ways to incorporate mindfulness in your work day. I’d love to hear what works for you.

 

Contact

Wilma Jones
Wilma J, LLC
[email protected]

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