gratitude

3 Reasons Monday Sucks and What You Can Do About It

June 13, 2016 by Wilma Jones

3 Reasons Monday Sucks and What You Can Do About It

Most people don’t like Mondays. That’s no secret. According to Gallup, 70 percent of American workers are unhappy and disengaged at the job. And since Monday is the first workday of the week, we are not happy about the shift from Sunday brunches and lazy afternoons to going to work Monday morning.

While researching information for my new book, “Is It Monday Already?! 197 Tools and Tips to Live Happier at Work,” I learned a lot about why Monday is such a funky day of the week. But regardless of the reasons Monday is not a lot of fun, there are ways to make Mondays better. You can look at Monday in a more positive light.

1. We Weigh the Most on Monday Mornings

Yeah, it’s probably because of those Sunday brunches that we weigh the most for the entire week on Monday mornings. If you didn’t go to sleep by 10 PM Sunday night, you probably feel a bit sluggish, too.

One solution to do something nice for yourself that will also make you feel better, is to join the Meatless Monday movement. You’ll feel lighter and better about yourself for your achievement. Use this strategy Monday to jump start your way to a healthier week.

2. We Are More Likely to Have a Heart Attack or Stroke on Monday

More heart attacks and stroke occur on Mondays than any other day of the week. It’s true for both men and women. The easiest and best way to ward off heart attacks and strokes is to keep your blood pressure stable.

A great way to maintain consistent blood pressure is by walking first thing in the morning. That’s it. According to a Harvard study, a 30 minute walk can reduce your risk of stroke by almost 25 percent. Seems like a small price to pay for a big gain. And if you take the walk outside, you gain the benefit of increased brain creativity for the next couple of hours. Nothing but benefits, if you ask me.

3. We Have to Go Back to Work Monday

I recently saw a Pinterest board about hating to go to work on Monday. It’s a common feeling. A lot of the issues have to do with working for jacked up organizations. If the company is making money, executive management normally don’t see what a problem. That’s the reason many people dread going into the office.

This issue is tricky because if you’re not inclined to look for a new job for whatever reason…
It’s not that bad…
You don’t want to do the work to look for a new job…
You like the people you work with…
The money is good…
You’re close to retirement…
The benefits are good…
The commute is sweet…
The job finances your dreams on the side…then you may want to consider a mindset shift.

Maybe you need to try to look at the job from another perspective. Maybe you could make it feel less soul-sucking and more a ‘means-to-an-end’ that you should be grateful for. Take a moment and find 3 things to be thankful about on your job. Start with that list of reasons above that you don’t want to look for a new job. That’s a great way to start changing your perspective.

Changing your mindset about work on Monday mornings brings to mind the famous Maya Angelou quote.

Showing Kindness at the Annual Conference

May 4, 2016 by Wilma Jones

Showing Kindness at the Annual Conference

Millions of people attend conferences and seminars for their jobs every year. They have to travel, stay in hotels and sit through keynote speeches, breakout meetings and walk thousands of steps in exhibit halls. People who work in customer facing roles have the pleasure of actually working at these conferences in order to engage with their current customers and also find new customers.

Attending a conference can throw off your work day groove. Being stuck in a booth with coworkers all day can lead to unhappiness at work. Especially if they don’t carry their weight to do a portion of the work. I had to work a conference once with a colleague who spent the majority of his time in the booth working on his laptop. Say what?! I don’t think the person ever thought about standing up and looking at the people walking through the exhibit hall rather than waiting for them to walk in the booth.

Eating the heavy food that is served and spending an excessive amount of time sitting in sessions is dangerous to your health and work happiness, too. This combination can leave you feeling sluggish at the end of the day. One solution to address this issue can be heading outside for some fresh air. There have been weeks that I have worked a conference when I didn’t get a chance to step outside the building until it was time to go home.

Because many conferences occur annually, organizations try to stuff as much content as possible into the agenda. This can create information overload for attendees. That is why I think that the primary job for people who are working the booths at the conference is simply to meet people and work to establish rapport. Sure, you want to let them know what products and services your company can offer them. But people buy from people – normally people they like.

Attendees are not going to remember the pushy salesperson. But the attentive ones that treat them like people and not the next purchase order will be the salespeople whose call or email they respond to after the conference is over. I find being kind and not pushy are important. Expressing gratitude for their interest, even if they only stepped their feet in your booth to grab the giveaway, establishes you as the kind of professional people want to buy from.

These are just a few suggestions for how to handle yourself at the annual conference. I’d love to hear any others you’d like to share in the comments.

What Does Happiness Have to Do with Control?

April 27, 2016 by Wilma Jones

The 2016 World Happiness Report was released last month. This report is the result of surveys that rate the level of happiness of respondents in over 150 countries worldwide. The report attempts to measure “subjective well being,” among a country’s inhabitants. The survey began in 2012 and has been repeated about every 18 months, the 2016 update is the fourth edition.

According to the report, the happiest country in the world is Denmark. For anyone who follows this blog, that is not a surprise. Denmark’s government places a high priority on the health and well being of its citizens and that focus pays huge dividends. Long life expectancies, happiness at the job and support of families are important and the society invests in things that support these goals.

The US did move up the leader board this year, from the 15th to 13th place on the ratings, but we’ve yet to crack the top 10 happiest countries. You would think that the success and prosperity in our country would lead to more happy people, but somehow that is just not true. A new book by a University of Texas researcher Raj Raghunathan, asks the question, “If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Happy?” The author poses that a lot of our unhappiness has to do with our need for control.

One of the benefits of implementing Positive Psychology principles into my life has been the shift in my perspective on control. People who live positively have learned to give up the idea of controlling others and we look internally to develop better control of our own thoughts, words and behavior.

In other words, happiness doesn’t result from controlling others or situations but by controlling how you react to things that happen. This all begins in your mind. People who think that people can make you mad, or that look at negative things that occur as personal attacks are not happy people.

Folks who approach life with a sense of gratitude are the happiest because they don’t take the things that happen to them as personally. They frame these things by looking at them from a thankful perspective. No matter what happens to you, there is always a way to be thankful.

In framing this around our jobs and livelihoods, all we have to do understand that not everything that initially appears bad turns out to be all bad. My son went to visit his girlfriend a few months ago. They had a great weekend but that Monday at her job she was laid off. He contacted me for some advice, asking how he could help her feel better.

I explained that her outlook was the most important thing right now, and the only thing she could control. I encouraged her to have a positive attitude and think thoughts and use words that validated her worth. I encouraged her to really believe that the Universe has so much more in store for her. I emphasized that whatever energy she sent out to the world was what she would receive in return. Less than one month later she had secured a better job, with a healthier work environment and more money!

There is a way to make our country a happier place and it starts with each of us as individuals. If we learn to control ourselves, starting with our thoughts and behavior our country can become a happier place, both individually and collectively by controlling ourselves rather than trying to control everyone else.

Do you think our perspective on control impacts our happiness?

Two Words Can Make a Huge Difference

April 8, 2016 by Wilma Jones

Two Words Can Make a Huge Difference

The workplace is the place you’re least likely to hear the words, “Thank you.” A 2012 study documents that 90% of workers do not show gratitude to their colleagues on a daily basis. And the results are even worse for bosses. Only 7% of workers thank their bosses for anything regularly. That is a pretty sad state of gratitude in American companies.

Statistics document that a workplace environment where people feel gratitude from management and are encouraged to show thankfulness to one another, reduces employee turnover and increases profit. Why then, is it so hard to accomplish? One of the biggest issues is management. As many of us have heard in our careers, the company shows their thankfulness for our efforts in the form of a paycheck. But obviously, that is not enough to motivate people over the longer term. That’s why so many of us think to ourselves at the end of the weekend, “Is it Monday already?”

The best way to begin to change this course is to ask your employees what way they would like to be recognized when management wants to thank them for their efforts. People are not the same and what one person enjoys in terms of thanks may not be accepted the same way by another employee. For example, some people want to be acknowledged in front of other staff, maybe in a team meeting. Others would prefer comp time off to enjoy with their family outside the office. Find out what is important to your staff and figure a way to show gratitude in a way they will really appreciate.

I remember when I started out in my first sales gig. I so craved to be on the top of the stack ranking board. I wanted to earn the glamorous trips the top performers were awarded every year. When I won a trip to London in my second year of sales, I was over the moon with pride and happiness! However, after more than 25 years and hundreds of thousands of miles in travel, the thought of taking a trip with a few hundred of my (not) closest coworker-friends is not something I am thankful for. There are other ways to motivate me as a seasoned sales management person.

Your next best move if you manage a team is to start gradually. If you haven’t been a “thanker’, you can’t just walk in and start showing gratitude to everyone. It will be received as insincere. You need to take baby steps toward gratitude. Start with simple conversations with your team. Or maybe even launch a survey asking your team what they value in terms of recognition and thanks for their efforts.

Be sincere and be realistic. Remember that the most important relationship a person has at work is with their immediate supervisor. Make sure your team knows you care and you appreciate their work. That is the biggest indicator of work happiness. Reduced turnover and increased productivity are the by-products of building a great team based on showing gratitude to one another.

What are your thoughts about showing gratitude at work?

Appreciation Increases Satisfaction

March 23, 2016 by Wilma Jones

Appreciation Increases Satisfaction

Everyone wants to feel like their contributions are appreciated. I know I do. And an employee recognition survey confirmed it. People are who feel appreciated are 85% more satisfied in their job.

Interestingly, feeling appreciation from colleagues at your level and not just from your management makes a big difference in your satisfaction. Maybe it’s because a compliment from someone at your level who understands all the requirements for actually getting the work accomplished somehow means more to us.

Even though it’s your relationship with your immediate boss who influences your job happiness most, it seems it’s your peers who can greatly affect your job satisfaction. To increase your team’s happiness and satisfaction on the job, you should try these tips:

#1. Your comments of appreciation must be genuine. Phoniness won’t work.

#2. Find out what kind of appreciation is important to your employees. Everything doesn’t work for everybody.

#3. Encourage employees to show appreciation for one another.

#4. Start at the top with leadership showing appreciation for the staff.

These four suggestions are a good start to ensuring the hard work and dedication is not taken for granted. People need to feel gratitude when they’re working hard to get a job done. Showing appreciation for a job well done pays off in many ways for the organization and the employee.

Do you have any other tips about appreciation at work?

3 Reasons Monday Sucks and What You Can Do About It

3 Reasons Monday Sucks and What You Can Do About It

1. We Weigh the Most on Monday Mornings

2. We Are More Likely to Have a Heart Attack or Stroke on Monday

3. We Have to Go Back to Work Monday

Showing Kindness at the Annual Conference

Showing Kindness at the Annual Conference

What Does Happiness Have to Do with Control?

Two Words Can Make a Huge Difference

Two Words Can Make a Huge Difference

Appreciation Increases Satisfaction

Appreciation Increases Satisfaction

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