Thirteen quick things to change your life today

If our lives are the sum of things we do, then changing what we do can change our lives, one moment at a time. Here are thirteen things that can be easily achieved.

1. Exercise. If you are currently doing nothing, then ten minutes exercise will make a difference. If you are already exercising, make it an extra ten minutes.

2. Wear sunblock. Australians have the highest rate of skin cancer in the world, so as a red-head growing up in Australia, I know what I am talking about! Sun block is not only the one thing most guaranteed to keep you looking young, it may also save your life.

3. Eat some vegetables. Preferably green and leafy ones. A variety of fresh vegetables will keep you healthier and help with weight control.

4. Do the hard thing first. There is probably something you have been putting off, some emotionally challenging thing. Do it. Delaying doesn’t make it any better (in fact it usually makes it worse), and having it dragging around your neck doesn’t help your enjoyment of life now.

5. Act As If. A psychological principle whereby you can trick your brain into believing you are what you want to be. Smile, and your brain will think you are happy, and studies say you will start to feel happier. Michelangelo decided he was the world’s best artist years before he achieved it, but having this image meant he accepted the big projects (Sistine Chapel) that made his dream a reality.

6. Get organised. But don’t be overwhelmed. If your house is a mess, try scheduling fifteen minutes a day to do one room each day. Fifteen minutes is achievable and not overwhelming.

7. Stand up! Studies show that the more you sit down during the day, the earlier you die. It is now possible to get a desk to work at standing up.

8. Make time for a friend. Our lives can become very isolated a we get busier. Make time to enjoy others.

9. Have some downtime. Meditation is ideal, but even if you don’t know how to, have some quiet thinking time in a peaceful place. It doesn’t matter if you all asleep.

10. Get enough sleep. While we don’t really know he purpose of sleep, we o know it is necessary. Regular, sufficient sleep rejuvenated the body and mind, helps us think straight, manage our emotions, and have enough physical energy to exercise, dal with cravings and look after ourselves.

11. Give up one bad habit now. One less cigarette, one less biscuit, one less alcoholic drink – one less s a good thing. Then build on it.

12. Drink water. Water helps flush toxins from the body, helps control hunger, helps develop healthy skin and organs, and can help resolve headaches (some headaches are related to dehydration).

13. Live your life one moment at a time. (thanks to Maggie for this one). If losing weight, getting fit, finishing your study, tidying your house etc is too much, don’t think of he big goal. Just make he best decision for now. Faced with a range of lunch options, pick the healthy one now. How will you spend the next ten minutes?

Is stress the 21st century’s black death?

The Japanese have a specific word for death from overwork: karoshi. Although useful for describing early death, this is not comforting to know that this syndrome is recognised enough to have its own word.

So here is a pretty interesting infographic. No surprises at some of the top most stressful jobs – but PR officer? On the other hand, my future career is as a philosopher, which features in the least stressful jobs. Of course I might be stressed about income in that job – does anyone pay for philosophers these days?

However two shockers for me:
1. Apparently relationship with boss, although a top reason for leaving a job, was not a major factor in stress levels (really? I beg to differ. See earlier postings about Psychopaths in the workplace)

2. women who felt they had some level of control in the workplace were MORE likely to die early. (The complete opposite of the Whitehall study findings from the 1960s – when the public service was 90% male. This study found that those who felt they had some level of control over their work / environment etc had better health outcomes than those who were lower down the food chain and largely powerless. We women cant seem to catch a break.)

I do however wonder how they measured stress other than early death. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger and other platitudes.

The original link is here.

Interested in dysfunctional workplaces and stress? Have a look at
When organisations turn cannibal

Psychopaths in the workplace

Analysis Paralysis

Summit of Mt Everest

A friend sent me a blog where the author was saying how he had completed a marathon (from starting as a non-runner), started eating healthier, and got rid of his crippling debt through four easy steps.

And the kicker was, that he had given up setting goals.

Now given the overwhelming focus on goal setting that this blog has had over the past few days, it is possible that she was trying to tell me something……but instead it got me thinking more about goal setting and analysis paralysis.

The author of the blog linked above proclaims that his success is that he gave up setting goals. Instead he focussed on starting small, doing one change at a time, enjoying the process of the small steps he was taking, and being grateful for each step.

Now kudos to him for finding what works for him. He seems to have changed his life in some very significant ways.

But while he may not be writing goals…..he is clearly still setting them. He is looking at his life and deciding what aspects he is unhappy with. And he is developing a plan of small steps to get there. And he is integrating the changes into his life, celebrating the wins and recognising the importance of the changes he is making.

So the question is, do you set big inspiring goals, or do you set little do-able goals? Clearly the answer for me is both, but the downside of the big inspiring goals is they can be scary, demotivating – paralysing. If your goals is so big that you can’t actually see the path there, you might find you don’t do anything. But if they are small and don’t add up to a bigger goal….then are they worth the effort?

PS – this might be an example of confirmation bias – finding things that support your opinion and ignoring those that do not support your opinion – but the following posting on the same blog focuses on the importance of focussing on one thing at a time, and in fact focussing on one aspect that will build to the bigger goal, then moving onto the next. I have to say, that is a plan if ever I heard one!

This post is part of a series on goal-setting. Others are below:
Goal Setting – Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!
Goodbye to old (bad) habits
It’s about the JOURNEY (as well as the goal)
Harvard Business School study….or urban internet myths
Being Accountable

It’s about the JOURNEY (as well as the goal)

photo credit pdbreen

“To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping” Chinese Proverb

So you know where you want to go? Once you’ve set your goals, the next step is to PLAN how to get there.

This is the step that is often missing in New Year’s Resolutions and goal-setting generally. It’s relatively easy to think about what we want, the destination, but often the goal seems remote, unattainable. Or, as mentioned in the previous post, it requires daily effort, daily decisions. Many goals founder on the rocks of daily life.

So the next trick is to make achieving the goals automatic. Take away that decision-making point – make the decisions now and plan out what you are going to do. This is about sensible motivated you-of-the-present safeguarding against tired, unmotivated you-of-the-future.

This is the real reason why you need to put you goals into positive statements, not negative statements. You can plan to DO something, but planning to not do something just leaves a hole and a question – if you aren’t doing that, then what are you doing? If you aren’t having the cigarette, then what are you doing? If you aren’t eating junk food, what are you eating? Too much decision-making at the “crunch-time” will increase stress….and potentially lead to failure as you become more focussed on what you are giving up.

So, if your plan is to give up cigarettes, plan to replace them with something else – chewing gum, knitting, blogging – something that can truly take the place of the time taken to smoke and distract you. Plan to avoid situations where you are most tempted – smokos at work, bars, that friend you always smoke with – but do it by planning something to fill those gaps. Perhaps you can arrange that you have a regular gym-date with the friend.

If you are planning to lose weight, plan how that is going to happen on a daily basis. Perhaps you could have a glass of water when you feel the urge to binge coming on. If you are planning to save money start a business, get organised, plan it out month by month, week by week, day by day, so that when the time comes, you don’t have to stop and work it out for yourself at the time, you can go to your plan, or your list, and just follow your own instructions.

Don’t make your plan unattainable – if you program every last second of your life you will undoubtedly rebel at some stage. If you plan to save every last cent over basic living requirements, then you aren’t going to make it. Set a realistic goal and if you exceed it – great! If you fall down one week – get back on the plan.

“It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end.” Ursula K LeGuin

Want more on how to stay strong on your New Year’s Resolutions? This post is part of a series on goal-setting. Others are below:
Goal Setting – Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Goodbye to old (bad) habits
The Harvard Business School Study…or urban internet myths
Being accountable

Chill Pill

Need I say more?

Oval Therapy

photo credit Andy F

A psychiatrist I used to work with had a model of care he called oval therapy.

Basically he and his client went outside and walked around the oval while they did their therapy. It meant they both got outside, got a bit of Vitamin D, a bit of exercise and fresh air. Probably did both of them the world of good.

It also meant that they weren’t siting in a clinical office in an institution – a reminder of sickness – and instead of being face to face, which can be confronting, they were alongside each other. A completely different relationship dynamic.

I digress. This post is in fact triggered by a Psychcentral article I just read linking exercise and mental health. The original article can be found here, and another similar one here.

But generally there are a number of ways that exercise can affect psychological health.

1. Vitamin D (from the sunlight) is shown to affect mood. Lack of Vitamin D is associated with Season Affective Disorder (SAD) where sufferers are depressed during winter months.

2. Physiology. It is hard to walk or do any other form of exercise without straightening up a little. Physiology affects mood (think of how a depressed person sits).

3. Stress Reduction. Through appropriate use of adrenaline, the fight or flight hormone, reductions in build up of this hormone in your system don’t raise your stress levels.

4. Fitness. A physically healthy metabolism processes sugars differently to an overweight unfit one. A physically healthy body supports a physically healthy mind (think of how many illnesses have psychological aspects – or just the general psychological malaise of being unwell).

5. Change of scenery / change of focus. Being outdoors, concentrating on doing something physical can break patterns of thought. New things to look at, a focus on physical sensation (muscular effort) can distract from negative thought patterns or worrying thoughts.

So that’s my cue to exercise! See you out there.

If you liked this post you might also like…
Reasons I should be exercising
12,000 steps
Fitness Campaign

Power corrupts

photo by Bottled Void http://www.flickr.com/photos/ 22964099@N05/2204059683/

A new study, soon to be published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, has found that power without status can lead to abuse.

“The Destructive Nature of Power without Status” details how those with some authority but without status (think clerks, prison guards etc) can become abusive, forcing those within their power to engage in demeaning behaviour.

The authors, from business schools at Northwestern University, University of Southern California, and Stanford University, use the example of the soldiers at Abu Ghraib, who abused and demeaned their prisoners.

The authors also note however that not everyone in these situations behaves badly – and that is a function of personality and culture.

This study links in with previous studies such as the now infamous “prisoner” study, where college students were assigned prison guard or prisoner roles. The behaviour of the guards was so abusive that the study was stopped halfway through. (for more information, see “Where are they Now“

Authors of the new study note that the abusive and belittling behaviours demonstrated by the study participants damaged goodwill and destroyed relationships – essentially meaning that the team was less productive as a result.

Another interesting link to this is the recent study about the effect of rudeness in the workplace on not only the recipients of the rudeness, but even on those who only witness the rudeness. This study demonstrated that those who witnessed (or experienced) rudeness in the workplace had lowered psychological and intellectual abilities to perform complex and demanding tasks. Add to this the study that says workplace incivility is on the rise….

So in summary – poor workplace behaviour has been demonstrated to impede effective and productive work practices through poor work relationships, loss of goodwill, and impaired psychological and intellectual capabilities. Conversely, is it logical to assume that respectful behaviours across the hierarchy promote positive work enviroments and cooperative, productive behaviours? Or if not positive productivity, at least a lack of negative influences on productivity (to use the double negative)!

If this post interested you, you might also like Life and Death in the Office.

12,000 steps

This is not me! Licensed under Creative Commons from Adria Richards http://www.flickr.com/photos/adriarichards/2798736890/

Acording to health and exercise gurus, I should be doing something between 10,000 and 12,000 steps a day. No, that is not a typo. Ten thousand to twelve thousand steps a day.

My average sits somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000. Unless I am particularly busy at work, in which case it can drop to as little as 2,000.

I have a fairly sedentary job. I spend my days sitting in my car driving, sitting at a computer, sitting at my desk reading, sitting in meetings.

My children on the other hand, can run up 12,000 steps in a couple of hours. They run, jump, hop, play sports, climb, skip, chase, etc.

So how can I get my steps up?

One work colleague suggested walking before work (clearly he doesn’t have to get children ready for school in the morning. Or put on a load of washing, empty and reload the dishwasher, make beds, iron a shirt or two, prepare lunches and defrost tonight’s dinner).

I could get up early – but I am already sleep deprived. (I do however acknowledge the argument that if I were fitter I might not have the sleep issues and my energy levels might be better managed).

Another colleague suggested a quick walk at lunchtime. I spend most of my lunchtimes doing emails. I have a long commute to and from work and would prefer to spend all my time at work productively. And yes that probably does say something about my priorities and how, as a working woman, I should be prioritising myself…..

A third suggestion was a walking group after work. I need to be at the other side of the city before childcare closes.

And when I get home I have dinner to prepare, homework to supervise, fights to break up, a house to keep in some semblance of tidiness.

On the weekend I can get a little exercise in. In between study homework, shopping, running the children to sporting and social committments. And writing this blog. But this little bit of weekend exercise does not make up for the daily deficit.

Clearly I need to do something. More exercise would increase my energy levels, reduce BP and stress levels, increase brain function, etc etc (see Reasons I should be exercising.) What I can do at the moment is try to build extra steps into my day. I walk to local work sites when I can. I do try to build in an errand or two at lunch time to enable me to take a five minute walk (post office, supermarket, newsagent).

But if exercise is like a bank, I am definitely living on my credit cards.

Thanks for listening to me whinge!

Life and death in the office

I blogged recently on a study linking workplace rudeness with lowered work performance. This study demonstrated that you didn’t need to be the actual victim of the rudeness, you only had to witness it happening to someone else and it affected the ability to perform higher order tasks.

Well, hard on the heels of that one, I have been sent two more studies, and reminded of another.

The following Stress Reduction Kit has been provided in case you need it.

1. Professor Arie Shirom at Tel Aviv University led a team of researchers tracking 820 participants over twenty years. What they found was, after controlling for a number of health risk factors such as smoking, the risk of death strongly correlated with the perceived niceness of co-workers. The nicer you felt your co-workers were to you, the lower your mortality rate. The more obnoxious they were, your risks went up. This was published in the American Psychological Association journal, but for non-members, access the information here.

2. The same source also makes reference to the rather famous (in public health circles) Whitehall Study. This was another 20 years study conducted on 28,000 public servants in the UK. It found that risk of a number of diseases and premature death was correlated with being lower down the pecking order. They hypothesized that this was related to the degree of negative stress – stress where the person had no control over effecting the solution. This was more prevalent at the bottom of the ladder than the top of the ladder, where there might be a high degree of stress but there was also power and control to do something about it.

3. And from an American Psychological Association conference – research that workplace incivility is on the rise. The paper presented stated that between 75 and 80% of people have experienced incivility at work, and that it is on the rise.

Is this your experience of the workplace?

Feel free to print and use the stress kit provided free of charge to you at the top of the blog. We are happy to be of assistance.

Alternately you might like to read about the benefits of red wine and dark chocolate.

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When enough is enough

We’ve all had them – the complaint that won’t go away.

Abusive, persistent, threatening, unreasonable, manipulative, obsessive. We won’t name names, but a name just popped into your head. Perhaps several.

Just when you think you have made a breakthrough – you have resolved what you can resolve, or they have understood that you can’t fix the unfixable or turn back the hands of time – they are back.

The fall-out can be enormous. Staff stress, team stress, productivity drops, other customers getting the short shrift from stressed staff, time and resources taken away from legitimate business. And often the fall-out happens in the complainant’s life as well – family breakdowns, job losses, bankruptcies. There is no win here for anyone.

Last week I attended an excellent training session from the NSW Ombudsman’s Office on Managing Unreasonable Complainant Behaviour. The handbook is available for download here. This guide includes some sample letters and scripts for dealing with complainants, as well as some principles from the people whose job is to be the end of the line for complaints that escalate.

The highly entertaining Paddy and Sheila took us through the principles and some practice exercises. Well worth the time.

Some thoughts from the text:
1. Remember even the most unreasonable and irrational complainant may actually have a point. Look at the evidence first and impartially, irrespective of the manner in which the complainant has approached you.

2. The complaint and how it is to be handled is your decision according to your agency protocol. It is not the role of the complainant to dictate how their complaint will be handled.

3. Don’t make any promises you can’t keep.

4. Ask yourself if you are behaving the way you would respond to any other complainant. If you are doing things you wouldn’t do for others then you are probably being manipulated.

5. Call the behaviour. (The text refers to making it overt.)

6. Clearly set the rules. If it is an hour’s meeting, then it is an hour and nothing else. If you will not accept swearing and abusive language then be clear about that, give a warning and what your response will be if it continues.

7. Take into account the complainant’s background. If their normal language is swearing (and the swearing is not aggressively aimed at you) then you may need to accept it to an extent. If they are illiterate, then don’t expect them to fill in your forms.

8. Having a mental illness does not preclude someone from having a genuine complaint. Again, look at the evidence first.

9. Deal with the behaviour as unreasonable, not the person. On another day and another issue, they may be easier to deal with. On another day and another issue, you might be the unreasonable complainant. They could just be having a bad day.

10. Always treat the complainant with respect no matter what. Two wrongs don’t make a right, you need to set the standard of behaviour you expect.

11. Document, document, document. Take notes on phone conversations. Email follow-ups and summaries of conversations and meetings for confirmation.