Business

Refuse to Let Politicians Diminish Your Sense of Well-Being

Ours is the first era where people can effectively take charge of their own health.

Published

1 year ago

February 10, 2021

Jeff Davidson

For nearly one year, we have witnessed how mayors and governors, particularly in Democrat strongholds, are eager to control our lives. They take great joy, if well-disguised, in telling us when to come, when to go, what to wear, and how to act. Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan; Gavin Newsom, governor of California; and Bill deBlasio, mayor of New York, immediately come to mind.

Some of what they have decreed makes sense, but much of it extends beyond their duties and jurisdiction. Even in these challenging times, and despite intentional government interference, ours is the first era where people can effectively take charge of their own health.

Thanks to an abundance of resources, available primarily via the Internet, we have the opportunity to diagnose and to take action regarding what ails us more often and more effectively than any generation before us.

Certainly, doctors still play an important role and always will. We never want to substitute legitimate medical observation for what we conclude on our own. However, what we can research and discover as a result of our comprehensive reading, increasingly, represents reasonably sound information.

A Sea of Natural Cures

Sometimes we can avoid having to pay for expensive visits to doctors, outpatient services, clinics, or labs: Today, for whatever ails you, it’s possible to find potential natural remedies and to avoid ingesting pharmaceuticals. And why not? For tens of thousands of years prior to our recent history, people communed with nature and they gleaned many health-enhancing gifts that nature had to offer.

Hundreds upon hundreds of herbal remedies, and plant and flower extracts were discovered through the ages, passed on to offspring, and are available to this today.

One can search online and find potential natural cures for this affliction or that. Food is a remedy in many cases, as are legitimate supplements.

When else has humankind ever had the capability to learn so much, so easily, that could be of value to one’s health? Rather than endure a surgical procedure, as recently as one score ago often perceived as the only option, alternatives might well abound. Undertaking the exploration is worth the pursuit. Thereafter, if surgery is the most prudent path to take, with the advances in surgical procedures, if you must be operated on, it’s likely to be to your benefit.

An Array of Options

No matter what edicts an Andrew Cuomo or a Bill DeBlasio levy in the name of ‘protecting’ us, ostensibly from ourselves, we still have an array of options. We can find useful information to help lower blood pressure, stave off headaches, or reduce stress.

Meditation is effective as a stress reducer and immediately comes to mind. If you’ve never tried it, don’t knock it. Medical journals today now discuss the multitude of benefits that accrue to regular meditators. The physical manifestation of meditation, namely yoga, is also beneficial to your health. Yoga is proving to be a physical “elixir” that can help you in ways that normally one wouldn’t presume.

Stretching can work wonders and, the older you are, the more likely you need to be stretching on a regular basis. You can buy books on stretching, read articles on stretching, and view YouTube videos on the topic. You can quickly gather a variety of key illustrations and carve out for yourself a program that could last for months or years. Even doing simple stretches yields amazing results.

Exercise, as you already know, is vital to effective mind-body functioning. Exercise offers you greater mobility, enhanced mental sharpness, better sleep, better digestion and elimination, and much more. As with meditation, yoga, and stretching, a host of web resources are available to guide you.

Drugs No, Supplements Yes

As you assume a greater charge of your health, you’ll encounter information about supplements. They will show up in your reading. Many people are confused between vitamins and food supplements, versus pharmaceuticals and prescription drugs.

Vitamins and supplements essentially are the crushed extracts of a larger volume of food. The best have no additives. They give you the benefits, in part, that the original source would provide. Pharmaceuticals and prescription drugs, those in a pharmacy, are chemical compounds manufactured in a laboratory, to achieve a specific outcome within your body.

Pharmaceuticals are not natural and generally include a host of additives and preservatives. The list of side effects issued at a rapid pace on TV commercials is more likely than not to occur. They are the direct effects of ingesting artificial substances and abdicating control of your body in the hopes that such ‘magic pills’ will ‘fix’ you.

Working in Tandem

Enlightened doctors today recognize the importance of working with you. So, discover as much as you can about your situation before your appointment. Then, spill the beans. Let the doctor know what you have uncovered and conclude. It’s all grist for your personal health mill.

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Jeff Davidson

Jeff Davidson is the world's only holder of the title "The Work-Life Balance Expert®" as awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He is the premier thought leader on work-life balance, integration, and harmony. Jeff speaks to organizations that seek to enhance their overall productivity by improving the effectiveness of their people. He is the author of Breathing Space, Simpler Living, Dial it Down, and Everyday Project Management. Visit www.BreathingSpace.com for more information on Jeff's keynote speeches and seminars, including: Managing the Pace with Grace® * Achieving Work-Life Balance™ * Managing Information and Communication Overload®

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Business

Delegation: An Ongoing Phenomena

Failure to delegate effectively often happens because team leader don’t trust the people with whom they’re working

Published

3 days ago

June 29, 2022

Jeff Davidson

For most of your career, you’ve read or heard that one of the key approaches to getting things done is to delegate effectively. This presumes that you have others to whom you can delegate. In my contact with more than 950 organizations over the last two and a half decades, I’ve found increasingly that people have fewer resources, a lower budget, and less staff people. If they want to get something done, often they have to do it themselves!

Assuming you have others to whom you can delegate, the first or second time you personally tackle a particular task yields useful information. You learn more about the nature of the task, how long it takes, and whether or not you enjoy doing it.

By the third time, a task of the same ilk as those you’ve handled before often becomes best handled by someone reporting to you. Such tasks could involve updating a database, completing an interim report, or assembling meeting notes.

All that You Can

On the path to getting things done, your quest is to identify all those things that you can possibly delegate to others and then prepare those others so that they have a high probability of succeeding. In the course of your workday there may be only a handful of things that you alone need to do because of your experience, insight or specialized knowledge. Everything else that can be delegated should be.

Some people feel they have to take care of everything themselves and to this day haven’t been able to break the habit of “doing it all.” If this someone is in your seat right now, recognize that as a category of one, you can only get so much done.

Many managers and supervisors fail to delegate effectively because either they don’t fully trust the people with whom they’re working, or they’ve always been get-it-all-done-by-myself types.

Take Time before You Assign

Prior to delegating anything to anyone, take the time to actually prepare your staff for delegation. This would involve assessing an employee’s skills, interests, and needs. You could even ask people what new tasks and responsibilities they would like to assume. You might be surprised at the wide variety of responses you receive. There may be people on your staff right now who can help you with tasks you’ve been dying to hand off to someone but didn’t see how or when you could put them into play.

While you want to delegate to staff people who show enthusiasm, initiative and interest, or have otherwise previously demonstrated the ability to handle and balance several tasks at once, sometimes you have to delegate to someone who has not exhibited any of the above. In that case, delegate on a piece-meal basis.

Ensure that the staff person is able to effectively handle the small task or tasks he’s been assigned and does not feel swamped or overloaded. When the staff person demonstrates competence, you can increase the complexity of assignments and even the frequency with which you delegate.

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Business

Multi-tasking: More Harm than Good

In this day and age, where so much competes for our attention, it is easy to stray!

Published

2 weeks ago

June 16, 2022

Jeff Davidson

I belong to a local health club, and while I was there one day, I saw a woman get on the Stairmaster. I watched as she whipped out an mp3 player and started listening to music. Then, to my surprise, she reached into her gym bag, pulled out a book, and placed it on that ledge to read. I almost asked her if she would like a piece of gum!

Today, when so much competes for our attention, it is easy to stray! More often than we care to pretend, in the office and at home, we invite more than we can handle, and then act as though we didn’t. As individuals, throughout society, we are trained to believe that the ability to multi-task is a great attribute. Unfortunately, that’s a big mistake. Here’s why, and how to avoid multi-tasking in the future.

First Things First

What’s the fastest and easiest way to handle six tasks competing for our attention? Identify the most important task, second most important, third most important, and so on, then tackle the first and finish it all the way, move on to the second and complete it, then move all the way down the list.

Any other way of tackling those items, whether they are tasks for home or work, is simply not as efficient. The catch is, any other way is more psychologically satisfying. Why? It’s almost as if juggling projects, switching gears unnecessarily or abruptly, or leaving a job unfinished to start a new project gives you the opportunity to say to other people, “Hey, look at me! Look how involved I am! Look at how busy I am! I’m great at multi-tasking.” A multi-tasker, however, can’t compete with others who tackle their to-do list, one item at a time.

What about doubling up as a procedure for tackling a number of routine items or very simple tasks? You can eat dinner and read a book at the same time. Eating and reading at the same time is relatively harmless.

How about driving and talking on the cell phone at the same time? Driving requires your sharp attention, as does carrying on an intelligent conversation with someone else who is not present; doing both at the same time spreads your attention too thin, with often disastrous results. The same is true for projects you’re working on that require your best thinking.

Tips:
* give yourself 5 to 10 minute intervals to focus on the task at hand
* safe-guard your immediate environment to avoid interruptions
* acknowledge yourself whenever you stick to one task and finish it
* repeat all the above, often, knowing that ‘more often’ is better!

Your Undivided Attention

When you’re working on a new task, brainstorming, engaging in first-time thinking, or doing creative work, it’s vital to offer your complete and undivided attention to that one task before you. To dissipate your attention or otherwise stray means you are not going to do your best work.

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