Get Out Those Legos
Many of my clients are working harder than smarter. This is not a put-down of their intelligence. It is a statement about the conventions of the way most of us live and work. Without a concerted effort to step back and take an objective look at how we function day in and day out, we find ourselves subject to old ways of doing things without periodic checkups to see if they are working. The first step to changing the high stress road to burnout approach to your work day is to build in "joy breaks" or mini refreshers. It is not true that you get more done if you don't stop for lunch or other refreshing breaks during the day. On the contrary, I always remember the days I sat at my desk searching for a solution to a particular problem. I tried very hard to come up with the answer and was not successful. In the afternoon of the second day, I threw my hands in the air, exasperated, and went out to pull a few weeds from my garden. That's when the light bulb went off and I had the answer. In order to have meaningful joy breaks a plan is necessary. Start by making a list of things you consider fun and refreshing that can be done in 5 or 10 minutes, a half hour, an hour or more. Then list the supplies you will need to have on hand when you want to do that activity: magazines, puzzles, a musical instrument, books, CD's, running shoes, Legos, phone numbers of friends or family, gardening gloves, crayons, paints, jelly beans, yoga instructions, a basketball, a movie schedule, etc. Make sure that your breaks have NOTHING to do with your work. You will experience even more benefits than feeling refreshed. You will start thinking out of the box, be more creative, productive, and make better decisions. You will also notice that there are more facets to your personality than are reflected in your work. You may remember old interests you forgot about or discover new talents you would like to develop. Your joy breaks will bring more joy to your daily life and make you a more pleasant person to be around. At some point you may want to take a closer look and examine in greater depth how you are spending not only your work life, but your whole life. Are you actually doing what you are supposed to be doing in the world? We will take a deeper look into that in the future. Master your next level and enjoy the journey. About The Author Dorene Lehavi, Ph.D. is principal of Next Level Business and Professional Coaching. She coaches Professionals and Business Partners and teaches teleclasses on techniques to break through barriers to the next level. Dr. Lehavi offers a complimentary coaching session so you can experience how coaching can work for you. Contact Dr. Lehavi at DL@CoachingforYourNextLevel.com or on the web at http://www.CoachingforYourNextLevel.com Subscribe to Mastering Your Next Level monthly e-newsletter at http://www.coachingforyournextlevel.com/newsletter.html
Related News
Is 'F*** It' therapy the key to happiness? - Metro
Eat your way to happiness - Yakima Herald-Republic
Eat your way to happinessYakima Herald-Republic, WA -Oct 4, 2008by SPENCER HATTON The death-spiral of the stock market these past few weeks has done wonders for the makers of Tums. Acid indigestion is now a part of the ... |
Tilghman not surprised by income, happiness survey results - Princeton University The Daily Princetonian
Little happiness in Haiti - MSNBC
Little happiness in HaitiMSNBC -Oct 4, 2008By Mara Schiavocampo, NBC Nightly News digital correspondent Last week I was in Haiti covering the aftermath of four fierce storms that slammed the island ... |
A day of great happiness - Fiji Times
A day of great happinessFiji Times, Fiji -16 hours agoOLD scholars of Adi Cakobau School converged on familiar ground in Sawani on Saturday to celebrate the school's 60th anniversary. ... |
Why money can't necessarily buy happiness... - Sify
VoIP Providers: Providing The Happiness of Talking Without Any Frowns - TMC Net
The secrets of happiness - Tehran Times
The secrets of happinessTehran Times, Iran -Oct 4, 2008There's good news in these findings: Given the right disposition, in the face of difficulty, people can still find renewed happiness. What makes for a happy ... |
Charity is laudable, but it can't provide health care for all - Salt Lake Tribune
Our pursuit of happiness - Chicago Tribune
Our pursuit of happinessChicago Tribune, United States -Oct 5, 2008Researchers like Diener are trying to convey what philosophers have long written: True happiness lies in the pursuit of deeply held goals, not in fleeting ... |
|
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Smile
How do we smile at each other? Is there a message communicated between us as we smile? Does it convey the depth of our feelings we have for each other? Take note of how our smiles deepen in feeling toward each other as our relationship grows and time passes. Note how our smiles reflect our joy as we pass time together without insignificant complaints.
Happiness Fleeting
"You cannot capture happiness no matter how hard you may chase after it. Happiness is something that follows you."
The words of the old sage echoed in the young man's heart, sounding a constant beat like the song that plays over and over without reprieve.
"What does that mean?" he asked himself. "Time to walk," he continued, trapped in his own inner dialogue.
A Shortcut to Happiness -- Vote with Live 8
Did you see any of the Live 8 performances in support of stopping poverty in Africa? Here's your chance to create a shortcut to your own happiness by voting to help others. You can support the creation of the happiness of survival for them.
How To Achieve Absolute Happiness
Everyone wants to be happy. When you decide to be happy you are opening the door to love and inner peace. Many people are ready to spent millions of dollars to find happiness. Some of the affluent people in the world have spent their lives searching for the key to a happy life. Happiness can be described as a feeling of joy, excitement, pleasure, serenity, calmness and tranquility. It is something which you experience within yourself. Happiness is a choice. You can be happy, healthy and wealthy or sad, miserable and poor. Your mind is a very powerful instrument. As you programme your mind towards happiness, your subconscious mind starts to believe them and sooner or later your negative thoughts become fewer and happiness becomes part of your life.
How A Psychovirus May Be Destroying Your Life
A pervasive sense of low self-esteem, a feeling of unworthiness, is perhaps the most debilitating belief system that you can entertain.
How To Live Happily Ever After
In life, many of us simply plunge ahead, only to realize later that some of the things we did, we wish we hadn't, and some of the things we didn't do, we wish we had. How do you keep yourself on the right track, the right path? And how can you live happily ever after? Here's how. Here's one simple easy-to-do thing that can help keep you on the right track and help you live happily ever after ...
10 Survival Strategies to Overcoming Adversity and Being Happy
If one thing is for certain, each of us will experience some form of adversity while we are still breathing on this Earth. Unfortunately, some of us will experience more than our fair share of adversity, either in the workplace or in our personal lives.
Body, Mind, and Soul
Being in tune with your mind, body, and soul and how they work is the
one most important thing you can do for yourself. We know now that,
the three work together. If the body is ill, the mind and soul are
affected as well. If the mind becomes ill the body and soul show the
stress of that. But, I think the strongest combination showing the
most illness is when the soul becomes stressed. That seems to make
the body and mind crumble the quickest. I, myself, have learned that
first hand! But, it also works in the reverse! When the body is healthy,
the mind is sound and the soul is happy. Keeping these three in
balance is a life long task. So, learning how to do it and then maintaining it with little effort is very important. We do have other things in life to accomplish! However, the other things we are accomplishing will be
enhanced and go much easier if we take the time to be in tune with
ourselves.
How Good Are You?
The demands of being a good person can sometimes mean sacrificing your own happiness.
Who Controls YOUR Happiness?
Where does happiness fit on a scale of 1 to 10 in your life?
Spiritual and Sexual Healing
Couple issues such as spirituality and sexuality rank higher than financial reasons as the most affected items of a fumbling relationship. When it comes the moment to point out why a couple needs more intimate vigor, two wrongly things are sure to happen: Women are always blamed, and if both recognize that it's a male matter, also women blame themselves. Their consequent silent follows a behavior that will never end the cycle if there is no communication and willingness to solve it.
Keeping You Confident!
We can all be confident when we are sure of ourselves and knowledgeable about the situation in which we find ourselves. But what happens when we are not so sure and when we are forced to step outside our comfort zone? What happens to our thinking?
Self Identity: Who Are You?
Self-identity? Who are you really? We identify with many things, but this is just a process in our minds. In fact, this identification causes us to suffer.
Are You Hooked On Love?
When you're in love your eyes and your face light up. And so do four tiny portions of your brain. "Falling in love" is a brain condition!
The Key To A Problem-Free Life
What comes to your mind when you see someone who has a perpetual smile on her face and always looks at things on the bright side? Do you wish you could strangle that person or do you wonder how she accomplishes looking peaceful and without a care in the world. Well, I'd hope that once you get past the wanting to strangle the person, you'd ask yourself what it is that makes that person tick the way she does? I'd venture to guess that the person leads a problem-free life! Am I saying that this person doesn't face challenges and obstacles? Absolutely not! It's all about how she perceives these challenges and the thought process she applies. Have I sparked your interest?!
Choose To Integrate Body, Mind, & Soul
Our bodies were made in such a way that everything is integrated. The
mind appears to control everything. When something happens to the
body whether good or bad, it registers in the brain and the brain then
dictates the bodies response. Scientists has found that it also works
that way within the body. Biofeedback has shown that the mind can
direct the immune system to fight various infections in the body includ-
ing the dreaded strains of cancer. For the average person this is a
wonderful idea, but biofeedback costs money and besides not
everyone has a life threatening problem. Imagine being able to do this
for yourself in the comfort of your own home, office or anywhere else
you can go to be alone for a few minutes! There are another kind of
science that is telling us that the body listens when we talk. Think
about that for a minute. When we talk we are saying what the mind is
thinking; we are just saying it outloud. So, it follows we can do our
own biofeedback anywhere we want. A very simple illustration of this
will prove this to you. Hold your arms out in front of you extending
your two index fingers. Shut your eyes and repeat our loud, "fingers
come together". Think it and say it and within two minutes your fingers
do come together. When I first tried this it was very exciting to me
that it worked because for me it opened possibilities in my mind! Since
then I have become a talker to myself! A self whisperer if you will. I
talk to my body and to my sub conscious even and I have gotten
amazing results. This is one thing that I think will work for everyone
because this is one of the functions of the body, mind and soul that
was part of the design, just as blood running through everyone's body
is the same. But, you must have an open mind! Your mind accepts
that blood runs through the body in a specific manner and so it must
accept that the body, mind and soul will listen when it is spoken to, no
matter who is speaking, yourself or someone else.
Be Happy, Join The Wednesday Worry Club
Of all the people who know me, no one would say I am afflicted with worryitis. They may say other things about me, which may or may not be true, but that's another story.
The Underestimated Power of Kindness
It was a bright Saturday morning in the late fall. I had stopped at a cafe' to enjoy a cup of coffee and scan the morning newspaper. Suddenly, I felt a hand on the back of my jacket and heard someone say, "Hey Steve! How ya doin'?"
The Science of Laughter
The title I chose for this article makes me smile. The science of laughter? Laughter, one of the things we used to take for granted, is now the subject of scientific study. In some ways it's quite surprising what has been discovered, but in other ways, it's probably not surprising at all. After all, we know intuitively that it is good for us.
Sweeten Up Your Life
Sometimes life experiences can be like a lemon-flavored Tootsie Roll Pop. Hard and sour on the outside. Soft and sweet on the inside. Take getting dumped in a relationship for instance. Facing life alone can be tough for many people. Yet, there are behind-the-scenes benefits to every predicament! There's even a sweet treat hidden within the experience of losing a lover.
|
