SELF IMPROVEMENT AND MOTIVATION

Slowly but surely, non-essential workers are starting to transition back to the workplace. Under the guidance of public health experts, many people are adjusting to the idea of rejoining colleagues with whom they have interacted only virtually for months. For some, the new normal of remote work raises questions: What  is  a workplace? Does it make sense for people to be physically present if the risk of the virus persists? Do people get more work done at home or at the office? What does “engagement” mean if the physical boundaries of work have changed? Employees’ perspectives on returning to the workplace vary widely. While some are eager to trade the Zoom portal for the water cooler, others remain fearful about being around others, despite physical distancing measures and increased sanitization. Much of how an individual feels about returning to the workplace depends on their risk disposition. Much of how an individual feels about returning to the workplace depends on their r...

The Power of Enthusiasm Who is going to sign somebody with three major accidents and surgeries? No one. My career was over. I had just gotten my 3rd major accident and surgeries injury, I could barely walk, and I needed to wait a full week in KL before going home to start rehab. I was alone in my dark (literally) hospital room when my agent called with the most devastating news I’d ever heard up to that point of my life. He said my employer was planning on releasing me. It was no longer a question of  “Who is going to sign me?”  It was a question of “ Who am I?” I had tied my identity to work sports life motivation ever since I was 14. Now it was seemingly over. It would have been easy to resign myself to dark thoughts in the 4 months that ensued, but at the end of the day I chose positivity. Positivity gave me so much  MORE.  It instantly made me the most  enthusiastic  person in the room. Every day in recovery was simply a day closer to joining the life j...

IMPROVE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT Here are five ways I’ve seen winning teams improve employee engagement. Use these ideas at your company to boost your team’s productivity. #1 LIMIT MEDIA As a player in the NFL, if your phone goes off during a meeting, you get fined $1500. If they catch you on your phone, $1500. And that penalty can go up if you keep doing it. We all know media is distracting. That’s why some of the most elite performers in the world have the strictest media policies. What is your media policy? No phones in the room? Have you disabled some functions of your company phones? Accessibility to media can kill your team’s productivity. In the NFL, they gave us iPads—minus Internet, camera, and email. We used them for watching films and game plans, and to save trees (no paper handouts). Sure, we would have had a great time taking photos and sending them to each other. Instead, we used the tech for work purposes. And it worked. It kept us focused on the meetings and our goals. Once ...

BRING YOUR TEAM TOGETHER Over the years, I’ve seen  three key ways  that accomplished leaders inspired and pulled their whole team together, gaining focus and function. As a team member, I’ve also experienced how  breaking these three rules can break your team , losing you respect and influence and making your team unproductive.   #1: KNOW THYSELF — AND BE THYSELF In authenticity in a leader can have severe consequences. I learned this lesson working with a coach who was so focused on imitating the success of his mentor that we had no idea who  he  was. Every day he started meetings inauthentically, trying to be someone else. When you don’t know how to be yourself, your team can’t be comfortable with you. Because that coach didn’t know what he stood for, he never had the attention of the team. He took different positions and attitudes every day. His discipline was inconsistent, too. As a result, he lost credibility, he lost our trust, and he lost the team’s...

Motivation — the willingness to get the job done by starting rather than procrastinating, persisting in the face of distractions, and investing enough mental effort to succeed — accounts for  40% of the success  of team projects. Yet managers are often at a loss as to how to effectively motivate uninspired employees. Our  review of research on motivation  indicates that the key is for managers to first accurately identify the reason for an employee’s lack of motivation and then apply a targeted strategy. Carefully assessing the nature of the motivational failure —  before  taking action — is crucial. Applying the wrong strategy (say, urging an employee to work harder, when the reason is that they’re convinced they can’t do it) can actually backfire, causing motivation to falter further. These reasons fall into four categories — a quartet we call the  motivation traps . Namely, they are 1) values mismatch, 2) lack of self-efficacy, 3) disruptive em...

When I was 9, I got a gerbil named Penelope. At first, she was adorable, running on the wheel in her cage for hours. After a week, the novelty wore off. She ate and ran on the wheel. She slept and ran on the wheel. You get the picture. That little gerbil got her steps in every day, but she went absolutely nowhere. Somewhere along the line, I became Penelope. It seemed like I was always running, and I was always busy, but I was getting nowhere. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, I saw so many people struggling with the Penelope Syndrome. We would wake up, check our phones, go to work, check our phones, react our way through the insanity that is our inbox, check our phones, stay busy, check our phones, sleep, and do it all over again. Some days were great, some days were crappy, and most were somewhere in between. But were we getting anywhere, or just running in circles? It’s easy to get carried away by being busy, reacting through life and not achieving what is most important to y...

While it may seem like there’s nothing you can do about stress at work and home, there are steps you can take to relieve the pressure and regain control. Why is it so important to manage stress? If you’re living with high levels of stress, you’re putting your entire well-being at risk. Stress wreaks havoc on your emotional equilibrium, as well as your physical health. It narrows your ability to think clearly, function effectively, and enjoy life. It may seem like there’s nothing you can do about stress. The bills won’t stop coming, there will never be more hours in the day, and your work and family responsibilities will always be demanding. But you have a lot more control than you might think. Effective stress management helps you break the hold stress has on your life, so you can be happier, healthier, and more productive. The ultimate goal is a balanced life, with time for work, relationships, relaxation, and fun—and the resilience to hold up under pressure and meet challen...

Whatever your work demands, there are steps you can take to protect yourself from the damaging effects of stress, improve your job satisfaction, and bolster your well-being on and off the job. When is workplace stress too much? Stress isn’t always bad. A little bit of stress can help you stay focused, energetic, and able to meet new challenges in the workplace. It’s what keeps you on your toes during a presentation or alert to prevent accidents or costly mistakes. But in today’s hectic world, the workplace too often seems like an emotional roller coaster. Long hours, tight deadlines, and ever-increasing demands can leave you feeling worried, drained, and overwhelmed. And when stress exceeds your ability to cope, it stops being helpful and starts causing damage to your mind and body—as well as to your job satisfaction. You can’t control everything in your work environment, but that doesn’t mean you’re powerless, even when you’re stuck in a difficult situation. If stress on the ...