Planners’ Picks
A collection of resources from CSN planning committee members worth mentioning
We made it past Friday the 13th, and celebrated MLK day. Now it’s time for acceptance, belonging, retirement planning, and curiosity…plus much more. And let’s Tuesday like we’ve never Tuesday’d before.
:: Image of the Week
You don’t let your phone get to 0% battery life before giving it a chance to recharge. So why then do you allow your body to burn out to nothing? Pause and recharge, or ask for help, before you’re depleted.
:: Resources on Mental Health and Self-Care
Got Neck And Back Pain? Break Up Your Work Day With These 5 Exercises For Relief
After staring at a computer screen for hours at a time, the body often gives us a clue that it is stressed: nagging neck and back pain.
To fix the problem, you might have gotten advice to focus on posture or ergonomics, but exercise research points to another strategy as well – taking short spurts of movement throughout the day to release tension and stress in the body. Here’s how researchers think quick hits of movement – sometimes called exercise “snacks” – may help prevent pain.
Accept it, Change it, or Leave it
John Chappelear posts this on Linkedin:
The door to a joy-filled life can only be opened from the inside. Those six things are Willingness, Daily Quiet Time, Service, Love & Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Action. All of this boils down to making a DECISION by realizing that we have a choice.
I promote three choices: Accept, Change, or Leave…
* If you are unhappy with your job… you can accept it, change it or leave it.
* If you don’t like where you live… you can accept it, change it or leave it.
* If you don’t like a certain relationship… you can accept it, change it or leave it.
The highest level of STRESS comes from people who can’t accept where they are, they won’t do anything to change, and they certainly aren’t going to leave. If we stop waiting for other people to start making our lives better, everything will go smoother, and our stress levels will decrease.
You can start taking responsibility for your own life by watching his short video below…
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is more people who have come alive.” -Howard Thurman
Hand in Hand, Belonging & Gratitude
Here’s a little practice that’ll move you towards your belonging. It’ll move you from a “sense of belonging” into “real belonging.” Express some gratitude to someone. When we express gratitude, we create real belonging, the two-way street where you feel, own, and care for each other. Belonging is as much, acting upon the feeling of caring for someone as it is getting the feeling when someone cares for you. Get this, when you express gratitude, you actually increase your ability to care and belong even more.
https://www.heartbasedleading.com/blog/hand-in-hand-belonging-amp-gratitude
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” —Robert Louis Stevenson
:: Resources on Work Culture & Team Development
Free Retirement Planning Help
It is never too early to start preparing for retirement. The choices you make today can affect your income and insurance options as a retiree. UW–Madison offers free, online informational sessions for employees at every stage in their career:
- Those who are 15-30 years from retirement can learn about strategies for preparing early by attending Starting to Save.
- The Mid-Career Retirement Check-In is designed for employees who are 5-15 years from retirement.
- UW employees who might retire within 5 years can learn about the retirement process in the Ready to Retire session; a recorded video of this session is also available.
All sessions are offered on multiple dates. Learn more by visiting the Retirement section of the UW–Madison Human Resources website.
https://hr.wisc.edu/retirement/
Why Feeling the Love at Work Is Important
In recent years, “employee experience” has been a buzzy term across corporations of every size — and for good reason. As Forbes explained it, employee experience “is a bottom-up concept — where processes, places, and workflow are designed around the pre-existing tendencies of the employees.” Essentially, the movement to prioritize the employee experience is a win for everyone — because it enables everyone to do their best work, in addition to boosting well-being and productivity. But, in the words of Tina, what’s love got to do with it?
No! It’s BEID, not DEI+B
It starts with belonging. A place where you don’t have to fit in. You’re yourself in all aspects, in differences and alikenesses. You feel, own, and care for your coworkers, and they feel, own, and care for you. You’re in it together in successes, dreams, and failures. You share in believing in the company purpose with them.
https://www.heartbasedleading.com/blog/its-bied-not-deib
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” —Albert Einstein
One Way Managers Ruin Diverse Teams
There is a pervasive problem among your managers that is ruining their ability to create a diverse, high-powered team. Joe Kwon has given it a name. It’s not official or scientific, it just helps him remember and communicate it more easily. The problem is “mirrormanaging.” Like it’s cousin micromanaging, it has several drawbacks.
:: Resources on Self-Leadership Development
A Year in Search of Purpose
In 2023, we might want to ask ourselves:
“What do I want to change: in myself, my relationships, my workplace, my community, and the world?”
“What could I shift in order to feel like my time and attention truly matter?”
Last year employees were looking for meaning, says best-selling author Daniel Goleman. This year they will be acting on it.
https://www.kornferry.com/insights/this-week-in-leadership/a-year-in-search-of-purpose
Stay Curious
Ask your questions. Study more. Be an expert in everything you do. Read more. Share more. Teach others. Keep learning.
“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney
Some great advice from Mareo McCracken: You Don’t Get What You Desire; You Get What You Decide. And that takes effort. Like getting a mentor. And doing the work. And having gratitude for your progress. And my personal mantra this year of staying curious.
Read his whole article from 2017, which is timeless in its message.
http://mareomccracken.com/you-dont-get-what-you-desire/
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” —Plato
Want to be a better leader? Observe More and React Less
Most time-strapped executives know they should plan ahead and prioritize, focus on the important as much as the urgent, invest in their health (including getting enough sleep), make time for family and relationships, and limit (even if they don’t entirely avoid) mindless escapism. But doing this is easier said than done, as we all know—and many of us have learned during years of trying unsuccessfully to boost my effectiveness. This article is written for upper leadership but applies to anyone at any level of an organization.
:: Resources on Communication
Embracing Your “Yes I Can”
What does it mean to embrace a “Yes I can” mindset? It means that you’re choosing to believe that you are capable of great things and taking on new challenges as they arise. It means that you’re willing to fail and learn from your mistakes and move forward. If you want to be successful, you need to embrace this mindset. No matter what you aspire to achieve, adopting a “Yes I Can” attitude can help, you do it. When you believe in yourself and your abilities, everything is possible. You’ll be able to overcome obstacles, defeat negative thoughts and pursue your dreams with focus and determination. We can do hard things, you got this!
https://jenndrummond.com/blog/adopting-a-yes-i-can-mindset/
How to Prepare for Conflict, with Amy Gallo
Amy Gallo is an expert in conflict, communication, and workplace dynamics. She combines the latest management research with practical advice to deliver evidence-based ideas on how to improve relationships and excel at work. In her role as a contributing editor at Harvard Business Review, Amy writes frequently about a range of topics with a focus on interpersonal dynamics, communicating ideas, leading and influencing people, and building your career.
In this conversation, she discusses some of the key strategies that have emerged from her research on the most effective ways to prepare for conflict. They explore why a larger strategy is more important than a script, how to plan out your message, and the value of taking the other side’s perspective.
https://coachingforleaders.com/podcast/prepare-for-conflict-amy-gallo/
:: Linkedin Learning Courses
Greg McKeown on the Art of Getting Effortless Results (Without Burning Out)
Ongoing stress and rampant burnout from contemporary life and work conditions are well recognized, but do we compound this by suffering more than we need to? What if we could find an easier way that produced better results? Well-known thought leader and bestselling author of Essentialism and Effortless Greg McKeown shares insights and practices that can help you work more effectively and joyfully, so that you don’t take on more than you can recover from yet can still deliver stellar results. Greg introduces you to finding the path of least effort, limiting the nonessential, and establishing a steady pace. He dives into ways to simplify by eliminating unnecessary steps and leverage learning and teaching to multiply the impact of your efforts. Plus, Greg shows you how to focus on what you have in order to get what you lack.
:: Upcoming Events
Learning Lab: The Power We Have to Create Less Stress at Work by DreamBank
Wed Jan 25 2023
1:00 pm CST
Online via Zoom
Does it ever feel like workplace stress is normalized — even glorified — by corporate culture today?
Join Shannon Kelly, Owner and Certified Coach of Endless Ocean Coaching, as she explores and dismantle this pervasive viewpoint and create a healthier, more sustainable approach to work. From uncovering the root causes of our stress, to identifying our personal trigger patterns, this session invites you to adopt a new mental toolkit of strategies that can help you deal with the demands of your work thoughtfully, sustainably and healthfully.
By slowing down to take a closer look at the stress in our lives, we grant ourselves the power to build on our dreams and a brighter future, too. This is a DreamBank presentation.
Webinar: The Good Life with Professor Robert Waldinger
Thu Jan 26 2023
12:00 pm CST
Online
What makes for a happy and fulfilling life?
At this special event, Professor Robert Waldinger will explore the lessons from the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted. By sharing his wisdom, warmth and compelling life stories, Robert will show us how we can make our lives happier and more meaningful, especially through our connections to others. He’ll also remind us that it’s never too late to strengthen your relationships or build new ones.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-good-life-with-prof-robert-waldinger-tickets-483701824177