Watershed Solutions Blog

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Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath. Nothing is that important. Just lie down. ~Natalie Goldberg, American Author

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. ~William James, American Psychologist

Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one. ~
Hans Selye, Endocrinologist

The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it. ~ Author Unknown

Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are. ~Chinese Proverb

Setbacks and stressors are bridges to be crossed to our goals… not barricades to keep us from them. ~Stephen Pierce, Speaker and Author

Here are some techniques to clear your mind and calm the mental chatter.

Write to Release. Reverse negative habits and mental patterns that threaten your productivity by engaging in free form writing, at least once a day for 30 days. Grab your pencil and paper and sit in a quiet private area where you won’t be interrupted. Close your eyes and take three deep breaths before you start writing. Don’t plan, reread, edit or correct what you are writing. Once you have completed the exercise discard the paper. Free form writing will help you release any negative thoughts or emotions that are cluttering your mind (Huffington Post, How to Clear Your Mind of Clutter, 2010).

Take a Break. Research, including that conducted by Balci and Aghazadeh (2004), indicates that taking frequent breaks can help you retain information more effectively and maintain your focus for a longer period of time (Balci and Aghazadeh, Louisiana State University 2004). Clear your mind by rewarding yourself with a 5 minute break every time you complete a large or complex task.

Meditate by Focusing on your Breathe. A study led by Katherine MacLean of the University of California shows that meditation can help clear unnecessary thoughts and negativity from your brain (John Cloud, TIME Health, 2010). All you need are three minutes each day to complete a simple breathing meditation. Close your eyes and put your left hand on your chest and your right hand on your stomach below your navel. This will help you identify whether you are breathing from your chest or from your stomach. Slowly feel the breath go in and out and your hand on your stomach rise and fall- the hand on your shoulder should remain in the same position. This will help you clear your mind and relieve your stress, allowing you to relax.

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.  ~John Quincy Adams, American Diplomat

The task of leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already.  ~John Buchan, 15^th Governor General of Canada

To lead people, walk beside them … 
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. 
The next best, the people honor and praise. 
The next, the people fear; 
and the next, the people hate … 
When the best leader’s work is done the people say, 
”We did it ourselves!” ~Lao-tsu, Ancient Chinese Philosopher

Lead and inspire people. Don’t try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be lead. 
~Ross Perot, American Businessman

The leader has to be practical and a realist, yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist. 
~Eric Hoffer, American Writer and Philosopher

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Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. ~ William James, Philosopher

Always desire to learn something useful. ~ Sophocles, Ancient Greek Tragedian

Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later. ~ Og Mandino, Author

Either you run the day or the day runs you. ~ Jim Rohn, Author

Even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward. ~ Victor Kiam, American Entrepreneur

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much. ~ Jim Rohn, Author

It’s always too early to quit. ~ Norman Vincent Peale, Author

Believe you can and you’re halfway there. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, Former President of the United States of America

Change your thoughts and you change your world. ~ Norman Vincent Peale, Author

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson, Poet

Mankind is made great or little by its own will. ~ Friedrich Schiller, Philosopher

The power of imagination makes us infinite. ~ John Muir, Author

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’! ~ Audrey Hepburn, Actress

What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail? ~ Robert H. Schuller, Author

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A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him. ~ David Brinkley, Newscaster

Action is the foundational key to all success. ~ Pablo Picasso, Painter

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other. ~ Abraham Lincoln, Former President of the United States of America

Success is blocked by concentrating on it and planning for it… Success is shy – it won’t come out while you’re watching. ~ Tennessee Williams, Writer

Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. ~ David Frost, Writer

Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A world of optimism and hope. A “you can do it” when things are tough. ~ Richard M. DeVos, American Businessman

I don’t think you lead by pessimism and cynicism. I think you lead by optimism and enthusiasm and energy. ~ Patricia Ireland, U.S. Administrator

One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’ t pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself. ~ Lucille Ball, American Comedienne

Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress. ~ Nicholas M. Butler, American Philosopher

Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power. ~ William James, American Psychologist

The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser – in case you thought optimism was dead. ~ Robert Brault, Writer

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“To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.” ~ Anthony Robbins, Author

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” ~ Epictetus, Philosopher

“Communication works for those who work at it.” ~ John Powell, Composer

“Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Author

“Communication is the real work of leadership.” ~ Nitin Nohria, Dean of Harvard

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” ~ Mother Teresea, Humanitarian

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. ~ Winston Churchill, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out. ~ Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the United States of America

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. ~ Bill Cosby, Comedian

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying. ~ Michael Jordan, Professional Athlete

Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness. ~ Oprah Winfrey,  Philanthropist

Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street. ~ Zig Ziglar, Author

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit. ~ Napoleon Hill, Author

I recently attended an HCI webinar “It’s Five O-Clock Somewhere”- Increasing Employee Engagement by Improving Work/Life Balance. Work/life balance is something we all need to maintain; it’s also strongly connected to employee engagement. Employers who do not effectively manage balance fuel burnout and demotivation- the enemies of engagement!

Kevin Sheridan, the presenter and Chief Engagement Officer and Chief Consultant of HR Solutions, began the webinar by defining employee engagement.  He classified our desire to be part of the value that an organization creates into 3 categories: engaged, ambivalent and disengaged.

• Engaged: “highly engaged and committed to the mission, vision and values of the organization”
• Ambivalent “not apt to go the extra mile”
• Disengaged “negative energy, they focus on problems”

According to his research, only 27% of employees are actively engaged while 60% are ambivalent/ not engaged and 13% are actively disengaged (HR solutions’ International Research Institute).  Sheridan attributes much of this disengagement to a lack of respect for work/life balance on the part of employers.  He supported this claim with some research:

• 86% of male employees and 67%of female employees work more than 40 hours a week (The Three Faces of Work-Family Conflict, 2011).
• 74% of people say it is important to them that their organization consider and, where possible, support flexible scheduling arrangements or job sharing (HR Solutions Research Institute).
• 87% of employees say it is important to them that their organization allows employees to choose from a variety of benefits to meet their individual needs  (HR Solutions Research Institute).
• In 1960, only 20 percent of mothers worked. Today, 70 percent of children live in households where both parents are employed (The Three Faces of Work-Family Conflict, 2011).

The presenter also emphasized the importance of flexibility and outlined three possible strategies.

1. Providing alternative work options for employees
2. Recognizing and respecting work life balance as an important trend
3. Supporting virtual teams to minimize employee stress levels

Here are a few tips that have been inspired by Sheridan’s cardinal three;

Allow Employees to Work from Home Once a Week: Being more flexible with employees means you exhibit a high level of trust regardless of where they are working from. Allowing employees to work from home once a week also means that they no longer start off their day with the hassle and stress of a commute and they can work in a comfortable environment. This helps to strengthen the employee/ employer relationship.

Adopt Emailing Hours: It is more difficult for workers to draw a line between work and home given technologies that provide 7/24 access. In the same way that employees have set working hours (i.e. 9-5) employers should introduce emailing hours and refrain from contacting their staff past a mutually agreed upon time. This will make it easier for employees to create a division between work and home.

Equip Employees with Stress- Relief tools: Stress is an inevitable. Rather than trying to eliminate it, it is important to help employees manage it. Managers and leaders should equip their staff with tools to deal with stressful situations. Perhaps it means encouraging your staff to take a few minutes at the start of each day to walk through a guided meditation or sending them a funny cartoon, video, quote or story to get them laughing and relaxing. What is most important is to show them that you have an interest in their wellbeing.