We're Living Longer, Let's Live Better

A few days ago I was in my bank and as I walked by an office, I overheard a customer say to one of the bank owners: "We're living longer, let's live better." I thought he made a great point. So how do you live better? What constitutes "better" to you and how are you going to make it better? What do you need to do today that will affect your tomorrow in a positive way. Often times we know we should do something and then we think...I'll start tomorrow. One day leads to another and then one week leads to another and so on. Time really does fly by.



Take some time to evaluate where you are today. Then look at where you want to be in the future. Is your current lifestyle going to get you to where you want to be? If not, what do you need to do to change the road you are heading down? Look at all areas of your life. Some areas you might look at are mental, social, physical, financial, family, and spiritual.



It makes sense that you need to nourish and exercise your body to have it healthy years from now. It also makes sense to do the same for your mind. If you need help in any of the areas, get it. Whatever you invest in yourself today will make a difference tomorrow. A coach can help.

Humor Gets Results

This past week, I attended two separate workshops. The first one was in my current field. I’ve been a certified business coach for the last seven years. I belong to a wonderful company in which there are approximately 600 of “me” throughout the United States and Internationally. We had our quarterly training and I was honored to be asked to facilitate a session, but that is not what this article is about. I am a member of the Corporate Mastermind group and we had a speaker at our Mastermind Session that was excellent. He used humor in his presentation, and he used it very well to bring home his point. He directed his humor at himself rather than laughing at others and in the process; we all laughed and learned together. His point was: “If you get knocked down, get back up.”

The second workshop was in my previous field. My background is healthcare and I come from the lab. Again, we had one speaker, in particular, that used humor in his presentation. He is also a stand-up comedian and a former hospital administrator. Now that is a combination that obviously goes together. Again, he used humor directed at himself, to drive home his points. One of his points was to be careful because humor can hurt and be very demoralizing to others when directed at others. Remember, both speakers directed their humor at themselves. Both speakers chose to look at the positive rather than the negative and that changed their own lives and the lives of the people and coworkers around them.

Our current situation in life is the result of all that has gone on before. Remember that we control our thoughts, negative or positive. Our thoughts cause our feelings, negative or positive. Our feelings cause our actions which causes a reaction and thus, our results. If we don’t like our results, then we need to change our thoughts. Humor can help us do that.

Most of us are aware that laugher results in a chemical reaction in the brain that makes us feel better. Try it. Just start laughing with a huge belly laugh. Pretty soon we are laughing because we are laughing. Laugh for a few minutes then assess how you feel. I bet you feel better. It is a scientific fact that our immune system functions better when we are in a positive frame of mind. We’re able to fight off disease more effectively and prevent many chronic long term illnesses. Not only will we feel better immediately, we may live longer and enjoy that life more. We might think we’ll die of embarrassment if someone sees us, but aren’t the outcomes worth it?

Develop a Strategic Plan and Preserve your Resources

Developing a strategic plan is probably more important in today’s challenging economic times than ever before. There are a couple of reasons why. First, wasted resources due to trying something and then another when the first doesn’t work and then another when a new idea is sparked in your mind is very expensive and most companies don’t have bundles of money lying around. Second, starting and stopping a process or implementation of an idea can be demoralizing for staff. When staffs are demoralized, they are less productive. They may gather together to complain and when they are talking, they are not working; thus decreased results. Third, time is wasted. Time costs money. Money in employee wages, money in lost opportunities, and money lost due to indecision. Third, change happens so fast today. A poor decision today as compared to even 5 years ago can be hard to correct quickly. Thus, more expense.

What is your vision? What do you want to accomplish this year that will take you toward your vision? These are your critical success factors. What are the goals you need to set to help you achieve those critical success factors? What are the obstacles you have to overcome in order to achieve the goals? What are the solutions that might help you overcome the obstacle? Next, develop action steps to achieve the solution. Determine who will do the action and by when.
You can plan all you want to, and if you don’t take action on your plan, it is worthless. Many companies spend a lot of money developing a strategic plan and put it away for the rest of the year. Don’t let that happen to you.