Welcome to the HBR Answer Exchange - HBR Answer Exchange. Desk Stretches: Take a Break and Stretch. Here is page 34 from Getting Back in Shape, a unique workout book for anyone who wants to get fit, written by international stretching authority Bob Anderson, bodybuilding legend Bill Pearl, exercise physiologist Ed Burke, and Olympic runner Jeff Galloway. Click on the image below to get a good screen-size printout, which requires Acrobat Reader (free download available from Adobe). These desk stretches became so popular that in 1997 we published a special book devoted to office workers, Stretching in the Office. Here are 3 more pages of downloadable stretching exercises from that book: More Stretching Downloads: Stretching Software StretchWare The Program that Reminds You to Try a free 30-day demo of StretchWare, software for your computer that will remind you to stretch periodically – 14 different stretching routines.
Stretching Posters For a color catalog of our books and mail-order info, email orders@shelterpub.com or call toll-free at. Management/Leadership. How (And When) to Motivate Yourself - Peter Bregman - Harvard Bu. By Peter Bregman | 9:00 AM May 5, 2010 I woke up this morning to pouring rain and temperatures in the low 40s. I had planned on going for an early bike ride in Central Park but now I wasn’t so sure.
I like to get some exercise every day and given my commitments for the rest of the day, this was my only opportunity. But did I really want to get so wet and cold? I decided to go for it, though I continued to question myself as I put on my biking clothes and got my bike out of the basement. I paused under the awning of our apartment building, as rain streamed down on either side of me. A friend of mine, Chris, happened to be dashing home to avoid the rain and stopped under the awning for a second. “Great day for a bike ride,” he said, before running on.
He’s right, I thought, this is dumb. Finally, knowing that I’d feel great after a good, hard ride, I got on my bike and took off, pedaling hard. Then, after less than five minutes, the rain stopped bothering me. But he was wrong. DiSC Profile Test, DiSC Personality Profile Test, DiSC Online, W. DiSC Profile is the leading personal assessment tool used worldwide.
Over 40 million people have benefited from using the DiSC Profile. The DiSC Profile Test or DiSC Personality Test is a personal assessment tool designed to help you increase your self-knowledge, and to provide information for understanding others. When you respond to a DiSC Profile Assessment, you complete a series of questions that are then produced into a detailed DiSC Profile Report, describing your personality and DiSC Behavioral Style. A DiSC Profile helps people create an environment where individuals can discuss their behavioral differences and priorities, and build better relationships. The DiSC Profile is not a test that you can pass or fail. DiSC Profiles help to improve communication, build teams and improve productivity DiSC Profile Tests identify and graphically present an individual’s naturally occurring behavioral style.
. ● Dominance ● Influence ● Steadiness ● Conscientiousness. Everything DiSC Profiles: Finding Your Passion Takes Faith and Sacrifice | The Corner Offi. Last Updated Sep 1, 2009 8:22 PM EDT I've long known that finding your passion is not only the key to happiness, but also the key to business success. Apparently, lots of successful people - like Apple'sSteve Jobs - know it too. But it takes more than just a pithy, inspirational phrase to get there. Here's some advice from Jobs and a former CEO of mine that provide a bit more visibility into what it really takes - faith, sacrifice, and willingness to take risks - to accomplish that lofty goal.
First, from Steve Jobs's 2005 Stanford University Commencement Speech: Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. And, from an interview with Bruce McWilliams, a physicist who somehow found his way to becoming a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and a very successful CEO: I have found that as a chief executive, you basically show up every day and find a new problem waiting for you.
What's the common thread? [Image courtesy L.A. . © 2009 CBS Interactive Inc.. Want to Move Up? Find Out What's Stopping You | The Corner Offic. Last Updated May 4, 2010 11:10 AM EDT If I've got my demographics right, most of you work in a corporation with opportunity to move up. But despite your initiative and efforts to the contrary, the vast majority of you won't advance very far. It's simple math. There are too many of you and, by comparison, too few management and even fewer executive jobs. The good news is it's not preordained who makes it and who doesn't.
Take risks, pursue your dreams, but maintain some semblance of perspective by at least paying attention to the reality of your situation. Lack of self confidence. These links will also help: © 2010 CBS Interactive Inc.. The 5-Step Career Turnaround | The Corner Office | BNET. Last Updated Nov 24, 2009 3:44 PM EST Everybody I know - myself included - has hit at least one snag in their career. After all, nobody's life, business, or career goes straight up and to the right. You may think you're on the right path, then something changes and you're suddenly thrown off course.
A couple of weeks ago a good friend - a senior-level manager at a big company - found out he's getting laid off after 20 years there. Time for a new plan. The last four jobs another senior executive friend has taken have been with companies that, for whatever reason, get acquired a year or two later. But you know what? Unfortunately, successful career change requires a certain level of objectivity that most people simply aren't equipped with. Look at it this way: would you attempt a corporate turnaround or restructuring without an objective analysis of the situation or without getting input and feedback from a variety of sources - board of directors, employees, customers, analysts?
10 Ways to Land That Big Job Promotion | The Corner Office | BNE. Last Updated Mar 19, 2010 11:24 AM EDT Think you've got what it takes to become a hot-shot executive but your boss is holding you back? Or maybe you're just sick and tired of working your butt off while everyone else gets ahead? Well, quit your whining and do something about it. No, don't get a self-help book or listen to so-called "gurus" who never did it first-hand. That's just a waste of time. I've got a better idea. Why don't I just tell you how I got my big job promotions while climbing the corporate ladder for 23 years? Just one thing though. 10 Ways to Land That Big Job Promotion Leverage a change in strategy.
. © 2010 CBS Interactive Inc.. Becoming a Super Worker: 4 Things That Can Boost Your Performanc. As far as I know there is no radioactive spider, Krypton heritage, or magical power ring that can give a web worker the superpowers to meet rushed deadlines and keep going during long work hours. Unfortunate, I know, but there are certainly other things we can use to get our brain working during the tough days. Here are some of them: Glucose Concentrating on completing a task or sticking to a schedule requires self-control, which can be taxing on your body’s energy supply. According to researchers from Florida State University [via Mind Hacks and Cognitive Daily], “Some patterns of poor self control are attributable to drops in glucose.” What does this mean for us? The researchers also point out that self-control is not the only brain function affected by glucose levels. So the next time you feel mentally depleted, consuming something containing real sugar — not artificial sweeteners — might help.
Exercise Meditation Nature Photo by flickr user nestor_galina, licensed under CC. Put a Crack In Your Comfort Zone. Have you ever noticed that the better you get at something, the more comfortable you become with it? Not that comfort is a bad thing, but it’s all too easy to do the same thing well, over and over, with little challenge. I don’t know about you, but I have always liked a good challenge.
Doing something that stretches the bounds of my competency puts me on the edge and, quite frankly, freaks me out a bit. Not too much, but just enough to force me to grow and expand my possibilities and give a kick in the pants to my productivity. The other day, while out doing errands, I saw a truck, and on its side was written, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” As I stare down the barrel of mid-year, there is still time to achieve the goals I set so optimistically in January.
Taking a step back, I’ve recommitted myself to a few of the most important of those goals that have gotten stuck in no-man’s land, and decided to break out of my comfort zone and get back on track with pursuing them. Career - 21st Century Job Strategies: 10 Tips for Making Work Be. What To Look For In Teams. You're always part of some group You and I pretty much spend our entire lives in groups. We start off in a family, play with groups of young friends, attend classes at school, and work in groups and teams.
In fact, most organizations value collaboration so highly that it's a critical component of the screening process when hiring and promoting. It would make sense, then, to learn as much as possible about the dynamics associated with groups. There's no ignoring the importance of understanding groups. Pay attention to these 1. 2. Why am I here? 3. 4. 5. 6. Food for thought: If you find your group struggling, go back one step and see if you paid appropriate attention to the relevant issue. Groups and teams are a huge part of our lives; it's worthwhile to learn how they really develop. Photo found at Buckaroos.
Performance Feedback Through The Back Door. Are you getting any real feedback on your performance at work? Faux Feedback Disguised as 360 Assessment 1. I was asked late last year to provide coaching for a middle manager. During the exploratory meeting, I asked his boss how he (the middle manager) responded to the performance feedback that led to the coaching solution. The boss responded in a very general way, shuffled a bit, and said, "I guess I should sit down with him again. But I think using some kind of 360 feedback tool would really be helpful. " 2. 3. These are three different companies in three different industries with three different cultures. My intuitive take: 360 Tools are seen by some as a way to satisfy the known need for feedback but to avoid having to provide it directly. If the object of feedback were only to provide raw data, maybe that wouldn't matter. Employees at all levels want feedback and direction first and foremost from their boss.
Dealing With Back-Door Feedback Through Front-Door Coaching What to do? Pick The Right Audience For Your Talent. How To Build Performance. I'll tell you how. How to create the conditions for motivation, engagement, retention, and performance. If you are a manager giving an assignment, be crystal clear about the what--then let your people deliver on how it will be done. Why? Because you hired them for the how. Think about it. You looked at resumes and carefully selected people who had something that seemed unique or different from the others. When you tell people how to do their jobs you take away their identity. Action: Define and get commitment on what you want done, then let people use their unique talents to decide how to do it. Does this mean you walk away and totally ignore how things are getting done? There are certain jobs, especially those related to safety, that don't offer much variation on the "how This is why more and more employees are looking for managers who coach.
Photo source: blog.modernmechanix.com/ Think "Design" vs. "Work" Right now, you are either thinking about or designing an idea, product, service, or process. Yet most of us don't view ourselves as designers. It sounds like a specific, creative field in which we don't have formal education. But we do. Earlier today I submitted a consulting agreement.
So I looked over previous proposals and agreements and discovered that "design" is a huge part of my work. I admit, I'm a design freak in general. Here's my point: Start thinking of yourself as a designer. Are you designing new leadership and management approaches to a critical situation? Making A Change? What People Want. 1. An accurate picture of reality. 2. A sense of hope based in the proposed new reality. 3. The whole truth about 1 and 2. Change is really about adults making effective decisions. {*style:<b> They Want The Truth </b>*} None of those is possible without knowing the truth of the situation and why the impending changes make the future hopeful. We all struggle at times when it comes to delivering difficult news. So it's easy to start rationalizing the truth by rationalizing that people won't be able to deal with it. No. Psychology Today's Allison Kornet explains: (bold face indicates my emphasis) While studying how are associated with improvements in physical health, James W.
And in a study published in the , Bella DePaulo, Ph.D. and Deborah A. 1. 2. 3. They Can Handle It People can handle the truth. If you're tempted to put a little icing on the message, remember that Marie Antoinette thought it was a good idea to "let them eat cake. " Image source: www.coolthings.com. CIO’s With No Time Find An Alternative To An MBA (IT Manager iss. The 10 worst things about getting laid off | 10 Things | TechRep. Defeat Tech Distractions - CIO.com - Business Technology Leaders. Concentration is defined as giving all of your attention to a subject or--hey wait, I just got a text message. Okay, I'm back. What was I saying? Oh right...something about concentration--a subject that any modern-day technology user knows is in very short supply now.
The flipside of concentration is distraction. And in our always-on environment, we have more of that than ever. Distraction exists because we allow it to. And so, over the past decade, programmers have baked distraction into tech products, giving those products an instantaneous response mechanism--a way to counteract our perennial fear that the world may be passing us by. But that doesn't mean it's good. The good news is that you don't have to live with distraction. The Worst Offenders The phone: They may be reviled by Generation Y and beyond, but some people still make voice calls--and they have a nasty habit of calling right when you’re in the middle of doing something that requires sustained focus.
A Two-Step Plan for Changing Your Bad Habits - Peter Bregman - H.