Category Archives: WELLNESS

CONTRIBUTORS, LIFESTYLE, PERSONAL GROWTH, WELLNESS

Paying Ourselves the Biggest Commission Check

By Ashley Francis, Contributor and Owner, TURN Studio

Your alarm goes off. Maybe two, maybe five times depending on the type of person you are in the morning. Regardless of the amount of times it takes, you get up. You get presentable enough to make the person you are selling to think you cared enough to be there. You make your pitch, shake your customers hand in hopes you closed the deal, now off you go to grab a coffee. Another call or two and yes, it’s lunch time! You hurry and eat just to repeat the morning all over again in the afternoon. You are finally home, traffic was exhausting. Ah, the wine glass awaits you while the crock pot’s perfect timing strikes again, and you sit down with your slippers on to forget about the oh-so-stressful day. You binge watch the addicting tv show that you and your friends are texting about. Your eyes start to fade so you crawl in bed, only to repeat the day’s work all over again until Friday at five o’clock. Sounds borderline close to a typical day in the routine of a sales career, right?

We are habitual with looking the part, closing the deals, boasting our chests as we walk out of the meeting we crushed and let’s be honest, we barely prepped for it. We are great at being a boss and everyone knowing our name…because we are simply just that good. I feel you! What I don’t understand then, is why are we not habitual in an overall healthy lifestyle? Why are we more motivated by recognition and commission checks than by our own self health? The one thing we can control (by means of diet and exercise), yet most of us have no control.

Before I continue I think it is important you understand a bit about me. I am a successful sales representative who proved all the territories wrong and grew them to the top. I was genius at working smarter, not harder. Meaning, I worked less hours than the average American employee (which is 42 according to my google search) and made a significant amount more than the average American (google search again). I work out six days a week and I eat mostly healthy. I am a believer in spoiling myself with queso, wine, and tailgate food for sure, but in moderation! My point in sharing that with you is so I can gain a little credibility in this blog. You can be better than average, regardless of where you are today, and I hope we all want to be better than average.

I have worked for five different sales companies before finally giving in to my inner entrepreneurial spirit begging me to start my own company, which brings us to where I am today: Owner of TURN Indoor Cycling + Strength Studio. During my time with those five companies I worked with hundreds of different sales reps and thousands of customers, but one thing was consistent: the conversation around working out and eating healthy. Regardless of who the conversation was with, I always got asked: “How do you stay so fit? What do you eat? When do you work out? How do you have so much energy?” Inside I was thinking, “What do you mean, how? How do you not work out and eat healthy? How do you go more than a day, okay I will give you a few days, without some sort of physical activity?” Most of the time I would fight the urge to reply with that and instead, I would just say, “I make it a priority.”

Let’s circle back to the over-excused story above. We are all extremely busy, especially today. Over the years we as humans somehow have grown to multi-task better than ever before and the demands from companies have made us clock over sixty-hour work weeks. Whether the drive thru is all we have time for and even then, the four-car line is going to make us late, or the candy bar in the desk drawer screams our name and we have to eat it or our work just will not get done! I get it, I really do. But what I don’t get is why we accept it. I challenge you to take the next bit of this article to inspire you (if you are living the “too busy” life I have described) and become better than average.

Instead of living for your company, living for your boss, and living for the paycheck, I encourage you to live for you. Prioritize yourself over everything else. The benefit: an overall healthier personal and professional life. I understand you have a family and bills to pay, they will love you even more and your bills will still get paid. If you do not have a gym or a fitness routine, google will guide you or ask a friend or colleague where they enjoy working out. Find a community gym that welcomes you and motivates you to show up each day. Find a workout routine that you cannot wait to put on your workout gear for every day, maybe one that motivates you to go buy new workout gear! I challenge you to not give up if you don’t fall in love with prioritizing fitness right away. It ain’t easy falling in love, but once you do, the sweet spot is worth it. With time, your meetings now go without yawns and the meetings are more invigorating…your energy has increased! You feel stronger, you look more fit…your priorities are in the right place. Your mirror selfies make you smile, not sigh…commitment looks good on you. Okay you get the picture. I know this is not easy for most people. According to the CDC, 21.7% of adults over the age of 18 meet physical activity guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity. Be better than average, prioritize you.

Living life as a sales representative we are constantly on the road and “wining and dining”. Nothing cute or scientific about this part: eat clean, eat consistently healthy, and your body, mind, and spirit will change. Your sleeping habits improve, your skin looks better, and your mind becomes sharper. Yep, all great traits to possess to help reach your quota and earn that rewarding commission check. Eating clean is hard, no doubt about it. We live in a world surrounded by temptation. If you aren’t currently eating healthy, the beginning of this era in your life will seem impossible. Just trust the process and stay committed to the meal plan just like you are committed to replying to your customers email, and over time eating healthy
becomes as easy as the email.

If you train yourself to prioritize your own self, the results are beyond worth it. Not only does the couch and whatever show you binge watch sound less important to you now, you crave the high of a good sweat or the smell of the city on your run. Instead of fast food, you find yourself meal prepping or asking the waiter to hold the butter. You prioritize your schedule around your healthy lifestyle. Now I get it, all this isn’t just as easy as it is me writing about it. You have the drive and the desire to be better than average at work, so why not have the same drive and desire to be better than average in life? Your company, your boss, your coworkers, and even your family will all crave your energy and positive buzz surrounding you. Just watch.

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HUMANITY, LEADERSHIP, LIFESTYLE, PERSONAL GROWTH, SIMPLE LIVING, WELLNESS

25 key things for you to do this year

BY Todd Schnick

1. Eat less.
2. Be more active.
3. Read more.
4. Listen intentionally.
5. Stretch more.
6. Slow down and breathe.
7. Criticize less.
8. Encourage more.
9. Buy less.
10. Donate more.
11. Stop multitasking.
12. Save more money.
13. Stop lying.
14. Communicate clearly what you believe in.
15. Trust more.
16. Write/journal more (even to yourself).
17. Make something.
18. Pay more attention to the world around you.
19. Stop judging.
20. Eliminate regret.
21. Take pride in everything.
22. Value what you have.
23. Prepare better.
24. Enjoy right now.
25. Smile more.

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AUTHORS, CONTRIBUTORS, LIFESTYLE, PERSONAL GROWTH, WELLNESS

Why You Should Run in the Rain

BY Beth Bridges

Literally. I don’t mean this as a metaphor (“Run in the rain so the shiny rainbows of life sustain you in the darkness where you light your candles as a beacon … ”) or in the completely non-literal sense of how we apparently are using the word “literally” these days.

I mean that if you’re a runner, or a cyclist, or a walker, or a hiker, you need to still do your thing when it’s raining. Or when it’s snowing. Or cold. Or dark. Or you’re tired.

If you’re building a habit in pursuit of a goal, it’s a habit in pursuit of a goal. Not a fair-weather habit that will get you started maybe on a half-assed goal. Your habit needs to literally (and I mean literally) be an all-weather, all-circumstance goal.

Just Make a Decision?

It sounds like I’m saying is that all you do is make a decision and then you do the thing. Of course it’s harder than that or we’d all have done everything we ever decided to do. There’s a strategy in changing behaviors (which is what habits are). The Fogg Behavior Model created by Dr. BJ Fogg, founder of the Persuasive Tech Lab at Stanford University, identifies three elements to creating a new behavior: motivation, ability, and trigger.

Ability is a function of whether something is easy to do or hard to do. I’m able to get up and run in the rain on a Saturday morning because it’s easy for me to do. Well, the actual running is always very hard, but one you’re out there, what are you going to do? Quit? In front of my team? Which is another way I’ve painted myself into the commitment corner, but that’s another topic for another day.

The Hardest Part

The key is to find out exactly the smallest bit that is the hard part. For most of us, getting up, getting dressed or changed when you get home, and getting started is the hard part. How many times have you struggled to get yourself up and to the gym, but then felt great once you got there and got started?

If the hardest part is starting, then find a way to make that easier. I’ve made it easier by not even having it be a decision I have to make when it is the actual time to make it. I decided long ago that I was running on Saturday mornings. And then I run in the rain because I’ve made the decision in advance. The rain becomes irrelevant.

It’s Saturday morning. I run. That’s what I’m going to do. I don’t have to spend any brain power that morning talking myself into getting up and getting out the door. I decided that yesterday. I actually decided it about two years ago – so I’ve also had some practice.

Make Fewer Decisions

If you’re trying to get an exercise or better eating or more writing habit going, the fewer decisions you make at that point of doing or not doing, the better. Deciding whether you’re going to do it is a big decision. Given the choice of running in the rain or not, my in-the-moment brain says “I’m warm and dry. Why would I even want to go out in this?”

Instead let your decision-making brain decide impartially in advance and set your schedule so it doesn’t matter what your right-now brain thinks. You’ve got a plan and now you don’t even need to think. Isn’t that what a job does for you? No, not make us stop thinking, but makes the decision for us that we’re getting up and getting started on our work. There’s no decision to make. It’s why I highly respect those who work for themselves and don’t procrastinate. Maybe they have applied this same strategy to their business and there’s no longer any question about whether or not they want to get the work done! They work “in the rain.”

Puddle-Stomping Fun

We haven’t had a lot of rain here in the last several years. Now that the Pineapple Express (the weather phenomenon not the movie or the “sativa-leaning hybrid”) is rolling through, I’m tempted to get some galoshes and just stomp through puddles. But, I do still like to pretend I’m an adult, so running in the rain is the next best thing.

There’s a slightly naughty sense of freedom. Defying fate to give us our death of cold. When you see other people out walking or running or riding in the rain, too, you want to give them a knowing wink. As if to acknowledge that feeling of getting away with something.

Since I’m not a witch or a little girl made of sugar or spice, I’m certainly not going to melt. On the contrary, I’ll come away from the run in the rain with a pile of wet laundry, stronger legs, and a greater belief in my own mental toughness.

Here’s to another rainy run!

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HUMANITY, LIFESTYLE, WELLNESS

The Impact Continues: I was Drugged

BY Rayanne Thorn

The Impact

Last spring, I wrote about being drugged by a restaurant manager while on a business trip to Dallas. Coupled with the sudden and unexpected ending of my marriage, my recovery from that incident has been slow and methodical. I have taken the time I needed to “get well,” if you will. Multiple doctor’s visits, lab tests, dietary and exercise changes, long road trips (road therapy), as well as addressing a new-found mental stress has been imperative to my recovery.

I wish I could say that this was the first time I had been drugged, it was not – but it has become the one that mattered, the one that scared me, the one where I was almost raped. Perhaps it is because I am more aware of the danger, or because of my age, or simply because my three daughters are the ages where this could easily happen to one of them. Or maybe it is because I want my son to be supportive of women’s issues and really understand why women are afraid, concerned, and becoming more vocal.

I Will NOT Forget Being Drugged

I won’t forget. Mostly because I cannot, but also because there is now a calling before me – one I did not want. I really didn’t want it, but I cannot remove the impact, anymore than I can remove the incident. It has taken me a week to even write about the latest. Writing about my life is much like giving birth, for it is painful, it is embarrassing, it is necessary. The birthing is a required step.
So here it is.

The Latest

Last week, I attended a book release party for a local new author: his first book filled with his experiences and the photographs he had taken. A novice author, an amateur photographer putting his experiences of traveling 15,000 miles on 2,500 paddle outs on a Stand-Up Paddleboard. Right up my alley, I have a couple Stand-up Boards and I love the ocean as a swimmer, boogie boarder, diver, snorkeler, observer, and wannabe surfer. I wanted to be a part of this event. I purchased a book and had my book signed by the Author/ Paddle Boarder, Rich German and asked if he’d be a guest on my podcast after the new year. Earlier in the evening, I had watched my drink made, as has become my practice, and proceeded to make some new friends, refreshed current relationships, and ended my evening with an excitement about my expanded local network.

I proceeded to my car, where I sat for a moment and texted a friend. While I sat there, I watched, what appeared to be, two very drunk women try to walk up the inclined street where I was parked; they had just left the same event where I had been. One of them kept falling down. My selfish brain told me to ignore them and drive away – as I had plans for the evening. But my heart (and ultimately my head) would not let me. I got out of my car and walked over to where they were resting on someone else’s vehicle, one of them barely able to hold her head up. I asked if they were alright and if I could give them a ride home. I could not let them get in their own car or an Uber in their condition. I could not drive away because when I had been drugged, a good friend and extended network had taken care of me. I needed to help them – I needed to make sure they were safe.

They were rightfully leery

Who is this stranger wanting to help us? Why do you want to help us? Are you an Uber driver? Is this your job? and…, Are you an angel?

I told them my name several times, as they asked several times, I assured them I only wanted to make sure they made it home, safe and sound. One lived in the city immediately north of Laguna Beach (where we were) and the other lived in the city immediately south – no where near each other, and not close by, at all. Fearing they would pass out, I asked for their addresses first thing. After a very eventful drive, one that included one of them throwing up all over my front seat and the other accusing me of kidnapping several times, I was able to get them both to their front doors. The discovery of a missing wallet just before I dropped the second lady off prompted me to return to the restaurant where the event had been held and search everywhere for the lost wallet – leaving my name and phone number at the front desk; I even searched the street where I had found them, but to no avail.
I worried they would think I had stolen the wallet.

I didn’t care that there was throw up all over my car. I didn’t care that I’d had to talk the woman in the back seat down from her metaphorical ledge. I didn’t care that this had taken 1.5 hours out of my night. I only cared that they had made it home.

I couldn’t stop thinking about them and the next morning, I called the one whose phone number I had. She’d had a rough night, as had her friend and they had come to the conclusion that they had been drugged. They had been drugged. They think they had picked up a drink that had not belonged to them. I told her about my drugging and cautioned her to never turn her back on a drink or consume anything with which that was unfamiliar or a drink she had not seen poured.

Like me – like my incident, they were ladies out for an evening together – out to have fun, at a place they knew.

I sobbed.

I cried that night as I drove away from the restaurant following my search. I cried again when I hung up the phone the next morning. I do not want this to be my calling. But I don’t think I would have been able to sleep that night or lived with myself – period – had I driven away.

Taking Care of Each Other

We must. We need each other. Yes, there is evil out there – but there is more good than evil.

Be the good.

INCUBATOR, LIFESTYLE, PERSONAL GROWTH, WELLNESS

Matteo Franceschetti: Discover a better way to sleep

BY Todd Schnick

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Joined on intrepidLIFESTYLE today by Matteo Franceschetti, co-founder and CEO of Eight Sleep. Learn more about Eight Sleep here!

What is Eight Sleep? A sensored mattress cover designed to personalize and improve sleep for every body. Eight senses and analyzes over 15 factors from your sleep patterns and bedroom environment, to determine the conditions that help you rest your best.

Discussion guide from my conversation with Matteo Franceschetti:

1. How can technology help people sleep better and live healthier lives?

2. How is Eight guiding people to sleep the right number of hours?

3. How can consumers benefit from tracking their sleep?

4. What does the scientific community think of the science of sleep tracking?

5. Have you discovered any unique trends on how sleep impacts your users wellbeing?

About Matteo Franceschetti:

Matteo is the Co-Founder and CEO of Eight, a proprietary technology reinventing the way people sleep. Eight is backed by some of the best venture capitalist in Silicon valley including Y Combinator (YC S15) and StartX, Stanford University’s accelerator.

Prior to Eight, Matteo co-founded and led as Co-Ceo two clean-tech companies – GIR in the US (acquired by Coronal Management, a Panasonic company) and Global Investment in Europe (acquired by Relight).

Matteo is a Co-Chair at FWD.us and has been a Mentor at Techstars, Microsoft Bizpark and the NYU Summer Launchpad Program. He continues to actively mentor and invest in early stage startups in the tech space.

Matteo graduated magna cum laude with a Law degree from University of Ferrara, and was a member of the Italian Bar Association while working as a lawyer in the finance practice of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy, both part of the Magic Circle of British’s elite law firms.

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HUMANITY, WELLNESS

Get a Job: The Truth about the Homeless

BY Derek Zeller

The Truth about the Homeless

People will sooner aid a sick dog lying on the sidewalk than to try
to find shelter for a sick person. It’s too much to deal with.
–Michael Zaslow

The internet is an excellent tool used by millions to find information, share emails, keep in touch with friends, and share funny photos and memes. I am on the internet, it seems, hours upon hours a day. In fact, I am a serial Facebook, LinkedIn, blog-reading fool. Whenever I am sitting at a bar having conversations and discussions about something, it’s off to Google to prove my point or get info on the subject. It’s just too easy to gather information now, and it is so much faster. This being a political year, it seems that funny photos and sarcastic ones are popping up all over social networks, some funny – some disturbing.

I saw the above picture on Facebook a few days ago and then I saw something similar in LA, live. It broke my heart. The photo was meant to be satirical, yet what I saw on that corner was a reality for a human being that I passed by in my Uber to the airport. He had a sign out with the usual verbiage but here is the story. There was no man standing or photoshopped in, this was life. I thought about the pic when I saw him and thought, why couldn’t he find work at a Walmart or a McDonald’s? When I got on the plane, that picture still sat in the back of my head as sat down, in 1^st class no less, and I wondered what the Walmart guy would really say to this man instead of trying to go viral on the internet with what would be perceived as a funny photo.

Getting Work for People

Being in the actual practice of getting people work for over 19 years, I would like to set up a dose of a little reality for him. Here are some of my G-rated questions for the Walmart guy:

1) Will you hire him if he doesn’t pass a background check or has committed a felony?

2) Will you provide him clothes to work in and when those get dirty will you help him get them washed or do you think that first paycheck will pay for an apartment, utilities, appliances, and laundry detergent?

3) Will you immediately pay for any healthcare including mental health care he might need? With medications?

4) Will you keep him as an employee if he has an exacerbation of PTSD, anxiety, schizophrenia, or anything else while at work?

5) Will you have someone watch his only earthly possessions while he is working, so no one steals them?

6) Will you provide childcare or transportation or a bed for a good night’s sleep or food to sustain him while he works?

7) Will you even take an application from someone who does not have an address?

Are the answers to my questions are “yes?” If so, I admire your corporation, and I will be more than happy to help drive candidates to your organization. However, we both know that the answer to every one of these queries is “NO!”

Just Get a Freaking Job

The “just get a freaking job” argument is not so easy to quip when you look at the facts. Many of those who are homeless do work or want to work. Many can’t. It is truly not a simple fix. Some homeless hold signs – mostly people don’t talk to them, they turn away, or tell them to get a job. Judging them helps in no way, at all. I am fully aware there are bogus people out there pulling heart strings on sympathies who hold signs and don’t have legitimate needs; I actually don’t advocate for giving cash to those “flying signs” unless they are creative.

Cheeseburgers?

Years ago, while in San Francisco visiting friends we ran across a black man with a sign that read, “please donate to the United Negro Cheeseburger Fund” we laughed hard, and I said if I give you 5 dollars are you going to go the McDonalds behind you and get some .99 cent cheeseburgers? He smiled and said yes, yes I am. I gave him the 5 dollars, and he ran in to get the cheeseburgers, came out and went around the corner. We followed him to see if he was, indeed, going to eat them. He did not, he gave them away to a woman & two kids, and another man grabbed his sign and went back to his post. I looked at my compadres and without a word we crossed the street and gave him all the cash we could.

The Faces of the Homeless

My point is, “just get a damn job” is not simple thing look what stands in front of those who have fallen and cannot get up. Please take some time to understand some of the most devastating underlying issues these people have is the lack of caring we have for them. Human resources used to be a middle man between employees and owners while helping fill vacant seats. Now, they are mostly buried with compliance, benefits, and just making sure they don’t get sued for not taking chances. They are more concerned about the bottom line than most CEOs.

These struggling people have feelings and worth, and they are not all junkies and alcoholics, many are just fighting to survive in a world that looks at them like trash. Some are veterans who fought in wars they did not start. Some are women who ran from abusive marriages, some are those who fell on hard times. Some are teenage throw aways who never even had a shot at life, and the spiraling effect of going down is like falling out of a plane without a working parachute. It’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the fact there was nothing and no one there willing to catch you.

Paying it Forward

I hope this is where we can start to fit in. We, as a society, need to start actively start getting deeper in the game, we need to be more than order takers and more about effecting change. Stop giving them a dollar to pay for a coffee but get them somewhere they can get help. We need to start championing people we may not have in the past. I am using the homeless as an analogy just as there are other groups that need help, training, and, just some love. Join me in paying it forward, will you? Remember, you are either part of the problem or part of the solution, where do you want to be in history?

#truestory #life

BUSINESS, HR, WELLNESS

Dan Erickson: Company Culture DNA

BY Rayanne Thorn

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Dan Erickson, “The eHarmony of Jobs is actually eHarmony!”

Dan Erickson, Vice President of Elevated Careers by eHarmony. Elevated Careers was created to match job seekers / candidates with employers based on the three vital components of compatibility: competency, core work values, and personality fit with hiring manager.

“It’s all about cutting back on that regrettable turnover, finding the quality candidates and job seekers that will fit in with your culture, based on engagement – those who will have that emotional and meaningful connection to their work and to your company – so it’s not just about happiness, necessarily, it’s engagement – it’s about finding meaning in your job and your company.”

Check out this great interview and learn what’s on Dan’s mind:

Measuring Engagement at Work
Redefining “Work is Work”
The shift in how we think about work
The Evolution of Culture
70% of US Workers are actively NOT engaged in their work
Wellness – Organizational and Individual
HR & Recruiting: Become a Profit Center instead of a Cost Center
Elevated Careers: Creating a Company Culture DNA

On Engagement: “Engagement at work effects everything at a company, not just the working relationships, but right down to the bottom line. Studies show that companies with engage employees outperform those without by over 202% – plus a 35% swing to the stock price of public companies – it effects the bottom line, it effects the actual productivity.” – Dan Erickson

**For more interviews from our live #HRTechConf coverage, click here. Our goal is to bring you the brightest and most talented individuals in HR and those who develop, market & sell technologies which benefit and support HR processes & practices.

AUTHORS, BUSINESS, HUMANITY, LEADERSHIP, LIFESTYLE, PERSONAL GROWTH, SALES, WELLNESS

Stephan Aarstol: Shifting to a five-hour workday, and changing your life forever!

BY Todd Schnick

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Joined in the house today by Stephan Aarstol, the CEO of Tower Paddle Boards, and the author of The Five-Hour Workday: Live Differently, Unlock Productivity, and Find Happiness.

Discussion guide from my conversation with Stephan Aarstol:

1. What’s wrong with the current eight-hour work day and 40-hour work week.

2. What prompted him to move his company to a five-hour workday.

3. How a shorter work day makes businesses more profitable and productive and employees happier, healthier and more loyal.

4. Steps to implement a five-hour work-day at your company, and how to test risk free!

5. How winning on ABCs Shark Tank changed his life.

6. The importance of the pursuit of happiness.

Find Stephan Aarstol’s book here:

About Stephan Aarstol:

Stephan Aarstol is the CEO and founder of Tower Paddle Boards, an online, manufacturer-direct brand in the stand up paddle boarding industry. With a three-year growth rate of 1,853 percent, Tower was named the Fastest Growing Company in San Diego by the San Diego Business Journal, and was featured in the Inc.’s 2015 500 List of America’s Fastest Growing Companies.

After appearing on ABC’s Shark Tank and securing an investment from Mark Cuban, Aarstol was featured by People Magazine as one of “Shark Tank’s Biggest Winners.” Aarstol’s company quickly became one of Mark Cuban’s best-performing investments from the popular show, and in early 2016, ABC returned to feature Tower Paddle Boards in a nationally televised episode, “Beyond the Tank.”

Tower began as a disruptive, direct-to-consumer stand up paddle board company, and has since evolved into a more holistic beach-lifestyle company. Today, Tower offers a growing array of beach-lifestyle products, sold and shipped directly to consumers at a fraction of traditional retail prices. Tower’s successful brand extensions include a beach-lifestyle magazine, Tower Magazine, a sunglass company at SunglassesByTower.com, and a direct-to-consumer surf- and beach-lifestyle company at TowerMade.com.

Aarstol’s objective is to build Tower into the world’s premiere beach-lifestyle brand, and he currently has plans to extend the Tower brand into many additional business units.

As an entrepreneurial-thought leader and online-marketing expert, Aarstol’s insights have been published in the Washington Post, Inc., Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Mashable, and many other prominent business publications.

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BUSINESS, HR, WELLNESS

NEW Series: Bullying in the Workplace

BY Rayanne Thorn

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Part 1: Guest Catherine Mattice, in a new #KeyPointPodcast series discusses Workplace Bullying in 2016

HR Latte, episode 94

Series: Bullying in the Workplace

“There are two primary choices in life; to accept conditions as they exist,
or accept the responsibility foe changing them.” Denis Waitley

This series will touch on what can be done about Workplace Bullying, why it happens and how to change or alter this destructive behavior. Businesses today are becoming more mindful of corporate wellness and the impact this type of behavior and other employee issues can have on overall company success.

Catherine Mattice is the co-author of Back Off! Your Kick-Ass Guide to Ending Bullying at Work – her expertise and research allow her to present and speak on this topic all over the world. As a former HR Practitioner, Catherine is well-positioned to understand and assist this on-going issue that is not confined to the school yard.

Join us for this quick hit series, as we address workplace bullying and its damage. “Workplace Bullying is systemic aggressive communication, manipulation of work, and acts aimed at humiliating or degrading targets. Bullying creates an unhealthy power imbalance between the bully and targets, and bullying often results in psychological consequences for targets and co-workers, and in enormous monetary damage to an organization’s bottom line.”

Discussion Points for this episode:

The Legal Definition of Bullying
The Three Concepts of Workplace Bullying
Repeated, Power Imbalance, Resultant Damage
The Psychology Behind Bullying
If you are a victim of bullying, what can you do?

Series: Bullying in the Workplace
Episode 1 What is Workplace Bullying?
Episode 2 Healthcare HR: How to Manage Bullying
Episode 3 Higher Ed HR: How to Manage Bullying

On Twitter

@CatMattice
@Ray_anne
and @HRLatte

*Click here for past Episodes 1-66

HRLatte is made possible by:

Dovetail Software delivers web-based solutions & help desk programs that enable organizations to reduce administrative & support costs, diagnose & resolve complex business problems, and increase efficiency, while improving support.

Rayanne loves hosting talk radio and continues to hone this craft in every way possible by creating and hosting several educational and promotional radio shows, hosting & moderating webinars and podcasts, as well as a featured host on intrepid.media.

For more information about how you can use online radio or podcasting to educate your target audience or customer, compliment your marketing efforts, and grow your brand recognition, feel free to message Rayanne on Twitter, LinkedIn, or via email at rayanne@intrepid.media.

HR, LIFESTYLE, WELLNESS

Getting Fit: My Journey

BY Rayanne Thorn

Getting Fit: It’s been an interesting life, thus far.

Fitness was my personal battle against asthma, which often incapacitated me as a child. I missed many trick-or-treating outings because of chronic bronchitis or uncontrollable coughing and wheezing. I remember one quiet Sunday when I was about 10 years old, sitting in a comfy chair alone at home – everyone else at church – body shaking because of the asthma meds I was on. I wondered then, how I would ever ride a bike again or play sports. Or even become an adult.

As medicines improved and my asthma became incrementally better, I maintained my physical fitness. I played softball, volleyball, water polo, swam competitively, and even did “shot put” quite successfully – as a scrawny, skinny teenager. As I moved through adulthood, I stuck with softball and volleyball, playing well into my third trimesters of each pregnancy.

But my knees slowly gave out and 6 surgeries including complete ACL repairs on both, using my hamstrings, were in order. Power walking and bike riding replaced volleyball and softball. I love the restored energy of consistent workouts, but it has been a battle my entire life to stay fit. I am sure I am not alone in feeling this way.

The Power of Wellness

For twenty years, I worked as a dental assistant, fifteen of those years working in a children’s dental office. It was a little easier to maintain my fitness when I ran up and down hallways, lifting and chasing other people’s kids, in addition to my own four. When I left the dental field and joined a recruiting firm, my physical activity during the work day halted almost completely, as I sat in front of a computer making cold calls for 7-8 hours every day. The last fifteen years in recruiting, HR, retention, and HR Technology have not helped maintain my fitness.

I have power walked, sought the refuge of yoga, hiked, and biked over the last several years in an effort to slow my heart rate and beat any and every affliction that might stop at my door. I have thought a great deal about fitness over the last year as “Wellness” became a trending topic for the human resources industry. Keeping an HR department and its processes fit is imperative to maintaining the wellness of a workforce – just as keeping a body fit is imperative to the wellness of a person, an individual. Much of the content I will be producing and distributing on behalf of my company over the next several months will dwell on this topic.

I am excited to come to you with a crossover of this topic.

Let me explain. A few months back I started biking more consistently, investing in a quality bike rack for my car and a little bike trailer to attach to my bike – I know – silly, but I love taking my dog with me. I have an adventure coming up in November where my dog, Spikey, and I will be doing an extended road trip which includes about 4000+ car miles and over 300 biking miles – I (we) are training for this now.

Now, the crazy part…

I just decided to jump off the deep end. Last week, I took up spinning. Or what I like to call “suicidal stationary bike dancing” – Spinning is a catchier name, right?

I thought, as a long-time biker that this would be an easy endeavor for me. Nope. Not even close. I finished my third and final free spin class this morning at Rhythm Ride – my local studio. I have made the decision to invest – my body, time, and money. And I am going to take you on this ride with me, I will be writing about this journey, documenting every pain point and success, failure and injury.

I am in pain, I am exhausted, I am drained, and I love it.

I am getting fit. For work. For life. For love. Some day.

Upcoming?

Rhythm Ripped. This combines arm weight training with spinning. Kill me now.

Glossary (words I learn along the way!)

Free Wheeling: Having no tension on the wheel and doing a sprint – this can be very dangerous. No kidding.