7 Ways to Have Self-Control, Even in the Hardest Situations

7 Ways to Have Self-Control, Even in the Hardest Situations

by | Dec 19, 2018 | Health & Wellness

What would change if you had more self-control? Would you meet your fitness goals? De-escalate tense situations? Finally stop procrastinating on work projects? Although it can seem impossible to gain any more discipline than you already have, willpower can be exercised regularly just like your muscles. There are a few ways you can gain control when you really need it. When it comes to eating, exercise, anger and more, here are some common “tempting” scenarious followed by tips on how to strengthen your resolve.

1. Resisting Junk Food

From the grocery store to fast-food ads, one thing is for sure: Junk food is everywhere. Overcome the temptations of unhealthy foods by changing your self-talk. First, stop thinking, “I can’t eat this” (something unhealthy), and replace it with, “I can eat that” (something healthy), says Kelly Milligan, naturopath and chef. It removes the restrictive feeling and allows for a more stress-free, positive mindset.
Second, think past the immediate craving and ask yourself, “How will I feel after eating this? Will this help me get closer to my goals?” This way you are changing your approach from arbitrarily labeling foods as “good” or “bad” to focusing on the value certain foods have for your body.

2. Motivating Yourself to Hit the Gym

One way to stay on the path of exercising regularly is simply putting on your workout clothes! A 2012 study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that this can give you the motivation you need to get moving. Still not feeling it? Tell yourself you’ll just work out for five to 10 minutes. You’ll be surprised what you’ll feel like doing once you get started.
And remind yourself why you started. Whether your goal is to gain strength, lose weight, recover from an injury or get healthier, each goal is tied to a specific emotion. Dig deep and envision what it would be like if your goal was met today. Bonus: Exercise can strengthen your willpower in other areas of your life!

3. Stopping the Late-Night Munchies

When straight-up willpower isn’t enough to stop yourself from eating an entire bag of chips before bed (or overeating in general), creating new habits is the way. First things first: Keep yourself fueled throughout the day so you’re not “starving” in the evening.
Then find a distraction from your thoughts of food: talk with a friend, stretch or read. Or try brushing your teeth. You won’t want to eat if your mouth is minty fresh. If you’re truly hungry, try a pice of fruit. The American Psychological Association states that glucose (like that found in fruit) is fuel for the brain and that acts of self-control reduce blood glucose levels.

4. Controlling Angry Outbursts

Anger is natural. But it’s what you do with that emotion that matters. It all begins with thinking before you speak or act. Ask yourself if what you’re about to say is going to make the situation better or worse. Or take a timeout. You can use the age-old trick of counting to 10 before you speak. It allows your mind to get some emotional distance and lets your brain focus on something else.
If you still feel amped up, try exercising. According to stress physiologist Nathaniel Thom in an article for Psychology Today, exercise can help diffuse the buildup of anger. Exercise gets the feel-good hormones elevated in your brain and presents a calming feeling over your body. After you’ve calmed down, you can find solutions and present your feelings in an unagitated state.

5. Refraining From Hitting Snooze

The snooze button is no friend of self-control. Mel Robbins, author of “The 5 Second Rule,” says in her book that how you wake up and spend the first 30 minutes of the morning determines the productivity of your day. It starts with getting up, waking up and being present in everything you do, Mel says. (In other words, put down your phone!)
According to Robbins, if you have an impulse to act on a goal, you must physically move within five seconds or your brain will kill the idea. So within five seconds of your alarm sounding, spring up and out of bed! Immediately after, begin to think of the positive things this extra morning time will add to your day. Before you know it, you’ll have set the tone for the entire day!

6. Curtailing Frivolous Spending

If you feel you need more control in the spending department, writing down each and every thing you purchase is a great way to see exactly how much is going out and where. At the end of each month, go through your list and see what spending was a “need” and what spending was a “want,” says Paula Pant, money-management expert and creator of AffordAnything.com. Add up the total amount of the “wants” and imagine that money saved up for an emergency fund or a memorable family vacation. This will also allow you to see other not-so-good habits you may have, such as buying junk food or always ordering lunch at work.

7. Actually Accomplishing Your Goals

Set your goals on a vision board where you’ll see them every day. This can be hanging on the wall next to your television or placed by the door of your home so you’ll always have a visual reminder of what your goals are. Read them out loud, and tell yourself you can do this — because you can.
Another way to ensure success is to keep it simple in all areas. If it’s too overwhelming, then you’ll be overwhelmed. Have the mindset of working in baby steps, and celebrate each day that you succeed. With self-control comes the feeling of accomplishment. With accomplishment comes self-confidence. And this cycle helps you keep meeting your goals.

**BONUS** Build Self-Control With Sleep

Another easy way to gain more self-control in any area of your life is to get adequate sleep. A 2011 study published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes found that a sleep-deprived individual is at increased risk for succumbing to impulsive desires, inattentiveness and questionable decision-making. Basically, it’s much easier to make the right choices when our brains are rested and recharged. (Which you probably know from experience!)

by SJ McShane
Originally posted on LiveStrong.com

Workplace Wellness

by | Nov 29, 2018 | Health & Wellness, Human Resources

Picture this: You are sitting at your desk at 3pm and you realize you haven’t gotten up from your chair all day. You look around and see that you’ve been snacking instead of eating a lunch. You have read the same sentence 4 times and still can’t figure out what it means. Your back hurts, your eyes feel dry, and you feel kind of blah. You, my friend, are a victim of the sedentary lifestyle in America. How can we combat this lack of energy and inattentiveness in our workplace? By adopting healthy workplace initiatives, you will reap the benefits of a more engaged workforce and a healthier environment.

What’s the problem?

  • The average worker sits 5 hours at a desk every day
  • Add in couch time, sitting to eat meals, commute, and sleeping, and it could mean that the average adult is only active for 3 hours in a 24-hour period
  • Prolonged sitting is directly related to higher risk of heart disease, weight gain, and diabetes
  • Poor posture can lead to chronic health issues such as arthritis and bursitis
  • Staring at computer screens for long amounts of time lead to higher instances of headaches and migraines

What’s the solution?

  • Healthy snack options in vending machines—SnackNation and Nature Box have healthy snack delivery services for offices of all kinds and sizes.
  • Fitness challenges—Encourage different office-wide challenges to promote a more active lifestyle.
  • Standing desks—Companies such as Varidesk make standing desks or sit/stand desks that lower and raise so that you vary your position during the day
    • Reduces back pain
    • Burns more calories during the day
    • Increases energy
    • Some insurance companies will cover all or portion of the cost if they deem it “medically necessary.”
  • Practice gratitude—keep a daily log of things to be thankful for that day
    • Shown to ease depression, curb appetite, and enhance sleep
    • Spirit of gratefulness leads to more sustainable happiness because it’s not based on immediate gratification, it’s more of a state of mind
  • Get moving during the day—if your office doesn’t have sit/stand desks, schedule time to move each day
    • Stretch time/desk yoga
    • Computer programs to remind you to move such as “Move” for iOS and “Big Stretch Reminder” for Windows
  • Extra happiness in the office—
    • Add a plant
    • Aromatherapy
    • Host a cooking class to encourage healthy meal plans
    • Pet-friendly office days

By showing your employees that you care about their physical and mental health you are showing that you care about them as people and not just employees. This results in higher motivated staff who are healthier. The Harvard Business Review even says that “employers who invested in health and wellness initiatives saw $6 in healthcare savings for every $1 invested.” You cannot always measure ROI on personnel investment but it looks like for workplace wellness, you can! Now get moving and get your office moving!

It’s Flu Season…Again

by | Nov 20, 2018 | Health & Wellness

When flu season hits, absenteeism skyrockets and productivity drops. In a recent article, Employee Benefit News points out that the first step is the “ounce of prevention,” the flu vaccine. Providing for vaccination can be a smart benefit to offer employees, and it requires navigating misinformation about the vaccine, motivating employees to act, and contending with supply issues. For employers who want to increase vaccination rates, experts suggest making the process more convenient or incentivizing getting a shot. On-site programs are more effective since they are not only more convenient but also allow employees to be motivated by seeing their coworkers getting the shot. Regardless of approach, careful planning – from scheduling to ordering to addressing employee concerns – can help an office place stay healthier.

Last year’s flu season was the worst on record, per the CDC. Shared spaces and devices make offices and workplaces perfect places for flu germs to spread. As an article in HR Dive shows, 40% of employees with the flu admit to coming to work and 10% attend a social gathering while sick. Should an employee contract the flu, employers need to have policies in place that empower and encourage workers to stay home when sick.

In “Threat of Another Nasty Flu Season Prompts Workplaces to Be Proactive,” Workforce echoes the importance of the flu shot and a no-tolerance policy toward sick employees coming to the office. Policies and a culture that encourage self care over powering through an illness can help foster calling in when needed. The article also reinforces other preventative behaviors like hand washing, staying home while feverish, and coughing into your elbow.

Read more:

HR’s recurring headache: Persuading employees to get a flu shot

40% of workers admit coming to work with the flu

Threat of Another Nasty Flu Season Prompts Workplaces to Be Proactive

by Bill Olson
Originally posted on UBAbenefits.com

Trust Equation

Trust Equation

by | Aug 16, 2018 | Health & Wellness, Human Resources, Workplace

We are currently living in a low-trust society as a whole — we keep hearing that news is fake, science is fake, and so on. That makes it hard for us to trust anyone and is why we need to work on building trust in the workplace more than ever. Human resources professionals and business leaders have an imperative to instill a culture of trust — not just because it is key to employee engagement, satisfaction, and performance, but also because it’s just the most human thing to do.
When you look at the foundations of trust, they are simple: People want to trust that they are going to be treated with respect, that their leaders are credible, and what they do matters. They want to know that they are secure.

There are three building blocks of trust: protection, presence, and progress. I call them my “Three Ps.”

Protection

Feeling protected is a foundational need. To earn the trust of someone else, you need to provide this protection. Your employees want to feel that the organization and their bosses are looking out for them, and that they genuinely care. Underlying the protection we all need and desire are “BLT” (just like the comforting feeling of the classic BLT sandwich): balance, love, and truth. When people feel protected, they are going to demonstrate kindness, loyalty, courage, and generosity.
When you don’t instill a sense of protection, it will stifle innovation and slow down the organization.

Presence

Presence is simple. It’s literally being present in all your interactions — meetings, one-on-one discussions, and interviews. We talk a lot about mindfulness these days, but it extends beyond the personal to the relational. Today, it feels like no one is ever present — we are all tuned in to our devices all the time. So turn off your computer, phone, tablet, watch, etc. when someone comes into your office, stay focused in conversations, and don’t bring your devices to meetings. Put your attention into what you value. Enjoy the present moment and truly experience it.
Lack of presence sends a message of lack of trust.

Progress

As humans, we constantly make progress, minute by minute. We want to know that we are moving in the right direction. How are we helping our employees make progress? Are we focused on helping them move ahead? Supporting your employees’ efforts and making progress is vital to helping them feel that you care about them fundamentally.
I have a personal philosophy of growth and recommend setting weekly growth plans. I pick one personal topic, like last week was protein, and I investigate to understand it. I also pick one work topic, like running better meetings and investigate that for the week. It’s not complicated — just pick a topic and spend the week growing at it.

Ask the Right Questions

Communicating needs is important, but it takes trust to do that. One way to develop the three Ps of trust is by asking the right questions, then really listening to the answers and acting on them. It shows you care and that you want to help people not feel like they are stranded or drowning. It tells your staff it’s safe to say that they are overwhelmed or hung up somewhere, or they don’t have the answers.
Questions for one-on-ones can include:
Protection

  • How is life?
  • Do you have any decisions you are hung up on?
  • Am I giving you the resources or information you need to do your job?
  • Do you have too much on your plate?

Presence

  • What are you worried about right now?
  • What rumors are you hearing?
  • Would you like more or less direction from me?

Progress

  • If you could pick one accomplishment to be proud of between right now and next year, what would it be?
  • What are the biggest time-wasters you encounter?
  • What type and amount of feedback works best for you?

by Dan Riordan
Originally posted on thinkhr.com