What Happens When Companies Lose Top Talent?

Discover the secret to reducing high turnover rates in this empowering video.

Uncover effective strategies and heartwarming stories that emphasize the importance of creating a supportive work environment, fostering growth opportunities, and prioritizing work-life harmony.

Transcript from the LinkedIn Live is generated automatically. Please excuse any typos!

Hello world of LinkedIn - we are the burnout panel, a group of six women with six perspectives that gather together to bring you the best of the best on burnout prevention and recovery practices for your organizations and your lives.

Today we're talking about burnout related turnover and what happens when companies lose top talent. A conservative estimate cost of replacing an individual employee salary this issue and provide solutions that support employee wellbeing. Now as an expert in Stress Management mindset training and burnout prevention, I believe that there are three critical talking points to consider when addressing this issue so firstly it's essential to understand what is stressing your workers out stress and manifest and a whole bunch of different ways like workload work there's different things you can focus can be encouraged to do like take regular breaks you can offer them flexible schedules Etc

Finally it's essential to create recovery strategies that help your employees recover from burnout and of course prevent it from recurring again and those include offering a police time off providing access to coaching Services counseling services and with that I'd like to turn it over to Aileen.

To build on what Sharon said, there can be a special place where we can do this kind of assessment and exploration reviews alignment that comes up in that conversation maybe they just outgrown a skill that used to be you know more engaging and challenging but once they've gotten that under their belts it's not scratching the edge the same way so there's some space to change things around you can be intentional and do some job crafting and maybe explore other projects that this employee job get absorbed by other employees now talk about a reason for people leaving if we're intentional about these chickens we can say okay well yeah you're doing half of that other person's jobs let's look at this and get you back to a place of more equilibrium and it's so much better to be proactive with these conversations helping individuals and organization sustainable success so as I think about turnover, I see it as a signal as a symptom of a bigger problem it could be that there's a loss of interest in the world for some reason their people are being motivated they're not being challenged by the work there's boredom or there's a misalignment between the person in the organization in some way around the values that could be another symptom physical energy you know that's that Vitality that we feel in our bodies like there's any connection to our bodies mental energy that ability to focus to be creative and I know every organization energy that ability to actually feel confident in what you're doing to connect with others to build stronger energy we see all of these kinds of energy go down right very quickly so if you are not being if you're being overworked your physical energy and your emotional energy clearly you're going to be trying so one of the things that we can do as individuals is to really be able to return to our awareness of our own energy another challenge that we might see is this kind of inability to grow up if we can't grow and we don't feel like there's a way for us to advance we also will start to disengage and burn out so as as people in an organization one of the things you want to pay attention to is how our work is giving us a sense of our own growth is it helping us to go to that next place that we need to go in terms of our personal development in our career organization emotional and mental energy.

Lastly I would say one of the key reasons people burn out is that their values are somehow being violated in an organization or they don't have a sense of purposeful about connecting those two things as as team leaders doing evaluations so with energy management we can start to say oh we're going to cultivate our resources in such a way that when we hit these bumps will actually be able to get past them and continue to grow and try to move a mission for right thank you I'm going to pass it now to Dr. Sandra.

I'm talking about support for management thank you so much in your organizationa lot of leadership has been leading by default but the leaders that are needed now need to be better listeners they need to be better coaches and they have to be collaborators so this is going to require a leadership in the work to the workplace to be in charge of their own nervous system right this is something that this panel has a lot of experience about is people beingPretty stress in the workplace which is normal stress is not necessarily a bad thing but when this is basically spreading from person to person and you don't have a leader in charge everybody in a calm and centered and grounded way that's a big deal leaders stress trickles down through the team and having the skills to navigate their own stress is going to be a huge boom to the whole company something that's really important to understand about this burnout panel specifically is everybody here has worked in organizations in some capacity founder of fortitude and flow and this is work that I love to do with companies and individuals so I'm going to pass this off to Vanessa.

Hello hello everyone so the thing about these pressures the individual contributors they are the ones when we say employees they're the ones we're talking about and that is not true this is everyone is you know I thought you prone to this whole burnout issue within your organization right so that's that that my peer audio just shared around 50% of employees are worried about worrying about worry that's not just individuals that's everyone and right now what I do today right is as a professor to that though my corporate experience was in Corpus strategy billion dollar companies in various Industries opportunity questions that you can use to help you as a leader both managed up and also manage down is number one ask yourself and also ask the person who gives you the command what is the specific outcome they are expecting right so what happens that there's so many things to get done in a company specially when you're growing and scaling whether you're at the early stage where you've been around you know 50%why is this information needed that then allows you to understand and even to Define for yourself what could be the best possible outcomeBe done on Monday or do they have to happen tomorrow probably not tomorrow and so with that being said understanding these three things about every time when would allow you to better understand the path that you were given so that you can then better communicate that to your team and your employees so that they can then not worry as much not as much not the same time

hello everybody I work with organizations every day to help them reduce burnout specifically in order so that they can keep the top performers so this is what I talk about all day everyday and the reason that I focus on top performers is because we give a stat right in the very beginning they are the least likely group to ask for help and the most likely group do not I beg you do not leave your top performers behind their Healthcarecame up I was quick and simple today do we have any questions to well question for you today Hello testingOpening door practice is one that allows for reciprocation on the level that you're trying to get at when you go to your top performers and you say to them hey last week I really messed up so and so and either this is how I figured it out or do you know anybody that could help me figure it out you also open the door at least to either ask them or for them to say hey Google whatever you know what how do you what are some signs right that people can look out for that leaders can look out for organization can look out for that they may be at risk of a massive just High turnover rate what is something that people can look out for specifically you're looking for a lack of productivity you know there's always the danger of believing that everything is good because you've been successful and not really checking in and making sure that you you don't need to tweak anything and that's kind of what we saw about those classic example was Blockbuster how they're like yeah we got it under control and then next thing you know they're overtaken by a new industry Giants right so it's really important not to fall into this self-efficacy trap cuz you get into this negative spiral where you think that everything is working just because if you have these top performers you're not asking the right questions and you're not paying attention you might find out later that you're in a lot of hot water.

So I I suggest that companies do take the seriously and explore even if you think that things are okay right now I had a thought about that too there's a book called Power by field where they actually interviewed people who are with cell and they're in their disciplines where they Resurgence or artists or athletes or whatever and one of the things they talked about was this idea that people will do whatever they have to do regardless of how they feel they actually called it a symptom and that when you notice people just continually doing and doing and doing and not even ever talking about how they feel we're in trouble it's like they call it a formula for mediocrity that literally if you keep pushing yourself what happens is everything's train there's nothing left to give but you keep going and then as Cape mentions then your body starts to fail right something's got to give at some point so this ability this ability that we can have to sort of check in with people and say everybody says I'm fine but what does that really mean fine how are you feeling literally you might have to take these conversations I want you to pay attention to those because I know that that's what really drives what's in you that makes this work upI love that one of the biggest things with my hundreds of hours of interviews the perfectionist is that they get really good at putting their heads down and working harder when things are not working they work harder and it to your point it makes it more difficult sometimes to even tellI often I might want to go into a company's and I'm doing coaching I will be talking with people and their perception of their stress is not necessarily accurate to like the reality of what's going on so having those regular check-ins with your folks and and having a collective support system looks like we've got a question here in the comments how to help manage burnout when you're in a downturning organization facing the prospect of having less people when folks are already suffering from the big question actually I'm wondering if Vanessa if you have something to say about that since you're often in me and not space question what I was feeling Etc and it was only I know people were talking about you know checking with your leaders checking with your employees but sometimes in my case it was my leader who was an impetus for me not feeling welcome heard or even that I belonged in that organization right and so it was only when I was able to speak to other people outside of my team and I was able to get so the other mentors you can say or other advisors and other people other leaders and organizations no one actually knows who they are except for you that means they're not talking to people in the company and organization that's a problem like that means that they like they just don't feel like they're like long there or there's so much inside of them that they just don't feel comfortable sharing it all that inside will then build up and it will explode in some form or fashion okay and it may not be a buddy which means that that is a flag send them to Executive code send them to send them somewhere but he was sending the HR even if you're afraid to say about you but send them anyways because it's better to for them to be heard and for them to not be heard and then you end up in a whole situation question on a regular basis because at the end of the day everyone in that sense when everything is kind of going into a downturn it was on the same boat everyone's on everyone should be on the same page cuz everyone on the same boat and so it's just a leader to be transparent and honest it's one of my crisis management is being transparent is being honest is being humble and it's been having to understand what's talking about having to understanding that hey employee he's not looking too great they're just on paper that I'm looking too great however I believe that it can change because XYZ ABC right so don't leave people in the dark keep them in line with what it is that you think it's going to happen and a lot of people during the pandemic they were still able to get their employees back even after they fired them or they put them on hold for them because there was that level of transparency of just okay here's what's happening every week right system regulation so different kind of stressful but still stressful.

It all comes back to how much no matter what's going on can we feel grounded literally turn off flashlight can we assess with really necessary and other tasks projects deliverables that can be punted instead of just saying oh this is what we've always done now we have less people do all the same things let's get realistic here and say let's mitigate us all burning out and what are the things we might be able to put a temporary hold on or punt if you need to be in touch with us you have more questions you can throw them down in the comments below we will do our best to answer them even after this is finished management.

How to Prioritize Yourself at Work

Join the burnout panel and discover practical techniques for effective communication and achieving a healthy work-life balance. Learn to say no effectively and with no regrets.

Auto-generated text below. Please excuse any typos!

All right welcome everybody to the burnout panel discussion for February. So we are so excited about this topic this was something that was brought up to us during our last uh monthly discussion and this is about saying no effectively. Uh this is a sexy topic saying no and boundaries are very sexy topics people like to say the words a lot they like to talk about it a lot but what about actually doing it that's when it gets a little bit complicated. So the reason we wanted to talk about this is it's something that comes up in a lot of levels of organizations this is something that you may be struggling with as a manager as a team leader in the corporate setting in general. If you're an entrepreneur you're going to be running into this all the time if you are on a team you may be running into this. So this is something we want to make sure we cover on multiple levels and there's going to be so much juicy stuff from everybody on the panel today. So as a general reason why say no is important because without it this is where things start to go south this is where you start to court burnout and as we were talking about earlier nobody wants to date burnout. Nobody wants it you know what nobody wants that relationship so people think about about boundaries as building these brick walls and it's going to create this distance between me and other people it's going to create instant conflict. Um it comes right into our hardwired sense of belonging if I say no I'm going to create a distance it's going to get me kicked out of the village or it's going to make somebody else feel bad it puts us in this either or either I win or they win there can be a power struggle feeling here. Um this is something that is going to make you have to admit that you're a human being with limitations you don't have endless amounts of energy to just give away to whatever you want you actually have to prioritize and be able to communicate those prior those priorities. 

So let's jump into the actual solutions of the no and I think that will develop as we go along more reasons as to why saying no and then creating these boundaries is super important to get us as a far away from burnout as possible. Go ahead jump in.

So um I don't know if we want to intro ourselves we've done a lot of these so I think everyone can just pop over to our LinkedIn pages but my name's Aileen and I'm going to kind of start from a place of before we talk about the strategies for saying no which my colleagues have excellent resources and tips and tools to do how do we kind of look at that prevention like we talk about being proactive about this. So my strategy is turning inward to create more awareness of your limits so you're not setting yourself up to only start saying no when you're already taking on or have taken on more than you can handle. So like Audrey said I think there's some shame and stigma around like we expect we're super super human superheroes and that we can just take on  everything but we all are human we all have a maximum capacity so creating a little more space for stillness for silence for just checking in with yourself to even know am I starting to feel overwhelmed. We were chatting before I went live about like oh starting to get a little of that texture of overwhelm so when we can notice that and create the space to really be sniffing it out in advance before we're completely over tired overburdened overworked exhausted burnt out. Then we can integrate some more of the strategies we'll talk about today effectively because if we're already in that place we're going to have less bandwidth less cognitive faculties and then what can be a hard conversation will feel that much harder. So I think Dr. Sharon wanted to piggyback on that and we'll keep chatting from there.

Awesome thank you Aileen and I'm Dr Sharon on the Burnout Dock and I think of this like any other thing. I think there's always two things that you want to look at one is the Tactical of like how do I say no right like maybe there's some script that will allow you to have just like more ease with this idea of like okay now I have something to follow but I think the other piece which is huge is mindset. So if you're a manager and you really need to say no to other people it can be challenging because you want to be seen as helpful you want to accommodate your team members but it's also crucial to establish some boundaries and make decisions that align with your team's goals and priorities. So to do so what I'd like to share is that it's important to actively listen to the request and take into consideration factors such as what are the resources that I have available to me. Um and resources can be your time your energy but it can also be like other factors. Um the impact on other team members the potential consequences of saying yes or no because either one of those there's always consequences to be really thoughtful of and be sure to communicate clearly and honestly with the person who's putting the request out there. Then explain your decision and provide any sort of alternative options if you are going to say no or maybe suggestions that may be helpful. So sometimes it's um well I'm not available to do this but you might ask so and so or I can't do this right now but I'll be available this afternoon or next week. You know so kind of having the those kinds of alternatives is really helpful and so with that I'd like to pass the Baton to one of our other experts because we have so much that we would like to share. So who would like to go next?

I'll jump in my name is Cait Donovan. I am the host of Fried the Burnout Podcast and one of the things that I like to teach people is to build boundaries Say no by being a brat b-r-a-t. Now b stands for beliefs or believe. R stands for resources a stands for abilities and T stands for trust and by using one of or a combination of these words you can formulate boundaries that Empower other people so you end up getting a win-win at the end of the day so say there's somebody at your office who's constantly writing to you to ask you for numbers from a spreadsheet that you have access to and it's not really your job to give them those numbers they could get those numbers another way but they keep asking you and you keep answering so you've created this unspoken agreement with this person that they're going to ask you for the numbers and you're going to provide the numbers but you notice every time their email comes in you start rolling your eyes and huffing because you're feeling resentful that you have to provide them with these numbers and so it's time to create some space there you can say to this person hey I know that I've done this in the past here is the resource that you'll need to do this in the future I trust that you have the ability to use this well and move on right so if you use these words beliefs resources abilities and Trust in some way shape or form in your boundary statements you'll find that they help to give the person who's asking you for something their power back to use their own resources you'll be increasing the level of Trust on your team because you're telling people I believe in you I trust you I know your abilities so this is a nice way to sort of hand things back over without being like no ER ah you know.

Yeah I I love that Cait and I also love that when you set that boundary where you said no I'm not going to give this information and the way you responded to it you said yes I'm gonna give you an opportunity to be self-sufficient right yes so the one of the things I think is really important for us to hold on to particularly when these nose make us feel like stressed and like we're gonna be kicked off the team or the team's not gonna like us that every time we say no to something we're also saying yes to something else and we want to get real intentional about what we're saying yes to and what we're saying no to so the yes you know we can take this on means no we can't do this other thing over here and you can also involve people right in that discussion around if we say yes to this what does this mean about this if you're a team leader you want to have that big picture how am I always how am I how am I keeping this in the flow of the big picture so that as we're saying no right or yes what is what is the opposite what is the thing that's complementing the yes or the no right they they happen simultaneously so you don't actually have to ever be in a poll you can actually recognize right that there's there's a no and a yes happening and what are they and just be present with them and figure out what's the best way to prioritize I think Vanessa has some thoughts about this too.

I would like to say you know at the end of the day folks you just gotta be selfish and it sounds bad but ultimately here's the thing you can't show up for people if you're in the hospital dehydrated on the floor can't move you just can't show up for other people and if that is the if you are heading in that direction then what good are you to anybody else what good are you to yourself so it starts with you you gotta show up for you so you can show up for other people because guess what an empty cup of water cannot share water with another cup if you run out of water in the cup what are you gonna give you don't give any more water so you just gotta be selfish folks and it's okay to be selfish it's okay to look out for number one because that person who asked you for that request guess what they were looking out for number one I know sad to say but they were gonna they were looking out for themselves they said to themselves you know what I want that request done so they asked you because they knew you weren't going to say no because they know you better than yourself they knew you were gonna say no so what they said was well I know such and such is going to say yes so let me just ask them I dare you to surprise them this week I dare you to surprise them and say no period there's no explanation there's no my sister needs me to do this there's no my cousins in the hospital there's no oh my car broke down just say no period and then return your face to your screen and continue writing that email I dare you and you know I think this really goes back to that mindset piece where we have to get around this idea that saying no is bad or that people are going to judge us or that we're not good managers and our job is always to take care of everybody else I think we have to really embrace the idea that it's okay for us to as you said to put ourselves in that number one spot and what I actually see with a lot of my clients is that they're often doing amazing things in the world in order to make the world a better place and to make sure that everybody's happy and taken care of I just I just had a session with a client who was like yeah I started this business because when I was project manager I was miserable and I wanted to create an environment where people are really happy at work and then they can provide for their families and go home and have a nice life and I'm like and what about you because he's the long working seven days a week trying to make this happen right and and he's like oh yeah yeah look that doesn't apply to me so it starts with you it has to start with you right and it's always about like looking at that mindset piece what are you telling yourself that's getting in the way of being able to say no and often there's some sort of I should be doing more I'm not doing enough and I feel guilty and I don't deserve to look for those kinds of statements because those are going to be blocking you and when you can eliminate those it's a lot easier to then follow whatever formulas like the brat method to be able to stand your ground um and I do just want to let people know that I have to bounce off but you've got five other amazing women that are going to continue this so I will see you all next time thank you so much.

Just to jump on on that I think that came back to the creating some space she mentioned looking at those statements but there has to be kind of an ability to zoom out and do some self-reflection to start to notice any of those trends that language the deprioritization of self so uh some strategies on creating some space one would be just for anyone listening I'll invite you to take a little inventory of your day-to-day even look at your calendar how much white space is there if it's just all the color coding can't relate at all uh you know back to back to back I'm gonna guess just to educate a guest you don't have a little space for that zooming out that forest from the tree so it doesn't have to be an hour a day you don't have to be meditating you know for forever you don't have to really change your life around drastically to create that space so it can really fit in with whatever the realities of your life are it might be if you're a parent and you're a business owner and you're whatever and the only time you have space for yourself is when you get to take a shower take a long shower and that's not the most environmentally friendly recommendation but if that's what time you get take that time and without the phone without other people hopefully you get you know beat to yourself there you might be able to start to check in and just see like scan from the crown of your head to your toes how am I feeling in my physical body I think Dr Sandra shows that there's a lot of Clues and data there and then check in on that emotional mental front too so see at your calendar is there any white space and where might you even have two minutes a day to start to turn inward because that's going to influence all your outward actions foreign and I would just like to say all these emotions that you're feeling they are your friend please do not kick them to the curb and act like they do not exist they are here to help you do the right thing for you and everybody else it's just like Vanessa said you go and they're broken falling down nobody you're not helping anybody you're not helping you so if you feel a real no to this thing you got to tune into that because that's telling you there's a problem here there's something that needs to be solved now the problem could be that you're questioning yourself as a leader that just means you're gonna get some coaching somebody's gonna help you you're going to feel better as a leader the problem could be you're also recognizing you don't have enough resources to do this thing well we can do this later when we have resources but do not kick your emotions to the curb they are there to help you make friends with everyone they are a superpower they are a thousand superpowers do not leave them behind wear your cape emotions on it and you know me I love resentment it's your superpower because that's my best-selling keynote and the thing I love to talk about most but Gabor mate says something in a few of his books that he said he didn't even make up he got from a therapist that said when you are stuck in a boundary situation and the decision that you have to make is either going to leave you feeling guilty or feeling resentful so either you're going to say yes and you're going to feel resentful toward that person or you're going to say no and you're going to feel guilty about saying no sometimes this is the double bind we find ourselves in right so it's not so easy just to because either way we're going to feel terrible but every time these two emotions come up if you're left with a choice between guilt and resentment go guilt every time because resentment will continue to eat at you and eat at you and eat at you and eat at you and what happens with when you choose guilt is that most frequently you'll see that people made it through without you so another reason that we don't say no and back to Sharon's ideas about mindset is that we don't we have a hard time sometimes thinking that people are going to be okay without our help and if they don't need our help then we have this sort of internal or maybe I won't say we I'll say I when they don't need our help I have this sort of internal monster that says if they don't need you you're not worthy you're not valuable so we've attached our value to being able to jump in and help people when we can so saying no first of all feels guilty second of all feels like we could be excluded from everything if we're not necessary then we don't matter right so this this game between guilt and resentment the guilt first of all choose guilt because you can handle that better and also the more you practice doing that the easier it will be for you to believe that other people are doing it too one of the like so-and-so is always going to say yes so I have to say yes but when when we start treating each other like adults and saying this person will say no if they want to it means you'll be more apt and more open to asking people for help when you need it because sometimes boundaries are about putting up fences but sometimes boundaries are about opening Gates and letting people in and asking for help so you'll feel less guilty asking for help if you say no when you when other people ask for help sometimes because you'll trust that people will be able to say no to you if they can't do it does that make sense I know that was kind of a lot of ideas in a short period of time but they all kept running through my head as we were talking and I needed to get them all out there.

Yeah I love that Cait and I will introduce myself also my name is Audrey Holst I'm the founder of fortitude and flow and guilt is a huge one that comes up a lot and I love that perspective if we look at the Neuroscience around a lot of these things why we behave the way we do and even the feelings that we have about certain stuff right it's normal our bodies are doing what they think is the right thing for us it's following the pathways that we're found to be most efficient for us at some point and that's the thing to understand is sometimes we we start to have these opinions about ourselves for feeling a certain way just like Dr Sounder is saying right like we have all of these different feelings that come through and when we fight them we actually start draining our own energy because this is information right this is really important for us to understand so our body does what we what it thinks is most efficient and when we start to create change just like when we're starting to say no or we're starting to create a boundary the natural reaction from our bodies and our nervous system is to have some resistance to it because it takes more energy if you have a pathway of guilt then guilt is the easiest thing for your body to go through it's the easiest feeling it's wired that way so when you start to create changes in that your body is going to say whoa whoa whoa hey this is this is asking more resources than what we're used to expending here that's normal so you'll go through this discomfort uncomfortable feeling which is normal it's going to feel uncomfortable and if you can get on board with that discomfort and realize oh the discomfort is actually just my body rewiring a new pathway that can make going through all of these different strategies that folks are talking about way easier and the discomfort.

I love that Audrey the discomfort is also a signal that I'm learning something new I'm growing I got you know I'm stretching a little bit I'm expanding my comfort zone you don't have to step out of your Zone you just can add things to it and as you add things to it you start to feel like okay something new here I gotta work with it so giving yourself permission to be all right with the discomfort is incredibly important fantastic oh don't I know some amazing people here with these tips the burnout panel on saying no effectively right so we talked about first tuning inward are you feeling guilt are you feeling resentment are you feeling doubt what are the emotions that you have within you and really sit down with them and explore the why behind them and then look at look outwardly look at what's happening outside in terms of your leadership preference look at what's happening in terms of do you feel empowered do you feel like your team is respecting you do you feel as though you're respecting you right because then step number three is Take the Lead rotate the lead and respect thyself whether you're using the brat framework that Cait mentioned earlier in the video in this episode if you didn't hear it rewind hear it again and or right whether you're using other tools to ensure that you have that sense of agency for yourself where you are taking care of number one which is you so you can show up for other people okay and then set number four ensure doesn't happen again what are things you can put in place to uh make sure and ensure that you are saying no effectively always and forever and that you are not continuing to knows what what was it that um that Aileen said earlier where she said that texture of overwhelm to ensure that you're not feeling that texture of overwhelm yes yes indeed love will love it.

so if you have any questions for us type it in the chat absolutely and in terms of the burnout panel right so we are here not only on LinkedIn to provide you with tips every month but we are also here a panel of six amazing experts who are here to deliver and help your team and your company grow by ensuring that you are eradicating burnout you are preventing the burnout or you are solving for the burnout that is currently existing in your team to ensure that you are more productive as a leader you are more productive as a manager you are more productive as an employee because when you your individuals are more productive the collective is more productive and the growth can occur and the abundance is what awaits each and every one and each and every Collective that happens and that is why we are here doing what we are doing showing up every month for you.

Oh my name is Vanessa Zammy by the way and I ignite had to find the evolution I never enter myself yes I know M5 evolution by emboldening women Nationwide to leave prosperous Community Enterprises and I'm here as part of the burnout panel because we are here on a mission to ensure that everyone is thriving everyone is thriving okay everyone is thriving and we are going to be back here next month as well too to share with you more insights and actionable tips on how you can combat the biggest issues on burnout.

Chat with you all later.

3 Lessons from Ted Lasso to Help Your Job Search

I’ve already confessed my love for Ted Lasso in my 5 Lasso Lessons to use to create a healthier work culture article.

With Season 3 (finally!!!) being officially teased as “coming soon” – what better way to celebrate than to discuss how this show can bring lightness to an often-heavy thing – the job search process.

Okay… one better way to celebrate would be to rewatch Seasons 1 and 2… this will be here when you’re done 😊

With significant layoffs happening lately, this topic is even more important to discuss.

Here are 3 Lessons from Ted Lasso for Job Seekers

1. Be curious

Photo credit https://tenor.com/view/ted-lasso-tedlassogifs-be-curious-jason-sudeikis-dont-judge-gif-21044956

If you watched the show, you’ll remember one of the best scenes from the series (in my opinion!) being when Ted beat Rupert in darts in front of the entire pub. Here’s a refresher, or a little sneak peek if you’ve never watched.

Random fun fact: I played a LOT of darts when I went to college at Villanova University and was actually fairly decent. RIP Maloney’s Pub!

This mindset can be very helpful when you’re interviewing for a new job. It’s easy to get distracted by the excitement of moving forward after applying and to forget that you’re interviewing the organization too!  

One way to stand out from fellow interviewees is to think strategically about what to say when asked “What questions do you have for us?”

Here’s where being curious comes in.

If you’re interested in and excited about the role, then you’re likely starting to envision and think about the realities of what it might be like to actually:

…do that job

…be a part of that organization

…work with the people interviewing you.

Asking questions about the details of those things will absolutely make you stand out from your competition and show that you’re invested in this opportunity. An example of what this could look like:

“I noticed in the news recently the announcement of a future partnership with XYZ Company. I’m curious to know how that partnership might impact this team, and the scope of work for this role in particular?”

A related note: If you’re genuinely interested in the organization and the job, this is much easier to do.   😊

2. Culture clues are all around

Pulling on this curiosity thread, if you keep your eyes open, there are often clues on company culture all around.

Ted Lasso treats every member of the AFC Richmond organization the same – from executives to the MVPs to kit man Nate. While that’s the norm for a person of his character, it’s clear that when he takes over as head coach that this way of treating others is not the norm. In Season 1 Nate is absolutely shocked when Ted is talking to him, remembering his name, and including him in any decision-making.

Photo credit https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/e5d9a5d2-cdbd-414e-b64e-d27365c88e52/gif

That was a clue for Ted to see what the former leadership was like. For anyone at AFC Richmond wondering how this new coach would influence the team culture, it was clear from the start that outdated hierarchical dynamics would not be a part of the new system and that everyone had value and something to contribute.  

Many clients come to me looking to leave a toxic work environment – but a common theme? They know they want to make a change, but they’re terrified that they may end up somewhere just as bad or worse.

While we can never be 100% sure about what it will be like at a particular employer until we’re employees, there are a number of ways we can try to collect culture clues.

Here are some strategies:

  • Look at feedback and company reviews on Glassdoor: I do think of this as being analogous to Yelp reviews for restaurants – you need to have these be only one piece of the puzzle I’ve looked up my favorite restaurants on Yelp and been shocked to see some of the poor reviews – everyone has their own unique experience 😊 That being said, if there are tons of reviews saying there is a toxic work culture, that’s important data to consider.

  • Ask questions in your interviews – other than the basic “can you tell me about the company culture” – to keep collecting clues. I approve of the sample questions included in this article with 6 ways to figure out a company’s culture, and the other tips they share are great as well.

  • You can also use the interview process, particularly the types of questions you get asked, to reverse engineer and see if they’re pointing to any red flags. If every interview round has multiple questions about how well you handle challenges, lack of information and clear direction, and conflict… take note! Write down the questions you’re asked right after finishing each interview so you can zoom out and look for these themes before accepting an offer. Also, if you arrive early for any in-person interviews, use that time to be a fly on the wall and see what you might observe about employee dynamics.

  • Is there high turnover? You can ask how long the person who held the role you’re interviewing for was in it, but you can also do an advanced search on LinkedIn and see if the organization is churning out people. Lastly, I love these 9 “sneaky” ways to keep assessing culture.

One last point on this Lasso lesson: you can also use this idea to your benefit when onboarding at a new organization. Look to learn from everyone, not just those in leadership or roles more senior to yours!

For example, if someone technically “below” you in an organizational chart has been there for 10 years already, they have a lot of institutional knowledge. This is one of the hardest things to learn when starting somewhere new, and something that can contribute to your ability to hit the ground running.

Everyone has something valuable to contribute.  

3. Be a goldfish*

When Sam is beating himself up after a play, Ted shares that the happiest animal in the world is a goldfish because they have a 10 second memory. He then encourages Sam to be a goldfish and it’s perfectly awkwardly received.

Photo from https://tenor.com/view/ted-lasso-tedlassogifs-jason-sudeikis-goldfish-be-a-goldfish-gif-20788379

Photo from https://tenor.com/view/ted-lasso-tedlassogifs-jason-sudeikis-goldfish-be-a-goldfish-gif-20788379

I put an * on this lesson because there is some nuance to it.

If you’re applying to jobs with a thoughtful job search strategy and aren’t hearing back or never making it to final rounds of interviews, channeling your inner goldfish can help you not take any radio silence or rejection from employers personally.

However, it’s important to not completely goldfish this scenario: if you’re never moving forward in your process, look for the message that might be under the surface.

Once you’ve assessed whether there is anything to learn, let goldfish mentality come in to avoid past “losses” impacting your future performance.

It’s much easier said than done, especially if you were a part of layoffs as that can take a toll on your confidence, but fostering job search resilience is key to being able to employ this strategy. 

Surrounding yourself with a community of people that treat you with kindness and cheer you on, when you’re winning or losing, is always a sound strategy in life. If you don’t have your own Lasso-like coach to be a part of that community, feel free to book a complimentary consultation with this coach instead 😊

Happy job hunting, and don’t forget to BELIEVE!

Photo from https://tenor.com/view/ted-lasso-believe-gif-18590055

Photo from https://tenor.com/view/ted-lasso-believe-gif-18590055

How to Job Search When You’re Feeling Burned Out

The calendar starts fresh.

There is a lot of that “New Year, New You” vernacular out there and a wiry energy abounds… but we all know that the holiday season is not exactly recharging for most adults (I’m especially looking at you, parents of young kids!).

With all the talk of creating new habits and setting goals, you may wonder how anyone manages when you’re just trying to stay afloat.

If that sentiment resonates for you, you may be burnt out.

Some other traditional warning signs of burnout, as per the OG psychologist on the matter, Herbert Freudenberger, are:

  • Depersonalization

  • Decreased sense of accomplishment

  • Emotional exhaustion

Whether you’re burned out or “simply” experiencing the stress that comes with being in a job you don’t want to be in anymore, energy is a finite resource either way.

So, what do you do with this Catch-22:

You need energy to look for a new job, but your current job is taking your energy?

Four tips for job searching when you’re feeling burnt out:

  1. commit to calming your nervous system

    It may sound counterintuitive, but I recommend starting by NOT going all in on job boards and applications. This is how approximately 99% of my clients begin their search before we work together 😊 This approach can easily become a time suck – here’s how it often plays out:

    You sit down in front of your computer thinking, “Okay here we go, job search time!” and then three hours and 30 open browser tabs later you are left questioning what you’ve accomplished. Maybe you started with clicking a link for an open position, which led you to look up the company on LinkedIn, which led you to click on an employee profile to learn more, which brought you to another company page, which…. you get the point. Long story short: before you know it, lots of time and energy have been expended... both of which you typically don’t have an excess of if you’re burnt out.  

    Start, instead, by becoming militant about your stress management.

    This doesn’t mean you need to spend all day everyday meditating. What I mean is, take the step of discovering (or simply recognizing) which activities help you feel like your best self. I’m talking your tried-and-true go-to stress reducing strategies – the things you either already do (or could integrate more), and commit to prioritizing them even when adding a job search to your plate.

    Are you feeling so far down the burnout cycle that you don’t even know what helps you feel better?

    I’m obsessed with the book Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski. These are their 6 evidence-based strategies to turn OFF your stress cycle and turn ON your rest and repair mode. The good news? They’re all simple, free, and doable (and they work!).

    A related note for business owners or if you have to plan a lot of content in your work: Tracy Stanger has a Planning Your Year program that I did for 2023. One thing I love is that she has you input your down-time and personal commitments FIRST. We all know those can easily get kicked to the curb, so prioritizing them first then making the rest of your life fit around it is the kind of anti-hustle counter-culture messaging the world needs.

  2. Believe in Boundaries

    We’ve all heard about the power of saying no by now, and if you’re burned out you have FULL permission to scale back your committments and expectations of yourself.

    When you feel like you’re treading water, tell yourself that staying afloat is enough.

    No need for any fancy swim strokes.

    In addition to saying no and taking pressure off of yourself, explore creating boundaries at your current job to mitigate additional stress (if possible!).

    I love this breakdown of 10 traits of an anti-burnout employee.

    If you work from home and feel like work just bleeds into all of your time, these simple strategies can help create both literal and metaphorical space between you and your work.

  3. control what you can control

    Along those lines, what are the additional sources of stress in your life? There are plennnnty of stressors we have zero control over (hence my strong nudge to double down on the stress reducing coping strategies). But, which might you have some control over reducing?

    For example:

    A. Are you surrounded by negative people – otherwise known as energy vampires – and is there room to distance yourself from them? Here are 6 strategies to protect your energy.

    B. Do you feel exhausted every time the alarm goes off in the morning and if so, is there any wiggle room in your control to go to bed earlier? Create a wind down routine to help “land the plane” of your brain before bed? Here are other reasons why you may be so tired (and what to do about it).

    C.  Are you stress-scrolling and spending time (the same time you feel like you don’t have enough of!) getting sucked into a comparison trap on social media? Here are some free resources to create more screen life balance.

  4. know, and keep coming back to, your why

    What is driving you to make a change?

    What kind of impact would it have to stay where you are and not put energy towards this new role?

    If you land what you’re looking for - how will life look differently for you / your family / your friends?

    Being clear about these answwers and having these bigger picture drivers in mind can help you keep perspective and stay resilient through the process.

I hope these strategies serve you in restoring and protecting your energy, so you can land work you love!

Simple but Powerful Practices to Create Boundaries Between Work and Home

Does the term quiet quitting make you want to roll your eyes at this point?

I get it – but it’s amazing to see the narrative shifting and employees pushing back on previous paces of work that are not sustainable.

The best thing I’ve seen about quiet quitting was the following tweet:

The last few years have created opportunities for many people to reevaluate their values. What matters to them. What they want their work to mean – or not mean – to them in their lives.

You can love what you do and work in a healthy culture and still prioritize creating healthy boundaries to not let work interfere with doing the other things that matter to you.

What has been particularly refreshing for me is that companies are reaching out to me to teach their employees how to prevent, or recover from, employee burnout.

My most popular corporate wellness workshop has been my “Power Down, Level Up: How to Create a Healthier Relationship with Your Phone to Improve Your Life.” In this corporate wellness program, in addition to all the tech tips and tricks for disconnecting from our phones, I also share strategies for separating work from home.

These are not mutually exclusive, as often we check work email on our phone, but zooming out on how we think about our workday and delineating between being “on the clock” and off is also important… especially since the lines have become much more blurred with the increase in working from home.

Here are more ideas for creating those sparkling boundaries:

  • Set an automated “out of office” email for the weekends to counter the culture of always being available. Still in the habit of checking emails on nights/weekends? If you’re the kind of person that feels you need to respond right away or you’ll forget, you can reply to the email at night/the weekend but schedule it to only send during normal business hours.

  • Bookend your day with a calming ritual. Work tends to bleed into times in our schedule that used to be protected as we WFH more. If possible, block off your calendar first thing in the morning (just like when you used to commute to the office and not be available for a call!). Do something grounding to set the tone for your nervous system for the day. Similarly, end your day with a clear signal of “leaving” work – even if it’s just a walk around the block. It does wonders for making the transition in your mind.

  • Establish a designated workspace in your home (aka no laptop in bed or wherever you relax). This helps your brain stop associating every corner of your home with work. If you have trouble sleeping but work in your bedroom/bed, this is for you! If you want bonus points, set a cut-off time for work, and shut down (gasp!) your computer and put it out of sight.

  • If you tend to set a boundary, but then not hold it, get an accountability buddy and/or set alarms with yourself to check in on how you’re doing with implementing the strategies you’ve picked.

  • Eat lunch away from your desk/phone/computer. No more sad desk salads. Food is one of the greatest joys we can experience in this life (no? just my foodie opinion?) but apart from that, we’re not meant to be tethered to our desks for 8 hours/day. I listened to a fascinating podcast by Dr Huberman and he speaks to ultradian cycles when prepping a new workshop “Retraining Our Brains and Attention Spans” for a Boston corporate wellness client. The takeaway is this: our brains actually max out at 90 minute work cycles - and even that length is a stretch for our focus at first. Whether you want to nerd out on the science or not, it’s there, and it says you’re more productive if you walk away and take that break.  

  • If you need boundaries between yourself and people, here’s a post I wrote on 6 Strategies to protect your energy around negative people

There are plenty of other strategies I recommend in my 1-1 coaching and workshops, but sometimes less is more so I’ll leave you with these.

If you want to try one and/or you already have something that you know helps but you’ve fallen out of the habit, I can’t recommend the book Atomic Habits by James Clear enough!

What’s your favorite way to separate work and home? What boundaries have you created that have created more harmony in your life?

5 Ted Lasso Lessons To Use To Create A Healthier Work Culture

The Apple TV+ show, Ted Lasso, will forever hold a most special place in my heart.

I first started watching thanks to the encouragement of my mother. At the time, she was enduring treatment for stage IV non-smokers lung cancer during a global pandemic… so basically, she was trapped at home feeling like garbage and was a prime candidate for both entertainment and some cheer. 😊

She and my brother swiftly ripped through the first season, and every time I would travel to the home I grew up in in Connecticut to take care of and visit her, she’d rewatch episodes she had seen at least twice already so that I could catch up.

Before the second season dropped, our entire family counted down to it with incredible anticipation. When we found out they were only going to release one new episode per week, we were frustrated with the news at first (who doesn’t love to binge their favorite show?!).

It ended up being the most precious gift for us all.

Each week we faced medical complications, side effects, treatments, and often bad news. This show gave us something to look forward to – some light in the darkness that made up those days – and for that I will be eternally grateful.

It’s a great reminder of one of the many lessons the show imparts on its viewers – we all have much more power to create a positive change on the lives of each other than we realize.

Whew! Now that you know the depths of my love for this show, let’s get into some of the other lessons and how they can inspire us to create a healthier workplace.

Lesson 1: We don’t always have to change everything - sometimes listening can be just as impactful

When the legendary Roy Kent finally gives in and seeks out the “Diamond Dogs,” he’s surprised that they don’t offer advice and/or fix his problems. The conversation goes a little like this (after removing his signature expletives!):

Roy: Wait. So sometimes the Diamond Dogs is just chatting about stuff, and no one has to solve anything and nothing changes?

Ted: Sometimes. Yeah.

Roy: That's cool.

It all comes down to the power of connection and mindful listening. Sometimes, your employees and colleagues just want to be heard.

If you’re trying to make changes – big or small – in your organization to create a healthier culture, start from a place of being attuned to employee needs. This makes it much more likely that the changes will not only land well, but will also be impactful.

When it comes to 1-1 conversations, the question “How can I support you?” provides an avenue for this kind of discernment and getting to the root of what people want and need.

Image via GIPHY

Lesson 2: PLAY is powerful

In season 2, Isaac becomes Captain of the team and starts to lose his competitive edge. Roy tricks him into playing a nighttime pick-up football (soccer) match with young players, and there, Isaac remembers that having fun is why he started playing in the first place. When he taps into that innate joy, his performance elevates as well.

This demonstrates how playfulness and joy can impact many areas of our lives. My “The Power of Play” corporate wellness workshop covers how to infuse more joy and perspective into our lives. There is some interesting research on how play helps adults with resiliency, productivity, creativity, problem-solving and more.

When it comes to the workplace, there are two ways to explore integrating this concept:

  1. Can you create more moments for this amongst teams? Some companies try by having foosball tables and axe-throwing events, but referring back to Lesson 1 here, it’s good practice to see what fun means to your employees first

  2. Can you encourage this by creating more room for employees to do it on their own time? Especially if you’ve educated them on the power of play, perhaps creating a yearly “Friday Fun-day” where they have one full or ½ day off. This gift of time could demonstrate how serious a company is about facilitating more joy for their employees    

Image via GIPHY

Lesson 3: Mental health is physical health

That same season, Ted’s panic attacks are made public. He leans in and takes the opportunity to speak with the press about the importance of mental health and reducing the stigma around when people struggle.

This is another big lesson many organizations have learned over the last few years.

With rates of anxiety and depression rising 25% globally over the last 2 years, facilitating a culture where employees feel safe, supported, and able to access the resources they need to restore their mental health is critical.

What support tools does your organization have and how are those communicated to employees? In terms of prevention, what programming and tools are provided to employees to support their physical, mental, and emotional health, as we know they are all connected?

Lesson 4: We can’t control how others act, but we can control how we respond and model the behavior we’d like to see

This lesson is a core tenant in meditation and mindfulness practices, and it plays out on the Ted Lasso screen time and time again.

Ted appears, at times, impervious to the harsh words from AFC Richmond fans and the press. He repeatedly responds to criticism and negative energy with his trademark optimism and one-liners. 

If you’re in a workplace where you’re dealing with a difficult colleague/culture, one way to keep yourself grounded is to embody this mindset.

But what about applying this same notion to create a healthier workplace?

We know by now that company culture is contagious – which is great when it’s a healthy and positive one, and not so beneficial when it’s a culture of burnout and toxicity. Given this, we want to be mindful of what we’re “spreading” and how our behaviors contribute to these cultures.

For leaders, it is even more important, as tone trickles down. For example, let’s take this scenario:

Leaders encourage employees to take their vacation days and really disconnect (to reduce stress, prevent burnout, and aim for more work life harmony), BUT when they themselves are out of the office, they’re still attending meetings and responding to emails.

That mixed message has a powerful impact on an employees' ability to trust that it’s okay to truly disconnect.

If trying to create a healthier workplace, leadership needs to “walk the talk” and be offline, otherwise the status quo will remain. And while we can’t make an employee really disconnect when they’re on vacation, we can model that it’s not only acceptable but encouraged behavior… and that may make all the difference.

Lesson 5: No matter our job title, there is always more to learn and more ways to grow

In Season 1, Ted relied on “kit man” Nate (a colleague typically ignored by many, and in an organizational chart, a “lower-ranked” employee) for an important idea that impacted the whole team. Ted’s ability to not only be open to feedback and ideas from others, but also his active solicitation of it is a great example to follow.

A healthy workplace is one where we recognize that all people can add value, not just the highest ranked employees.

Whether formally, through things like 360 reviews, or informally, through the way we treat one another in everyday interactions, how does your organization embody this simple yet powerful principle?

I hope these Lasso Lessons inspire you to explore ways you can integrate more wellness into your workday to create a culture where employees feel valued.

Want to learn more about how I support companies in creating wellness programming with this mission in mind?

Reach out for a complimentary consultation and let’s talk more.

Image via GIPHY

Finally, as a parting bonus, if you like to listen to music while you’re working, here’s a playlist I made from the soundtracks of both seasons. The songs are mostly instrumental, and the overall energy of the playlist is relaxed. Cheers!

Texting and Typing a lot? Simple Stretches to Show Your Wrists Some Love

International Day of Yoga was in June, and what better way to celebrate than with moving our bodies.

We know the importance and benefits of keeping active and maintaining joint mobility, but most of us don’t pay attention to how tiny repetitive movements impact our physical health.

Most of us spend hours every day texting and typing, but how often do we take care of our wrists which bear the brunt of those movements?

Practicing small exercises daily can improve your wrist mobility, ease tension, and prevent future injuries. This short but effective video shows you some simple stretches you can do anywhere, any time.

I often teach micro-movement breaks like this at companies (it’s especially a welcome pause during a long all-hands or off-site meeting!). It’s a joy to show employees how accessible taking care of our bodies can be, even in a full workday.

Let me know if you have any questions!

If you’d like more simple ways of counteracting the aches and pains that come with sitting and stress, you can grab my complimentary guide here.

3 Ways to Support Your Employees' Mental Health

Mental Health.

This phrase has been in the headlines more in the last 2 years than ever before.

But what is it really, and how can we continue the conversation to ensure we create cultures at companies that foster a more open dialogue about something that has been stigmatized for so long?

In this article we’ll…

  • define the difference between mental and emotional health

  • discuss how to normalize the fact that life is not always easy and that we all need different kinds of help at different times

  • explore 3 specific ways to support mental health in the workplace

What is mental health?

The American Psychological Association (APA) defines mental health as “a state of mind characterized by emotional well-being, good behavioral adjustment, relative freedom from anxiety and disabling symptoms, and a capacity to establish constructive relationships and cope with the ordinary demands and stresses of life.”

When I talk about this topic in my corporate wellness workshops, I like to point out the word “relative” in that definition. This is a small but strong word choice!

The goal is not to live a life free from anxiety, and wellness does not mean never having hard experiences interfere with the rest of your life. That’s impossible, as to be human is to suffer.

This may not be the cheeriest thing you’ve read all day, but it’s true. 🙃

The APA even somewhat acknowledges this by saying there are “ordinary demands and stresses of life” as to set the stage that it’s not about never being stressed, it’s about how you cope with inevitable stress.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and others are doing their part of expand upon the definition of mental health and emphasize this point: that mental health is more than just the absence of mental illness.  

What is the difference between mental health and emotional health?

I adore the work of Psychologist Dr Guy Winch, and he makes the delineation clear by stating “Mental health is about diagnosable conditions like depression and anxiety. Emotional health is about common experiences like loneliness, failure, and heartbreak, the non-diagnosable stuff.”

I highly recommend checking out his TED Talks, especially “Why we all need to practice emotional first aid.”

In this talk he describes how there is no health without mental health, and notes “…how much we favor our physical health over our emotional health. For example, if we get a cut on our arm we can tell just by looking at it whether we need a bandage, a stitch, or an ambulance. But when we sustain an emotional wound like rejection or failure, we have no idea how to gauge whether the wound is deep or whether it requires emotional first aid and few of us would know how to ‘treat’ it ourselves if it did.

As a psychologist I find that unacceptable. Our physical health and our emotional health are the twins of our general wellbeing, and as such, we should treat them equally.”

This analogy is powerful – emotional/mental pain and dis-ease can interfere with out lives just as much, sometimes more, than the physical. It’s time we not only acknowledge that but also create better ways of caring for and promoting healing in this space.

Why does this conversation matter?

Both mental and emotional health have taken an incredible toll while people have navigated the turmoil of the last few years. The APA definition above refers to “ordinary demands and stresses of life” – we all know that the circumstances we have all faced recently have been far from ordinary. It’s no wonder the data shows people are struggling to cope.

Rates of depression and anxiety climbed globally by more than 25% in 2020. Recent events aside, in the US there has been a steady increase in rates of mental illness and a lack of people seeking treatment for some time now.

This mental wellness quote sums this up well:

Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-squeaky-wheel/201602/if-emotional-first-aid-were-dress-it-would-look

We spend 1/3 of our lives at work. Given this, creating space to take care of our mental and emotional wellbeing at work is a must to create meaningful change.

With the economy shifting, many are worried that as budgets tighten, the progress that has been made in this space will regress. Ariana Huffington is one of those people, and she is encouraging employers to continue to take mental health and wellness seriously as the world continues to change.

With all of this in mind, and a better understanding of what mental health is and why this conversation matters…

Here are 3 ways to support your employees' mental health 

1) Communication

One way to encourage employees and colleagues to take care of their mental and emotional wellness is to create a safe space for them where they feel supported and seen. Honoring that we’re all humans and not simply work-horses can go a long way in this regard.

In one of her podcast episodes, the inimitable Brené Brown shared that she does the following at her company:

“We start every meeting with a two-word check-in. We take turns sharing two words that describe how we're feeling that day. We all have the human need to see others and to be seen. The realness connects us.”

Source: https://twitter.com/BreneBrown/status/1336363448507260928/photo/1

I love this practice because it’s a way of seamlessly integrating mindfulness and self-compassion into the workday (two tools that have a plethora of evidence supporting their ability to improve mental health.)

Being asked to name our feelings (…which is easier said than done!) and being given the time and space to turn inward to find the answers is such a caring gesture. Sometimes, it can be all you need to notice that you may not be doing that well. With that awareness, you’re much more likely to take action to feel better. A simple practice, with potentially powerful results for one’s mental wellness.

Another easy way to facilitate an open, accepting culture is through keeping these conversations going (not just once month/year!). Some people are apprehensive about doing so, and that’s understandable especially since most societies haven’t equipped us with much practice to approach these kinds of exchanges.

Two strategies?

The first is to practice mindful listening. It’s really about listening and giving people the chance to have someone hold space for them to show up as they are, and less about what you say. In fact, sometimes saying nothing beyond the sentiment of “I’m here to listen if you want to talk” can be more than enough. Listening doesn’t mean you’re taking over the responsibility of solving any issues, and you can (and should!) refer people to connect with their Employee Assistance Program and any other internal resources equipped to support employee wellness.

The second strategy is to check out the Harvard Business Review article on how to be a mental health ally.

2) Offering and modeling behaviors that facilitate mental wellness

There can only be so much change without buy-in from leadership. If leaders model behaviors that can help prevent burnout and create more work-life harmony, employees will believe that it’s okay for them to take time to take care of themselves. What does this look like in practice?

  • Offering mental health days

  • Encouraging people to use their sick time when they’re sick (sounds simple, but think of how many people you know who “work through it” and explore why that’s the case).

  • Creating a policy where employees must take a minimum amount of vacation days

More than that, having leaders demonstrate how to disconnect by not sending emails or being in meetings when they’re out of the office can show that time away is meant to be AWAY!

Apart from vacation, leaders can demonstrate boundaries between work and home life by not emailing or sending Slack messages at all hours. This can foster a more balanced and less stressful culture, which influences the mental and emotional health of employees.

I know this is easier said than done, but that’s why I talk all about how to implement these practices in my Power Down, Level Up: How to Create a Healthier Relationship with Technology to Improve Your Life workshop!

Speaking of which, the third example of how to support your employees’ mental health is through

3) Customized corporate wellness programs

One of the reasons I love offering corporate wellness workshops in Boston and beyond is because I get to help organizations support all areas of their employees’ health and wellness.

Want to help employees take care of their minds and bodies? Let’s do some yoga and/or meditation.

Want to teach employees how to manage their stress and connect with their colleagues (reminding them that they’re not alone, and showing them that their employer cares since they’re offering these sessions)? Let’s run some customized corporate wellness workshops on the topics you’ve seen employees struggling with, including sleep, nutrition, and more.

The above HBR article shares that:

“Group self-care activities in the workplace promote peer-to-peer engagement. Popular activities include exercise and fitness classes, healthy meals, meditation, and mindfulness programs. These experiences also foster more in-person conversations, which can facilitate discussions about mental health. Sometimes people with mental health challenges find it comforting to do things with colleagues that aren’t directly focused on mental health; many fear the loss of such social connections due to their issues. Extracurricular activities organized around a shared interest or affinity can create a space in which to create connections with other employees that facilitate engagement.”

If you’re interested in learning more, you can reach out to consult about the corporate wellness workshop needs at your organization.

These sessions not only provide people with the tools they need to feel better; they also can be a means of preventing employee burnout from the start – which is a topic we could spend an entire article on 😊

For the sake of brevity, instead, here is the Australian Government’s National Workplace Initiative (NWI) from their National Mental Health Commission. “The NWI provides a nationally consistent approach to workplace mental health” and the blueprint they share is an incredible resource to use when thinking about both the management of and prevention for mental health challenges.

If you want to dig deeper into this topic, feel free to reach out as I’m happy to point you to additional resources and providers based on your interests.

Here’s to greater wellness, in all of its forms, for all!

Job Search Stress... and How to Effectively Manage It!

April was Stress Awareness Month, but around here we talk about managing stress on a regular basis!

I hope you enjoy this conversation and get what you need to reduce stress and land work you love!

One major contributor to stress for many people is their jobs (where we spend about 1/3 of our lives).

For some, the job search process itself is one of the most challenging experiences they have in their professional world.

The stress can arise from any number of parts of the process, and manifests in several ways. I’m guessing that if you’ve ever been on a job search, at any time in your life, you know the stress that it can bring!

These are some of the most common questions I have seen stress out job seekers:

  • What do I want to do in my career / what kind of job do I want?

  • What type of organization will have a culture that aligns with my interests and needs?

  • What am I qualified for?

  • What do I even write on my resume?

  • Do I need a cover letter?

  • How do I actually spend my time in my job search and what do I need to do to hear back from employers?

  • How do I connect my experiences and relay it clearly in an interview?

  • When and how can I follow up with someone after interviewing?

  • How do I negotiate the salary in an offer?

…and more!

When I work with clients, I not only help them with these tactical topics, but I make sure we address their overall stress management in life.

We explore how they can take care of themselves to have the energy and ability to execute on all of the components that make up a successful job search strategy.

I sat down (virtually!) with my wonderful colleague Becca Carnahan to talk about some of the ways to manage job search stress. It’s always such a joy to connect with my career coaching colleagues and see all of the ways that job seekers can get the support they need.

 
 

Practicing Yoga at Home? Try these Simple Neck Streches

April was Stress Awareness month, and May is Mental Health Awareness month. They're beyond connected, of course, and being in a chronically stressed state has a negative impact on our mental health.

The first step to addressing both of these is awareness- when we understand how we're feeling (mind and body) and what our stressors are, we can then take action.

One element we can become more aware of is where we hold stress in our physical bodies. For many, it's often in our jaw, neck, and upper back.

My invitation for you is to
1) take a few breaths and a moment for yourself today... where do you notice stress manifesting in your body?
2) Try this release and see how you feel!

If you’re curious about learning more of the science behind how our bodies hold onto our emotions, there is a fascinating book called The Body Keeps the Score. It’s certainly not a light read, but can help illuminate how these two things are connected and what we can do with our bodies to help move our emotions.

In the book Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, the Nagoski sisters walk through this concept in detail as well. It’s a favorite book of mine and I adore their voices and the very simple yet evidence-based and practical strategies they share to release phsyiological stress from our bodies, freeing our minds in the process. The strategies are summarized in the link above.

They highlight movement as one of the most efficient and effective ways to do just this - so that’s my final nudge for you to explore this stretch and any other form of movement that feels good to you!

Feeling Some Burnout? Try this Breathwork as a Morning Meditation

This breathing exercise has been a favorite of mine ever since Boston yoga instructor David Magone first introduced me to it back in 2012… a casual 10 years ago 😊

There are variations for the flow and hand positions, but the gist is the same: alternating breathing out of one nostril at a time.

I have found that even when I’m teaching it, I feel calmer after only a few cycles, so I’m not surprised that there is research to support the benefits this has on our nervous systems (check out PubMed to see some).

I find when I’m teaching corporate wellness workshops to help address employee burnout, breathing exercises seem to be the most popular and can sometimes be less intimidating when people are coming to the session without an existing mindfulness practice.

Breathwork IS a form of meditation!

When people experience the physiological benefits that come with the specific breathing practice at hand, those positive feelings and impact can motivate them to come back and do more.

As with any habit, feeling that reward makes it much more likely to be something you repeat!

If you’d like to pair this with music, here’s a link to a meditation music playlist I created.

Anyone else a Nadi Shodhana fan?

Or if you’ve never done it, let me know how it feels if you try it out!

3 Benefits of Working with a Career Coach

You might think this post is going to be very biased since I’ve been a career coach for well over a decade now.

While of course I can’t remove that lens, I know what it’s like to be on the other side of the table, too!

It was through working with a career coach myself back in 2005 that I discovered this path.

I was at a crossroads. I realized I didn’t want to be a teacher – something I worked towards for almost 4 years of college already, and my go-to reply whenever anyone asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”.

Feeling completely overwhelmed and stuck, and then finding my way after working with this coach, was an incredibly formative experience. What I learned from being a career coaching client myself is influencing what I’m sharing here as well.

This post is aiming to answer a lot of the common questions I see when prospective clients originally reach out to me for a complimentary consultation. There is often a period of a lot of stress, nerves, or anxiety before people end up reaching out, so my goal is to provide tons of information so no matter which coach you explore working with, you have a good sense of things and feel more excited than nervous 😊

With all of that in mind, let’s get into 3 of the benefits of working with a career coach!

1) You get to talk about yourself with an un-biased person who has your best interests in mind

When you’re working with a coach, you’ll notice a difference in the way they listen to you compared to how it feels when your friends and family listen (no offense, friends and fam!).

Not only will they be fully engaged, attentive, and attuned to what you’re saying, they’ll ask lots of follow up questions to dig deeper and learn more. In addition to this open and mindful listening, a coach has no ulterior motives steering them to encourage you to make a particular decision.

In fact, most coaches won’t even tell you what decision to even make! They’ll reflect back what you’ve shared, what they have heard you articulate as your values, interests, and drivers, and help you to connect the dots you may be too close to the situation to see.

Their true goal is to help you feel empowered, informed, confident, and supported enough to make a decision that feels right to you based on what matters in your life. A coach can help you see the forest from the trees when you’ve potentially gotten caught up in the opinions of others, which are usually well-intentioned but clouded by the values of those people.

Here is how a former client of mine shared how this felt for her:

“While Aileen is amazing in so many ways, I think one of her most outstanding qualities is her ability to listen. Aileen never told me the job she thought I should want - she always made sure that my career decisions reflected my passions and aspirations.” – Megan Quill

I’ve had previous clients joke with me that they feel like I’m their therapist, which is (definitely not what career coaching is!) so flattering as it illustrates just how heard and supported clients can feel when working with a coach.

2) They hold you accountable

This may be the most valuable benefit of working with a career coach!

For some people, having an external source of accountability as they work towards a goal in their lives can make or break their progress.

You may know this about yourself already, but if you’re wondering whether or not you’re one of those people – or if you just want to learn more about the kind of structure that enables you to maintain momentum when working on something – I highly recommend taking the four tendencies quiz by Gretchen Rubin.

If you’re curious about diving into the four tendencies more, you can read this article about how understanding your tendency can help you improve your life. Gretchen has also been on countless podcasts and written many other articles in addition to her books.

Image is from https://gretchenrubin.com/podcast-episode/podcast-120-happier-four-tendencies/

I’m an “obliger,” which is the most common tendency, and Gretchen states that “Obligers meet outer expectations, but struggle to meet inner expectations. They’re motivated by external accountability; they wake up and think, “What must I do today?”

I can know that I need and want to move my body, but if I don’t sign up for a yoga or barre class, I’m much less likely to do it. I can know that I need to take time to focus on marketing my business, but not do it until I work with a marketing consultant who is checking in on my deadlines and progress.

(Yes, I’m a coach who basically loves having coaches herself!)

This is part of why we see group fitness classes, personal trainers, business coaches and more being so popular – for most areas of life there is likely a solution that involves creating external accountability for it.

When you work with a career coach, you have a dedicated person invested in your professional success who is there to give you the tools and create the structure needed for you to succeed. That accountability stops the cycle that is common for countless people - wanting to prioritize your career development but often having it fall at the bottom of your to-do list because life gets in the way.

When I work with my career coaching clients, I ask them what kind of accountability feels good for them. Questions I ask most often include:

  • Do you want to set a deadline to do these action items by and if I haven’t heard from you by then I’ll check in?

  • Would you prefer to schedule our next session, so you force yourself to have to have updates by then and see a goal on the calendar?

Every person, their style, and their life circumstances look different, so I meet each person wherever they are based on the kind of support that makes them feel good.

If you know you thrive when there is external accountability, what areas of your life have you implemented this and how has it helped you move forward?

3) They offer reliable resources and bring structure to a structureless process

Another benefit of working with a career coach is having a reliable, knowledgeable go-to source to answer all the million questions that come up throughout your job search. Questions such as:

Instead of spending hours googling the answers, and getting lots of conflicting advice, you have an expert in your back pocket. Moreso, someone who understands you, your background, and your personality so they’ll tell you the best practices but also help create some workarounds if a typical approach doesn’t align with your comfort zone.

Additionally, many people feel overwhelmed when job searching. They’re not sure where to start to create a job search strategy, what to focus on, and how to spend their energy efficiently to get the best momentum and results. They may come out of the gate strong but then if they’re hearing crickets after applying they aren’t sure what to do next.

Working with a career coach will help you create structure and efficiency in an often structureless process, so you can get results, and, get back to the rest of your life.

Now that we’ve exhaustively covered the top 3 benefits of working with a career coach, let’s delve into what it actually looks like to work with someone.

What to expect when working with a career coach

One of the most common questions I get from people is “So… what… does... it actually look like?! What do we really do if we were to work together?”

Which always makes me think of this scene from Office Space:

what do you do here in office

The answer depends on two things:

  1. you and your unique situation and

  2. the coach

In my practice, if you’re in a good groove and just want an extra pair of eyes on some application documents, a refresh on job search strategy or interviewing, and a sounding board, I typically recommend we focus on 1-1 appointments. These are done via zoom, phone, or in person as you feel necessary.

This means I’m here when you need or want to connect, cheering you on and checking in in the ways you’ve said feel good for you, but we don’t have a regular standing meeting filling your calendar.

If, on the other hand, you’re feeling rusty on all things job search, overwhelmed with how to proceed, and/or know you thrive with more support and accountability, I supplement those 1-1 sessions with “on demand coaching.”

I created five comprehensive learning modules with an arsenal of resources (videos of me teaching you what you need to know, workbooks, templates, guides) for each step in the road – figuring out your path, updating resumes and cover letters, LinkedIn, interviewing, taking care of yourself while doing this work, and more.

With instant access to this kind of coaching, you can chip away at your job search on your own time (no schedules to coordinate!) and then we end up being able to dig deeper in our 1-1 coaching time together. To make it manageable, based on where you’re at, I’ll get specific with your “homework” and point you to the resource/module to start with and then we plug away together from there.

Clients have access to this for life, and my whole ethos is that I’d rather teach you how to write an effective resume vs do it for you so you don’t need me again! Most people change jobs a good number of times in their life, so I believe it’s powerful to equip each person with the tools they need to feel supported in future job transitions as well.

The nitty gritty of what coaching looks like can be very different, so I always encourage people to shop around and ensure they find a coach that feels like the best fit for them, their personality, and their needs.

This brings me to my final point – how to find coaches, and what to do if you want to dip your toe into more self-guided work in this space before/instead of reaching out to someone.

How to find a coach + ways to explore working on this yourself

I always do a complimentary phone consultation with anyone interested in working together. I do this to not only make sure they feel like I’m the right person for them, but I also want to make sure I feel like I have the right skills, approach, and background for what kind of support they need.

If I don’t think I’m the best coach for the job, I typically refer prospective clients to my trusted colleagues and friends in the field, helping me feel confident that they’re in good hands.

I also always recommend that people explore free coaching options, especially if budgets are tight. Most people are surprised when I tell them that if they studied somewhere for an undergraduate degree, there are often a number of free resources (including coaching sessions at times!) available to them through the Career Services office. This typically is not heavily advertised, so I recommend people reach out via phone/email to the center directly to ask. Often there are 1-3 sessions for free for graduates, and/or access to internal job search resources.

Lastly, one of the most frequent recommendations I give to people exploring making a change in their professional lives is the book “Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life.” This is an incredible resource filled with hands-on activities for building self-awareness and deepening your understanding of what work means to you and what might be exciting to integrate into your next opportunity.

I hope that this comprehensive post not only helps you understand some benefits of working with a career coach, but also gives you tools to find someone that is right for you to work together towards achieving your professional goals.

Here’s to feeling supported in the process of doing more of what you love, no matter what that is!

 
 

5 Signs It's Time to Look for a New Job

I’ve been career coaching since 2007 (!) and have worked with people of all ages and backgrounds. There are common themes that arise after having so many conversations with people when they’re exploring a change in their professional lives.

While of course every person and situation is different, I often see these five signs. Use them as one tool to evaluate your career satisfaction – how many are true for you?

1. You’re bored

Have you noticed that projects that used to excite you don’t anymore? Perhaps the tasks that make up most of your work lead you to dread your workday or even roll your eyes when you see the email request come in?

While these don’t mean you need to kick a job search into action, they are indicators that your innate desires to continually learn, grow, and challenge yourself are not being met. Note which types of tasks may still excite you and see if you can speak with your supervisor or colleague to get more of those in the mix.

If it’s not possible, that is information to take into consideration when assessing whether your current role and employer is still a fit or not.

2. You don’t see any room for growth

(Can present as “I don’t want my boss’s job”).

For some time in your professional life, you may be very goal oriented. For certain people this looks like wanting to work towards a particular job title or scope of responsibility. For others, it’s more nuanced, and is more about wanting to continue to be in positions where they acquire new skills and are pushed outside of their comfort zones.

If that’s you, and the role you’re in isn’t providing continued opportunities to hone existing and/or acquire new skills, that may not feel like a good fit.

Of course, before simply jumping to the next organization, it makes sense to have candid conversations with your organization about making this happen. Sometimes all it takes is an ask!

To note, for people who are at a certain point in their careers and/or lives, this may not be a dealbreaker. For some people, once they’re reached a particular point in their professional lives, they don’t want to keep climbing and moving onto the next. This is not my nice way of saying “once you’re older you stop wanting to grow” either!

It can happen at any age when you’ve found work that aligns with your values, interests, personality, skills, and fits well with your personal life. Bigger offices, more pay, and shinier titles are not what it’s all about for many people… these days more than ever.

3. You’re not using the skills you thought you’d get to use

This one is often a stand-alone reason why people end up leaving their current role.

This can happen in a few ways – perhaps it’s a startup or a new position, and what the company anticipated the role requiring didn’t end up being what was needed. Or, someone may start off with a role looking one way, and then it evolves into something different due to staffing changes or simply because that’s where the organization is headed.

It can feel very disappointing no matter the circumstances. You’ll notice a theme, though, with the tips I shared above.

Especially in a culture where growth and changes are happening in the organization at an exponential rate, this may be something management has simply overlooked vs a sign they don’t care about you. An option is to reach out to your manager and ask to get some time on their calendar to discuss the scope of your work – giving them a heads up to prime the conversation can often yield a more productive chat.

4. You often find yourself daydreaming or wondering about what’s next

…maybe even during planning meetings at your current company.

If this is happening – noticing a strong disconnect when your colleagues are looking at the future – it is a big piece of data potentially pointing to disinterest in your current professional whereabouts.

Other ways I often hear this start off…

 “I’m happy where I am but I just started scrolling through jobs on LinkedIn...”

“It’s fine where I am but… I’m starting to wonder what else is out there.”

“I’ve always known the next step in my career, but now I’m not sure what I’m going to do… I just know it’s not this.”

Let me clarify – daydreaming alone does not mean it’s time to make a change, but if you’re noticing this internal pull to do something else, something different, and this innate sense of longing or wondering “what else?” – that is information to pay attention to and explore deeper.

5. You feel burnt out or misaligned

A toxic work environment, not gelling with the company culture, not believing in the organization’s mission… these are some of the top contributors to employee burnout.

We spend over 1/3 of our lives at work, so if you’re not being treated well or feeling a sense of purpose connected to how you’re spending the majority of your time, especially now as work bleeds into home life, it takes a toll.

This comes down to personal preference, but for many people, they want to work where they feel there is alignment and where they are valued. Employee burnout can also come from that lack of using skills you want, as discussed above, so it’s important to clarify where this energy drain comes from so you can create a clear path forward.

Are any of these resonating with you?

If you’re noodling on making a change, or maybe have even been trying to make one but not getting traction, I’m here to chat over a complimentary consultation should you need some support.

Here’s to finding more flow in our work!

 
 

5 Things You Need To Do When Planning Your Corporate Wellness Programs

If you work in HR or are on the wellness committee at your organization, how do you approach planning your wellness offerings?

After partnering with a wide range of players in this space, from startups with small budgets to global companies with more resources at their fingertips, I’ve found the following best practices help employees feel seen and supported by these programs:

1) Poll your people!

It may sound obvious, but a lot of times this doesn’t happen due to time/resource constraints. Even if you can’t collate info from a huge group, ensuring the opinions are heard from a few disparate teams can make a huge difference.

Aside from more formalized polling, utilizing mindful listening during all times of the year (vs. just during the planning period) can help flesh out some recurring themes of what employees are struggling with and where they could use more support.

2) Anticipate challenging times

Of course, we can never anticipate everything. But, if there is a period with greater challenges coming (examples: an annual “busy” season, a major organizational change) and offer programs beforehand to help employees move into that time feeling more refreshed vs already fried.

Not possible? Providing wellness tools after the fact and honoring the struggle of that specific season can increase engagement. Sessions offered when employees are “in it” may have less participation.

3) Accomodate time zones and learning styles

Offer the same program multiple times to enable multiple time zones to be accommodated. This simple strategy is powerful – honoring the times that work for teams in other countries can help them feel valued.

Bonus- these tend to create smaller groups in each session, which lends itself to greater participation because the group feels more intimate.

Not a global company? Noting the needs of different learning styles in this same way can have the same impact (more breakout rooms if there are more introverts in the session, for example).

4) Take a holistic approach

Of course this all depends on your budget, but if possible, looking at well-being from a holistic and whole-person centered approach tends to help more employees feel catered to in the offerings. In the book Burnout by Amelia and Emily Nagoski, they say “wellness is a state of action” and I adore this mindset.

Since there is no single answer to a healthier mind and body, consider thinking about all of the different pillars of health and creating programs to support each – mental, physical, emotional, financial, spiritual. Some people may have their movement down and not want any step challenges or office yoga, while others may benefit from those nudges to be more physically active.

One company I’ve partnered with for 5 years now breaks each quarter into a wellness theme and then creates programming that aligns with those themes. We typically meet each January and based on those, I create workshops/events that touch on the topics they’ve deemed most pressing for their people.

5) Quality over quantity

Short can be sweet – while there is power in longer programming, attention spans have dwindled in the last few years. Consider breaking a big topic down into micro-sessions to allow for easier scheduling and digestion of information.

Seasoned planning professionals, what have I left out?

If you’re an employee participating in wellness workshops, what is something your employer does that makes you feel supported?

As always, I’m here for complimentary consultations if you’d like to discuss your employee wellness needs. Happy planning!

 
 

Simple Stress Relieving Strategies You Can Do At Home

It’s only one month into a global pandemic, and COVID-19 has already made it a challenging time for all of us in countless ways.

Here are some resources for ideas on how you can continue to support your mind, body, and spirit.

Mind:

Sitting in stillness can be challenging even in normal times, so here are ideas for more active forms of meditation:

  • Color: grab some colored pencils and an adult coloring book and get to it! Coloring mandalas in particular has been proven to help reduce anxiety levels.

  • Walk: bonus points if you have access to nature as it’s proven to reduce stress (grass patches + trees count, city dwellers!). Make it a moving meditation: pay attention to everything around you and try to use as many of your senses as possible: what you see, smell, the feel of the fresh air and the earth under each step.

  • Breathe: try alternate nostril breathing and/or box breathing in particular. They both require more concentration, which can be a wonderful way for your mind to have to keep refocusing on what you want it to.

Body:

You’ve likely seen that there are TONS of instructors local to you offering streaming classes now. If you don’t have an instructor you like, here are some more “corporate” options!

  • Peloton is offering a full 90 days of their app for free – no bike or treadmill needed. I adore Aditi’s yoga classes.

  • The Down Dog app has free barre, HIIT, and yoga as well and can also be viewed from a computer. They’re extending the free access for everyone until April and longer if you’re a student or teacher!  

  • If you want to wind down for sleep, or just for the sake your stress levels, here is my guide to simple yoga poses you can do to calm your nervous system and release tension. If you can only have capacity to do just one, pick legs up the wall without a doubt!

Soul:

For some people, this time is creating a bit more space to do a bit of big picture reflection.

  • As a reminder I always offer complimentary 30-minute phone consultations on everything from work to wellness: if you’d like a listening ear, you can reach out to schedule.

  • If you’re in the process of navigating a change in your work, I recently ran a virtual workshop with GA Boston on Negotiation and the Interview: Exploring Fit & Landing the Job. You can access the recording for free there!

The outpouring of resources out there (and here!) can be very inspiring… but also very overwhelming.

Take what works for you and leave the rest.

Sending all of my best positive and grounding energy your way.

COVID-19 has made it a challenging time for all of us in countless ways. Here are some simple stress relieving strategies you can do at home. TAKE WHAT WORKS FOR YOU AND LEAVE THE REST. Repin & get access to my free resources to support your mind, b…

How to Prevent Decision Fatigue

Whether you’re thinking of making changes in your work world or not, everyone could use a little more energy, right?

We make up to 35,000 decisions per day.

Many of us are feeling the fatigue that come with that reality.

This blog post I wrote is all about how to cut down on decisions to introduce more ease into your days and make space in your brain for the kind of thoughts you want.

I break things down into three simple options: automation, delegation, and prioritization.

Do you have other strategies to preserve your energy and prevent mental fatigue? Let me know!

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How to Spend Less Stocking a Healthy Pantry

Two things that can drain your energy?

Grocery shopping and stressing about spending money (which often go hand in hand!).

One resource that addresses both of these?

Thrive Market.

What is Thrive? It’s a “membership community that uses the power of direct buying to deliver the world’s best healthy food and natural products to our members at wholesale prices, and to sponsor free memberships for low-income American families.”

The way I describe it? Think Whole Foods meets Costco meets Amazon Prime... with a philanthropic mission. They aim to “make healthy living easy and affordable for everyone” and “when you buy a Thrive Market membership, you’re also donating one to a low-income family, teacher, veteran, or student.” You can learn more about how they give back on their site, and if you want a free 30-day trial + 25% off your first order you can sign up here*.

Prices for everything are 25-50% off retail, and while you do pay an annual membership fee of $59.95, most members make back their membership fee in savings within their first 2 orders. I’ve been a member for about 3 years now… and

I saved $3,144 last year alone (!!).

I’ve found that I’m much more efficient when I grocery shop now and dread it less. I’m essentially just buying the produce I need and then I’m outta there, Supermarket Sweep style (if you didn’t grow up watching that show I’m sorry you missed out)!

Image from Chowhound

Below is a breakdown of my typical purchases and the cost savings I see. To note, I’m comparing prices to Whole Foods because it’s the closest store to me that stocks these items.

You may notice less of a price difference compared to where you shop (for example, Wegman’s may have comparable prices, but it may be super far from you, or maybe you need to go to multiple stores when shopping to get all of the items you need).

I factor the time savings and convenience of Thrive into my evaluation of it (I used to send some orders directly to work to stock my snack drawer!), along with the perks of stocking up during sales and leveraging the free gifts they offer too.

Broths/Condiments:

  • Coconut aminos: 6.99 Whole Foods or 4.99 Thrive = $2.00 savings

  • Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar: 4.39 Whole Foods vs 3.19 Thrive = $1.20 savings

  • Red Boat Fish Sauce: 8.99 Whole Foods vs 7.49 Thrive = $1.50 savings

  • Fourth & Heart Grass Fed Original Ghee: 12.99 Whole Foods vs 11.99 Thrive = $1.00 savings

  • Nutiva Refined Organic Coconut Oil: 11.99 Whole Foods vs 8.99 Thrive = $3.00 savings

Baking:

  • Bob’s Red Mill Almond Flour: 11.99 Whole Foods vs 8.99 Thrive = $3.00 savings (P.S. my favorite recipe I make with this is the Detoxinista Grain Free Chocolate Chip Cookies!)

  • Bob’s Red Mill Organic Coconut Flour: 4.99 Whole Foods vs 3.99 Thrive = $1.00 savings

Staples/Snacks:

  • Epic Performance Bar, Lemon: 22.41 Whole Foods vs 19.99 Thrive = $2.42 savings

  • Artisana Cashew Butter: 16.99 Whole Foods vs 13.49 Thrive = $3.50 savings

  • Artisana Raw Tahini: 12.99 Whole Foods vs 7.99 Thrive = $5.00 savings

  • Purely Elizabeth Grain Free Granola: 6.99 Whole Foods vs 4.94 Thrive = $2.05 savings

  • Siete Chips: 4.99 Whole Foods vs 4.39 Thrive = $0.60 savings (this adds up when you eat these as much as we do! 😊)

  • Rao’s Tomato Sauce: 8.99 Whole Foods vs 8.69 Thrive = $.30 savings (I like that I don’t have to lug heavy items like this and stock up my pantry with about 4 at a time)

  • Banza Chickpea Pasta: 8.99 Whole Foods vs 8.39 Thrive = $0.60 savings

Personal Care Products / House Supplies:

  • Dr Bronner’s Lavender Castile Soap: 17.98 Whole Foods vs 12.99 Thrive = $4.99 savings (this does go on sale at WF a lot though!)

  • I also get laundry detergent, dish soap, hand soap, and pregnancy/baby products.

Lastly, back to the gifts! Each order can include a free gift, which you pick from a selection based on how much you’ve spent. They also do deals with certain companies every single week. Some free gifts I’ve gotten over the years:  paleo dressings and sauces, protein powders, and a reusable steel water bottle ($32).

As we welcome a baby girl into our family in the next few weeks, and time becomes that much more precious, I imagine that I’m going to love Thrive even more than I already do. I hope it helps make living a healthy life easier for you, too!

If you want to give it a try, click here* for a free 30-day trial membership + 25% off of your first order.

Let me know if you have any questions and happy saving!

Two things that can drain your energy?Grocery shopping and stressing about spending money (which often go hand in hand!). One resource that addresses both of these? Thrive Market. I'll tell you all about it and how you can save money and still eat h…

*this is an affiliate link: if you become a full member I’ll receive $25 from Thrive as a thank you for spreading the word.

Coffee: The Great Debate

boston corporate wellness

Did you know that Americans spend around $1,000/year on coffee? I’m not judging, as I love a fancy latte as much as the next person (Blue Bottle, anyone?!).

But this substance is one of the most hotly debated in the health world, and there are a few facts about it that are particularly important to note if you’re workin’ on your wellness. Learn more in my blog post here.

If you feel like you’re constantly stressed, have trouble falling/staying asleep, and/or feel your sleep quality is poor, I’d nudge you to ask yourself “should I rethink that drink?”

If you don’t feel like any of these describe you, or you just don’t feel like reading, it’s all good!

The last thing I’ll share is that non-organic coffee is one of the most chemically-treated crops around, so if you imbibe regularly that’s something to consider.

My favorite organic options for home brewing? Hu Kitchen and Thrive Market.  If you’ve never used Thrive before, I wrote a post all about how it can help you save time and money when stocking your house with healthy staples.

Whatever you choose to drink, cheers!

How Could Coffee Effect Your Wellness? This substance is one of the most hotly debated in the health world, and there are a few facts about it that are particularly important to note if you’re workin’ on your wellness. Learn more in my blog post her…

Non-Slimy Chia Seed Pudding

Want a nutrient dense breakfast that takes under 2 minutes to make INCLUDING batching breakfasts for the week!? Look no further. I've been making this simple recipe on repeat, and there are so many variations that it’s hard to get sick of it!

Chia seeds are a superfood high in fiber, antioxidants, protein, omega 3's (they have more than salmon gram for gram!), and calcium (higher amount gram for gram than most dairy products).

Most recipes have you soak them but I don't love their texture after they absorb liquids (hence the title, non-slimy!), so here's my version:

  • 3TB chia seeds

  • 1TB cacao

  • 1 cup non dairy milk (the creaminess of coconut milk is great in this)

  • Optional: 1 date or 1/2 TB maple syrup, or throw berries on top to sweeten

  • Optional: 1TB of organic peanut butter and a scoop of collagen to add more protein and gut perks (plus who doesn’t love peanut butter and chocolate?).

  • Simply throw everything in a blender for a minute until it's mixed and store in the fridge until you’re ready for it.

This takes such little time to make yet keeps you full for hours. It’s also easy to transport (just throw it in a mason jar or small tupperware) so you can bring it to work and know you’ll have a healthy and filling breakfast or snack easily at your fingertips that will keep your blood sugar and energy levels steady.

Let me know if you give it a try and which variations you make!

boston health coach
boston health coach
boston health coach

Designing Your Life + Giveaway!

I’m starting the week with a way to make your future workweeks more enjoyable!

Over the last 10+ years of career coaching, I've had many people come to me because they disliked the work they did but had no idea how to figure out what they'd enjoy more. This usually came with fear around making the "wrong" choice, and a lot of overwhelm.

boston career coach

I still meet people who feel this way every week, and I've found that this is the book I'm constantly recommending as a starting point. It has lots of practical exercises and prompts to help people move from feeling stuck to taking productive action.

I've had clients call this book "life changing" so I'm giving away a new copy to hopefully positively impact the life of the winner!

To enter, head over to my Instagram page and follow the simple prompts (*This giveaway is now closed*).

If you’re not interested in the giveaway but you're not feeling fulfilled by your work, here's part of the model I use with clients to help them brainstorm/assess other options. I encourage you to stop asking friends or googling "jobs in <insert your location>" when trying to make a change - start with YOU.

When you find something that aligns with your VIPS, that's when it all clicks.

boston career coach
boston career coach

To be clear, I don't think a "perfect career" exists - every job will have tasks you'd rather not do or things you don't love, even if you work for yourself. But, as cliche as it sounds, when you love what you do, work feels less like work. You’re also less likely to experience chronic stress and burnout.

How might you take some time to pause and reflect on these parts of yourself?

It may seem simple, but it can help you get a better sense of where your dissatisfaction is coming from and also have a framework to evaluate new options.

Happy exploring!