20 Ways To Say Thanks To Your Clients on Clients Day 19th March
Today a rather lovely thing happened. The Co-op shop in our village knocked on my door with a family size cream cake and a money off voucher. It wasn’t a fantastically expensive cake you understand. Neither was it beautifully wrapped. In fact, it was in a rather crumpled carrier bag because the lady had been carrying lots of them as she went house to house. I said thanks and asked her why she’d delivered it. Turns out it was a simple thank you and to tell us the store had re-opened after refurbishment. So far we’ve told about 6 people and now I’ve written about it on a website. Mmmm. These simple thank you’s really make a difference and so here are 20 ways you can say thank you to your customers as an alternative to delivering confectionary. Have you got your own ideas for rewarding your clients? We’d love to hear them in the comments xx
Organize Your Home Office Day – How To Create Your Perfect Workspace
For those ‘chained’ to a desk in a corporate or business complex, or on their feet all day in a store, being able to work from your own home may seem like bliss. However, it’s not all plain sailing and there are a few things you may need to consider before you waste time and money. What are the challenges of working from home? Homes tend to have other people, family members, unexpected visitors, pets, deliveries and so on which can lead to interruptions. And meshing together your work and home environment can be a real challenge. There can be a temptation, especially if your home is very small and your workspace forms an integral part of the actual living space, to concentrate on form rather than function. A fab designer chair may look amazing, and could even be a talking point, but after several days sat at your desk typing, could be causing you back and neck problems due to poor posture. So, what are the questions you should be asking as you design, or redesign your office space and what solutions are out there for you? Who Will Be Coming Into Your Space? Will clients be visiting? If this is a brand new business you may not have any clients yet. But you’re going to need some soon and if so where will you meet them? If it’s going to be the office in your home you have a few things to consider. Where will they sit? Do you need to be able to tidy up confidential and working papers very quickly so they can’t be seen? If you work in a bit of a mess do you need to squirrel this away from view, or can you turn it into part of your quirkiness? If you have family and pets at home will you be disturbed by noise or people poking their head around the door? A few ideas are to build in some background noise, establish rules for interruptions and a simple do not disturb notice may help. But you’re going to need your sturdy underwear to withstand the whining of a sulky child! And do think about using other spaces. Coffee shops and hotel lobbies are great places to meet clients. Just check out the busy times; do they have booths for private conversations; is there wifi good and easy to access and are there adequate plug sockets if you need to plug in your laptop. You may even find some hotels are prepared to reserve a small meeting area for you in their lounge area for a short period which gives you a meeting space for the price of a couple of cups of coffee and a sticky bun. Keeping Healthy While You Work What type of work do you need to do and what do you need to do it? Will you always be on the computer or do you read and research white papers, books and write lots of notes. You may need a comfy chair or seating area for more relaxed working. You may also want to consider if a standing desk is right for you. General guidance for seating positions are that the top of your computer screen should be at eye level or a little below. As you scan down the screen, your eyelids will naturally close a bit and moisten, which reduces eye fatigue. Position your keyboard so your forearms are parallel to the floor. And adjust your chair so your feet rest firmly on something–the floor, or a footrest if you’re short. Have a realistic think about how long you are going to be working for. Typically people working from home work much longer hours than those in an office building. You could be in this room, sat at a desk for a long time and so a comfortable supportive chair, a good sized screen and the right sized desk will become critical. Lighting Think about overhead or overall lighting, task lighting and natural light. If you are lucky enough to have a window in your office, try and face it from the place where you will be doing the most work. If you don’t have a window then you may want to have a chat with a lighting expert about recreating the effects of daylight through artificial lighting and also installing LED lights. A mixture of overhead and desk lighting is good and also be aware, that bright lighting pointing towards your eyes can be a real strain. Your computer screen is another source of light that affects our eyes and can contribute to eye strain, so consider where it will be in relation to different lighting in the room. Storage Have you ever heard the wonderful corporate phrase – the paperless office? Has anyone ever actually achieved, or even seen one? You may think you have but when you delve inside draws and behind doors, there is generally paper lurking somewhere. Think it through. You may have aspirations to scan everything and file it all neatly in the cloud; you may intend to read all of your periodicals on the computer and never print out an article you’ve found on the internet. The reality is that eyes get tired looking at a screen and it becomes tempting to print out documents to read; stuff needs signing and not everyone uses electronic signatures; scanning massive great documents is a pain in the bum and here is the biggie – some people are scribblers and doodlers and with the best will in the world prefer a pad and pen and a real paper book to leaf through and jot in. Our advice is to go with who you are and make space to store paper neatly. What Equipment Do You Need? Printers, computers, shredders, screens, lights and photocopiers all need to be plugged in, often generate heat and may make a noise. What do you need? Where will it go? Do you really want to look at these…
How Can You Join In With International Womens’ Day?
Share a Tweet, Be a Global Problem Solver for Women http://bit.ly/2mirns8
CEO Of DDI, Helps Women Leaders Ignite Their Impact On International Women’s Day
#LeadLikeAGirl: Tacy Byham, CEO Of DDI, Helps Women Leaders Ignite Their Impact On International Women’s Day http://prn.to/2mJp9Q7
3 Brands Supporting Women Across the Globe
Sisters Unite: These 3 Chic Home Brands Support Women Worldwide http://bit.ly/2mJgTzp
A Photo Exhibition for International Womens Day
A Photo Exhibition for International Womens Day http://bit.ly/2mibQIZ
The March 8 International Women’s Strike
How To Tell Your Boss You’re Participating In The March 8 Women’s Strike http://r29.co/2mJlemy
International Women’s Day May Not Be Stunning News For Everyone!
International Women’s Day Could Negatively Impact Retailers http://bit.ly/2mioRSZ
10 Ways To Celebrate International Women’s Day in Toronto
10 ways to celebrate International Women’s Day in Toronto • Shecosystem Coworking and Wellness http://bit.ly/2miptb1
International Women’s Day Theme For 2017
If you’re a business woman, and even if you’re not for that matter, Internationa Women’s Day for 2017 is just around the corner. Each year there is a theme and for 2017 it’s #beboldforchange and is focusing on creating change for a better working environment. To find out how you can join in for the main event on March 8th, visit the website International Women’s Day 2017 http://bit.ly/2mioqb5
5 Mistakes That Kill Your Case Studies – And What To Do About Them
Writing case studies takes time and effort. When you get them right, you build your credibility and win more work. When you get them wrong, you waste precious time, and worse of all, you can undermine your brand. Read on to discover the simple mistakes to avoid. Short term, reactive thinking Short term reactive thinking is the number one challenge with case studies. Imagine the scenario. You need a case study – for a marketing event, proposal or client pitch – and you need it right now, but you cannot find it. Perhaps you didn’t get around to writing it or perhaps you started writing it and got distracted by other priorities. Either way, you decide to pull it together now, at the last minute, to hit that deadline. What do you end up with? A case study that doesn’t do your business justice. Stepping back, thinking strategically, deciding which case studies are right for your target market, and then giving yourself the time to write them is the sensible way to go. It cuts down on your admin time too, as getting client buy-in for a case study early in the process saves you an awful lot of email back and forth when it comes to review and sign off. Too long, too techy Going ‘full techy’ is a classic mistake. When you’ve worked on a product or project, it’s inevitable that you are going to be close to the detail. Before you dive into the detail, ask yourself: 1. How well do you know your audience? 2. What will keep them reading the whole case study through to the end? 3. Will your audience appreciate a display of deep technical expertise or will it confuse them? 500 jargon-free words can have more impact than a 2000 word in-depth technical case study, depending on the audience. If your case study does needs to go into technical detail, make sure that you include an executive summary at the start so that the reader can understand it at a glance. Too salesy The other extreme is using your case study for the hard sell. Don’t. Do. This. It’s very easy to spot, and it will put off potential clients. Your case study is a story about how you help your client solve a problem. Similar clients with similar problems will relate to it so trust that they will be able to understand how you can help them too. Reign in the sales language and the pushy tone. Audiences connect with an authentic voice. Overly rigid adherence to templates and brand OK OK – so here at Case Study Ninja we live by the mantra of ‘challenge, solution, impact’ and we are always happy to share a template or two. We know that when it comes to a looming deadline, starting with a blank Word document is a miserable experience. As important as it is, the structure is only the foundation of the case study. To shine you need to tell a story. The story is about how you helped your client, and what you helped them to achieve. You can be flexible here as the key is to write a narrative that flows, combined with a very clear and positive impact for your client. If the story works better when you merge the challenge and solution, and call it ‘project approach’ – that’s fine, go with it. If it reads better with 400 words and bullets, don’t try and drag it out to meet at 1000 word ideal word count. The slow death of sign off We’ve all been there. The case study has been drafted and reviewed by a couple of the main parties, and everyone is waiting on one person for sign off. It’s too late to go back in time and get the client’s buy-in during the project, so how much chasing do you carry out before you drop it from fear of irritating your client? Sign off is the final hurdle for many case studies, so make sure that the emails you send help your client to understand the benefits of the case study for everyone involved. A deadline helps too. If you’ve already sent out a couple of emails, be brave and pick up the phone. Of course, you can always outsource the chasing to some super polite case study professionals (*ahem*). You save time and can be confident that we will handle client liaison will in a courteous manner, as part of an established sign-off process. (This Article was first published on Case Study Ninja)
Making other people look good: what improv teaches us about teamwork
In my spare time I can be found ‘making silly stuff up’ with improvised comedy group Classic Andy. What began as a creative and fun hobby a couple of years ago has taught me as much about truly effective teamwork as any management course or corporate role could. Here’s why… Techniques from improvised comedy have already made the leap over into corporate training and organisational development, particularly in the USA and Canada, where improv is very well-established. Many organisations in the UK are also weaving in improv activities to improve collaboration, communication and trust, and to encourage their teams to be more innovative. It’s fantastic when work and hobbies overlap or seamlessly fit together. I have experienced first-hand how improvisation can transform the way we work with others to achieve great things. And these techniques can be blended with other consultancy and organisational development approaches to develop strategy, solve problems, improve services and innovate. Here’s why it works. Because improv is about: 1. Listening Genuinely, truly and actively listening. When you perform as part of an improv team, you literally walk on stage with 20 minutes to fill and absolutely no idea what is going to happen. It’s both exhilarating and terrifying. Active listening means making strong eye contact, keeping an open stance and genuinely absorbing what has been said. It means not railroading through your own pre-formed ideas. How many times have we sat in meetings thinking about what we will say next, rather than giving the current speaker our full attention? We lose many potentially innovative ideas every day because of this. 2. Saying ‘yes, and’ to others’ suggestions If you remember nothing else about improv, remember ‘yes, and’. How many times in a day is your natural reaction to a suggestion ‘yes, but’? Or even ‘no, but’? These are blocking behaviours. Once you begin to say ‘yes, and’ more, you can work with others to develop ideas and build on their suggestions to make something really innovative. It doesn’t mean that you blindly accept people’s off-the-wall ideas but it means that your mind is more open and you genuinely engage with new opportunities in a creative way. It can also be hugely motivational for members of the team. 3. Making other people look good Imagine if your only role was to make other members of the team look good and fulfill their potential. That’s really what improv is all about. The team will not look good or perform well if one member is benefiting at the expense of others or is trying to denigrate someone else. Consider how you can support other members of the team to do the best they can and you will automatically do well and the team’s performance and potential will improve dramatically. It’s simple but it works. And it significantly increases trust. How can you make others look good today? 4. Making strong offers All this collaboration and listening can mean that we feel nervous or disinclined to put our own suggestions forward. We shouldn’t feel that way. Strong offers are fantastic in improv as they give others something specific and tangible to work with. And they can develop in surprising, fascinating and joyful ways. The same is true of teamwork at work. Need new product ideas? Make a bold suggestion. Need to improve performance? Say something radical. Others will then explore and develop it with you. Strong offers make people feel safe as they have something to work with. They don’t have to be the ‘right answer’ or fully-formed. That’s what the team is for. 5. Being emotionally attuned In a world where performance improvement, whether of machines or humans, is often talked about as something that can be engineered, to reach the optimum configuration, the human dynamics are often ignored. Being a strong improviser is fundamentally about humans. It is about establishing emotional connections with others and being able to quickly pick-up on micro-signals. It’s essentially about emotional intelligence. This is clearly hugely important in teams, particularly when it comes to motivation, attitudes to change and approaches to new ideas. It also means that emotions such as excitement and joy can become contagious, boosting morale. Why not try it? I have found that the way I interact with others, both in a work and home setting, has changed dramatically, for the better, since I’ve been improvising regularly. I’m not suggesting that you ask all your team members to take up improv comedy in their spare time. But there are lots of easily accessible exercises that you can use within team settings to help people to work more effectively together. I find that these techniques make the most impact when they are integrated into wider workshops which focus on a particular business outcome or issue, such as forming part of a strategy development or innovation session. I’d love to hear about your own experiences of using improv in the workplace. If you would like to talk about how to incorporate improv techniques to help your teams work more effectively, please get in touch at julie@specialistgeneralist.co.uk or on 07733 306155, or visit my website. Julie Flower is a strategy and organisational development consultant, specialising in corporate creativity. She runs the consultancy The Specialist Generalist and is a performance improviser with Classic Andy. Follow her @specgeneralist.
How to Find Your Purpose with Maureen Dickie
On today’s show, we were joined by the lovely Maureen Dickie, giving us some tips and stories on self-awareness and how to understand yourself for better business success. Maureen is a specialist coach who helps people to find their purpose and peace. She has taken her expertise onto the prestigious TED talks stage and also shares her experience of applying and appearing. We also talked about our tool of the week which, Joomag, a helpful digital publisher for you to write, publish and distribute a magazine – a great way to add a different dimension, and even a new income stream, into your business. Maureen closed the show by sharing the key to finding yourself and your purpose. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed hosting the show – and thanks to Maureen for bringing such a serene atmosphere into the studio.
Be Productive – Tips to Maintain Your Focus
One of the best tips I ever learned was to be able to recognise when you lose focus. And of course if you do this quickly then you lose less time before you get back on track. If we don’t notice our distractions we can lose a lot of our planned productive time on lower priority work or someone else’s priorities. And you know you can’t get that time back and it can lead to frustration, plus increased pressure to deliver on original priorities. We will all be distracted by slightly different things, different people, different apps, and different family members! So the key here is to figure out your own solutions. But first you need to know what your distractions are. Then when you really need to be productive, you can make every effort to eliminate those distractions. So here are some the key pointers. Decide what you want to focus on and for how long Use frequent timed checkpoints to see if you are still working to plan If not make a note of what has distracted you Make every effort to return to your plan Stick at it until it becomes automatic for you to note the different things that distract you during your workday and start working on strategies to reduce those distractions. Take control and protect your productive time. So let me know if this works for you. And of course please share any other ideas, tips or tools in the Comments below.
Entrepreneur, Mother or Lover? – 6 Tips to getting closer to what you really want!
Getting a balance & time for us is often one of the hardest things to do. Now you may not like what I am about to say, BUT if you can’t get the balance its something that you are doing or not doing, a way you are feeling about yourself, and restricting your success as a whole person – nobody else can make it happen only YOU! Saying that, we can support you and help you develop the skills and tools you need to get more consistency, and allow yourself to be more of who YOU want to be – whilst juggling all aspects of your life. Are you an entrepreneur? Are you a mother? Are you a lover? Are you a combination of many different things, wearing different hats? OR can you wear just one hat – be everything you want to be all at once? If you feel you have a good balance of everything you want, a clear identity, and more often than not you have this nailed then you probably wont want to read any further. However if, like me, you struggle to know who you are at times, and get a balance when you need it most, then keep on reading and lets see how we can work towards achieving a more consistent balance in our lives – who are we? What happens when you say the following words: entrepreneur, mother or lover? You can add words that you feel define who you are at times, make it fit your situation, you may be an employee, a step parent, and so on. Think about the main words that describe you and then say them to yourself and see what happens? Notice your reaction to each of the words, do they make you smile and feel happy, do they make you cringe, do they make you feel worried or concerned? Then think about saying them out loud to others and what does that bring up for you? I will give you an insight into some of mine as an example so you can see what I mean! Entrepreneur – Hmmm, quite like the sound of that, I feel proud that I have developed my own business and work for myself but then do I earn enough money to use this word, am I successful enough to call myself this? I see others who I perceive to be more successful at this than me. Then thinking about saying this out loud to others brings up more new stuff, will they think I just don’t do very much, and why doesn’t she just get a job! Mother – This fills me with pride and fear all at the same time! Eek! I think I am a pretty good parent most of the time but I also know I can get it very wrong at times but this is part of being a parent in my view, so I am OK with that. I feel that this SHOULD always be my priority but with my therapist hat on, I know I need to put myself first at times to make myself an even better parent! When I say this out loud I sometimes think will people judge me for doing so many other things, going away for weekends without my daughter and sometimes putting myself first. I also sometimes feel judged when the next question that comes along is, how many children do you have, to which I answer one! Does this make me less of a parent in comparison to someone who juggles having 2, 3 or 4 children? Lover – Should I even be saying this word, does it just imply sex? Is that wrong? To me this indicates my intimate relationship with my husband and I don’t just mean sex, I mean the closeness and the togetherness that you have with each other, separate to being a family unit and a parent. You may call it something else. Will people judge me for even using this word, as I am a mum, should this not even be a priority! Am I being unrealistic? Do I need to be this person? Is it important for me and why? This is not even something I would usually say out loud so I must fear being judged, not sure why? Maybe its a fear of other parents and entrepreneurs thinking things like, well my business is my priority at the moment to provide, my children come first and so this is a nice to have but doesn’t happen. Does this mean I am prioritising incorrectly? OK so these are just some examples of thoughts and feelings that come up, yours may be very different but the principle is the same, how do you perceive yourself versus what you would like to balance in your life? Could I have all of the above? Of course why not, but it will only be available to me if I allow it and deal with the restrictions I place on myself. Looking at what comes up for you when you say these words to yourself or out loud will give you an insight into your comfort zone and how you may want to be perceived versus what you actually genuinely want in your life. You may be happy with one main role in your life, and again that’s OK, if its not broken then don’t try and fix it. I would never work with a client, as a therapist, who was sent by someone else but didn’t feel they actually wanted any change for themselves but rather just for others! It would waste both of our times. Here are 6 tips to getting closer to what you really want! *Know what that actually is in the first place! We can’t reach any goal if we don’t know where the end is. Saying YOUR words like I described above, may help you get…
Sarah Dillingham, Case Study Ninja
Sarah Dillingham In 2015, Sarah identified an ongoing challenge within professional services and public sector organisations to create, manage and publish case studies, so she developed a software platform and service offering to tackle this. Beta testing for CastStudyNinja subsequently began in January 2016 and officially launched on June 30th, 2016. Sarah has specialised as a Knowledge Management leader for over 20 years and has achieved successful programme delivery, at both a global and UK level, for companies including: National Audit Office, KPMG, Ernst & Young, HM Treasury, Tribal Group, PwC, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and IBM. As a regular conference speaker and writer, Sarah has published a number of enterprise technology articles focusing on business development, product reviews and market activity analysis. Sarah has a PGDip in Information Science from City University and a BA (Hons) in English Literature from Essex University. on Facebook on Twitter on Instagram on Linkedin Listen To Sarah’s Show Sarah’s WIB Author Page & Articles Website
Be Productive – Take Control of Your Inbox
THE EMAIL PROBLEM It has happened to us all. We have a plan for the day, we check our email first and the next thing we know its mid-morning or worse still lunchtime! Our intentions are good, “I’ll just clear my Inbox before I start and then I will feel more organised”. But of course those emails just keep arriving as every reply we send can prompt another one! And our plan for the day? Well our email processing may have cleared some items but it may not. And that’s the problem, it’s reactive and in fact we are often responding to someone else’s priorities, not ours. So how can we take control of our email, develop some good habits and be more productive? Well it is not easy. But spending hours on email every day isn’t easy either so maybe it’s time to try something new. Here are my 4 tips: Chose when you check in Have a process Use other ways Spread the word CHOSE WHEN YOU CHECK To do this you need to close your email programme or email app and proactively chose when you check in. I know it’s a scary concept isn’t it? Why, because we like to be in touch all the time and often we our job requires us to be in touch all of the time. And that’s ok. But figure out if there are times in your week when you can switch off your notifications even for an hour or a morning. Could you check first thing in the morning, after lunch and near the end of the day? If that seems too little, add in a mid-morning and mid-afternoon check. Most things can wait an hour or two – think about the day you are caught in a 2 hour meeting and you can’t check mail, the world doesn’t stop. So try to go 2 hours without checking your mail, even at your desk. Why? Because statistics show that when an email interrupts us, even only for a minute, it can take another four minutes to get back to what we were doing. So if you eliminate 15 interruptions, you could be creating about an hour of uninterrupted time. And this is time you can use to concentrate and be you’re most productive. USE A PROCESS We can lose a lot of time trying to decide what to do with our emails. So be focussed when you are checking. Try to quickly distinguish between the important and non-important ones. Develop a way of categorising your emails as you read them. Try the approach described below and modify it to suit your way of working as necessary. Control Email The first question is whether the email requires further action or not? No further action – you have 2 options: Delete it File it for reference Further Action – you have 3 options: Do It now Plan It -convert to a task now Pass it on Do it now? This should only be a response that will take 2 minutes maximum 2. Plan It ? For something that will take longer don’t get caught up in it now. But make sure to schedule when you will do this – put a task in your calendar. 3. Pass it on? For something you can’t do or someone else can definitely do. Forward the message on with a covering note For tasks you create think cleverly about when it really needs to be done. If something is not due until next week, don’t do it this week, put a reminder in your calendar for a day before the deadline. To make this work you firstly need to and set up folders in your Inbox to file the Email you want to keep. These folders should represent the way you work –create one per project or per client or per area of responsibility. USE OTHER WAYS Don’t always default to email. How about a phone call or a desk visit? Remember, every email you send can prompt a response that you will have to process later. Email is great for facts, figures, reports, group updates and traceability but maybe the situation in hand calls for a chat or an exchange of opinions, feelings, thoughts. So challenge yourself, do I always need to send an email? SPREAD THE WORD So if you find some of these ideas help you be more productive then ask if others on your team will try it too. Maybe you can agree a particular morning or day where you agree not to send emails to each other. Have a brainstorm with your team and come up with ideas that will best suit the way you all need to work. So be productive and take control of your Inbox. These tips may not suit everyone’s style or every work place. But take these ideas and modify them to suit your own environment. Let me know how it goes and of course I would love to hear any other ideas, tips or even email tools that have worked for you in the Comments. And if you find this useful share it with your colleagues. Thanks!
How To Write A Case Study With Case Study Ninja
Case studies are a fantastic sales tool, especially if you do something people have trouble understanding. Today we were joined by Sarah Dillingham from Case Study Ninja giving valuable insights to how to build and use case studies in your business.We started the show off with Kelly Culver, giving us some helpful tips and tools to how you can manage your social conversions from Instagram. It’s been a very valuable show on how you can correctly prepare and use case studies. Not only were there some valuable tips, but Sarah gave us her formula for creating case studies – it’s little trickier than you might think, but the effort really pays off. Case Study Template and Tips Thanks to Sarah for sharing her case study template with listeners and readers and you can download the PDF below. We’ve also got the word document for you to download and have a play with create your own case study We’ve also got the word document for you to download and have a play with create your own case study Case study tips and template Word Document Case Study Template PDF There are also some lovely examples of case studies on the Case Study Ninja website here Read Sarah’s Profile and Connect
Access Your Alpha State For Productivity, Clarity and Happiness – With Angela Gower-Johnson
On today’s show, we had Angela Gower-Johnson, Business Energy Strategist from Ultimate Dream Project, and boy was it a whale of a show! At the start, we were discussing some marketing campaign ideas for February (February is rife with holidays!) and about organisation. Did you know that if we spend 10 minutes each day looking for something, we spend 60 hours per YEAR looking for things? For the rest of the show, we were chatting with Angela about Alpha and Beta brain states and how you can get yourself into the right state for optimum performance. This isn’t magic “woo woo” stuff, it’s been backed by science! Listen to the show now to learn how you can become the best you for your business. If you think you should be meditating, but can’t seem to make that happen, this show is for you!
How To Be More Successful By Improving Your Fitness
Are you an entrepreneur, a student, or have a demanding job? Do you feel like you’re always on the go, stressed out, and need more hours in the day? No matter what it is we’re trying to achieve – whether it’s career progression, passing exams or being more organised at home – there’s one thing that we can do that will guarantee we’re more successful. And that’s improve our fitness. Being more productive, and therefore more successful, isn’t about spending more time working. Here’s why you need to be taking the time away from your desk in order to reap the endless rewards: 6 Ways Improving Your Fitness Will Make You More Successful Improving your fitness will supercharge your energy levels Imagine a world where you don’t get as tired each day… You’d have the energy to work longer hours, or even work the same amount of hours that you do now, but with more energy you’d certainly get more done in less time! Having more energy will definitely help you achieve more in each day, thanks to exercise. So hit the gym to increase your stamina and your working day will be juiced up too. Improving your fitness will upgrade your focus With an increase in energy comes an increase in focus. Now that you’re less distracted by tiredness, low mood, or that ‘is it time to go home yet’ kind of clock-watching, you can better focus on the task at hand. Pair energy boosting workouts with good nutrition choices and avoiding performance-robbing junk to unlock lazer-focus all day long. Improving your fitness will reduce your stress levels Working out, going for a run or breaking a sweat in any way is a great stress buster. And this doesn’t just apply to when stress strikes, so don’t wait until that contract falls through to hit the heavy bag! Exercising everyday will help you sack off daily stresses as they pop up, resulting in a happier, more productive you. Get away from your desk, take a break and go workout! Improving your fitness will help you gain perspective Making your health and fitness, and that of your family, an absolute priority in your life will help you realise that as long as you’re happy and healthy, not much else matters. When you feel the benefits and importance of great health, you’ll recognise that 99% of the shit that you worry about at work doesn’t matter. This’ll lead to better and more rational decision making abilities and a next-level mindset in business. Improving your fitness will promote your immune system Raise the bar on your health and fitness and you’ll automatically promote your attendance. Improving your fitness will improve your overall health dramatically, including boosting your immunity, thus reducing the number of days that you take off due to sickness. So taking the time out to exercise now will mean you can put the time in later, even when there’s ‘something going round the office.’ Improving your fitness will inflate your confidence Exercise affects our well-being in so many amazing ways, from energy, focus, stress, positivity, immunity… it’s not surprising that we feel so good when we exercise! But another reason we feel great after a workout is because it boosts our confidence, too. Having faith in our own physical abilities is a powerful confidence enhancer that will be reflected in other areas of our lives, including work. Smashing a few PBs in the weights room will translate into smashing that up-coming presentation, too! Improving our fitness levels will create so many improvements in other areas of our lives, that it’s such a no-brainer! (In fact, our bosses should definitely recognise the importance of great health and fitness in their employees by prioritising healthcare benefits, IMHO…) What benefits have you discovered since improving your fitness? Dani x