Blend all ingredients together (*batter should resemble thick-ish pancake batter). If batter is too runny, add in a bit more coconut flour). Heat a large non-stick fry pan on medium-low heat and add oil/butter Pour batter into the heated pan – you can either make 1 large pancake or a few smaller ones. Cook for +/- 2 mins on one side (or until lightly golden), then flip and cook for another 1-2 mins. Serve warm with toppings of choice.
We’ve all felt like we’re stuck in a rut at some point. Be it in our personal lives or professionally, there are times where you feel that you need more or simply that something needs to change. Navigating these feelings can be difficult though.
How do you determine if it’s time for a promotion or even a new job? How do you know if you’re burnt out and need to focus more on your personal happiness? Feeling the need for change is one thing but knowing why and what changes to make is vital.
There are many reasons why we feel this way so we’re going to dive into ways you can understand what you’re feeling and figure out what you need to do.
Struggling professionally
Ever spent a work day feeling miserable, annoyed at everyone and constantly wondering “why am I even doing this?” If you’ve ever felt anything like this, it might be time to consider the following:
It’s a good idea to upskill
These are just a few signs that it’s time to add some new skills to your repertoire;
People are being promoted around you
You find yourself getting bored easily
You’re constantly asking others for help with your tasks
You might be sitting here and thinking but how is learning a new skill going to change anything?
Upskilling yourself gives you the opportunity to branch out into something new and interesting while giving you the chance to add a new level of value to your company. Learning something new or mastering something you already know will give you a new sense of purpose and reignite your passion in the workplace. It is also never a bad idea to invest in yourself and learning new skills is the best way to do that.
Even better, you can use online courses from sites like Udemy that offer cost-effective options for you to expand your skillset. And you don’t even have to leave the house!
Should you be asking for a raise or promotion?
Knowing when and how to ask for a raise or promotion isn’t easy but these are a couple of signs that indicate it really is time to ask.
You killed your performance review
You’ve upskilled yourself and can now be considered as overqualified for your current position
You’ve taken on more responsibilities at work
Asking for a raise or a promotion is a little daunting and can feel like an impossible task. There is definitely a lot that should be considered before doing so. According to this Forbes article, there are 5 major things you should think about before you make your request.
What stands out from that article is that preparation is key! Make sure you can adequately show why you deserve the raise or promotion, understand what your role is worth and know how to position yourself correctly to show the value you can add.
Maybe it’s time for a new job
It is so disheartening when you feel like you’re giving your all to a job that is giving nothing back to you. We spend the majority of our lives at work so when it’s not enjoyable, life as a whole can feel pretty ‘meh’. There are many reasons to find a new job, a few of them are;
You’re often bored.
It’s a toxic work environment
It’s starting to impact your mental health
You are constantly being overlooked for any promotional opportunities
Always remember that your happiness, mental health and goals come before any job. If you are not satisfied in your current company or position then move onto bigger and better opportunities.
Start off by really thinking about what you want and then begin browsing job listings on LinkedIn. This article by Balance Careers has some really great tips on how to get started! Starting a new job is often quite scary but the thrill of boosting your career is just SO worth it.
It’s personal
You might find that you’re feeling really unmotivated and miserable at work but it has nothing to do with your company, your job role or anything work-related. This is when you have to really be mindful and understand where these feelings are coming from.
Creating the elusive work-life balance can be a struggle and the fear of burnout is real. This is why it is so important for you to set boundaries within the workplace. You’ll find that once you begin to prioritise yourself, your goals and your mental health, everything falls into place.
These are some of the best ways to overcome personal struggles that are impacting you professionally;
Be aware of imposter syndrome and how this is affecting you. Read more about imposter syndrome here.
Don’t be so hard on yourself. Perfection doesn’t exist so simply do the best you can.
Most importantly though, be patient with yourself and be kind to yourself. Life is difficult and we often feel endless pressure to be the best (thanks, Social Media). Simply take each day as it comes and make sure you’re doing the necessary work to keep bettering yourself.
Whether you are struggling personally or professionally, it is time to make a change and take ownership of your own life. You’ve got this!
What is professional success, how can you get it and how to boost your feelings of accomplishment?
We all have goals and desires, things we want to achieve, work towards and aspire to. For many, being successful in their profession means reaching a goal, accomplishing something, achieving a level of status or expertise in their profession or just feeling good at what they do. The thing about being successful is not only about the things you measure and see but how you feel about those things.
Success is a very personal thing, and sometimes despite what it looks like to others we just don’t feel successful. And how you define and see your success is important. It influences your drive, motivation, your choices, priorities and ultimately what you pursue. So it kind of makes sense that to be successful and feel successful, you need to first know what success is to you.
Another secret of professional success is that success generally begets successes. When you feel like you have achieved something noteworthy, your reward center in your brain is activated, releasing all those feel good hormones, which in turn re-energizes, motivates and inspires you towards more success seeking behavior.
Clarifying your perception on professional success
Professional success really is personal, relative and contextual. Often the problem with our current mindsets and definitions of success is that we are subconsciously influenced by society and adopt external perspectives on what we define as our professional success. In fact, it is naïve to believe you have reached your current perception of success objectively and independently. For example, the unrealistic comparisons we make with others’ career posts on linkedin or any social media platforms makes us feel that perhaps we are not achieving at the level of others. Sometimes these unrealistic comparisons mean we see our peer group as earning more, achieving more and getting more status than us on a frequent basis, eroding our feelings of success.
Your current physical and mental state can also make you feel unsuccessful. Our body’s energy levels impact our decision making. Numerous studies have shown that your physical body shapes your mind. A hungry, tired or depleted person is more likely to come to a negative assessment of their professional success than someone who is rested and experiencing balanced blood sugar. Similarly, someone who is pessimistic or in a negative frame of mind, perhaps from sustained stress at work or the pandemic, is more likely to not feel successful than a person who is in mentally healthy space.
Another thing to consider is how you are measuring your success, you may use measures of success which are stacked against you, making you feel like a failure again and again. What do we mean by this? A great example is you might be measuring your success purely on your annual income instead of your work life balance. So you earn less than your friend in their job but they work at least 60 hours a week compared to your 40. Similarly, research by Lean In shows women are less likely to receive a promotion to manager than men, which implies if you are a woman measuring your success by an increase in seniority of position instead of an increase in your expertise or achievements, you will feel unsuccessful despite the odds being stacked against you and your professional performance.
So an important starting point to boost your professional success and feel fulfilled is to clarify your perception. Awareness is key to achieving your success. A great way to do that is to reflect and build your understanding, try working through these example questions to craft a professional success vision for yourself:
What do I value about my work?
What do I value about myself at work?
What are my unique strengths I bring to the table?
What are deal breakers and dealmakers for me in my profession?
What am I proud of and why?
Boosting your professional success
Now that you have insights into your perception of success, let us look at ways you can really be and feel successful. Maybe you find you’re doing everything you can to be professionally successful but you just do not feel successful. While some small mindset shifts and focus areas will ensure you’re more successful, half the reason you are pursuing professional success is to feel good about your work, yourself and what you can accomplish. Here are our top eight suggestions to boost your success, letting you really feel and live the successes you envision:
Be aware of your strengths:
Being aware of your unique talents and strengths definitely allows you to seek out and identify opportunities where you can leverage these. You can also make sure you develop the areas of yourself to compliment your strengths and grow your success.
Assume responsibility:
A major difference between mediocre and successful people is assuming responsibility. It is not about taking things personally but rather taking responsibility for the part you play, in both positive and negative happenings and assuming responsibility for all your actions.
Set stretching goals and standards:
That is the thing about being successful, it requires you to reach a little higher and try a little harder. You need to take time every now and then, perhaps quarterly, to assess how far you’ve come and what you could do to raise your standards. As we always say, there is no learning without a little stretch, just like you cannot build fitness without effort.
Know your personal brand:
You will need to know your personal brand. Just like companies are spending time and money on differentiating themselves with their brand, so too do you need to brand yourself as a professional. Your work and professionalism is your brand and you need to ensure it is desirable, consistent and aligned to your professional goals.
Build networks and relationships:
Just as important to what you know is who you know. Not only can networks and connections open doors for you, you will also need human to human support in your professional sphere. Think collaboration, brainstorming or just some positive affirmations from those you work with.
Be curious and learning obsessed
You’ve heard it a million times, but that doesn’t make it old hat – change is the only constant. You cannot stay on top of your game and be successful unless you constantly unlearn, relearn and innovate. Seek new skills, experiences and opportunities in everything.
Be aware of imposter syndrome
According to Harvard, Imposter syndrome affects high achievers more. It is the feelings of self-doubt you get around your abilities and feeling like a fraud at work, like you do not deserve to be there and despite evidence to the contrary that you are not competent. Knowing when imposter syndrome is creeping in can help you keep it in check.
Be Well
As we mentioned, your success is contextual and affected by your environment. Make sure you look after yourself both physically and mentally to give yourself the best shot at being successful.
Boosting that successful feeling
We all know that feeling of achieving something we have been striving towards. While you are pursuing this super successful profession and achieving goals left, right and center, it is important to make sure your success is sustainable. Sure success, like anything, happens in peaks and valleys. There will be times when all the hard work you’ve put in will culminate in a successful project or some noteworthy accomplishment and recognition. And in other instances you might feel like you are stagnant without progress. It is important to boost your successful feelings and remain motivated and engaged in your pursuit, after all good things take time and effort.
Specific brain chemicals are responsible for some of those positive, good vibes we feel when we achieve something. Dopamine, which makes us feel really good, is highest when we are about to achieve a goal rather than when we actually achieve it. The expectation of success triggers a good feeling, releasing energy and renewed attention as well as the tendency to seek things out. You can encourage this feel good moment even more so by stopping once in a while and reflecting on the progress you’ve made and how far you’ve come. Savor that moment just before you knock the ball out of the park.
Spend time reflecting and taking stock of your successes. In society today we are so wired to look towards the next big thing, we often forget to pause and notice what we have just accomplished. Make a habit of consciously pausing on the high points of your professional journey and remembering them often. If this feels too prideful for you why not try it as a gratitude journal.
Finally, and we cannot stress this enough, celebrate the small and big wins. Just like running a few seconds faster per kilometer is you moving towards your next pb so is your boss asking you to take the lead on a meeting or trusting you with a decision. It is easy to only focus on the big things, and forget the incremental small wins which are additive to and crucial in our successes. Celebrate these small wins with a personal reward, a humble brag to a close friend or just mentally appreciating them. After all, you need to be your biggest supporter.
A word from Wellbe and Jessica
Through sharing knowledge and experience, we want to help you become your most successful self. In your professional success we believe you can help us build more successful communities, organizations and people. Because when we are the optimal version of ourselves, both physically, emotionally and mentally, then we all thrive.
Your health is your wealth so make lasting changes, one habit at a time.
The WellBe Team
About Jessica Brownlee
Jessica is an industrial and organizational psychologist specializing in learning, leadership, talent, neuroscience and wellness. A self-proclaimed wellness geek, Jessica writes The Humble Humanologist blog to inspire, motivate and uplift others on their work and wellness journey. She is her own boss, running a consulting company, Psychology360 (www.psychology360.org) and consults globally to some of the leading organizations. Jessica also strives to find balance and is an avid yogi and yoga teacher (who is yet to master a hand stand).
What exactly is mindfulness, how can you practice it at work and in the professional interactions you have?
Mindfulness may not be a new concept, in fact in recent times it has been a bit of a buzzword. It is a popular tool or practice which is pretty accessible to everyone and offers a myriad of benefits. Mindfulness itself has a lineage in human history extending beyond 2500 years ago. And while it has taken on new forms and practices, the essence of mindfulness has stood the test of time. With its earliest roots in Buddhism, the modern practice can be understood as a form of mental training. And what the ancient and old did thousands of years ago is finally getting some of the spotlight in modern science, proving itself again and again.
As humans we are hardwired to always strive for the next thing and never be satisfied, it is the nature of our consciousness. The appeal of mindfulness is that it slows us down and brings us into the present. Jon Kabat-Zinn, the father of modern mindfulness is quoted as saying, “The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little”. And that is the crux of it, the world passes us by while we tweet, Instagram and email. We miss the little things in the moment which are actually the sum total of our lives.
The power of mindfulness is it is always available to you whether you are dealing with disappointment, stress, loss or personal challenge. It is a way to remove yourself from the human condition and acknowledge what you are going through and grow through it. Research shows many benefits of mindfulness including reducing stress, physical health improvements, enhanced cognitive function, positive social outcomes and even possibly living a longer life.
Mindfulness is certainly a valuable tool for you to utilize to help you WORK WELL. Let’s face it, work is an integral part of our lives, and as much as we love our jobs and that we can pay the bills, it can be a significant source of stress. With any job there will be more pressurized days, deadlines, anxiety provoking situations and difficult conversations. And that really is where mindfulness can help.
What exactly is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is simply about paying attention to the present moment, in a non-judgmental way. Mindfulness is the ability to stay in the present moment and to focus your thoughts on what is happening in the here and now. It’s our ability to not think about the past or the future but to instead observe what is happening right here and now. Mindfulness can equip you to not be yanked around by your emotions. It is simple and effective, allowing you to get the most out of every moment. With the changes in the workplace, innovation, always on tech and the fourth industrial revolution it is more important for us now than ever to disconnect, take control of our anxiety and be present in the moment. As Emily Dickinson said, “Forever is composed of nows”.
Apart from being an appealing way to live your life, mindfulness has some science backed advantages. Various studies have found so many benefits, including:
Frequent mindfulness or meditation practice actually changes parts of your brain on an MRI in your amygdala.
Harvard researchers have shown a positive impact of regular mindfulness practice and depression.
Mindfulness can reduce stress and anxiety, reducing cortisol and resulting in a physical reduction in the body’s stress induced inflammation response. Blood pressure and improving stress-induced physical conditions.
Mindfulness can increase your resilience and promote emotional wellbeing, making you less depressed, reactive and prone to negative thoughts while increasing your coping skills.
Practicing mindfulness can increase your self-awareness, acting as a trigger for many positive changes in your life.
Mindfulness using focused-attention meditation is like weight lifting for your attention span. It helps increase the strength and endurance of your attention, enabling you to better redirect and maintain attention.
It can boost your mental clarity and memory, keeping your mind young.
Mindfulness can positively impact your relationships, making you more likely have positive feelings towards yourself and others, acting in a kind and compassionate manner.
It can be a useful tool to control pain and improve your sleep. Who doesn’t want more, better sleep?
Ultimately, mindfulness is a great tool to cultivate a well, meaningful, and happy life at work and home.
Being mindful at work
“Look past your thoughts, so you may drink the pure nectar of This Moment.” – Rumi
Practicing mindfulness at work is so easy, accessible and practical because it is something that can be done in a short space of time, in any setting. While it’s not something that comes naturally for us especially with the many distractions at work that demand our attention and focus, there are many ways to bring yourself into the present moment. Instead of being bombarded by information, jumping between texts, emails and notifications we need to carve out some time to check in with ourselves, connect and be content with the present.
We thought we would share some mindful practices that would be particularly useful in the workplace. Try carving out 60 seconds throughout the day to practice some of these, pick and choose what feels good to you and make some space for it in your day:
Practice gratitude: by practicing gratitude we can bring our focus onto things that are good in the here and now. And focusing on the present positives lets us cultivate a more positive future.
Check in with your body: your body is the vehicle you experience life through. Take a moment to pause and feel bodily sensations – they are all little signs of your experience. Where are your aches or pains? Do you feel light or heavy? Where are you holding tension?
Fire up your senses: one of the simplest ways to be in the present moment is to observe what is going on around you and within you. Work your way through your 5 senses and fully take in the moment.
Focus on your breath: focus your mind and bring attention to your breath and notice how you are breathing. Take a moment to observe it before you try to do 5 deep belly breaths, focusing on the inhale and exhale.
Observe your thoughts: here’s a fun game – stop what you’re doing and start observing your thoughts. Can you do that? What do you notice? Try it and see what happens!
As you become more comfortable practicing mindfulness, try to do so more frequently throughout the day to reap the benefits for you.
Tips to being more mindful with co-workers
It is important for you to understand how mindfulness can benefit your relationships at work and how to be more mindful when you interact with others. When you are mindful, you are more emotionally balanced, allowing you to react to others in a more professional and empathetic manner. Let’s face it we are social beings and the workplace is one of many social situations where we have and need relationships. In-fact relationships are critical to work.
Here are some tips to assist you in building more mindful interactions with others:
Be aware of your ego
Often our reactions or unhealthy relationship tendencies stem from our ego, an unhealthy one. An unhealthy ego can mean we take things too personally, become defensive, arrogant and play the victim. Using mindfulness to grow your self-awareness you can cultivate a healthy ego with positive self-talk and reacting from a place of genuine empathy rather than fear. Be aware of the feeling when your unhealthy ego wants to kick in. A mindful/healthy ego can observe what is happening to them, not react, and return their attention back to the other person, fully listening and not conjuring up their response.
Start meetings with mindfulness
Begin meetings, whether in person or online, with 60 seconds for everyone to really arrive and center themselves. This gives people the opportunity to bring their best selves to the meeting, both mentally and emotionally. It gives you the opportunity to clear away the clutter of the day and be really there.
Practice mindful listening
Mindful listening goes beyond active listening, it is the act of shutting out noise and distractions to give someone your full attention. As Jon Kabatt-Zinn said, when mindful it is about “paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.”. The average person only remembers a quarter of what was said in a conversation, the goal of mindful listening is to silence your own internal noise and external distractions to hear the entire message. Try to be present, aware of your own triggers and cultivate empathy.
Give others your full attention
Embody mindfulness and pay full attention to others, that means minimizing distractions and making a point of focusing on them. Wouldn’t you like to feel heard and validated without someone taking calls, texting or surging on social media in your presence. Stay present and practice non-judgement in your interactions.
Accept yourself and others
It sounds like a lot of work, accepting yourself. But once you do, it becomes easier to accept others. Acceptance is the fundamental building block of trust in a relationship and fosters understanding between you and others. If you interact with others in a judgmental way, it’s likely they will resist your points of view and probably disregard the valuable insights of any interaction with the judgements.
Show coworkers’ appreciation
In order to appreciate others, we need to show them we appreciate them which in turn enhances and deepens our relationships. At work this can look as simple as praising and showing confidence in someone else’s point of view or a piece of work. Try to find ways to praise someone aside from performance, such as their positive attitude on a project or their other contributions at work. By showing appreciation you can build trust and respect.
About Jessica Brownlee
Jessica is an industrial and organizational psychologist specializing in learning, leadership, talent, neuroscience and wellness. A self-proclaimed wellness geek, Jessica writes The Humble Humanologist blog to inspire, motivate and uplift others on their work and wellness journey. She is her own boss, running a consulting company, Psychology360 (www.psychology360.org) and consults globally to some of the leading organizations. Jessica also strives to find balance and is an avid yogi and yoga teacher (who is yet to master a hand stand).
We often get consumed by the hustle and bustle of daily life. We find ourselves going through the motions every day without being too conscious of it. This often leads to feelings of burnout or unfulfillment which is why mindfulness has become such an important art to master.
When people say the word ‘mindfulness’, a variety of thoughts may cross your mind; “has this got to do with spirituality?” “Do I now have to start meditating?” “I really don’t have time to add another task to my day”. And most importantly, “what does mindfulness do and does it work?”
We’re highlighting the importance of mindfulness and showcasing how easy it is to add it to your daily ‘To-Do List”. This blog is going to take you through the journey of mindfulness – from what it is, all the way to how you can practice it.
What is mindfulness?
Simply speaking, mindfulness is being 100% present in every moment.
The Mindful Blog describes it as “the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us”.
Mindfulness is something innate in us that we are all fully capable of doing but due to our busy lives and the allure of social media, we easily forgot to be present in the moment. This makes mindfulness something we need to practice daily.
If you ever catch yourself really noticing what your senses are experiencing or you’re deeply aware of your emotions and your thoughts, you’re being mindful. The art of mindfulness includes learning breathing methods, using guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind. In the long run, these practices will help calm your mind, body and soul.
What are the benefits of mindfulness?
The art of mindfulness is not merely focusing on the benefits of it. The goal is to practice it daily and slowly begin to notice the changes your mind and body will experience.
When we solely focus on the benefits something can have for us, we often forget to completely immerse ourselves in the journey. That being said, there definitely are a variety of benefits to mindfulness.
When you’re mindful, you are able to reduce your stress levels, gain insight and awareness of not only yourself but the world around you and enhance your performance in everyday life. You are able to gain a completely different perspective into your life and the lives of those closest to you. A perspective that is free of judgement, prejudice and full of positivity.
According to the Mayo Clinic, mindful meditations have shown to minimise:
Stress
Anxiety
Pain
Depression
Insomnia
High blood pressure (hypertension)
Mindfulness has also proven to:
Improve attention
Decrease burnout
Improve sleep
Improve diabetes control
How to practice mindfulness
Now that we’ve explained the beauty mindfulness has to offer, it’s time to dig into how you can practice being mindful every day. There are a variety of simple techniques to use so we’ve listed a few.
1. Pay attention
This sounds slightly obvious, if I’m living and doing tasks then, of course, I’m paying attention.
Well, not necessarily.
Paying attention means more than just being there and doing something. It’s about slowing down and actively noticing the world around you through all 5 of your senses and really thinking about how it makes you feel.
2. Live in the moment
This means putting your phone away and being present. Don’t think about how cool this would look on Instagram and snapping a selfie as a result. Instead, be intentional with what you’re doing. Be open and accepting of all that is around you while being completely aware of your thoughts and feelings.
Living in the moment also means being truly appreciative of what you have and those around you.
Of course, you are going to be battling with fighting off plaguing thoughts that naturally enter your mind. But the trick is to accept and acknowledge those thoughts, and then let them go as you release them.
A good way to look at your thoughts is as though you are sitting on the side of a busy road, watching the cars pass you by. Your thoughts are the cars. And you can either choose to pick a car to travel in – aka – a specific thought – or you can simply sit and watch them go by. This is the practice of peace and being present. It is the art of not allowing your thoughts to control and take over your mind. It is giving you the ability to control which thoughts you focus on and which ones do not deserve your attention.
If you don’t accept yourself, you will feel less inclined to be mindful because mindfulness opens you up to being vulnerable and taking a deeper look into yourself. You need to practice self-love and self-acceptance and truly love yourself like you would a close friend.
4. Focus on your breathing
If you are feeling negative or anxious, you need to take a step back and fully focus on your breathing. Take a deep breath in and close your eyes, focus on your breath as you breathe out and pay attention to how the air moves through your body. Carry on breathing in and out focusing on the feeling of your breath.
There are more advanced ways of practising mindfulness like through meditation where your breathing and your thoughts come together but for now, we’ve left you with the basics to get started.
Some facts about mindfulness
Mindfulness is not something that’s unfamiliar to you, it’s something we all know how to do. Life just has a way of taking over in some moments.
You don’t need to change who you are to be mindful but it requires you to use simple practices to open yourself up completely.
Anyone can do it. From children to the elderly, this is something that is so easy to master and will truly transform your life.
Mindfulness is something you need to be conscious of as often as possible. You need to train your brain to actively be mindful.
Being mindful can assist you at your job as well as in your personal life. When you’re mindful, you have a higher chance of being innovative and finding effective solutions to difficult problems.
Take a moment now to truly be mindful. Sit back, breathe in and focus on your senses. In a short amount of time and with practice, you will truly transform your life.
Both bananas and walnuts are great sources of healthy vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Walnuts are also rich in anti-inflammatory Omega-3’s.
INGREDIENTS
⅓ cup r extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup honey or maple syrup
2 eggs
2 ½ medium or 2 large bananas, ripe and mashed
¼ cup milk of choice
1 tsp baking soda (NOT baking powder)
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon, plus more to swirl on top
1 ¾ cups (220 grams) whole wheat flour ½ cup chopped walnuts
METHOD
Preheat oven to 165C and grease a loaf pan.In a large bowl, beat the oil and honey together with a whisk. Add the eggs and beat well, then whisk in the mashed bananas and milk. Add the baking soda, vanilla, salt and cinnamon, and whisk to blend. Using a big spoon, stir in the flour, just until combined. Some lumps are ok!
Fold in the chopped walnuts. .Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon.
For a swirled effect, run the tip of a knife across the batter in a zig-zag pattern. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (+/- 60 minutes). Let the bread cool in the loaf pan for at least 10 minutes. You may need to run a butter knife around the edges to loosen the bread from the pan. Carefully transfer the loaf to a wire rack to cool before slicing.
Chia seeds are a great source of health promoting Omega-3’s while coconut is a source of selenium, an important antioxidant that protects your cells.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup plain yoghurt
1 can coconut milk
¼ cup milk of choice
2 Tbsp. shredded unsweetened coconut
2 tsp chia seeds
3-4 large strawberries, sliced (or any berry or fruit of choice)
Additional sliced strawberries or fruit for layering
METHOD
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine oats, chia seeds, yoghurt, milk, and coconut milk, stirring well to ensure that everything is fully combined. Add in shredded coconut and sliced strawberries, stirring a few more times before covering with plastic wrap (or transferring to a sealed container) and placing in the fridge for at least 3 hours but preferably overnight. When ready to eat, assemble parfaits by dividing oat mixture evenly between two bowls or glasses, starting with a layer of oats, followed by a layer of sliced strawberries, and topped with a final layer of oats.
Our tips and insights into being successful at work you do, by valuing and investing in people …
Growing your business and being successful is hard, especially in times like these. We all want to make more money, smash those business goals and just feel like we are achieving our best lives at work. And yes, your customers are the heart of your business. But your employees and people you work with are the life blood. Think about it, you cannot get a single thing done without your people. Literally, not a single thing (barring what you can achieve on your own steam, of course).
When we think of increasing our business or product value we often immediately think of the customer. But what about the employees and people driving the value? Just as customer service has transformed over the years, along with the customer, into customer experiences (the holistic perception customers have of your brand or business stemming from every interaction they have with it) so too do we need to transform our employees’ engagement and happiness by intently focusing on their employee experience. After all your employees are your first customer, and the human side of your brand.
If the fiscal side of employee experience doesn’t captivate you (we all have different motivations) consider how much of our lives we spend at work and that you as a brand or employer have the power to make someone’s workplace, and by implication life, better, more positive and happier. If there is ever a time to flex your altruistic muscles and show some kindness to others, the middle of a global pandemic and on-again-off-again lockdowns would be it!
The deal with Employee Experience
A positive employee experience is more than just a decent place to work. Employee experience is a combination of your workplace culture, the physical work environment and the tools and technology which enable the work. As an example, when you go to work you want to experience a sense of belonging and shared purpose (culture), where you feel safe, can attain goals and grow while working in a healthy, safe and well environment with a technology or machinery that enables you to be efficient and perform. As leaders or business owners if we don’t address and manage all the factors impacting our employee experience we may pay a heavy cost. To convince the stoic and unmoved out there, here are some tangible examples of employee experience impacting the bottom line:
It is a proven fact (by science, people) that a happy employee is 20% more productive, imagine losing 20% of your employees’ production every day for a year. That’s a full day a week, almost full week lost a month just because your employee is unhappy.
An engaged workforce outperforms one that is lackluster by tripling profit to 147% profit per share.
A positive employee experience creates an engaged workforce. Annually disengaged employees cost the USA $450 to $550 billion a year!
Managing your employee experience allows you to shape your culture and culture eats strategy for breakfast.
To have talent and the best employees who give of themselves at work, they need to feel appreciated, and that means more than a competitive paycheck. Google increased employee satisfaction by 37% thanks to their investment in employee support.
Another hidden cost of poor employee experience is the increase in sick leave and absence, an unhappy employee takes 15 more sick days a year.
If you are in a highly competitive industry, positive employee experience can give you the edge with increased innovation and performance from your employees. Happy people just think and work better!
Insights into Your Business’ Employee Experience
If we want to focus on cultivating positive employee experience, a good starting point is understanding what and where it is now, establishing your status quo. Understanding your employee experience can be simplified into two main focus areas:
What do your employees expect, want and need?
How does your business design the solutions to meet the wants, expectations and needs of employees?
You can understand your employee experience by evaluating three things:
The physical space:
Evaluating your workplace design and its impact on interactions, daily work life and wellness.
The workplace technology:
Embodying frictionless technology that enables and supports performance.
The company culture:
Understanding and building the right behavioral norms, values and policies on what is acceptable inn your workplace.
Tips to cultivating positive employee experience
So you have a good idea of what employee experience is, why it is important to you and how to evaluate and understand your current employee experience. Hopefully, you feel energized to take action in addressing your employee experience, for your business value and for your employees. Here are some tips to assist you in starting to build a more positive employee experience:
Foster Psychological safety
Yes, it sounds complicated, but no it is not. Simply, psychological safety is merely about giving people the freedom to bring their whole selves to work while feeling valued, connected and accepted. To create increased psychological safety at work we need to approach others with positive regard, allow failures and successes, treat people with dignity and act inclusively. Our interactions, especially the leaders at work, need to down regulate fight or flight responses and allow people to be calm, energized and focused.
Communicate with your employees
An important part of employee experience is communication between the business, leaders and employees. Great communication starts with listening. Actively listen to your employees. You can create discussion boards, virtual collective spaces and even schedule team lunches that allow open communication. Really listen and try to understand what motivates and demotivates your employees, try put yourself in their shoes and understand their day-to-day lived experience. Storytelling is a great way to share ideas and communicate with employees. Host town halls or social media campaigns to keep them feeling connected.
Make people feel valued
Focus on fostering a culture of acknowledgement, people have a fundamental need to feel valued and this is true for the workplace. Recognize contributions to the team and company success in meaningful ways beyond monetary incentives. Create the habit of frequent feedback and make a point of letting people know you see them and their efforts.
Give employees’ growth opportunities
A big part of a positive work experience is feeling like you are growing and contributing to something bigger than yourself. Ensuring employees have routine learning and development opportunities gives them the chance to grow and progress. Growth can take the form of free access to Udemy courses or short courses, personalized development plans to one’s career aspirations or creating a learning culture in the organization with knowledge sharing and learning lunches.
Work Life Integration and Balance
We all want to feel like we have a good work life balance, in essence we want a positive experience at work and at home. As work and life become more integrated it is really up to leaders and business’ to enhance employee work life balance and show employees they genuinely do care for their happiness. Small steps such as increased autonomy and flexibility at work can go a long way to making employees feel empowered and valued. Consider others schedules when booking meetings, perhaps try have stand up meetings instead of sitting in a board room. Be mindful of the emails your forward and who’s mailbox you are filling. And most importantly encourage employees to switch off and recharge, often.
Integrate the desired experience into people practices
You can’t achieve the employee experience you want without ensuring all other initiatives in the business align. If you want to encourage feedback, make it a weekly habit in the team. If you want people to act inclusive, build it as a measure into your performance management system and include it in onboarding initiatives. Once you have identified the pillars you will use to build your employee experience make sure you integrate it into all the employee touch points to reinforce the change in behaviours and make it stick.
A word from Jessica Brownlee
Through the sharing of knowledge and experience, we want to help build communities, organizations and individuals become the most optimal version of themselves, both physically, emtionally and mentally.
Your health is your wealth so make lasting changes, one habit at a time.
The WellBe Team
About Jessica Brownlee
Jessica is an industrial and organizational psychologist specializing in learning, leadership, talent, neuroscience and wellness. A self-proclaimed wellness geek, Jessica writes The Humble Humanologist blog to inspire, motivate and uplift others on their work and wellness journey. She is her own boss, running a consulting company, Psychology360 (www.psychology360.org) and consults globally to some of the leading organizations. Jessica also strives to find balance and is an avid yogi and yoga teacher (who is yet to master a hand stand).
You’ve got one life. These are our tips on how to get the most out of it!
It’s easy to see the glass half empty right now. After COVID-19, Stress has been labeled as the number one health pandemic, the global economy has hit one of its all time lows and poverty is rife.
How can we possibly see the glass half full?
The Secret to Happiness
Ah, the age-old question!
There was a 75 year-long study at Harvard focused on uncovering the most important factor in human happiness. You might be thinking: financial stability or having a purpose right? The conclusion might surprise you… It’s a human connection.
When we talk about human connection, we’re not talking all that social media stuff. We’re talking real physical and emotional connection with other human beings, and the quality and depth of those relationships.
Human interaction can foster a great sense of community and sense of support. 2 Things we have always needed and will always need as humans to grow within ourselves and within the world. When we have a sense of community and support, we feel safer and more willing to try new things because we know
we’ll be backed up by our tribe regardless of the outcome. Not to mention, it’s been proven that daily, quality social interaction can slow the onset of memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease.
So get out there and socialise (socially distanced of course!), make those connections, find your tribe and try new things to get the most out of life and keep your mind healthy. But this isn’t the only thing you can do to elevate your life…
We can actually rewire our brains
Until fairly recently, scientists firmly believed that the brain is unchangeable when we become adults. Who we are is who we are. Solid, concrete, unalterable brains. Once we’re adults, that’s who we are – no buts about it.
Now we understand that the brain can be remolded and rewired to think differently – a term known as ‘neuroplasticity’.
If you’ve always got a gloomy outlook on life, fear not – you can change your mindset! If you have a bad habit, you can change that too (phew!). All thanks to the ever-changing miracle and mystery that is your brain. The secret to changing the brain is repetition.
It’s all about habits
To start thinking differently, you need to create new habits that support the life you want to live. You need to implement changes consistently. The tried and tested way to build a habit is to ‘habit stack’.
Habit stacking means doing the “new” habit right after an existing one. For example you could try meditating and brushing your teeth in the morning – because that’s something you do every day (hopefully!).
The more we repeat something or think in a certain way and make it a habit, the faster our brains will be rewired in line with those thoughts and actions. So let’s make sure it’s a positive change!
Creating an attitude of gratitude
Expressing gratitude is the single most powerful way to create a more positive outlook on life. When we focus on what we’re grateful for, we focus on what’s good in our lives. Then, by repeatedly focusing on the good, we start to create a habit of thinking positively which ultimately extends to the way we see the world.
There are a few ways we can change our view on life:
Keep a gratitude journal
Did you know that the information we learn with multiple senses sticks more easily? Writing in particular is a very powerful tool we can use to learn because it engages both our senses of touch and sight. This is known as ‘multimodal learning’.
Get yourself a notebook in a size that floats your boat. A bonus for this one is if it looks nice on the outside so you’re more drawn to pick it up and use it. Keep it in a place where you’ll see it often – next to your bed is the best.
Every day – before bed or when you wake up – write down 3 things you’re grateful for. It’s powerful to write down full sentences that result in affirmations. For example: “I am grateful for my healthy body”.
When you’re feeling low, have a read through your journal (which over time becomes prey substantial!). After a year you’ll get to read more or less 1000 things that you get to be grateful for.
Take -me off social media
Ever had a “(s)he’s got it all” moment when you’re scrolling? It’s really easy to get down into a slump because your life seemingly isn’t as good as others’. It’s important to remember that people don’t post their life’s lows. All you’re seeing are people’s highlights and that’s not real life.
Set up the screen balance feature on your phone – they all have one! Make sure you’re not scrolling through unrealistic expectations all day. Put your phone away and sit in the present to acknowledge what you have in this moment. Why not even have a read through that gratitude journal?
Breathe
It’s something we do without even thinking but really should. You know that thing where the air moves in and out of the body and gives us life? Yeah that one!
When you focus on the breath, you bring yourself into the present moment and that’s what we all need the most. We’re always living in the past or the future but very rarely in the present. When we live in the present we become more aware of what we have and how we feel. Basically, we live life in HD and who doesn’t want that? Breathing in and of itself is something else we can be so grateful for.
Exercise
We’re working even longer hours now that many of us work from home and struggle to set work/ home boundaries. We sit for way longer than our bodies were ever designed to do and our spines compress, giving us all those (very common) back aches and pains. Set a timer on your phone to take a break from your desk – that might mean just gebng up and walking around the house a few times.
Try and exercise for 30 minutes, 5 -mes a week or 20 minutes every day. Your body will release happy hormones and instantly give you a mood booster.
Give back
As we spoke about before, community and connection are a big part of who we are as humans. When we perceive that we are supported and can support others, we instantly have more purpose in life – and that’s been proven.
Why not support a charity or cause? Donate clothes or even your time? Taking the -me to help others will give you a sense of gra-tude and pride in our communities by working towards the common good for everyone.
A word from Jessica Gaynor
Through the sharing of knowledge and experience, we want to help build communities and individuals become the most optimal version of themselves both physically and mentally.
Your health is your wealth so make lasting changes, one habit at a time.
About Jessica Gaynor
The human mind fascinates me beyond words. After I was diagnosed with stress-induced Epilepsy, I started to revaluate the way I was living my life and I became acutely aware of the global stress pandemic. It’s become my life mission to help others become aware of it too, through meditation and mindfulness – because awareness is the first step towards change.
I’m a registered Yoga Teacher and Employee Wellness Coach with a focus on mental health and wellbeing. I am currently studying towards a certification in Yoga Therapy – a discipline centered around helping people understand and manage both their physical and emotional imbalances in the body.
This light chicken soup with added cabbage is an immune-boosting power combo that helps improve hydration, reduce inflammation and ward off bacterial infections.
INGREDIENTS
2 Tbsp. olive oil or butter½ celery stalk, sliced finely
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/3 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp minced garlic
½ tsp each dried onion and parsley
A pinch of salt and ground black pepper
225 ml chicken broth
½ medium sized carrot, sliced into rounds
120 g shredded rotisserie chicken
2 cups green cabbage sliced into “noodle”
strips
Slices of fresh lemon
METHOD
Add the oil to a large pot on medium heat. Add the dried onion, diced onion, celery, carrots, mushrooms and garlic into the pot and saute for 3-4 minutes until translucent and fragrant. Add the broth, parsley, salt, and pepper. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Add the cabbage and simmer for an additional 8 to 12 minutes until the cabbage “noodles” are tender. Lastly add the cooked and shredded chicken and allow to heat through. Top with fresh lemon slices.
