‘Tis the Season

As much as we look forward to the joys of the holidays, sometimes the activities around special occasions can also bring on stress.

Sound familiar?

If so, here are a few holiday tips that might help keep your stress levels down …

Countdown to Christmas

• In all things moderation – it may be the season to be jolly, but too much food and alcohol is harmful. Drink driving is a real danger and is illegal. If you can’t (or don’t want to) step off the social merry-go-round, at least try to eat and drink in moderation
• Get some z-z-z-z – plan for as many early nights as you can.
•  Keep on moving on – keeping up your regular exercise routine can give you the fitness and stamina to make it through the demands of the festive season.
• Under cover of a rolling stoned – People under stress tend to ‘self-medicate’ with alcohol, cigarettes and other drugs. But hiding from pressure can actually add to your stress. Try to remember that drugs can’t solve problems or alleviate stress in the long term.

It’s easy to let the busyness of the holidays to get the better of us. But don’t do it!  You’ll miss all the fun and the enjoyment of enjoying friends and family.

Happy Holidays!

Living La Ancha Vida!

When you were young did you get asked, “What do you want to be when you

Living la vida ancha as an astronaut

grow up?” My answer was different almost every time I was asked…A milkman…An astronaut…A teacher…A foreign correspondent…A mommy.

“You’ll need to decide,” I was told, but the fact is, I still haven’t decided what I want to be when I grow up. And by the time I’m 90, I probably still won’t.

It’s just that there are simply so many interesting things to do! When I read about fascinating occupations or avocations, I want to learn more. And I want to try everything!

Something’s wrong with the notion that one has to decide on only one path for the rest of his or her life. It may seem a little more graceful, slightly more dignified, a tad more predictable. But doesn’t it run the risk of also being a lot more boring?

I like a saying they have in Mexico: “La vida es corta, pero ancha.” That is, “Life is short, but it’s wide.”

I favor grabbing for all the experiences this life has to offer— going wide — and ending with an epitaph that reads more like a full-length novel than a short story.

Mentoring: Paying it Forward

Inland Northwest Passage: Paying it forward

Even a brief review of today’s headlines can be alarming—with good reason. Drug trafficking, escalating violence and civil wars, kids killing kids, terrorism, recession—scary issues to be sure.

These sobering world events and the fast pace in which we live, daunting for adults, can be overwhelming for our youth. As they come of age, today’s young adults will need incredible wisdom just to face everyday challenges, let alone look to the future, especially since parents are often too busy or overwhelmed themselves to help their youngsters sort things out.

When I was growing up I had two great-uncles, John and Harry, both bachelors. Often one or the other would stop by for dinner and usually, as my mom was preparing the meal, they’d call me over to the couch and we’d sit down and commiserate. Just having an adult who had the time and inclination to talk with me was exhilarating, even though I doubt we ever discussed anything terribly important.

Still, during our short talks, my two great-uncles passed on a lot of wisdom about life, principles and ideas to live, and creative ways to look at life. They also set my mind on a creative path with their stories…a road I still travel on to this day.

It’s clear to me now that they were my mentors; helping me puzzle out life, paying it forward.

Perhaps there’s a young person in your life for whom you can demonstrate, through example and communication, that there is little to fear, much to imagine about, and interesting experiences to look forward.

If not, there’s a great website that lists 20-some ways you can mentor a child and can help you make the connection. It’s called Inland Northwest Mentoring. I’ve added a link here where you can check out just one if the many opportunities to mentor through a great organization. You have so much to share. Take time to pass on your wisdom, to be an “Uncle Harry” for a youngster. Can you think of a better way to pay it forward?

Tags: forward, paying it forward, mentoring, imagination, northwest mentoring

Will your awkward moments lead to cell phone elbow?

Have you ever felt an awkward moment at a party and pulled out your cell phone, pretending to check your email?

Are you guilty of texting while driving even though you know it’s risky?

Does leaving your phone at home when vacationing or on a special date make you uncomfortable?

Have you found yourself cruising YouTube’s latest videos while conversations go on around you?

We do love our electronics. And cell phones are so darned handy, with all the latest apps and gizmos.

But doctors tell us that, due to our obsession with staying connected, they’re seeing risks beyond texting while driving. They have actually documented some less obvious unhealthy side effects of too much cell phone use.

They note behavior issues like information overload and insomnia, and physical dangers like allergic reactions and hearing problems.

And then, there’s the heart break of something called “text neck” and “cell phone elbow!”

Okay, that’s funny. But there is a more serious lesson in here somewhere. Maybe it’s time we learned to tame our devices — to take a healthy break from those all-too-enticing cell phones occasionally.

I like to think that I own the cell phone – it doesn’t own me. With that as my mantra, I think the next time I travel, I’ll enjoy the view instead of a video. And maybe, just maybe, next time I’m at a gathering, I’ll to talk to the people I can actually reach out and touch!

It’s an offbeat concept, but I think I’ll try it.

Twittering your plan away

Online marketing is hot. You don’t need me to tell you that. But Facebooking and Twittering and Googling without first planning may bring you “likes” but won’t bring results. In truth, spending your valuable time and energies  “friending” your homies or creating a snazzy home page, without first determining whether either is a good use of your marketing time and talents, can busy your business right into bankruptcy.

Success in the use of social media first requires establishing desired outcomes, developing key messaging and strategizing the best methods.

Maybe some of the things you are doing now are useful, but without proper planning, most likely most of them are not, or at least are not as useful as they could be.

Non-producing, unfocused Tweets and Likes and LinkedIns will eventually show themselves for what they are — sloppy practices that don’t pay off.
No matter how cool the latest app or social media device may be, only those who plan, track and measure—using accountability—will win customers.

Cutting healthcare costs begins – and ends – with wellness

Many people experience “sticker shock” when it comes to their health care premiums – even if their employer pays a portion or most of the premium. But did you know that you can help your company lower their healthcare costs and yours?  Not only that, companies can actually improve worker well-being in the process.

How? By incorporating a workplace wellness culture, promoting a healthy-promoting environment.

Studies show that when companies promote wellness, their employees experience an average decline in medical costs of 26.5 percent! That’s good for you and your employer!  What’s more, companies that promote even small, healthy steps, such as encouraging participation in exercise programs, can experience an average 40 percent reduction in workers’ compensation costs!

Promoting workplace wellness is not only cost-effective, it can lower absenteeism and raise productivity. In fact, a 2004 study showed that wellness programs provided – among others improvements – a nine percent increase in productivity and a two percent decline in absenteeism! 

Pretty amazing, huh? So what are you waiting for? Get moving…Take a brisk walk at lunch time. Park at the end of the parking lot. Spend a half hour after work at the local gym. Ask your HR department if they’ll begin a wellness program. Get involved with volunteering at your kid’s school sporting events. Every little bit helps, and your health counts.

From family get-togethers to feeding the world

Autumn in the Inland Northwest — as the weather turns a bit cooler and the trees put on their splendid colors — always reminds me of  family get-togethers when I was a kid.

The house in which two parents and we six kids lived had no formal dining room and a small kitchen, which more often than not, had my mom’s old Smith Corona typewriter and numerous files and papers on it (I’m 2nd generation PR/Marketing/Writer.)

Hence, family get togethers were Sherman Park affairs, where we’d pull a half-dozen picnic tables together to accommodate the group, which was sometimes just us kids, but eventually grew to include friends, an aunt or uncle or two, then spouses, eventually the kids’ kids and special guests with nowhere else to go.

Sometimes the group included was great-uncle John, a bachelor who told great adventure tales, great uncle Harry who I thought looked like Humpty Dumpty or Mom’s sister, Sr. Marie Pauline — know to us as Aunt Jean. Other times, there were young Native American children, visiting from a nearby reservation or Mom’s work mates.

As I look back, I realize my parents must have taken the Biblical loaves and fishes story literally. (In the familiar story Jesus tells His disciples to “give them something to eat.” The “them” was a crowd of five thousand people!)

As the beggar’s banquet parable goes, only five loaves of bread and two fishes multiplied to not only feed everyone but produce seven baskets of leftovers.

In much the same way, our family’s guests ate their fill, most likely because Mom taught us to take a small portion, and make sure ever dish got passed around to everyone, before we could take “seconds” — an attitude of sharing.  In that way everyone not only enjoyed the picnic, they also went home with leftovers. No fish, though, more likely hot dogs and potato salad or ham and dinner rolls.

It makes me wonder. Could we be feeding the world the same way. Studies have shown that our problem is not how to massively increase food production. Hunger in the world today is due to injustice, not shortages.

Maybe if we took on more of the attitude my mom and dad had —  to make sure everyone has access to the plenty that already exists “on the table” — we could feed the world and even send people home with leftovers.

English Political Leader Oliver Cromwell’s philosophy

“He who stops being better stops being good.”

Social Media and Public Relations: A Match Made in CyberSpace

Social Media is not only important for Public Relations, Social Media IS Public Relations.

Simply put, Public Relations is doing good and getting credit for it. Crisis Public Relations (Crisis PR) is doing not-so-good and defending a reputation in spite of it.

Since the early half of the last century, it’s been established that both Public Relations and Crisis PR work best when in-depth strategic planning is performed before methods or messages are discussed.

Key questions needing answers include:

• Who are our key publics?
• What does our target market look for?
• What are their current perceptions?
• Where can our audience best be contacted?
• How do they want to be reached?
• Why do we need to communicate with them?
• What are our key messages?
• What are our desired measurable outcomes?
• How will we evaluate our results?

Enter social media – Public Relations on steroids.

The most powerful communication medium ever created, Social Media makes it possible to economically extend a message’s reach and to globally impact target markets.

The good news is that blogs and social media provide two-way communication, opening up direct channels of communication between organizations and their publics.

The bad news is that Social Media’s immediacy demands shorter response times. In fact, this instantaneous interaction with Social Media such as blogs, Twitter or Facebook in many ways resembles Crisis Communications (or Crisis PR.)

Consequently, Richard S. Levick, President and CEO of Levick Strategic Communications says Public Relations and Crisis PR are important for Social Media:

“Given the power that Digital and Social Media now wield over the perceptions that drive corporate crises – and the speed with which that power is applied – systems that are designed to protect a company’s online reputation when it matters most are now an absolutely essential element of effective crisis management.”

Furthermore, according to the 2009 Digital Readiness Report, Social Media is important for Public Relations:

“Public relations professionals are taking the lead in managing the organization’s use of social media communications channels, and social media skills are nearly as important as traditional media relations skills.” *

Sounds to me like the jury’s in. Social Media and Public Relations…a match made in cyberspace.

* Study conducted by iPressroom with support from Korn/Ferry International, the
Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and Trendstream.

Some wait for their Muse, edit, re-write. I plan.

Apparently, my mom saved almost everything I ever brought home from school to show her, because when she died, I  found boxes of my papers and tests and essays.  And when looking through them, I noticed that every page had a “first start” on one side, with a completed paper on the other.

Apparently, my completed work was always at least a “second draft.” I have no doubt there were often many crumpled up versions that ended in the classroom wastebasket or crammed in my locker. Thanks to computers, there’s no starting over on the back side for me now, and yet, an editor for books I’ve written once remarked that I was fastest writer who needed little editing of all the authors he worked with. Perhaps he said that to all his writers, but I don’t think so.  I think it’s because I begin my writing with planning before a word ever makes it on the paper.

If you want to be more successful in your writing and spend less time with edits and re-writes, start with a plan; prepare an outline. It doesn’t have to be extensive, just get your basic thoughts down to serve as a framework. I usually structure my piece first, by simply applying the five “W’s” commonly used in journalism:

• “who” — Who is your intended reader? Describe the specific person you’re talking to. Age, gender, personal tastes — get as specific as you need to in order to visualize the person while you write. I sometimes actually cut out pictures from magazines that picture my typical reader, so I can imagine telling the story or building my points with that person in mind.
• “what” — What is the theme or moral of your piece? Or better yet, what is the desired outcome of your piece — what do you want your reader to do?
• “when” — This varies, depending. It could be when does it need to be done for an assignment, or when does the action take place for a story or when the reader may need the information.
• “where” — Where does the story begin, or — possibly — where do you intend to market the article?
• “why” — What is your purpose for the communication — why should the reader care?

Once you have those lovely bones, begin to drape your words on them, much as you would drape clothes on a mannequin. Start with the essential  “under garment” by telling your reader (Who) the subject of your piece (What.) Next, layer on the details (When, Where, Why.) Finally, conclude by repeating the What.

To put it another way: Tell the reader what you’re going to tell them, the tell them, and then tell them what you just told them. It’s a simple structure, but it works.