Center for Workplace Happiness

To start the new year off on the right foot, I attended a presentation about setting intentions and committing to them. Around the halfway point, when he had walked us through a couple of exercises, the speaker asked us to say aloud, “I am committed to my goals.” Throats opened and the room rang with loud, happy voices. Then he asked us to say, “I believe in my ability to achieve my goals.”

Totally different story. The response was more of a group mumble as people said words about themselves that they didn’t believe. The speaker then mentioned the late MLK Jr., asking us if social change would have happened had his level of commitment in the “I Have a Dream” speech been the same as what we just demonstrated.

The point was made – in order to lead and effect change, in order to achieve our own personal goals, and in order to be believed when we speak, we need to embody commitment. It can be tough to believe in ourselves –...

Do you have a pet? Do you know how influential you are, you pet-owner, you?

As people spent more time with their pets during the pandemic lockdown, and as those without pets realized the value of non-human companionship, all categories of pet purchases – food, veterinary care, training, boarding, you name it – have had booming bottom-line increases. The pet industry, which encompasses all things that pets need, is exploding financially. What is now a nearly $250 billion industry is projected to be pushing $370 billion in just six years.

You, with your care and concern for your pet or maybe multiple pets, are driving that. Meanwhile, your unsuspecting pet is doing what pets have always done – providing companionship to the extent you allow, being as good as you’ve helped them learn how to be (at least they’re good most of the time) and becoming a bigger line-item in your monthly budget as prices of everything goes up. While some people are making the...

Do you even know what day of the week it is? This year, at least Christmas and New Year’s Day both fell on Mondays, so maybe they just showed up as regular three-day holiday weekends for you.

If you have a job that requires staffing 24/7/365, like first responders, health care workers, transportation industry, the media, etc., then maybe you even worked on one or both of the last two Mondays. If so, thank you! With three decades in major market radio, I know how it feels to be away from your family and friends on a major holiday.

Did you do the usual New Year’s resolution thing? Did you get up and go to the gym this morning, down a protein shake instead of a drive-through breakfast, and you’re on track to be a non-smoking vegan rocket scientist by this Thursday?

Yeah…I’ve put that kind of pressure on myself before, too.

Goals are wonderful – they keep us focused and moving forward. Behavior changes are often attempted this time of year in pursuit...

In the majority of homes in North America, yesterday was celebrated with exchanged gifts, special holiday foods, and some extended-family togetherness. And in many of those homes, there were people who felt left out, under-appreciated, and just plain unhappy about some aspects of what they experienced.

That’s why today is National Whiner’s Day. Established in 1986, National Whiner’s Day isn’t the official day to complain, it’s a reminder that no matter what less-than-optimal situation is happening, there are always positive things to focus on. Before you label me a hopeless Pollyanna and stop reading, please read this:

Nobody likes a chronic whiner. Nobody.

People love whiners. People marry whiners. People create offspring and build lives with chronic whiners. And yet nobody likes a whiner. Chronic whiners are exhausting to be around. Nothing is ever right, good enough, or fair. They’ll ask for your advice and not heed it. They’ll get in a...

There were a few major shifts during and after the pandemic in how we work, and one of them is people realizing that their lives are at least as important as their careers. People looked for jobs that paid more, gave them more satisfaction, more opportunity for advancement, the opportunity to move to a part of the country they preferred, and that gave them more PTO. Vacations are so important that post-pandemic consumer behavior has shifted from buying things to buying experiences, and the appetite for travel became so voracious that for a time it was called “revenge travel.” Reading that, you might think that people are finally getting serious about taking all the vacation time available to them.

You’d be wrong.

Companies, in an effort to attract job-changing talent, offered more PTO last year. And 55% of that PTO went unused, mostly by female employees. What’s up with that?

According to an article in Forbes, 72% of American workers say their job stresses...

Have you ever built a gingerbread house? I’ve admired them, wished I could taste them, and never actually built one. Some of them look wonderfully basic and homey, some can be very elaborate, and I wonder how that gingerbread tastes after sitting around through the holidays. Have you ever had a bite of one? How was it?

The patience, planning, and creativity involved in making gingerbread houses translates to real life, too. Accomplishing most work-related events uses those three skills. Ever been tasked with organizing a large meeting? A marketing push? A spay surgery on a very large dog? Each of those requires planning, creativity, and patience as you watch your creation begin to unfold. While they don’t result in a deliciously beautiful sculpture, they do result in the same feelings of accomplishment and pride. And sometimes the tasks you perform feel uphill, blocking your creativity, your ability to plan, and get on your very last nerve. That’s where the...

Quick – what one holiday tradition from your childhood did you love best? Opening gifts? Family game time? Snitching the cookies while they were still warm?

For me, it was the advent candles Mom let my brothers and me burn during the 12 nights before Christmas. She read an article in Good Housekeeping magazine with ideas to keep children’s anticipation and curiosity about all those presents under the tree focused and in control, and one of the suggestions was the advent candle. Mom would cut 11 notches into three identical taper candles and my two brothers and I would burn one notch each night, burning the candle to the very end on Christmas Eve. Somewhere between bath time and bedtime, we’d gather at the coffee table in the living room, Christmas music playing, a tray of Mom’s cookies and candies in front of us, and watch the flame on our candles dance, melting the red wax into star-shaped pools in the bottom of three glass candle holders.

OK, I know this...

Unless your eyes are just now opening for the very first time today, you already know today is Giving Tuesday. Today’s newsletter is short and sweet – if you’ll be giving today, please share the link to the organization you’re supporting. If you give at other times of the year, share the link. If you’ve got a group you’d like to give to and are waiting for the perfect time, share the link. 

If you're on Linked In, share your links here: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6983192207608479744/

If you're on Facebook, share your links here: https://www.facebook.com/SandyJWeaver

Whether you give time, talent, or treasure, please share the group, organization, or cause you support. And on this Giving Tuesday, please remember to give to yourself, too. Here are three episodes of the world’s second-shortest podcast to help you remember that you matter, too.

Are you giving away your own power? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that!

Need to stop...

In the United States, Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. In the early 1600’s, when the first Thanksgiving celebration featuring Englishmen in the New World happened, “giving thanks” was how people expressed their gratitude for surviving a tough year, or for bringing in a bountiful harvest.

The tradition of “giving thanks” was, and still is, a big part of the Wampanoag tribe, who were part of the early celebrations, though not quite as the story is told now. In the middle 1800’s, when the Civil War had ended and President Lincoln was looking for a way to bring the nation back together, Thanksgiving was cemented as a national celebration designed to reflect, gather, and share a communal, traditional meal. The “traditional” meal itself was made up at the time, as was the pastoral story of the early dinners with Pilgrims and tribesmen.

It was called Thanksgiving. Would we still celebrate it if it had been called Gratitude Day or Appreciation...

Are you afraid to stand up in front of an audience and give a presentation? Most people are, including some professional speakers. There you are, unguarded, vulnerable, and relying on your memory and your personality to move the audience to think in a new way, act in a new way, and hopefully not throw rotten fruits and veggies at you!

There’s a word for the fear of public speaking – glossophobia. Nearly half of adults are affected by it, at least a little bit. Why it’s so common isn’t known yet, except researchers postulate that it could be rooted in the primal fear of being seen by predators. You never know who might be lurking in that audience, just waiting to pounce!

In reality, audience members want speakers to succeed. They’re on your side, not against you, so instead of imagining everyone as naked, try imagining they’re all your very best friend, that person you could say anything to and they would still love you. Use your imagination to...