Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Thursday, November 08, 2018
Is Your Organization Committed to Mother Earth?
When was the last time you gave intentional attention to Mother Earth? Now, you may not be a Greenpeace card-carrying, Tesla driving person, but global attention is where we are mindful about our planet. We must commit our focus to this wonderful, limited resource we all share. Intentional global attention could be as easy as reducing waste, recycling more, driving less, or just lending a hand.
As a leader, you can influence your team to pay attention to global issues by setting the example. There are many ways you can leverage your organization to make things better in your neighborhood, community and the world around.
Start Recycling:
Consider something as simple as putting recycling bins next to the printer. Or, recycling waste in the lunchroom so people could dispose of glass and plastic appropriately.
Community Days:
Some companies are so committed to Mother Earth that they offer paid days off for employees to volunteer or contribute to a cause meaningful to them.
Leadership Retreats:
At your next leadership gathering, have a team building charity based activity. You could make it fun where teams are divided up and compete against each other for the greatest donation to their cause. Or, you could collaborate to help larger organizations such as Habitat for Humanity where you all pitch in to build a home for someone in need.
Sponsor Clean Up:
Sign up and commit to cleaning up a park, street or stretch of road near you. Get your team involved in the beautification project of that area. Allow time for team building events where everyone participates in caring for that area.
Ban Bottles:
I love how many airports are banning plastic water bottles from vendors. Perhaps you could as well. Instead, purchase metal or glass water bottles for your team members and encourage them to use the gift at work. Install water filling stations and create a contest for the team who drinks the most water. It’s a great way to reduce waste and increase the team’s well being.
Donate Locally:
Encourage your team to support and give to a local food bank. Ask people to bring in items for a collection to give to those in need. Another idea would be a contest of coat collections, shoes or clothing. Either way, you can make it fun enough where everyone will want to partake in the fun.
As a leader, there are many things you can lead to really pay attention to the planet and the resources and our community. Companies I’ve worked with like M.A.C. makeup allows people to take used products back into the store and receive a free lipstick. Brita filters incentivize you to return water filters and recycle them. Organizations like Max and Spenser have the opportunity to donate gently used clothing and exchange things. Places like Amazon will send you shipping labels to recycle things by using the box they send it to you in. There are so many organization who have embraced this.
In our book, we wrote a book called, Attention Pays, in the book there is a section on global attention, and how we are paying attention to our planet. What is one little thing you could pay attention to this week that might have a ripple effect across your team? Across your organization? In your community and ultimately on the planet?
You see, I believe that when we pay attention, attention pays. Want more ideas to inspire? Take a look at this video and share it with your team:
Go to Neenjames.com where you can download hundreds of articles for free that you can share with your team or use in your internal publications. Remember when you pay attention, attention pays.
The post Is Your Organization Committed to Mother Earth? appeared first on Neen James.
Thursday, November 01, 2018
Maintain a Healthy Relationship with Technology
How would you define your relationship with technology? I have to admit, I had to redefine mine. What I’ve learned is when we feel overwhelmed, we feel stressed, our productivity decreases and multitasking increases, and yet we don’t get anything done. And I realized that technology can be used for great things, but it can also be a massive distraction. We spend so much time on email and checking and every time someone asks something, we look it up on Google to find the answer for them.
Social media is for socializing. It’s not for surviving and I committed to making some changes to my digital habits to make sure I was paying attention to what really mattered. But I wonder if you need to make some changes to your digital habits, as well. So I thought I’d share with you a few things that worked for me and maybe a couple of them might work for you, as well.
Turn off notifications.
Notifications are a distraction and can steal away our attention from just about any moment. Mute notifications in your settings or merely turn the volume down on your phone. Change the apps on your home screen so you don’t see the number next to the icon tempting you to stop and read it.
Limit your devices.
Only use specific devices for certain tasks. For instance, use only your home computer to check social media. Make your work computer and smartphone off limits. If checking your profiles proves to be too tempting, install the Freedom app or some other website-blocking software. You can program your devices to block you from going to designated sites specific times of day.
Facebook feed eradicator.
If you find yourself wasting countless hours surfing facebook for news, posts and updates, get the Facebook feed eradicator. It’ll hide your homepage feed, and spare you the noise and clutter throughout your day.
Get smart apps.
Apps that help you focus and remain productive are a wise way to use technology. Meditation apps, napping apps and relaxation apps can streamline your thoughts and give you abundant energy. on my cell phone.
Install Slack.
Work on reducing the noise in your email inbox by getting a team instant messenger tool like Slack. These types of tools allow you to communicate directly with whom you need and get the answer quickly without waiting for the back and forth email requires.
Get Google.
Google products and apps are designed to work effectively and efficiently with each other. I use it for Gmail, Alexa, for messaging, the calendar and maps. Like many of you, the whole team is using the one system, which makes my life so much easier. I use something called Boomerang for Gmail, which is great because they can ping a message back to me or send a reminder and it helps me to keep my inbox really, really small.
Use technology to get healthy.
Technology can help you focus on what needs your attention, like your health and well-being. I bought a Peloton and while that may not seem significant, Peloton is a great technology company with an in-home spin bike and treadmill. They feature live classes or prerecorded classes you take from the comfort of your home. This saves you commuting time and helps you use technology to improve your health.
What some digital habits that you may want to change? This year, look at your digital habits. Decide just one thing that you could change just today that would make a difference this week, which would have an impact on your month.
I’m still a work in progress and would love to hear your tips for managing technology. How are you redefining your relationship this year? It’s my goal to have people join an Attention Revolution where we truly pay attention to who matters, what matters, and how we pay attention in the world. I would love you to join me in the Attention Revolution. You see, I believe that distraction decays, but attention pays.
Share this video with your team members and help them redefine their relationship with technology.
If we haven’t connected on social media, let’s do it. You can find me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. I also love you to comment below and tell me how are you going to redefine your relationship with technology this year? Remember, attention pays.
The post Maintain a Healthy Relationship with Technology appeared first on Neen James.
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