Motivation Shots from The Doc

Tips and Techniques to Apply for a Healthy and Productive Workplace
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Posts Tagged ‘Stress’

How to Have More Brain Energy and Less Stress

Posted by The Motivation Doctor on September 7th, 2010 View Comments

Do you leap out of bed every morning full of energy and enthusiasm? Do you go home at the end of the day full of energy and enthusiasm? Would you like to remember what it’s like to have energy and enthusiasm?

The successful business person needs lots of Energy!
You need Brain Energy and you need Body Energy. However as with any other kind of energy, it’s constantly being drained away and needs replacing.
Dealing with people, your customers and your team, can both drain your brain and your body – and you probably don’t need me to tell you that.

But for the moment, let’s look at Brain Energy.

Imagine that you receive a call or an email from your boss saying – “Could you come in and see me, I need a word with you.”

If you react to that with – “Oh no! What does he want, what’s wrong now? What have I done?” That sort of reaction drains your brain of energy and gives you stress.

Successful business people don’t react – they think!

Reacting drains the brain – thinking, less so.

Get the thinking bit working and say to yourself – “I’ll phone him now; I’ll speak to him and see what he wants. If it’s about the poor business results, then what information do I need to make my case? Perhaps he wants to talk about that vacant manager’s position that I could fill.”

Whatever you’re thinking – stop the negative stuff – it’ll kill you!

If one of your colleagues comes to you with a problem or you receive a complaint from a customer; don’t react!
Start thinking – “Let’s see what I can do about this.”

Do not, and I repeat – Do not say – “Oh no! What am I going to do now?” Every time you say – “Oh no!” Your brain has a huge drain of energy, and that leads to stress!

People will tell you that there’s good stress and bad stress. I’m talking about bad stress, and it occurs when your brain is drained of energy. Some business people seem to believe that it ‘goes with the territory’ and some even wear it as a ‘badge of honour’ telling you how stressed they are all the time.

They also believe that it can’t be avoided; it’s part of being in business and the world we live in. Organisations do have a responsibility to minimise levels of stress in their workforce, but we have a responsibility for ourselves.

It’s very important to minimise your levels of stress and you can do that by thinking rather than reacting. Challenge your inbuilt programs, stop saying – “That makes me really mad” or “That really gets on my nerves.”

Start saying – “This is something I have to deal with, and I’ll deal with it” – You have the choice.

I know your probably thinking (or is it reacting) – “That’s all very well Alan, but its hard sometimes not to get stressed.”
You’re absolutely right however; let me give you some more reasons why you need to work at minimising it.

Stress can cause heart disease, sleeplessness, sexual problems, overeating, drinking too much, loss of concentration and stomach upsets.
Research is now telling us that many, if not most of our illnesses can be related to stress.

When we get stressed, a chemical is released into our bloodstream called Cortisol, sometimes known as the Stress Hormone. High levels of Cortisol can lead to diabetes and skin problems.
There is also a suggestion that Cortisol attacks our immune system and leaves us vulnerable to many of the bugs and viruses that come along. This also includes cancer.
So if you’ve ever suffered from skin complaints or perhaps too many colds, it could very well be the results of stress.

I don’t want to scare you death, or give you any more stress, I just want you to – think!

If you want to listen to this article or download it to your MP3 player, please click here

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Posted in Customer service, Difficult people, Motivation

How to Manage Difficult People Book Review

Posted by The Motivation Doctor on June 24th, 2010 View Comments

Book review taken from BuilderJobs magazine:

“The author worked as a manager in sales and customer service for 15 years, so he should know a thing or two about dealing with difficult people, and his practical expertise certainly shows. This book is stuffed with sound advice, although Fairweather can be a trifle self-indulgent at times. Covers all the bases, from identifying difficult people to developing strategies for success.”

I wonder what the reviewer means by ‘self-indulgent’!?

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Posted in Difficult people, Leadership, Management, Motivation

How to Deal With Your Difficult Boss – News Release

Posted by The Motivation Doctor on March 2nd, 2010 View Comments

For immediate release

How to deal with your difficult boss!

Many of us dread going to work because of a challenging relationship with our boss or manager. Considering the amount of time in our lives we spend at work this can cause a great deal of unhealthy stress. There are, however, simple steps you can take that will give you the confidence and skills to assert yourself in an appropriate manner.

How To Manage Difficult People by Alan Fairweather is an essential guide for anyone weighed down by the negative stress that a difficult upward relationship can cause.

With case studies, examples and anecdotes, Alan Fairweather shares his 15 years of managerial experience – and a six step programme of behaviour – to show you how bad situations can be reversed by applying good listening and strong communication skills.

Alan Fairweather comments, “We spend between 70 – 85% of our time interacting with other people so no wonder difficult relationships have such a huge impact on our enjoyment of life. Each person is unique and all are complicated and often driven by emotion, which in the current financial situation can be high. This book shows you how to identify and understand awkward and challenging behaviours and how to manage them.”

Articles available from the author include Ten Tips for Managing a Difficult Boss.

About the author: Alan Fairweather worked in sales and customer service and did the job of a manager for fifteen successful years. He is very much aware that, in our job and in our personal life, we often face apparently rude, impatient and aggressive people. He now spends his time running seminars and workshops, developing skills on how to handle problem people and situations and how to come out of it with increased confidence, improved results and a lighter heart.

How to Manage Difficult People is published by How To Books Ltd www.howtobooks.co.uk. and is available at £10.99 in major bookshops and online retailers across the country. ISBN 978-1-84528-391-9

To arrange an interview with Alan or to discuss articles he would be happy to write on this subject, please contact Katie Read 07837 485642 katie@katieread.co.uk

To receive a review copy, please contact:

Joanne Salt at How To Books Ltd. 01865 375794 joanne.salt@howtobooks.co.uk

Posted in Difficult people

How to Have More Energy

Posted by The Motivation Doctor on January 12th, 2010 View Comments

Tell me, does this describe you. You’ve just had a hard day at work. You’ve had difficult customers to deal with; your boss is giving you a hard time and you wish you’d gone to bed earlier last night. You feel that you don’t have any energy and you just want to go home a veg out in front of the TV.

I found myself feeling somewhat similar the other day. I’d had a hard day and I’d booked a circuit class at the gym. I nearly cancelled and went home but I’m glad I didn’t because I just remembered two things. We have brain energy and we have body energy.
Your brain energy may be depleted but your body energy may be okay. So when you get that tired feeling it may just be your brain that’s had enough.

Now, if you have a particularly physical job, then your body energy may also be depleted. However, many of us nowadays sit behind desks and the only physical activity we get is punching the computer keys or picking up the phone.
Even when you feel tired, you may feel a whole to better after some exercise.

Now I know you think you don’t have the time. You may also be the type that doesn’t want to go to the gym and lift heavy things or leap about in an aerobics class; however, you need to take some exercise that makes you sweat a little.
I’m sorry, but a round of golf doesn’t count, it isn’t the kind of exercise you need. Golf is great and it’s good for the stress but it doesn’t make you sweat.

If you’re going to walk then walk fast for a distance, enough to push up the heart rate and increase the breathing.
Start to think how you can make your exercise enjoyable. I see some people at the gym making the whole business a real chore. They get on a bike or a rowing machine and try to kill themselves for twenty minutes. If that’s your thing then fine but please don’t make it a chore, plug into the sound system and catch up with what’s on TV.

As I’ve said, I like to do circuit classes with a whole group of people many of which have become friends. I enjoy the chat beforehand, the music and the exercise.

So do yourself a favour, the next time you have a hard day, take some physical exercise. You’ll feel a whole lot better, you’ll sleep better and you’ll feel less stressed.

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Posted in Motivation

Motivational Managers Run their Own Mind

Posted by The Motivation Doctor on November 26th, 2009 View Comments

Successful managers have a deep understanding of their own minds. They’re aware of their needs, their strengths and weaknesses, and their emotions. They’re honest with themselves and resultantly, with their team members.

You have to decide who runs your mind, is it you or is it somebody else?thinking

Let me give you and example. I’ve always had a thing about good timekeeping; it’s something that’s been programmed into my brain. If you agree to meet me at 8.30 in the morning, I’ll be there at 8.20; I will always do my utmost be on time.
So I used to get angry when a member of my team would show up late for a meeting or an appointment with me.
When I got angry I’d get stressed and end up saying something to the team member that I regretted later. Therefore, I learned to start thinking about the situation and try to see it from their point of view, and not let my programming run my brain.

That doesn’t mean to say I ignored the lateness or did nothing about it; I thought very carefully about what I wanted to say and spoke to the team member about how we would resolve this situation.

The point about this is – I’m not prepared to allow that team member’s behaviour to run my mind. Getting angry and stressed is not good for your health and it isn’t a productive way to motivate your team.

In running their own mind Motivational Managers know what they’re good at and what they’re not so good at. Again it’s important to be honest with yourself. Some managers take on tasks they’re not good at, thinking that they should be able to do them. They then make a complete mess of it and ‘beat themselves up’ for being so useless.

On the other hand, don’t ever put yourself down; challenge and test yourself before deciding whether you can do something or not.
Successful managers have confidence in themselves, they accept their weaknesses but they don’t see it as a failure. They speak out when they don’t know something and they ask for help when they need it.

Have you ever asked a question at a meeting possibly feeling a bit stupid and thinking everyone else knows the answer? At the coffee break someone then says, “I’m glad you asked that question because I didn’t know either but I didn’t like to ask.”

Successful managers have the courage to challenge what they hear in their own mind and also what they hear from other people.
Believe me; once you start to apply this, you’ll make your life so much easier, get the job done and reduce your stress.

Taken from the book – How to be a Motivational Manager

Do you run your own mind? Let me know what you think.

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Posted in Leadership, Management, Motivation

Expand Your Comfort Zone

Posted by The Motivation Doctor on November 19th, 2009 View Comments

Are you a creature of habit? I just realised this week that I always use the same changing area at the gym. I end up using the same locker, talking to the same people, and doing the same exercises in the gym.

Our habits, keep us safe, stop us getting run over by a bus, and keep us in a comfort zone. But if our ancestors had stayed in their comfort zone, they’d never have moved out of the caves and into smart, central heated apartments.

I’ve moved to a new changing area, found some new people to talk to, and changed the exercise torture regime. It makes it all, a bit more interesting.

If you want to move forward in whatever it is you do, you’re going to have to break some old habits, make some new ones, and expand your comfort zone.

But keep looking right and left, and left and right as you cross the road; don’t want you denting a bus because of me!

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Posted in Leadership, Management, Motivation

6 Reasons Why Some People Are Difficult

Posted by The Motivation Doctor on November 11th, 2009 View Comments

You can listen to this article or download it to your MP3 player at The Motivation Doc’s Radio Show discussion

When I’m running a seminar on How to Manage Difficult People, I often say to the group: “Please put up your hand if you’re a difficult person who makes problems for other people.”

Guess what – not one person raises their hand? Now you’re probably thinking that nobody is going to admit to this, particularly in public. But I believe that, no one, in any way, regards themselves as a difficult person.

I’ve asked this question many times, and out of the hundreds of people who’ve attended this seminar, no one puts their hand up. They will, however, go on to tell me about all the difficult customers they have to deal with, their manipulative boss, their problem staff, and the neighbours who won’t keep their children under control.

These figures don’t add up; we have hundreds of people who don’t believe they are difficult, telling me about hundreds of people who are.

It’s hard to find anyone who admits to being difficult. But it’s obvious that we’ve all, probably, been difficult to another person at sometime in our life. And research tells us that there are only two percent of the population who are genuinely difficult. So, what causes this difficulty?

  1. Stress. Some people get stressed for all sorts of reasons. Often it’s just their inability to deal with aspects of their job and their personal life. They tend to blame other people and circumstances, but most often they have the answers within themselves.
  2. Personal problems. It’s fair to say that people sometimes have problems that are out with their control. A death in the family, breakdown of a marriage or a relationship, problems with children, or they may feel unwell and have health issues.
  3. Not competent to do the job. It’s often the case, in the workplace, that people find difficulty in doing their job and in finding help. Although they may not admit to this, they might feel inadequate and express their frustration by complaining, being negative and difficult.
  4. Don’t know they’re being difficult. Some people are not conscious of how they’re perceived by others. They believe that their behaviour is quite normal, and are unable to understand why some people see it otherwise.
  5. They see the world differently. We all see the world differently from each other. But some people’s programming causes them to become annoyed when others don’t see it as they see it.
  6. Low self esteem. Some people’s lack of self-confidence and belief in themselves, often causes them to be angry at the world. They believe that other people are out to do them down and that everything is against them.
  7. Lack of Acknowledgement. It could be that they have a massive need for acknowledgement either physical or psychological. A human’s need for acknowledgement is so strong that they’ll sometimes behave badly to get that acknowledgement. I’m sure you’re aware of children who behave badly in school just to get attention – well, adults do it too. That person in your team, who gives you all sorts of problems which are often difficult to understand, may just be seeking acknowledgement. Withdrawing or failing to provide acknowledgement will cause people to become difficult.

So there you have it; it’s worth bearing this in mind, when you next have to manage a difficult person.

Here comes the sales pitch – you can find out more in my new book – How to Manage Difficult People. You can pre book a copy here!How to Manage Difficult People small

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Posted in Difficult people, Leadership, Management, Motivation

How to Minimise Workplace Stress

Posted by The Motivation Doctor on November 5th, 2009 View Comments

‘Employers need to pay more attention to the levels of stress and anxiety in the workplace, key NHS advisers say.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said the cost of work related mental illness was £28bn – a quarter of the UK’s total sick bill.

Bad managers were the single biggest cause of problems, the group claimed.’

This is taken from an article, appearing today, on the BBC. If you want to read the whole article please click this link

One of the reasons I wrote my book – How to be a Motivational Manager, was to help managers get the job done and minimise levels of stress for themselves and the members of their teams. I was a manager for fifteen years; I understand the challenges and the difficulties faced every day by managers.

They could be making their life and the life of their team so much easier.

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