Bicycles
Two of my best friends and I are riding bicycles across the San Juan Islands this week. Bicycles feature prominently in my life (they represent the most awesome way to explore communities). In fact, more people on Earth ride bikes…
What Comes After Burnout?
Burnout is a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity. Due to factors such as recognition (or lack thereof), workload, and safety, nearly one third of Canadians are…
Career Development is the Vaccine for The Great Reshuffle
There is a vaccine to address recruitment and retention in the wake of “The Great Reshuffle.” It’s called career development. A national survey recently conducted by Environics for CERIC — a Canadian charitable organization that advances education and research in career counselling and…
How to Bounce Back from a Bad Day
We all have bad days at work. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes we have to fire people. And sometimes (hopefully not too often) we get fired or downsized from a job that we love and/or need. To overcome such hardships professionals…
Three Ideas for Celebrating the Holiday Season
If I’m being honest, there isn’t much to celebrate on the West Coast of Canada these days. The pandemic/endemic is here, restrictions are being implemented, and lockdowns are looming. I feel for everyone who is enthusiastically looking forward to social…
Gratitude
Expressing gratitude reduces stress, elevates wellbeing, and enhances relationships. Our family practices gratitude pretty much every night at the dinner table (we like the “star and a wish” method). Every day I take stock of good things that happened and…
Returning to the Office Will Be Weird
As I wiped down my chair and a nearby desk that I may or may not have touched with various cleaning supplies, I looked up at my colleague, Deanna, and said “okay…returning to the office will be weird for everyone.”…
Why You Should Have an End of Work Ritual
Lately I’ve been struggling with time management. Following a recent promotion (mine) and a recent leave (an awesome manager who is having an awesome baby), I temporarily have a lot of people are reporting to me and the complexity of…
Elevating and Grounding
The best experiences simultaneously are elevating and grounding for people. Elevating means advancing something worthwhile, connecting people to a purpose or cause, and realizing our potential by striving with boldness. Grounding conjures ideas of sensibility, practicality, and being rooted to…
Camping
Our family – like, the grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles – is camping in the woods of Vancouver Island. We are experiencing good food, sparkling conversation, and wonderful wilderness adventures. We might even climb a mountain and will definitely play…