Last Friday, I received an email from my friend Mary Rogers, who recently started a podcast called Experience50, highlighting Mary’s Friday Five — a fun and insightful list of items and thoughts from her week. To recap this week on a positive note, and inspired by Mary, I decided to create my own ‘five favorites’ list this Friday!
Favorite Blog Post
I read an insightful post this week from Bill Zipp, one of my favorite bloggers. He uses the analogy of sneezing to illustrate how leaders connect with their people in order to bring out their best. The provocative title — “How to Sneeze: 10 Keys to Positive Emotional Contagion”— spells out these simple but effective daily leadership behaviors:
1. Make Eye Contact
2. Smile, Smile, Smile
3. Say, “Please”
4. Say, “Thank you.”
5. Remember and use people’s first name.
6. Ask curious questions
7. Listen intently without being distracted.
8. Compliment freely and praise publicly.
9. Shake hands and give high-five’s. Hug when appropriate.
10.Laugh. A lot.
In Bill’s words, every day we have a choice about what kind of environment we create, transferring negative or positive emotions by our behavior.
Favorite Event
The Northwestern Michigan College Annual Fund kickoff happened this week and students showed me the new unmanned underwater vehicle technology (most of it went right over my head!) including the 70,000 gallon water tank. The advanced technology at NMC is amazing. What a resource for this community! I most enjoyed interacting with the NMC students in aviation, marine technology, and the Great Lakes Water Studies Institute. Their passion and entrepreneurialism was awesome!
Favorite Book
Eat, Move Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes by Tom Rath
My big takeaway: While most self-help books focus on time management to improve your productivity, Tom’s well documented research shows that how we manage our energy is the real difference maker. It’s the little choices we make each day about what to eat, how much time we spend standing verses sitting, and how much sleep we get that determine our real productivity and health. One tip: the extra minutes of sleep you get by hitting the snooze button aren’t really restful at all. By training yourself to get up as soon as the alarm sounds, you could go to bed 15 minutes earlier and get more real sleep.
Favorite Podcast Episode
I listened to a fascinating health and wellness podcast called “Fat Burning Man” featuring an interview with running coach Danny Dreyer who presented a super-helpful tip on breathing that will not only benefit runners, but also anyone looking to add energy and mindfulness to their lifestyle. Designed to duplicate high altitude training, Danny’s simple instructions include:
· Breath in and out through your nose—NOT your mouth.
· As you slowly exhale, walk as many steps as you can before taking another breath without gasping for air.
· Repeat this 8 – 10 times a day.
Recent research has shown that gently starving your lungs for oxygen like this triggers your body to produce more red blood cells to transport oxygen, increasing the capillary beds in your lungs. This is exactly the benefit that high altitude training provides.
Favorite Night Out
Debbie and I enjoyed a BIGS night out this week! The Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Michigan Adopt-A-Match Sponsor Dinner was held at The Boathouse on Thursday night. Attendees were treated to a fabulous dinner and all-around beautiful evening for a great cause. Thank you to all the mentors who have impacted the lives of the 365 “Littles” across northern Michigan.
As you prepare to wrap up this week and head into the weekend, what were your favorite things about this week? I’d love to hear from you.