YOUR HEALTH
As you may or may not know, I teach yoga a couple times a week. I tell students we will stretch, strengthen, and stabilize every class. Most importantly, we will practice proper breathing. Once the doors close, we concentrate on inhaling deeply and exhaling out completely. It takes work because most people breath from their upper chest.
I will often ask them to inhale for a count of 10 seconds, hold their breath for 10 seconds, and release their breath for 10 seconds. This is an awesome stress-reducing exercise I encourage you to try! At the end of every class, I have a restorative time where we do nothing but breath for 5 to 10 minutes.
For some, this is impossible. They cannot quiet their mind that long and get fidgety. Others forget to breath deeply and go right back into stressful breathing patterns. As long as students practice the breathing, they receive the benefits, and it is then they realize how as a society we are living on adrenaline.
Hyper energy might feel good for a short while, but it is a recipe for burnout. You can’t operate on full throttle forever without crashing. Instead, calm energy is sustainable. It is where creativity resides, and I guarantee you will sleep better as a result. The best part is proper breathing can be done anywhere! You don’t need a yoga class, although they will help you with the discipline. The best in me honors the best in you.
YOUR LIFE
Most people have seen the movie, Gone with the Wind, at least once. It’s an epic classic about a rich, spoiled-rotten girl named Scarlett O’Hara who has to grow up when war hits her home town, destroying all she has ever known. Cue in the debonair Rhett Butler, and we have fireworks. The two characters really are made for each other, but Scarlett’s defiance and manipulative games pushes him away.
And in the end, Rhett Butler says, “ No, I don’t think I will kiss you, although you need kissing, badly. That’s what’s wrong with you. You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how.” I always sided with Rhett because I never liked the character of Scarlett. She’s just a witch with a capital B, if you get my drift. However, I recently got a new perspective on the situation…or shall I say God opened my eyes to another way of looking at it.
You see, Scarlett was just acting out because she was really scared. She was thrown into a world she didn’t know and expected to do things she didn’t know how to do. How many of us are living that right now, uncertain of what is to become of our country? And in that regard, we are all terrified little children needing some comfort. We need to know we are loved.
Unfortunately, when we are frightened, the worst side of us can appear. Instead of allowing people to love us, we keep them at arm’s length. Like Scarlett, we are so ugly no one wants to be around us. I see this playing out in so many ways right now, and we all need to extend grace.
My good friend and co-author, Dr. John Jackson, just released his latest book called Grace Ambassador. In it, he calls Christians to action: God wants to use you right now, right where you are. It’s time to become a heavenly ambassador that shares the grace you’ve been given with a world aching for transformation.
I encourage you to get a copy and begin loving the unlovable, for they are the ones who need it the most. And if you find yourself fearful, look to the One who created the heavens and the earth. Rest in Him.
YOUR CAREER
I feel like a broken record, but the hiring process is utterly broken in our country! Every day I see the carnage from ghosting candidates after having them go through an obstacle course, leaving them bitter and exhausted. I watch as companies post pages and pages of requirements but do not compensate properly. This has to stop! No one is winning because I guarantee you aren’t getting the best candidates, and the ones you do get are already looking for their next job.
We need to insert dignity and respect into the hiring process. If a candidate has interviewed with you, they deserve a response, not silence. People can be trained skills. If a candidate doesn’t have everything you hoped for but fits your culture, hire them! If a candidate doesn’t have the college degree you wanted but has 5 to 10 years’ experience, hire them! Quite making the process more complicated than it should be. And can be please stop with age discrimination!
We need to put people first and remember that how you treat candidates is their first experience with the company. Each time you burn one, word is getting out. Your rating and reputation will go down, and then no one will want to ever work for you at any salary.
As a company, you should be making the hiring process a top priority and putting resources in the right place by hiring qualified screeners and HR partners. Managers must be trained on proper interviewing techniques and involved in the process. Lacking the resources and/or need training? I can help reduce your time to fill and get you the right people.
MONTHLY FEATURE
For more on the subject of recruiting and hiring, get a copy of my booklet, Recruit the Right Way.
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