Flourishing Personally & Professionally in 2012

What do we need to focus on in our own lives to flourish, in order to best serve humanity?

Do you want to feel full of energy, motivated, living a long and prosperous life, free from chronic health conditions and to be happy? What are the secrets? Is there a pill or a rare Amazonian fruit that can boost our beta-2-3-4-antioxidant-hydroxi-foxi-soxi levels to help us boost vitality? 

Before we rush to the latest issue of Hello! or Ralph Magazine for the verdict, lets consider a few varied and more qualified opinions.

Firstly in a lecture on mindfulness & happiness in 2010 Dr. Craig Hassed from Melbourne’s Monash University, Department of General Practice identifies his 7 pillars of health as being education, stress management, spirituality, exercise, nutrition, connectedness and the environment.

In the book Prosperity Without Growth, Tim Jackson identifies a number of factors affecting subjective well-being (happiness) in order of importance; {Partner/spouse and family relationships, health, a nice place to live, money and financial situation, religion/spiritual life, community & friends, work fulfillment.

In his book the Blue Zones, Dan Beuttner studied places around the world where people live longer and more often become centurions than anywhere else and identifies a wide spectrum of factors covering; food, physical activity, sleep, a realistic optimistic mindset, a sense of purpose, financial stability, good close relationships, strong community support and a sense of spirituality as being important.

Many traditional cultures have identified different levels to wellbeing, for example the Maori culture in New Zealand has a philosophy of wellbeing known as Hauora which incorporates four interconnecting dimensions: taha tinana, taha hinengaro, taha whanau, and taha wairua. This translates to physical, mental/emotional, social, and spiritual wellbeing. The World Health Organization recognizes this concept.

Recently, in a 2007 article in the Harvard Business Review, Tony Schwartz and Catherine McCarthy discussed how professional people can enhance energy at work by focusing on four levels of energy; physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy.  Many coaches who incorporate 4 quadrant thinking models (e.g. HBDI, MBDI, DISC)  will appreciate the parallels present in the last two examples. 

What these different sources confirm without doubt is that when wanting to really flourish it helps to respect the importance of all the different inter-related factors and it is important to open our minds to all of them if we are to live a fulfilling life and best serve humanity.

What is really interesting is that a shift in one area of life often has unexplainable positive effects in other areas.  In one of a comprehensive group of studies of thousands of people in over 150 different countries the Gallup organization proved a link between heart health and engagement at work.  Personally, I remember how the stress of a marriage breakdown in 2010 caused me to experience asthma symptoms for the first time in my life!  I also remember interviewing a young lady last year who started volunteering for those less fortunate than her and through it became inspired to start a career as a TV presenter. I can confirm the interconnected nature of wellbeing and vitality holds true again and again with many coaching client.

If you want a great starting point complete this very simple four-step vitality assessment, which can act like a springboard to making changes. 

SPARK VITALITY MINI-ASSESSMENT
PHYSICAL VITALITY	1 2 3 4 5	How well are you taking care of yourself physically through food, exercise, and sleep to provide a foundation for day-to-day living?
SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL VITALITY	1 2 3 4 5	Are you maintaining an honest, open and assertive relationship with yourself and those closest to you?
MENTAL VITALITY	1 2 3 4 5	Are you prioritizing day-to-day activities and managing important events, finances and technology use?
SPIRITUAL VITALITY	1 2 3 4 5	Do you have a strong and clear sense of purpose in your life and live with gratitude and an appreciation of everything in the world

As a great coach, the next question that comes to mind is possibly - what can we change or improve to really flourish?  I’ve decided that for two reasons it would be best to provide a smorgasbord for readers to pick and choose as appropriate. 

Firstly because our circumstances are all different and I want to respect your unique situation and intelligence to decide for yourself what you need. Secondly, because I want to honor the core philosophy that a beautiful symphony is born out of the harmony between all the different instruments of life. The list of top tips below is just a small succulent selection from life’s large fruit bowl of options.

PHYSICAL VITALITY

1.      SLEEP - Minimize medication and reduce alcohol use to fall to sleep or manage stress

2.      POSTURE - Make sure your desk or workstation is set up with good ergonomics so you can maintain good posture.

3.      MOVEMENT - Participate in regular repetitive physical activities to break distracted/stress related thought patterns

MENTAL VITALITY

1.      SCHEDULE in hobbies, me time and family time in to your diary

2.      Set BOUNDRIES with staff and colleagues about when they can contact you.

3.      Reduce INTERUPTIONS by performing high concentration tasks away from phones and e-mail.

SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL VITALITY

1.      Take time out, to engage you in a regular (screen free) relaxing or repetitive ritual that fills your mind with one dominant sense.  E.g. playing music, fishing, dancing, warm bath, gardening, yoga, tai chi, meditation, and painting.

2.      WALKING MEETINGS – For difficult meetings & conversations try taking a walk.  This changes the dynamics of the conversation and can lead to more effective discussions and better outcomes (Thanks to Erika Edmands).

SPIRITUAL VITALITY

1.      Forgive somebody, show compassion or go and redeem yourself if you have done something you are not proud of.

2.      Become deeply engaged in an activity that is altruistic or service orientated Immerse yourself in an expression of your personal belief system

Once you have decided where focus your vitality laser in 2012, I am sure that as a great coach, you will get started by creating a vision, setting goals, diarizing action plans, engaging the services of a coach or signing up to a suitable program. Before before you do please give the following ideas the consideration they deserve.  

·       Be open to new insights & miracles

·       Utilize your strengths and respect your weaknesses

·       Use the power of community and work with a coach or partner

·       Stay committed – a resolution is for a lifetime not just for the new year

Click here, for access to the Spark Vitality Assessment.  Its a more comprehensive energy assessment and  is only available to the public for a short time. 

WHO IS THE BRIGHT SPARK?

Hi, im Chris Eastham, a Port Melbourne based executive coach with a passion for energy management and performance enhancement.  I have a down to earth approach and aim to have an engaging style.  To find out more about me feel free to check out my website! www.sparkexecutive.com.au

Healthy relationships

How can relationships affect weight loss?  Surely weight loss is just about willpower.  If you know me you will also know that im saying this a bit tongue and cheek because I firmly believe in the interconnectedness of wellbeing and how different aspects of our lives affect each other.  In fact, as I write this now it reminds me of a personal experience I had with this.  In 2010 when I was dealing with the stress involved with going through a marriage break up and seperation I suddenly started having asthma symptoms.  Now my lungs have always been a bit dodgy and low performing when measured on a 'peak flow' asthma testing machine - but I had never experienced asthma symptoms of wheezyness or shortness of breath....until this time of emotional stress.  But then after the seperation happened and in January as the stress reduced the symptoms did as well.  Its not exactly a scientific study but it was a very clear example to me of how we have to think about wellness and weight management in the context of our lives as a whole.

This is the point the Gallup organization also trumpets in their 'wellness' book and online questionnaire.  Their research in to thousands of people in over 150 countries has confirmed that 'while it might be easier to treat these critical areas of our lives as if they are independent, they're not!'.  
It was chatting to a client this morning that reinforced this point again this morning.  She was quite proud because she had noticed her weight had gone down on the scales for the first time in a couple of years.  Good on her, I thought!  But as we chatted she explained how her daughter has a broken leg and so is in a caste and is stuck at home at the moment.  She was feeling down in the dumps because she could not go out with her friends on Saturday night so asked if they could go to McDonald together. Wanting to be a good mum, my client agreed and although she wasn't feeling hungry bought a cheeseburger because she was there.  Fortunately for her, because she is feeling more confident than a couple of months ago she only ate half the cheese burger then felt full so through the rest away.  This was a big win for her because a few months ago she would have forced it all down!

So its great to see her confidence growing, it really is what I live for! But the fact remains that if her daughter wasn't injured she wouldn't have been in that situation.  Or if she wasn't wanting to be a good mum she wouldn't have gone to McDonald's.  Until we really appreciate and embrace the idea that wellness and lifestyle change is not isolated from everything else going on in the world weight will just keep going up.  So to reverse the tide remember to take a holistic approach.  A great way to start is a holistic wellness check-in.  The spark check-in is a great way to do this.  Its also free and quick so why not give it a go now to see what your energy for wellness is like.  Click here to give it a go!

Yours in good health

Chris Eastham

Sustainable Performance Enhancement - The value of values

In the last post we explored the different sources of energy we draw from as professionals - and as people. We considered the importance of energy from physical, emotional, mental sources right through to the underlying spirit of performance and those intangible but incredibly important aspects of life including values, commitment to a common purpose, community service & human connection.

Today we'll explore these underlying factors and specifically values. So what relevance does this have for business and performance in general?? Well, we will consider values in the context of values driven performance specifically with respect to sustainable performance.

I attended my first ever Ice hockey match last week. The wellness clinic where I have my office (Fluid Health, Port Melbourne) sponsors the Melbourne Ice so I went along as a guest. It was great to meet some of the guys and see how they play as its an exciting action packed sport. The Ice are an organization that are really achieving great things and their story needs to be told. They won the national championship last year and have consistently been in the top three for much of the past decade. Even more interesting is that the Ice is not even a profit making organization. Many of its competitors are and have paid employees, but the Ice is a not-for-profit community organization. As I was chatting to Andy Lamrock, the club president I asked what their secret to success was.

Did he talk about how much money they have and how big their kitty is? Did he talk about their new star signing? Not at all! What he talked about was how the Ice was a bit like a family with a purpose. A group with collective energy where everybody pulled together. He explained how the Ice mission statement doesnt even talk about beating other teams, or winning trophies but focuses more on ideas like providing elite ice hockey to the people of Melbourne, being a club of choice, fostering talent at all levels & conduct the club in a responsible, sustainable and transparent manner

If you go to the website page (click here) you will see how it proudly announces the importance of combining excellence, commitment and team work with a family spirit, marked by hospitality, honesty and integrity and the importance of developing each member of the Melbourne Ice family. Now, it was great to read this on the website AFTER I spoke to Andy, because I am sure that many groups and organizations 'display' similar ideals. But it was the examples that Andy used to explain HOW it actually happens in practice that was the real proof in the pudding for me. We will explore this more in later blogs, but for the mean time, best of luck to the Ice for the upcoming finals series starting next week. They are currently sitting first in the league so are in a strong position,

This takes me back to another chat I was very fotunate to be able to have with a really interesting guy, Mr Paul Peters while kitesurfing in Fiji a couple of weeks ago. As our little fishing boat sped along (sadly still with more fisherman and fisherwomen than actual fish in the boat!) Paul explained how he has found a way to combine his strengths in finance with his values of making a positive difference to the global community. Growing up in Canada with a father who was a church minister Paul really understood the power and importance of social values and working in a way that benefits the community. He later trained in finance and went to work in a multinational financial institution but then went on to set up a company that specialises in micro-finance and entrepreneurial support for people in some of the poorest countries of the world. It was fascinating listening to him as he explained how they combined financing and supporting a needy group an incredibly values driven and ethical way with an unwavering and rock-solid commitment to commercial business ideals. And how the most entrepreneurial and resourceful people he had ever met were people living in the slums of India and South East Asia. But most importantly it was the passion in his voice and clear sense of purpose and love about what he does that struck me. I could tell that he has found a way to combine his strengths with his values that will allow him to keep doing what he does for many years to come.

Finally Maverick! On the way through the airport in Fiji I picked up a book to read on the plane - and what a book! Maverick, By Ricardo Semler - The success story behind the world's most unusual workplace. Put simply Ricardo, explains how over the last 30yrs, with a commitment to creating a fulfilling and prosperous workplace that is profitable and an enjoyable place to work, his team have turned the brizilian marine equipment manufacturing business Semco from a $4million company with unhappy, unmotivated staff into a $35 million dollar organisation that is the #1 place to work in Brazil that is #1 or #2 in all industries it works in. How have they done it?

With a commitment to people and totally committed conscious choice to create a fulfilling and democratic workplace they have gone against all convention again and again so that now workers make decisions previously made by bosses, managerial staff set their own salaries and bonuses, everybody has access to the company books and shop-floor workers set their own productivity targets and schedules. This story highlights how many of the organizations we work in are really dictatorships and begs the question how democratic is our society if we spend 10hrs per day 5 days per week working within a dictatorship? We all know that dictatorships are outdated and inefficient nation building models because they dont provide the space for everyday people to flourish and use their inherent intelligence...so why do so many organizational dictatorships exist?

If we don't trust the people around us, especially the ones working with us, how can we possibly expect them to trust themselves?

If entrepreneurial drive and skill can be found in abundance in the slums of India and Indonesia and in the factories of Brazil, then surely it is in abundance all around us here in Melbourne, Victoria?

How much untapped talent and energy is within us and around us that we could access and use if we just start to focus on it and put some effort into evolving and leading change in the direction we want to go?


Chris

Right to be proud & confident

I was organizing to interview a young woman last week who is 25 and is a successful marketing manager and television presenter. She is also confined to a wheel chair and has no ability to move her body apart from hands, partial movement of her arms and her head.

As I discussed the idea of an interview, I explained what my Spark program was and I described it as a 'small program', and that is only just taking off so there isn't much too it yet.

She cut me off point blank over the phone and just said straight - 'I don't believe there's ever any need to talk yourself down. Be proud of what you have, what ever it is'.

I was humbled and felt a bit embarrassed, then I got over myself and just took her advice on board! I said to her in a confident voice 'Brilliant, that is why I want to interview you!' She has definitely learn't to come up with her solutions and overcome perceived obstacles in her life, and she reminded me that anything is possible if you give yourself permission to let it happen!!

This further reinforced that our perception of the world, our thoughts and how we feel is largely dependent on our mood at that point in time. If you have been talking yourself down about something or getting wound up about something else, remember that you CAN be proud and confident and indeed have the RIGHT to experience these states no matter what you age, race, social background, or physical situation.

Warm regards

Chris Eastham

For exciting new solutions for big dreams and goals visit our site:
www.sparkexecutive.com.au

RESEARCH PROVES LONG TERM LIFESTYLE IMPROVEMENT CAN CHANGE YOUR GENETICS

(AND WHY SHORT TERM DIETS DO NOT WORK!!)

In the Herald Sun, January 16, 2009, there was an article written, based on new research about genetics, diets and weight management. As it was a news story, the article had a one sided spin and was designed to shock. So i’ve taken the report and rewritten it in a more balanced way to highlight some very important points! Read on to find out more.....
The Article started: Melbourne scientists have proved for the first time that damage done by unhealthy eating is "remembered" in genetic controls - epigenetics - and turns off good genes needed to prevent diabetes, heart disease and other complications, the Herald Sun reports.

Lead researcher Assoc Prof Assam El-Osta, from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute team, proved that a single sugar hit, such as eating a chocolate bar, damaged the controls regulating the genes for two weeks.

This sounds shocking, and the article continued: The scientists said this meant that eating a chocolate would not only go straight to your hips, but also sit on your DNA. "It is this idea that you are what you eat, and perhaps that is a reflection of what your parents ate, and perhaps what your grandparents ate," he said.

Prof El-Osta warned that regular poor eating meant the damage would last for months or years, and the real problems caused by an unhealthy diet were deferred until later life.

Now this doom and gloom reporting carried on for a few hundred words when they should have mentioned that Prof El-Osta also said

"We think there is [ALSO] good epigenetic memory as well for individuals who have a good diet, not only for themselves but potentially for future generations”.

"If you have had five years [or a family history] of unhealthy control, where health enducing genes are switched off and ‘health damaging’ genes switched on, changing that for a couple of months to a good diet may not have a tremendous impact. "But going back to a good diet would have some effect 10 years later.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction!

A poor diet could lead to very serious changes that are remembered for many months, or even years BUT conversely a good diet will also lead to some SERIOUSLY GOOD changes that will also be remembered for years. A person with a family history of weight problems and poor eating has the power to reprogram their DNA to break the cycle.

The discovery explains why artery damage persists in diabetics even after they have long periods of therapy....AND it also explains that even people with a family history of problems has the power to overcome their genetic disposition....whether it is ‘good or bad’!

This is evidenced by Ann Mennan. Having experienced the problems of obesity, Ann Mennan, 44, and her son Tom, 18, are working to break the genetic cycle. Last year Ms Mennan was Weight Watchers Slimmer of the Year when she dropped from a morbidly obese 105kg to 71kg, while Tom shed 20kg after seeing his grandmother suffer diabetes, heart disease and then a stroke.

"It's really hard to tell if it is nature versus nurture," she said. "My mother had diabetes, her mother had diabetes and I ended up being diagnosed with diabetes much younger than they did, so I think there is a genetic predisposition.

"To hear that I can, by eating well, actually physiologically improve myself so I keep improving over time is really good to hear."

The Herald Sun article lead with the line ‘FAT parents are condemning their children to obesity and disease. Fat people reprogram controls over their DNA and pass on fatness and disease not only to their children, but to future generations’.

But this article is not providing a fair representation of the research. The idea of ‘condemming’ assumes that children would be unable to also reprogram their DNA. The truth is actually that they can.

What the research does prove is that: Dieting doesn't work because what you ate two months or two years ago is going to be reflected now through your DNA."

BUT that making a sustained long term lifestyle change has the power to change your genetic programming and overcome the habits of your parents and even your even your grandparents!

Ultimately, short term crash diets will never work!

But you’re in control of your DNA, and can even change your genetics!

The findings were reported in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
To make sustainable lifestyle change visit www.sparkexecutive.com.au