Helpful Insights Online» Positive Attitude

What Does Exercise Have to do with Leadership?

Gil Pizano — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:58:58 +0000

Exercise. Some of us dread it, others can’t wait to get to it. It’s true that exercise can become additive and almost an obsession at times to some people (I myself have been bitten by the exercise workout bug). When I’m forced to go more than a couple of days without working out, I find myself having more trouble getting through the day unscathed by life’s all too familiar stresses and challenges.

The other day, I was in the gym working on my cardio and I remember feeling my mind begin to relax and get into what I was doing. It was at that time that I would also begin to remember things that I had thought about earlier. Things that I thought were great ideas at the time I was thinking about them but for one reason or another had forgotten to write down and so forgot the idea. Has that ever happened to you? Forgetting something you thought earlier was a good idea only to have it escape your mind? Come on, be honest! It’s only you and me here at the moment.

The word “exercise” comes from a Latin root that means “to keep, to maintain, to hold off.” For me exercise has to be one of the most beneficial things in life that we are able to partake in. I’m not just saying that because of the obvious health benefits that one can get from exercising on a regular basis, but more so from the mental clarity that it gives a person. When a person exercises on a regular consistent basis, toxins from the body are naturally extracted at a higher rate. Muscles that would begin to atrophy over time from lack of use, will in fact remain strong. If one of your goals is to lose weight or maintain the weight you’re at, keeping muscles strong and conditioned make it much easier to do so. When a person’s muscles are strong, weight is at an ideal number and toxins are diminished, a person cannot help but feel better. Both physically and emotionally. Why? Because the way a person physically feels affects their emotional state. This better feeling of themselves usually translates into having a better and more positive attitude in life that can easily be seen by subordinates, colleagues, friends and family.

Leaders who appear physically fit are viewed as better leaders. According to an article on weeklyleader.net:

“Fitness does so much more than just keep the extra weight off and prevent us from blaming the cleaners for shrinking our clothes. It increases mental stamina and endurance as well. It helps one weather stressful events with aplomb, and to keep ones head when all around them are losing theirs. The leader of the group, the one expected to make a good decision under stress and chart an effective course, should take advantage of the extra mental acuity and sharpness that comes with being physically fit.”

I have to say that recently I became a little fascinated with how exercise was helping me to become a better leader and so I decided to see if anyone out there had made any kind of study on the connection. One study that I found, from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), found that individuals who exercise are significantly more effective leaders than those who don’t. According to the study, executives who exercise rate significantly higher on skills such as leading others (interpersonal savvy, inspiring commitment, and creating synergy), leading by personal example and results orientation than non-exercisers.

Probably one of the simplest and easiest exercises to do is to take a walk. According to the Franklin Institute, walking is very beneficial to the brain because it “increases blood circulation and the oxygen and glucose that reach your brain.” As you walk, you effectively oxygenate your brain. Maybe this is why walking can “clear your head” and help you to think better.

So the next time someone tells you that leadership and exercise do not have anything to do with each other, you can rest assured that you know better and are (hopefully) the wiser.

What’s your favorite exercise?

35 Great Sites and Articles for Tips on How to Have a Positive Attitude

Gil Pizano — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:02:28 +0000

Can the choice of attitude in your life have an affect on the things that happen to you? I’m a firm believer that it can. Time and time again I’ve been witness to these effects. Both with me and with others. Whenever I choose to have a good attitude, I realize that the level of negative stress in my life is greatly reduced. At the same time, I notice that I recognize more opportunities presenting themselves when I have a better or positive attitude. On the flip side, it’s interesting how people who choose to have a bad or negative attitude seem to have more “bad luck” occurring in their lives. Why is that?

A fellow in one of the offices I work in has an issue. He has a distinct problem seeing anything positive in his life. Both in himself and in any of the situations he’s involved in, he is the first to point out the problem and proceed by complaining about it. Using phrases such as, “Can you believe they left it like that?” or “What were they thinking when they did that?” or even a phrase such as “I don’t know why we should continue to put up with that?” (for the nth time). I’m sure no one reading this post knows of anyone like that .

With that in mind, I decided to do some researching online for sites and articles about how to have a better attitude. Below are some of the ones that had some valuable information on the subject. Enjoy them and pass it on!

100 Positive-Thinking Exercises That Will Make Any Patient Healthier & Happier – Sometimes even the best medicine and healthcare is not enough for a full recovery. For patients struggling with illness or dealing with a major life change, these positive thinking exercises can mean all the difference.
9 Tips for Keeping a Positive Outlook – Good article with some simple and straightforward ideas for people to try.
Be Committed to Having a Positive Attitude – Good article on choosing to have a positive attitude and how it differs from what people believe is a “skill” when in fact it is all about attitude.
Buzzle.com – a site comprised of a dynamic network of authors and content contributors. Authors and content contributors create an informative, yet comfortable place for finding information about everything from animals to tourism. They have a large selection of articles on having a positive attitude.
CrushPessimism.com – Blog on how to bring back the openness, the determination, the ease, the levity, the mental health, the persistence, and the sincerity that was once native to your mind, and how to help others do the same.
EgoDevelopment.com – personal development for a perfect life.
Empowering-Solutions — A blog dedicated to empowering others to make positive changes in their lives. Positive people are happier, attract more positive people and are healthier. Learn how to make changes for the better, focus on you and see the difference.
Ezinearticles.com – a great site where there are over 5800 articles on positive attitude, over 2100 articles on creativity and over 7600 articles on stress management.
Happiness is Contagious according to Harvard Study – Interesting article on a study by Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Diego demonstrates the indirect spread of happiness.
Have A Positive Attitude In 7 Simple Steps — Positive attitude is very important to being successful and happy. Have you ever looked at people who always seem happy and enjoy life with envy and wish you could be more like them?

HelpOthers.org – kindness is contagious. Keep it going. A portal dedicated to small acts of kindness.
How to Keep a Sharp Mind and Good Attitude — We all want to keep our minds sharp and fresh. By working to keep your mind sharp, you can improve your attitude.
Just One Thing – Good article by Adam Khan, author of the book “Self-Help-Stuff-That-Works”.
LifeOptimizer.org – How to live life to the fullest through personal growth. Life Optimizer is about how to live life to the fullest through personal growth.
Mayo Clinic – Believe it or not, this website has some very concise good articles on the subject of how to relieve stress. In the main page just type in “stress relief.”
MoodRaiser.com — Blog on simple methods for lifting your general feeling of well-being, happiness, optimism, and increasing your positive attitude.
Motivational-Well-Being.com – This website contains tons of free motivational tools and resources such as quotes, videos, songs, poems, speeches, articles and much more to assist you in actively pursuing your goals.
Positive Attitude Tips – You can transform your life with a positive attitude. See how easily you can develop one.
Positive Attitude Tips for When You’re Around Negative People – Good article for advice of when you’re around a person who is negative. Unfortunately, there is an old country saying that goes, “Pigs don’t know pigs stink”.
Positive Psychology: Being Grateful & Optimistic Increases Happiness — Article describing positive psychology research findings on increasing happiness with gratitude, optimism, and kindness activities.

Positive Thinking Techniques — Be A Happier Person – When it comes to stopping those negative thoughts, there are a number of positive thinking techniques that can help.
PositiveQuotes.org – Here you will find positive quotes to encourage you, to inspire you, and for you to share with others.
Self Growth.com — A website dedicated to Self Improvement and Personal Growth. Their mission is to provide information ranging from Goal Setting and Stress Management to Natural Health and Alternative Medicine.
SelfEsteem2Go.com – a self-esteem building website created to give people a better understanding of who they are, what the reasons are behind their conscious and unconscious activity and how self talk and internal attitudes affect both esteem and confidence on a daily basis.
Successconsciousness.com – Information, tips and advice on positive thinking, and how it can transform and improve one’s habits, life and attitude.
TerryStarbucker.com – Rambling from a glass half full. Blog on the concept of what’s called “Half-Fullism”. His tag line is “dealing with the literal world in a positive way”.
The Happiness Project – site of best-selling writer Gretchen Rubin. On this blog, she shares her insights to help you create your own happiness project. Great tips on being happy!
The Positivity Blog – A blog dedicated to helping people “increase happiness and awesomeness”.
The Power of Positive Thinking and Attitude – article by author Jack Black on the subject of having a positive attitude and its effect on life span expectancy.
The Practical Self-Help Blog – The motto of this blog is “If you don’t start doing something differently in your life, than nothing about it is going to change.” Some good and helpful ideas.
The Road to Happiness — Article on 10 steps to building contentment.
The WooHoo! Report – Serving up good news daily.
The-Benefits-of-Positive-Thinking.com — Grab the reins of your life! Find out what the benefits of positive thinking can do for you.
Well Being = Positive Mental Health — Article which talks about how gratitude is more important than prosperity in determining happiness.
YouMeWorks.com — a site containing articles on feeling good often and becoming more effective with your actions.

Viewing Responsibilities: Obligation or Opportunity?

Gil Pizano — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:15:43 +0000

Do you enjoy getting involved with others for a cause? A business project? Or some other undertaking? I’ve enjoyed getting involved in many organizations and helping others succeed in their endeavors for a while. Whether it is in business, in a community project or in a personal matter, being able to make a positive difference in someone else’s life has been a rewarding experience for me. Unfortunately, that wasn’t always the case. There have been many instances where I’ve felt that I’ve worn myself too thin with all of my responsibilities. Have you ever experienced that? Have you ever gone from a feeling of looking forward to being involved to not caring as much as you know you should? Not wanting to answer the phone whenever it rang? Ignoring emails? If you have, let me share one of the main things that helped me overcome that feeling.

I started to look at what happens to me as an opportunity, rather than an obligation. When I did so, I was startled to see how it made all the difference in the world! In the past, whenever I felt myself being pulled in all directions or simply being worn thin, I would withdraw from many of the things that I was doing. Instead of focusing on what I needed to do and what I was responsible for, I would begin to ignore phone calls and emails from various people for days on end. You can imagine what that did to my credibility at the time. Not getting back to people when they expect you to contribute is a sure fire way to reduce your integrity and the value of your personal brand.

Deciding to Look at Responsibilities as an Opportunity

Looking at leaders and people of influence, I wanted to know how they were able to be responsible for so much and at the same time get so many things done. My intellect told me “if they can do it, so can I.” I just didn’t understand how they did it. After speaking with a couple of my mentors, and consulting with some of my virtual mentors as well (books), I realized a common theme among many of the people able to get things done while being responsible for so much:

All of these people looked at their responsibilities as an opportunity and not an obligation.

They saw their responsibilities as opportunities to help someone, to influence, to learn, to encourage. After learning this, I also noticed a common theme among people who did not look at their responsibilities as an opportunity. Those that saw their tasks as obligations wanted the task at hand to be done as quickly as possible, with little or no regard to the outcome. These same people also had a tendency to not like what they were doing with their lives at all. This was something I chose not to let happen to me. Life is simply too short to allow such feelings to overcome it. I made a decision to see my responsibilities as opportunities to make a positive difference.

You Can’t Always Control What Happens to You, but You Can Definitely Control the Way You React to It

According to psychological studies, when people feel pressured or hassled, they tend to look at their circumstances as obligations. Obligations, by their very nature, are oppressive. We have to do them whether we want to or not and that sense of obligation is rarely a motivating force for a person, myself included.

I decided to place a sign at my desk for me to see every time I sit down at it. The sign says, “Opportunities or Obligations; what can I do with the opportunities I have in my hand today?” For me, this question helps to remind me to view responsibilities as opportunities to do more, to learn, to grow. Interestingly enough, I found myself wanting to interact with the people and the world around me more not because I had to, but because I wanted to. This was a big shift in my thinking at the time and it made me realize how important our personal viewpoint is. Now I view my responsibilities as opportunities and that has made all the difference in the world because it has contributed to me being a better friend, a better colleague, a better husband, and a better leader.

How do you view your responsibilities? Do you see them as simply an obligation or as an opportunity? Share you thoughts!

Choosing Your Attitude; A Recent Personal Experience

Gil Pizano — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:00:39 +0000

I’m sure many of you have heard the saying “When life gives you lemons…make lemonade”. Well for those of you who know me, you know that I enjoy working out and staying in shape. Some of my personal exercise passions include running, weight and resistance training, and martial arts. Recently, I injured myself while working out in the gym. The injury wound up to be a partial tear of both my right iliopsoas (hip-flexor) and my lower rectus-abdominis (the six pack muscle). Don’t ask me how I did it. Let’s just say that even though I had been working out already for over 40 minutes, and was more than warmed up, one wrong angle on a particular exercise can make all the difference. Needless to say, the injury put me out of being able to work out at all until the injury is healed. The injury didn’t even allow me to drive a car!

That was a recent lemon that life gave me and it’s now about a month ago. I’m still not allowed to work out or drive a car until I’ve gone through a certain amount of physical therapy. According to the sports orthopedic doctors who’ve examined me, this type of injury could take between six months to a year to heal…UGH!

Not being able to work out, run or do martial arts is shear torture for me! On top of that, I also enjoy eating various types of foods. The food I enjoy may be healthy for the most part, but food none the less. Without the ability to be as physically active, the amount of calories my body needs has gone way down. If I continued to eat the way I was before my injury, I would for sure pack on the pounds!

What Do I Do Now? Importance Choosing Your Attitude

So what did I do with the lemon I got thrown? I could’ve complained, gone into a bout of self-pity with a negative attitude, but I chose not to! I decided on maintaining a positive attitude. To do something more productive with the time I now had by doing something I never did before. I started a blog. In addition, I started to read many other people’s blogs as well.

What I did not expect was how much joy creating a blog, adding to a blog and reading other people’s blogs would be. In the past month I’ve met a lot of great individuals and groups online. I’ve been able to share experiences, discuss topics of interests and learn from people who I did not even know a couple of months ago. Now I look forward to adding to my blog, commenting on other blogs and sharing ideas. Choosing your attitude is so important. For me, this was the lemonade I chose to make with the lemon I got and it’s opened up an entire new world that I otherwise would not have known.

An Inspiration

A personal favorite of mine is the New York Times best seller “No Excuses: The True Story of a Congenital Amputee Who Became a Champion in Wrestling and in Life” by Kyle Maynard. Kyle is a congenital amputee who was born with arms that end just above the elbow and legs that end at the knees.

Here is a person who had many reasons to not do things in life, but his choice of attitude helped him to not give in and become a champion high school wrestler. An example of his attitude towards the challenges of his life, and life itself:

“Whenever I’ve faced adversity, I’ve used that challenge as motivation to win through, no matter the cost. When I meet with failure, I pick myself up, dust of the dirt from the fall and focus on trying again. You can’t let failure beat you or give into the temptation of taking the easy way out. The world’s greatest accomplishments aren’t achieved on the first try.”

I read Kyle’s book a few years ago, but it still remains in my top 10 favorites. His attitude to choose the positive made all of the difference in his life. That example is one of the things to this day that helps me maintain my positive attitude.

Some Sources for a Positive Attitude Boost

Regardless of who you are, myself included, we all get days when it seems as though the only choice is to have a negative attitude. When those days come into my life, the thing that has helped me out is of course my own personal faith. Additionally, there are many other things that help me regain a positive attitude.

A favorite song
A favorite book
The memory of someone whose company I enjoy.

Blogs and websites are also some of great sources for re-acquiring a positive attitude. Below are some of my favorites that may help you in choosing your attitude:

What are some of your favorite ways to develop a better attitude? Do you know of anyone who is always in a positive mood? How do they keep such a positive attitude going? Inquiring minds would like to know.

(My sincerest wish is that the above has helped to make a positive difference in your life or in the life of someone you know! If you know of someone who you believe needs to see this post…let them know!)

Warmest Regards,

Gil

Helpful Insights Online» Positive Attitude

What Does Exercise Have to do with Leadership?

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35 Great Sites and Articles for Tips on How to Have a Positive Attitude

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Viewing Responsibilities: Obligation or Opportunity?

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Choosing Your Attitude; A Recent Personal Experience

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