by Alexia Parks | Mar 6, 2019 | 10 Traits, 10TRAITS, Article, Health, Inclusive, Leadership, Leadership Opportunity, Training, United Nations
How are you feeling right now? On a scale of one to five stars, how would you rate how you feel right now? If you rated yourself at three stars or less, you are not alone. According to a report by the Conference Board, 49% the US workforce is unhappy. What makes them the most unhappy about their work? According the the report, the three at the top of the employees list are: the company’s promotion policy, the bonus plan, and the performance review process. Add to that a constant workload that forces many employees to cut back on vacation time, and the lack of on-demand education/job training programs that helps the workforce keep pace with a rapidly changing workplace. So what will companies have to do to improve the worklife of their employees especially millennials? Smart, resilitant companies that are able to pivot the fastest will begin to assemble a suite of accelerated learning tools that offer both on-demad actionable advice, and a moment of clarity like a walk in Nature so the user can take a moment to decide on the next steps to take. Here’s What Happens When You Walk in Nature Do you feel more relaxed, upbeat and happy? Yes. Here’s why. When walking on a trail in Nature, your left brain, logical brain is busy concentrating on the trail to keep you upright. It is focused on challenges or obsticles that lie just ahead: a stick on the path that might cause you to trip and fall; a pothole. Your right brain is also fully occupied. It is busy taking in all of the surroundings:...
by Alexia Parks | Jan 2, 2019 | 10 Traits, 10TRAITS, Article, Gender, Health, Inclusion, Inclusive, Leadership, Leadership Opportunity, Training, UN Women, Uncategorized
Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the Greek philosopher Aristotle believed. He went so far as to call happiness “the whole aim and end of human existence.” But what if you are so unhappy that you don’t have time to focus on being happy? One fix for this problem is called: TRUTH. Truth cuts a path through a forest of distractions. It is the sum total of our words and actions that define us. It’s the bundle of habits that define our character. Truth, when expressed as kindness, compassion and respect for others, never wanders. It guides our actions, like a lighthouse in a darkened sea. Situational rhetoric is different. When your happiness depends on situational rhetoric, it means that your words must match the different types of people you talk to, or groups you join. With situational rhetoric you must learn to talk differently and act differently each time you talk, depending on the person or group you are with. This takes practice. Remembering what you said, when, and to whom, wastes your time and wears down your happiness. Telling the truth takes practice. When it becomes a habit, it will save more than your time, it could save your life. Mark Twain got it right when he said: “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember...
by Alexia Parks | Dec 6, 2018 | 10TRAITS, Article, Green, Health, Leadership, UN Women
Approaching the holiday season, try to imagine it as an obstacle course — an annual game of life — that offers both challenges and rewards that can bring you both joy, happiness and gratitude or inner anxiety, stress and depression. Your challenge, if you accept it, is to study your calendar of holiday events ahead of time and then train for them, like training for a marathon. Here are three challenges you may face this holiday season, and here’s how to plan for them. A tight budget. A bounty of holiday foods. Relationship challenges. A tight budget. To avoid the endless shopping that comes at this time of year, think instead of the hand-crafted gifts that you can make, a favorite book or music you can give, or up-cycle an item that you never use that you know they would enjoy. A bounty of holiday foods. Anticipate the events you will attend and the traditional holiday foods that will tempt you to overeat or over indulge, along with the offer of too many sweets or alcohol. Then use this “healthy habits” strategy to help you overcome the food challenge: (1) Don’t drink with the meal. A sip of water or wine to help with swallowing food is fine. Just saying “No” to beverages or soup at the start of a meal can help prevent digestive turbulence after the meal is over. Instead, (2) Eat protein first. Start by turning your plate so that the protein in your meal faces you and is eaten first. Then (3) Go for the most fiber rich foods next along with healthy fats such as butter, avocado, high...
by Alexia Parks | Nov 25, 2018 | 10TRAITS, Article, Green, Health, Leadership, Sustainability, UN Women
Countdown 11.25.18: Trump will face a new G-20 trade challenge with China this week. In an effort to reshape public behavior, China is rolling out a new top-down “Carrot and Stick” approach to the public education of its 1.4 billion citizens. China’s new “social credit system” – already affecting millions of Chinese – is a way for the government to reward or punish people or organizations based on their “trustworthiness.” According to news reports: “If you’re the kind of person who volunteers or donates blood, you’ll be awarded credit points. If you’re getting speeding tickets, charging “under-the-table” fees, posting “fake news” online, smoking in non-smoking zones, or buying too many video games, you’ll be punished.” Will China’s public education program extend to shape individual energy use, the extraction of natural resources such as coal, and the country’s growing air pollution problem? The Chinese government’s analysis of its citizens also includes how they act on buses, how they drive, and how the customers of local businesses rate them. Alexia Parks 10TRAITS offers 1-Minute conflict resolution tools, research, and trait-based training programs for improved decision-making and organizational success. This blog is Day 39 of a series called Countdown: A 50-Day Personal Leadership...
by Alexia Parks | Nov 24, 2018 | 10TRAITS, Article, Health, Leadership, Training, United Nations
Countdown: Day 40 of your personal leadership challenge. Did you know that the average brain processes from 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts a day. Of these daily thoughts, 80% are negative; and 95% of all thoughts are repetitive, that is, they are the same thoughts we thought yesterday. Negative thoughts and repetitive thoughts that don’t lead to positive actions can lead to stress, anxiety and depression. Long term stress can break down the body’s immune system. The opposite is also true. When you learn to consciously free your mind of negative thinking and actively pursue ideas that challenge you to think and act more creatively, you are actually strengthening your immune system. Positive thinking uplifts your life and mind. For example: If you find your impatience or anger rising because you suddenly find yourself in a conversation with someone who doesn’t seem to value your time, use this as an opportunity to put the conversation on hold with a simple request: “Can we put this conversation on hold for (a few hours) or (another time) because I need to (be somewhere else) or (attend to another matter). When you learn to consciously set boundaries around your time – at the start of a conversation for example -you are saying to yourself and to them “I value both your time, and mine.” It can be as simple as saying: “I’m happy to talk for a few minutes, and then I’ve got to get back to a project I’m working on….” When you learn to place a HIGH value on your time and mind, others will too. Alexia Parks 10TRAITS offers 1-Minute conflict...
by Alexia Parks | Nov 20, 2018 | 10TRAITS, Article, Gender, Inclusion, Leadership, Leadership Opportunity, UN Women
Day 43: Finding the will to change takes more than “willpower.”The fight for the top leadership role in Congress between two women politicians: Representative Nancy Pelosi and Representative-Elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez goes deeper than media headlines. The media loves a good fight. This fight is different. This fight between two strong women leaders is about accelerating the SPEED of change, changing the entire culture of Congress, and getting it right, so that our elected leaders can break through the current gridlock in Congress and make government REAL again for people. To change how government WORKS, we need to change how government LOOKS. Along with the 100 new women leaders entering Congress in 2019 imagine if the Democrats were to chose a new co-leadership team that would reflect both the diversity of America and our shared common values. That co-leadership team? Pelosi AND Ocasio-Cortez. Co-Leadership of the House of Representatives by two strong women would pair the power and experience of an incumbent with vision and purpose of a high-energy newcomer. For example, Nancy Pelosi’s 31 years in Congress, representing San Francisco, California’s 12th District, might represent “the stable center” where change happens incrementally, over time, through diplomacy and concessions on both sides of the aisle. Representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, from New York’s 14 Congressional District is an educator and a fighter. Her cause is to make government REAL for people. She wants to remove the mystique of “being an incumbent,” cut through the “red tape of government,” and help people see themselves stepping into leadership roles. It would require setting up a structural framework that recognizes the complexity and volatility of modern...