Once again, we just wrapped up the yearly season of peace on earth and good will toward all. But for the millions of workers, after some much needed time off around the holidays, those first few weeks in the New Year are typically a time of stress, pressure, overwork, mistakes, and diminished service quality.

Make a vow now:  It won’t be that way this year!

If the New Year is a busy time for your company, how can you make 2016 the best and not just the busiest for your employees and customers? Here are four ways:

1. Say it.

Words are powerful. Put into words exactly how this can be the best year, not just the busiest.

At your first staff meeting of the year, before everyone gets busy, don’t’ tell your employees: “We are stretched thin. We have more work than we can handle. It’s going to require more effort and longer hours for everyone.”

Instead focus on “best” AND “busy:” We’re going to have a lot of new work coming our way this year; what are the most powerful ideas you have for making our new projects a better working experience? This year we get to expose how great our company is to more people than any other year. How can we make it our clients’ best day, too?

2. Teach employees to say it.

Not everybody grows up with the gift of gab, but anybody can learn how to communicate effectively – that is, to create in their listeners the effect they desire.

There’s “what to say” and there’s “how to say” what you say. Many  leaders tend to underemphasize the latter, maybe because they don’t believe that their staff want to become proficient. My experience says they couldn’t be more wrong. I offer ten categories of easily learnable communication skills that will improve employees’ interactions with customers, clients and one another: It’s Always Opening Night, Be a Great Listener, The Audible Smile, Dialog – Don’t Monolog, Consult – Don’t Interrogate, Be Sincere, Display Etiquette, Show Confidence, No Jargon, and No Interrupting.

3. Give employees the gift of time.

When people really do have more work than they can possibly get done, something has to give. Their accuracy, their attitude, their demeanor. If you’re going to raise your performance expectations in the New Year – expect people to get more work done with the same quality in the same amount of time – you need to change something. The obvious? Change the amount of time. Help them get back their own time that is “stolen” from them by Time Bandits (people who interrupt them, even innocently, external distractions, and their own wandering minds).

First observe how much time they sacrifice to distractions and interruptions. Research shows that if people don’t know how to deter these Time Bandits, they lose three to five hours a day to them. When you see what takes your employees off task, see if there are things you can control — a quieter environment, for example, or private work spaces. This will help them to maintain their focus. Then see how much better and more happily they perform!

4. Create the vision for “best.”

If you’re the leader, conceiving the vision and painting it for employees is your job. What does “the best” look like in your workplace? For example, if you are a call center, what does a perfect conversation with an unhappy customer sound like? What does a perfect upsell sound like?

Or if you’re a distribution center, what does “the best” look like? Don’t sugarcoat the hard part; it’s a fast-paced, high-pressure job. But your employees are not mice in a maze; when they pull a toy off the warehouse shelf, they are making a child’s wish come true. When they package up new books, they are opening up new worlds for someone. Fulfillment, after all, isn’t just the name of a department. It’s, well,fulfilling – for both parties.

When you say it will be your busiest year yet, that just means the most customers or clients can’t wait to pay you for the service or product you’ve already been trying to sell.” How bad can that be?  While busy is wonderful, make sure to plan now to also make it your BEST year.

Edward G. Brown is the author of The Time Bandit Solution: Recovering Stolen Time You Never Knew You Had and co-founder of the #1 firm in culture change management consulting and training for the financial services industry, Cohen Brown Management Group. For more information, please visit, www.timebanditsolution.com and www.cohenbrown.com and connect with Mr. Brown on Twitter, @EdwardGBrown.

Once upon a time, the word “diet” was only associated with weight loss. Thank goodness, times are finally changing. In recent years, science and technology have taught us so much about all of the ways that nutrition and specific foods can alter the entire function and overall health of our human systems. We now know that the foods we choose to put in our bodies can positively or negatively affect so much more than just our weight, metabolism or cholesterol levels. We are quickly learning that we must view diet as an individualized, life-long health plan, rather than just a means to lose weight.

Of course most of us have experienced the feeling of wanting to shed a few extra pounds, especially after the holiday season. Unfortunately, many look to a quick, fix-it diet, creating a shock to their bodies. This often results in putting the lost weight right back on, confusing the healthy metabolic functionality of the body. To avoid this so-called yo-yo dieting and negative consequences to our health, let’s make 2016 the year to focus on a proper long-term nutritional diet that is right for our individual bodies by avoiding the following harmful eating habits that so many of us fall victim to:

Skipping breakfast – Talk about mindless! The mornings can be chaotic, whether we’re trying to get more zzz’s or we have children to feed, dress and get off to school before embarking on our adult responsibilities. Forgetting our own health needs can be very easy and skipping the most important meal of the day is a common one. Why is breakfast so important? This is the meal that ignites our energy, gets our metabolism going and kick starts our brainpower. Without it we can feel weak, tired and sluggish, all the while depriving our bodies of vital nutrients.

Eating out of the package – We live in a packaged food society. Rushed eating or eating on the go can mean skipping the actual purpose of a meal, eating real food. Eating fake processed, packaged food heightens the possibility of eating more than one serving or consuming foods we didn’t plan on eating. Even if we are snacking on something healthy, like mixed nuts, eating more than a recommended serving can translate to consuming too many calories or too much fat (even if it’s the good kind). The best options for snacks and meals are to choose foods that actually exist in nature with minimal processing. Here’s a grocery store secret: Shop mostly around the perimeter of the grocery stores where all the fresh food is, instead of in the middle where all the packaged stuff is.

Eating foods that make you feel bad – Because our bodies all work differently, we each have different sensitivities to certain foods. Some foods make people gassy, some cause acid indigestion, some can lead to acne breakouts. While there are easy to identify reactions caused by certain foods, others can be harder to identify and can often lead to more serious reactions or damage to our bodies. Scientific research over the last few years has shown that foods such as gluten-containing grains, dairy and genetically modified foods (GMOs) to be among a few that are negatively affecting masses of people. In fact, studies have proven that there are dietary-related triggers of autoimmune reactivity, resulting in neurological, behavioral, dermatological, and gastrointestinal symptoms that can lead to autoimmune disorders.

Rather than continuing to eat foods that your body reacts poorly to, get to the root of the problem by learning what your specific triggers are. There are tests that can identify these triggers and reactivity to foods that your body should not consume. Cyrex Laboratories’ Array 3 accurately identifies gluten reactivity, measuring antibody production against nine wheat proteins and peptides and three essential enzymes. Cyrex Laboratories’ Array 10, a unique, revolutionary panel, measures reactivity to 180 food antigens in the cooked, raw, modified and processed form and monitors the effectiveness of customized dietary protocols. If you suspect you may have sensitivities or reactivity to foods, or you’d like to learn more about Cyrex’s Arrays 3 and 10, all you need to do is consult your doctor about how to get tested.

Too much dining out – Even when we think we are ordering smart, there are often hidden ingredients that can be counterproductive to our overall health. For example, you can order vegetable soup without really knowing what kind of flavor enhancers they included or how much salt was added. Don’t lose sight of the fact that restaurants want their food to taste good and keep customers coming back for more, so they tend to pack in excess amounts of sugar, salt, fat, and even synthetic coloring and flavoring agents. Cooking at home ensures you have a more complete understanding of what you’re putting in your body.

Buying no-no foods – Everybody knows that you should never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. That’s a recipe for disaster. Everything sounds good when we are hungry, thus making us more inclined to buy things that we know we shouldn’t. Out of sight, out of mind. If it’s not available to us, we can’t eat it. Try grocery shopping on a full stomach and focus on buying foods that are good for you, on your shopping list, and that you need—rather than the more indulgent items that catch your eye while you shop.

Today’s busy lifestyle makes it very easy to fall into a pattern of mindless eating habits that can be harmful to our health. Awaken yourself to your patterns and how your body might be reacting to different foods and eating habits. Let 2016 be the beginning of a healthier you!

About the Author

By Dr. Chad Larson, NMD, DC, CCN, CSCS, Advisor and Consultant on Clinical Consulting Team for Cyrex Laboratories.

Dr. Larson holds a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine degree from Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Southern California University of Health Sciences. He is a Certified Clinical Nutritionist and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. He particularly pursues advanced developments in the fields of endocrinology, orthopedics, sports medicine, and environmentally-induced chronic disease.

Did you know that the cold sore virus is very common? In fact, eight out of 10 people have it. And, if you’ve ever had one, you already know that an outbreak can be painful and unpleasant. Itching, burning, tingling, and blisters are some of the symptoms associated with cold sores, and many people are especially susceptible to them during cold and flu season.

Blisters or sores usually appear when your body’s defenses are down — when you are stressed, or your immune system is weak, making you especially vulnerable this time of year. There is no cure for cold sores, but you can take steps to prevent an outbreak and manage the symptoms. Here is what to know:

Prevention

Among other harmful effects to skin, excess sun exposure can trigger cold sores, no matter what the temperature is outdoors. In the cooler months, take steps to limit sun exposure as you would during summer. This includes wearing a lip balm with SPF protection.

Work to keep your immune system strong all season. Eat a well-balanced diet, exercise and get sufficient rest every night.

A lot of stress can also be a trigger for a cold sore. Whether it’s a bubble bath, yoga session, or an evening on the couch watching TV, make sure your schedule includes some quality down time.

Treatment

Most symptoms go away in seven to 12 days. Before a blister appears, you may feel tingling or burning on your upper or lower lip. This is called a “prodrome,” a signal that a cold sore is imminent. This is the best time to make sure you have a trusted cold sore treatment on hand.

You can help to ease symptoms at the site of the sore with a fast-acting formula such as Carmex Cold Sore Treatment. Ten percent benzocaine relieves pain and itch, while its patented Triplex formula works to smooth and fill in the sores to make it less noticeable. Keep dry, cracked lips moisturized with a medicated lip balm, such as those available from Carmex.

Remember, the cold sore virus is contagious, particularly during the open sore stage, so wash your hands regularly in order to prevent spreading the infection to others. Also avoid sharing glasses or utensils that may spread the virus. Sadly, kissing is also on the list of things to avoid.

In the winter, take extra precautions to prevent cold sore outbreaks. And if you do suffer from these painful symptoms, remember, there are many ways to ease discomfort.

(StatePoint)