I often hear myself saying, “If I don’t exercise in the morning, my brain doesn’t work.” Until I read this chapter on Thinking and Movement from The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain, I had no idea how correct that statement is. Acclaimed science writer Annie Murphy Paul distills so much information about the correlation between movement and cognition. She cites the difference between radiologists who remain seated while looking at images versus those who are moving (assume a slow treadmill) while looking at images. The seated radiologists spotted 89% irregularities vs 99% accuracy with the walkers. Think about this. Humans were not made to remain seated, glued to some screen or tablet. But over the decades, we’ve been taught that being chair bound is desirable. Kids must not fidget and need to “stay on their place”. Not so. In fact, the opposite holds true, Children with ADHD had better cognitive performance when they moved. Even doodling while listening to a lecture helped people remember 29% more than the non-doodlers. My lesson—recess is vital for kids and adults! And the best results for adults come from moderate-intensity exercise for a moderate length of time. (Think I’ll slow down my 5.5 mile run to a steady walking pace.) The results are powerful: focused attention, less distraction, problem solving enhanced and working memory increased. Here’s the biggest lesson for me: information is better remembered when we are moving to learn it. I need to practice my presentations while walking. Descartes would have been more correct if he said, “I move, therefore I remember”. There is so much richness in this chapter. One fascinating piece of research found that even putting motion to an idea resulted in better output. Take the expression “on one hand… on the other hand…” A control group held out one hand as they brainstormed ideas. The other group kept switching hands with each idea. The latter generated some 50% more ideas. Next week, I’ll tie movement, memory and gesture into how my 7th graders learned prepositions. Until then… get up and move.

The year was 1942 and the war had never looked bleaker. Every able-bodied pilot was needed to fly combat missions in the European and Pacific theaters. But if the male pilots left, who would do the domestic military flying? Who would ferry aircraft from coast to coast? Who would tow targets for gunnery practice with live ammunition? Who would test the planes coming off the assembly line? Into that void stepped aviator Jacqueline Cochran with an idea for Colonel Hap Arnold. Women could take the place of men! After all, Nancy Harkness Love had already created a small ferrying squadron of women flying war planes to Britain. With the agreement that the women would ultimately be rolled into the military, the call went out for women to enlist in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP WWII). Thousands of women applied including a skinny podiatrist from York, PA. I know the story. That podiatrist was my mom, Mary Reineberg. You can the rest of the article in Leadership Excellence at This excerpt reprinted with permission from Hr.com.

As my brother has done every December, the flowerpot arrived. Moss covered the dirt and the accompanying instructions said to put the pot in the sun and water sparingly. I always follow directions. However, as weeks passed and nothing happened, I began to lose hope. It reminded me how in these very disturbing times, when I see nothing much in a positive way, I too begin to lose hope. Then, finally, a shoot popped its head from the soil. Now—almost two months later—I have the most amazing amaryllis plant. It’s over two feet in height (three if you count the base of the pot). Right now, I have eight gorgeous red blossoms and another stalk promises at least three more. Every morning I marvel at this plant. And then I remind myself of the words of the philosopher Howard Zinn “To have hope, one does not need certainty. Only possibility.” We call her Phyllis Amaryllis. She’s my teacher on these days when it seems my efforts don’t bear fruition. I realize I just must keep “watering” my community and clients with compassion, kindness, and positive energy. What about you?

If you are an entrepreneur, if you work for yourself, or if you own a business, resiliency is not a nice-to-have. It is a requirement! The life of an entrepreneur requires you to maintain your elasticity in rough times. You need to bob and weave and expand within a constantly changing landscape. Unlike people employed by others, an entrepreneur is routinely faced with failures, changing circumstances, and opportunities that stretch our capacity. Our capacity to stretch, to adapt, is the foundation of resilience as entrepreneurs. When we become rubber bands, stretching to meet each new challenge, flexing with each failure, and maintaining our elasticity in the face of uncertainty, we become capable of growing through those inevitable moments instead of having to recover from them. So how do we build and maintain that elasticity? 1) Take care of yourself. Self-care is frequently at the core of the work I do with my clients. You cannot become the business owner and the leader that you want to be if you are not taking care of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. If you are always being stretched, always under stress without a chance for rest, you will wear out and begin to crack like a dried-out rubber band. 2) Maintain the integrity of your vision. There is a reason I use the rubber band analogy. Rubber bands return to their original shape when they are removed. You and your business must have a definite shape, a definite mission, and a vision for what you put into the world. Without those guiding principles, you will mold to fit any container and not be able to hold a shape of your own. Your vision becomes the north star for your business. It will shape and direct your actions. 3) Know your capacity. Every rubber band has a limit. Based on the size and thickness of the rubber band, there is a capacity that it can handle. You too have an upper limit. Know where that limit is so that you don’t snap. Know when you need to call on the aid of other “rubber bands”: your team, mentors, support system. This allows you in to accomplish a task that is outside of your personal capacity. 4) Cultivate elasticity. The best rubber bands are the stretchy ones. Actively cultivate stretchiness. Spend time daily thinking outside the box. Prioritize using your imagination. Cultivate a growth mindset. Practice being flexible with the people around you and with yourself. Ask yourself “does this really have to be done this way?” Create habits in your life that routinely increase your capacity to flex, routinely expand the edges of your comfort zone, routinely increase your range, routinely stretch you, and then allow you to relax. We build elasticity in the same way we build muscles or flexibility, gradually and with practice. Resilience is a required skill and capacity as a business owner. The world of entrepreneurship WILL stretch you. It’s not optional. Cultivate resilience so that you can adapt and stretch in the face of those inevitable challenges. Elizabeth Tollis is the founder and CEO of The Emerald Office. Her work emphasizes entrepreneurship as the path to intentionally designing a life that is good for you, for your family, for your community, and for the world. Her flagship coaching program, Full Focus, combines one-on-one coaching and group training to bring entrepreneurs exactly and only what they need in order to build businesses that support the life they want to live. Full Focus has members across the globe. You can find her at http://www.theemeraldoffice.com/.

Whether you are heading a Fortune 100 company or leading an enterprise of one, some time in the course of this year, you will be called upon to be resilient. Whether pushed by pain or pulled by possibilities, resiliency is now a required on-going life skill. This raises the question: why wait to develop resiliency skills? I believe in PREsilience™ (preemptive resilience). These are skills and actions that can be cultivated, developed, and taken BEFORE necessity strikes. Resilience is complex, multidimensional, personal as well as professional. Presilience™ is practicing now, building preemptive resources within yourself, your organization, and your world. Consider these taking three simple actions now to help you develop a resiliency muscle: 1. Develop a support network. These are people you can turn to for ideas, for moral support, and for truth telling. A support network is not comprised of “yes” folks but rather people who care enough to offer critical insights as well as critiques. In our personal lives, these are people who will bring food, watch the kids, and offer a shoulder. Support networks take time to grow and must be nurtured as carefully as a newly planted garden. Consider what happened to Mary, the vice president of marketing in a global company. Relationships took a backseat in her “get-the-job-done-take-no prisoners” mindset. When a new CEO took over, Mary found few in her department who would speak in her favor as the CEO looked for other personnel to fill Mary’s role. Ouch! Too late. 2. Hone the skill of intelligent optimism. Nothing drains our mental and physical energy more than negativity. Intelligent optimism is the practice of finding what is right or possible in a situation instead of what is wrong. It’s hard work because, for some unknown reasons, humans are more prone to negative thinking instead of positive. Consider teaming with an optimism partner, someone who will gently point out negative statements and visa versa. Unlike the Pollyanna of story fame, most of us are not hard-wired for optimism. But it can be developed. 3. Exercise regularly. This might sound trite but times of challenge or opportunity demand energy resources. It’s too late to build up reserves of muscle, blood, and bone if you have neglected your body for years. Firefighters have gym equipment in the firehouse and practice a steady regimen to improve their strength, so they are READY when called into action. You are no different. As Baden Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts said of their “be prepared” motto: “The meaning of the motto is that a scout must prepare himself by previous thinking out and practicing how to act on any accident or emergency so that he is never taken by surprise.” Sounds like presilience to me! 4. Say thank you. Gratitude is the Miracle-Gro for resiliency. If you can end each day with writing down three things for which you are grateful, the germ of optimism sprouts and you reinforce your sense of self-worth. Some days, it might be gratitude that the day is over and you are still standing. Other days, you are grateful for a new idea, for a client interaction, for a great meal... you get the idea! To learn more about PREsilience™ check out my book "Your Resiliency GPS: A Guide for Growing through Life" at https://www.eileenmcdargh.com/your-resiliency-gps-book.

“Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement.” ― James Clear, Atomic Habits Life can be stressful even under normal conditions but experiencing a worldwide pandemic for the past two years has made everything even more difficult and stressful. Practicing daily resiliency habits will help you build your resilience muscle and give you a feeling of control over your day. Use affirmations that resonate with you. They may sound silly at first, but you'll feel the results the more you use them. Exercise your body. Go for daily walks, practice yoga or workout at home or in a gym that practices social distancing. Practice gratitude. Even when it's hard you always have something to be grateful for. Dig deep and use a journal. Look for humor every day. There are many Facebook groups for humor or perhaps you like funny television shows or movies. Be nice. Smile at strangers, check in with a friend, buy someone a cup of coffee or offer to babysit for a friend. We are not born resilient—we cultivate resilience through repetition. Habits practiced regularly build inner strength and self-confidence. It's a great way to start a New Year!

I went through my blogs from the past few years to see what people enjoyed reading the most. I uncovered some gems and want to share them with you. 1. 5 COVID-19 POSITIVE Lessons A lot has been written about the lessons learned of individual resilience from our shared pandemic experience— usually, what not to do. But what about the reflections and good lessons for resilience we have gained as communities and as organizations? Let us share some reflections of collective resilience at UWC Costa Rica. Read Post 2. Resilience Goes Down - Not Out At a virtual meeting I suggested that the crazy world crafted by this pandemic might require us to pivot, to move out in other directions. My colleague,Stephen Shapiro, challenged my notion. Read Post 3. Promote Resilience with Adaptability Skills Security rests in adaptability. Our current uncertain times can either freeze us from action or create a space where we strengthen our ability to adapt. Remember, survival is based on "requisite variety". Read Post 4. Don’t Just Be an Issue Spotter. Be A Problem Solver. Plenty of issues abound such has how to keep a business open to how to stay safe, from how to engage employees to how to win customers back and more. Learn why it’s important to be a problem solver in addition to an issue spotter. Read Post 5. Loneliness Threatens Resilience Loneliness short-circuits any ability to grow through challenge or opportunity. Loneliness weakens an ability to be resilient as surely as it weakens one’s immune system. What can we do about it? Read Post I hope you enjoy reading these blog posts as much as I enjoyed writing them!

I have the privilege of hosting the January 2022 Leadership Development Carnival! We’re excited to share posts from leadership experts from around the globe on the topics of communication, development, engagement, motivation, productivity, team building, and more. Communication Elevate Any Conversation with These 2 Words by Julie Winkle Giulioni | @Julie_WG In today’s fast-paced, intake-overloaded, noise-filled world, people crave the opportunity and welcome the invitation to think more deeply and share more of what’s on their mind. And it's as easy as speaking two simple words, 'say more'. Holiday Communication Woes: Whose Responsibility is it Anyway? by Diana Peterson-More | @DianaPMAuthor “The most wonderful time of the year,” can also be filled with stress. For me, this year, the so-called “great communicator,” encountered miscommunications that led to hurt feelings, misunderstandings, and three less for a family holiday dinner. What happened and whose responsibility is it anyway? Creativity / Inspiration How to Find Your Purpose at Work by Dana Theus | @DanaTheus Work is hard work. How to find purpose in your work is a hard question. Even when you know you are doing important things, showing up to do the hard work can start to feel like a grind. Pointless. Meaningless. Joyless. When you and others around you are struggling, lost in grind of it all, finding purpose at work acts like a lighthouse in the fog. Taking the next step to purposefully craft your work in ways that help you stay connected to this purpose is like having a compass and a map. Are You Burning Your Life Brightly? by Lisa Kohn Lisa Kohn of Thoughtful Leaders Blog presents Are you burning your life brightly?, where she shares that when we make a choice to make our lives – and relationships – burn intensely… when we can pay attention, and be Thoughtful and extraordinary, we make our relationships burn with connection, closeness and understanding, and we make our endeavors burn with purpose and power. Development Love is the Next Leadership Skill by Marcella Bremer | @MarcellaBremer Love is the next leadership skill, says Robin Anselmi. Love makes us smarter together. In a business context, love means an authentic connection, compassion, and forgiveness. How’s your love of people, connection, and collaboration? The Courage Zone by Bill Treasurer | @btreasurer Love is the next leadership skill, says Robin Anselmi. Love makes us smarter together. In a business context, love means an authentic connection, compassion, and forgiveness. How’s your love of people, connection, and collaboration? If I Empower You, You are Still Within my Power by Jim Taggart | @jlctaggart The role of senior corporate leadership is to set the context, to create the environment where collaboration is fostered, creativity nurtured, mutual respect ingrained, vision created, leadership shared, and innovation valued. The 10 Important Questions to Ask in Your New Position by Priscilla A Archangel | @prisarchangel As you develop your plan for entry into your new role or organization, think about these 10 important topics that you need to focus on. More than simple questions, they are issues you need to understand deeply as a foundation for how you will lead, how you will add value, how you will develop your strategies and accomplish your goals. Learning from the Dogs by Wally Bock | @WallyBock I love my dogs and I’ve learned a lot from them. Culture Leadership Charge: A Leader's 2022 Call to Action by S. Chris Edmonds | @schrisedmonds Twenty-eight years ago this month I had a heart attack. It was not how I planned to spend the day. Like many others who have experienced a significant health issue, my heart attack caused me to reflect on my life. I knew my job at the time was not a great fit for me. I was not using my talents to proactively serve others. Planning for a Successful Year by Jon Verbeck | @jonverbeck1 Pandemic or not, it’s the time of year to block out some time for next year’s planning and get your forecasts done. Here's a process that can help. How to Reset Performance Expectations for Better Results by Karin Hurt / David Dye | @letsgrowleaders Outstanding performance starts with clear performance expectations—a shared understanding of what success looks like. But what do you do when a critical player on your team is doing “okay,” but not great? Are You There, Yet? by Angela Hummel | @AngelaJHummel Many people aspire to earn a promotion or establish a career path leading to the highest level in an organization. While a career pinnacle might be reached, the arrival also could be filled with disappointment or disenchantment. When you build a scaffolding, you can move over to the side, jump down for a while, rely on your network or tap into other opportunities. Beyond Strategic Planning by Bill Donahue | @drbilldonahue It’s time to move beyond passion casting on the one hand, and rigid planning on the other. It is time for fresh, flexible thinking guided by core convictions and clear, collaborative action so that we all can move in the same direction together. Leading Beyond Boundaries by Ken Byler Boundaries are something most of us are good at creating. From childhood to adulthood we spend much of our time and energy deciding what and who to include or exclude. I must confess the latter behavior seems hardest for me to resist. Acceptance in Life and the Workplace by Brenda Yoho | @BrendaYoho Acceptance is a word with more depth in its meaning and width in its reach. As an individual and a leader, we have to provide support, guidance, understanding, and accountability in acceptance. In our world of wanting to be accepted, we set high expectations and often unreasonable assumptions about the work we do. As leaders, we must recognize this in ourselves, in others and help guide everyone through the steps of acceptance of self. Reflecting Back on the Year Ahead - 11 Ways to Make Your Reflection Session Pay Off by Ken Downer | @RapidStartLdr The arrival of a new year signals a time of reflecting on the old, but there’s no owner’s manual on how; here are 11 ways to make the most of it. Engagement Four Tips to Snuff Out Burnout by Jon Lokhorst | @jonlokhorst An increasing rate of employee burnout is among the far-reaching consequences of the global pandemic we’ve been weathering. It’s your responsibility as a leader to address the risk of burnout, first for yourself and then for your team. Here are four tips to guide you. Energize Your Employees by Bev Kaye | @BeverlyLKaye Did your “job EKG” ever go flat? Did the feeling of challenge change to a feeling of routine? your most valued employees are the also the ones most likely to suffer this sense of job discontent. They are savvy, creative, self-propelled, and energetic. They need stimulating work, opportunities for personal challenge and growth, and a contributing stake in the organizational action. If good workers find the job with your company no longer provides these necessities, they may decide they have outgrown the place and will consider leaving. The Top 10 Things Every Employee Wants From Their Boss by David Grossman | @ThoughtPartner What do employees really want from their managers? While the answer varies from person to person, our research and experience gained from decades of work in this area reveal some common themes, so we’re pulling back the curtain on a collective “wish list” – and come up most often as unmet – that every boss should know. Leadership Are You a Serving or a Self-Serving Leader? by Randy Conley | @RandyConley The most persistent barrier to becoming a trusted servant leader is a heart guided by self-interest that looks at the world as a “give a little, take lot” proposition. In this post, Randy Conley shares what distinguishes Servant Leaders from others and offers a free eBook excerpt from his upcoming book, The Simple Truths of Leadership--52 Ways to Be a Servant Leader and Build Trust. Productivity Men Work Hard by Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE | @macdarling According to Ricky Gervais "Men work hard but women work miracles". How many women I know who perform incredible deeds of courage, tenacity, and caring while—often—hiding behind the scenes. This New Year, Accelerate Innovative Ideas by Neal Burgis, Ph.D. | @exec_solutions As 2022 is just getting started, you need to expand and go further than before with your thinking and creating of innovative ideas. This year you need to generate ideas that will not just "WoW", but also be successful with customers wanting what you offer.

Pretty hard to holler out “Happy New Year” when my January in-person event just cancelled because of Covid concerns. Record snows are battering the Western U.S. and bowl games have been scratched while hate speech echoes in the halls of Congress. Optimistic? Hard to do when many news sources decide which stories deserve comment. Inevitably, disappointing and disturbing stories outnumber positive reports. Robert Hubbell, a prominent writer and news analyst, offers an alternative against the deluge of bad news. “The answer is perspective. And there is no better description of perspective than the essay by Carl Sagan about a photograph taken by Voyager I as it left the solar system. In that photograph, the Earth occupies a single pixel in a vast darkness. Sagan’s essay, A Pale Blue Dot, is an appropriate reflection on our place in the universe and deserves to be read out loud at family gatherings as we close the chapter on a challenging year. This year, Sagan’s essay is especially appropriate because of his call to protect Earth: "Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. . . . [T]his distant image of our tiny world underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known." That’s it! Perspective. Step back and realize that we can choose to make a commitment in 2022 to deal more kindly with each other and this planet. It’s not a Pollyanna sentiment. It’s how we’ll either live or die together. I’ve made my choice. What is yours?

I love this gift for the New Year: a business school that finally gets what the world really needs. In a move to prepare students for a drastically changing environment, the University of Redlands has announced the FIRST of its kind: a School of Business & Society. This is a strategic evolution to help future business leaders recognize social and ethical responsibilities, the health of the planet, and the relationship between commerce and well-being for all people. My granddaughter graduated from this California university and I have always been impressed with its intention to prepare students for a wide world. This is another positive movement in the right direction. Makes me wish I was college bound again. You can learn more at https://www.redlands.edu/study/schools-and-centers/business/

At this time of year, the Christian world thinks of the stable at Bethlehem and the birth of the Christ child. But there are other miracles in other stables… specifically the stables at The Shea Center in San Juan Capistrano, CA. The Shea Center Founded in 1978 by Derek and Nancy Lewis for their 10-year-old cerebral palsy son, Michael, Shea is a therapeutic riding center that today is one of the most highly accredited centers in the nation. I had the wonderful opportunity to observe just one of their programs, Stars and Stripes, designed to help U.S. military service members with PTSD. This program offers an environment for healing through equine-assisted learning activities. As Winston Churchill proclaimed, “The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a person.” Dedicated to improving the lives of people with disabilities, children as young as two years old may participate in PT/OT/Speech services using equine movement. Children four years old and up participate in adaptive riding classes which help improve core stability and more. Shea currently has 210 clients per week, over 800 participants each year. The youngest is two and the oldest is 100! To serve this many, 428 volunteers and 28 full-time staff do everything possible to care for clients and horses. Physical and cognitive disabilities comprise 69 diagnoses seen each year at Shea. The top three diagnoses served are autism, genetic disorder, and cerebral palsy. Many clients speak their first word or take their first step at Shea. I call that a miracle. Volunteering at the Shea Center Why not participate in another miracle at a stable! Please visit their web site and if you are in the Orange County, California area, you might consider volunteering. I intend to be more involved for sure. Happy New Year to All!

“Men work hard but women work miracles”—Ricky Gervais What a statement from the fearless British comedian. It was in an interview he gave to AARP Magazine. (Yes—the guy is age 60!) His statement didn’t make me laugh—it made me think. How many women I know who perform incredible deeds of courage, tenacity, and caring while—often—hiding behind the scenes. I think of my tiny, stooped over Nana carrying huge wet baskets of wash from the basement to hang them outside on a clothesline, constantly cleaning the floors, and planting or reaping in her garden. There was Mom who managed to feed us all when money was tight, keep us calm and centered during hurricanes, and turned even a waterskiing mishap into an adventure. Or how about Sojourner Truth, a former slave, abolitionist and women’s rights activist who in 1851 delivered a speech that came to be known as “Ain’t I A Woman?” She helped recruit black troops for the Union Army. Consider Joan of Arc, Amelia Earhart, Indira Gandhi, Florence Nightingale, and even climate activist Greta Thunberg. Every one of them took a stance and worked miracles in their own way. Thanks, Ricky. I hadn’t thought much about it until I read your words.