Success | St. Louis Corporate Yoga

Your Memory –An Important Asset

Having a good memory is an asset to every part of your life – and your career, too! Are you able to remember everything you want? This can be a challenge – not surprising given the times we live in.
Information overload is our reality at home and at the office. The good news is: you don’t have to remember everything just the most meaningful and important things.

The tips below will give you information on how to boost your memory.

Yoga and Exercise

Getting regular exercise can also improve your memory! Exercise isn’t just good for your body, it’s also excellent for your brain. Exercise increases the oxygenation level in your brain. Plus it can be beneficial to the chemical balance in the brain.

Practicing yoga is an outstanding method to help your brain manage information overload. Those relaxed 50-60 minutes you spend on the yoga mat give your brain cells to chance to process information. Hopefully you have a chance to practice yoga during the workday as part of an on-site wellness program!

Get Enough Good Sleep

Sleep is critical in letting out bodies recover and regenerate from the day before. Without enough sleep the brain can become compromised. Forgetfulness and memory lapses? This is what happens when we are sleep deprived. Research has shown that during the deepest parts of our sleep cycle, memory consolidation occurs. Without proper sleep, you can be sure that your memory will be negatively affected.

Try to get enough sleep every night! What is enough for you? You need to find this out as everybody has slightly different needs. Some people are happy with sleeping only 6 hours per night. Some others need their 8 hours. What is your number?

Laugh and Have Fun

Laughter is a blessing for your brain! When you laugh, you brain is engaging several areas at once, and giving you a good mental work out. Laughing helps you to think more broadly and improve your free associations aka creative thinking.

Laugh often! Funny movies, the latest jokes or even laughing at yourself and you will be helping your overall mental health! For more inspiration read our article “Laugh Stress Away “.
Spend time with people who make you laugh. Stick around these people and you will feel happier and have more fun for sure.

Manage Stress

Those senior moments? When you are stressed, you can become forgetful. Stress can actually damage the part of your brain – the hippocampus – which helps in recalling old memories and creating new ones.

Spend time each day using stress reduction techniques including meditation, deep breathing exercises, listening to relaxing music or anything that calms your mind and body.

Train Your Brain

Give your brain a workout to improve your memory skills by doing crosswords, brain teasers, word searches, and logic puzzles. There are plenty of free resources online to keep your mind active on a daily basis. Here are 2 resources we recommend:
http://sharpbrains.com/brainteasers/ – a selection of fun and enlightening brain teasers for adults of any age.

http://www.gamesforthebrain.com/ – addictive games for challenging your brain!

Being In The Present

Being in the present – this is one of the best things you can practice to increase your well-being in life! How many times do you spend time reminiscing about the good old days? Or spending time just daydreaming about your golden future? Nothing wrong with daydreaming by the way… if you take action on reaching those goals!

Many people are so used to thinking in the past or future that they have a hard time staying focused on the here and now.

It is the present where magic lies! To motivate you to practice being in the now, we gathered a few amazing reasons why staying with the present moment can benefit your life:

Enjoy Food More

How many times do you eat while watching a show or typing on your laptop? It just seems that you save time but you have to pay a high price for saving a moment or two! You will likely barely notice what you are eating. Chances are, you won’t even remember what you ate a few minutes before. Not only that, you won’t fully process feelings of being full and satisfied and this can lead to overeating.

Stay present while eating and your experience will completely change. Think about how the food tastes in your mouth. Focus on how it smells, its texture and taste. Is it crunchy, soft, sour, sweet, or bitter? You will be eating slower and will have a vivid memory of this meal. You give your brain a chance to register when you are full. When you eat mindfully, you will enjoy your food more and eat less of it.

Control Bad Habits

You need to start a new project but you catch your brain wondering constantly instead of concentrating? Do you feel resistance creeping into your workdays? Feeling those bad procrastinating habits getting the better of you at the office? Observe your behavior mentally and make note of it. Ask yourself, what is going on and why are you having difficulty focusing. Just the act of putting your attention directly on the problem will help you work out better ways of dealing with it.

Have A Deeper Understanding

Focus in on what is happening here and now and you will gain a deeper understanding of what is really going on in any situation! You will miss less verbal and non-verbal cues in every situation. Just imagine how useful this will be in any office communications. For example, if you are meeting new co-workers for the first time, try to be as present as possible. Absorb everything they are saying, listen to their voice, notice what they say and do. You will observe and gather valuable information that lets you in on who they really are and how to best work with them towards success.

Have The Power To Change

You really only have control over what is happening in this moment. Try as you might you cannot change the past and you can’t dream the future into existence without taking action. Instead use the present moment to its fullest and you will realize your goals step-by-step. You can make changes going forward and that can only happen now, in the present. Make the most of the present and you will take control of your destiny!

Boost Your Self-Esteem

Do you envy your superstar colleagues bursting with self-esteem and a “can-do” attitude? Would you like to increase your confidence levels?

Self-esteem is a set of beliefs you have about yourself. These beliefs are based on experiences you’ve had and messages you’ve received from others especially in your early childhood.

Sometimes you lack confidence due to various early experiences: feeling as the odd one at school or not getting the parental approval you were seeking. Other examples later in life might include workplace failures or being in abusive relationships.

Whatever the reasons for low self-esteem, there are ways to improve it in order to become a success at the office! Here are a few tips to help you give yourself a boost!

What Triggers You?

What makes you feel like you are not at your best? What situations, comments or places trigger feeling less confident? A difficult work situation, live presentations, sales conversations or yearly reviews with your boss? These are the situations where you might have a low opinion about your abilities and your chance for a better future. It is important to identify these areas in your lives so you can be prepared to handle them. Knowing where the issues are stemming from is the first step in making sure that our self-esteem is not eroding blindly.

Not Just Black And White

Often times, we tend to see things as positive or negative only. But there is almost always a middle ground. If you don’t succeed at a task, for example, that doesn’t mean you are a total failure!
Retrain your thinking so that you are not generalizing with each accomplishment or failure. If you made a mistake in the financial calculation of a project and you caught the mistake: you can view this as a failure but also can see it as a success in reviewing your work. No one is perfect and there are times when you won’t be able to accomplish a task 100% for the first time. When this happens, remember all your other achievements so your thinking doesn’t become too one-sided.

Forgive Yourself

Everybody makes mistakes and truly successful people make even more! Without mistakes you would never learn! Please remember that mistakes are just nature’s way of moving us closer to our ultimate goal.
Having some successes and some failures is part of life, so when the inevitable happens, forgive yourself, learn from your mistakes and move on! Getting stuck in feeling incompetent is not going to get you to where you want to be. Be kind to yourself and treat yourself with compassion like you would treat a friend.

Focus On Your Success

It is much easier to notice and remember those moments of failure, isn’t it? How many times do you forget about the small successes in life? Be sure to take note of all of your accomplishments. One great way to do this is by keeping a Success Journal. When you are feeling a bit down or low, you can open up your journal and remind yourself of all you have achieved. Read your journal for an instant self-esteem boost!

The benefits of improved self-esteem can help in just about every area of life!

The Productive You

Have you ever wondered how others manage to be more productive than you? Every person on earth has the exact same 24 hours every day and still some people get so much more done in that time every day. It is easy to get envious… but instead let’s look at 3 ways you can increase your productivity today!

Sleep more!

It feels like you will add to your productivity if you cut back on sleep. You will have more time every day to get stuff done. But it is all a lie. If you don’t sleep enough… you will pay a high price the next day: you will not be able to concentrate. Focus is the secret to getting tons done.

Now you might think that less sleep has no impact on your productivity. Well, you might get away with less sleep for a few days, even a few weeks without noticing the impact this has on you. But try to cut back on sleep for a longer period of time and you will not only lose your ability to focus – you might even get ill or put on weight!

It is better to find out how much sleep your body needs every night and protect your sleep time. Some people thrive on 6 hours rest per night – some others need 8 hours to jump out of bed ready for the day. Keep your sleep sacred!

Learn to say NO!

Is this a challenge for you? We were all brought up to say yes – it was the expected behavior at home and in school. Especially women feel that saying no to requests means letting the other person down. But what happens when you say yes to all new projects, new opportunities while still doing your routine tasks? You will guaranteed become overwhelmed and stressed. Nobody can do 120% all the time.

You need to set your priorities and adhere to them. Try to develop a “cooperative”, solution based communication style. It is important to be able to renegotiate priorities with your boss and coworkers. The best is to begin practicing saying NO today!

Never start a day without a plan!

Plan tomorrow already today – in the last 15 minutes at work or before going to bed. Take 5-10 minutes to write down the plan and if possible do some preparation, too.

If you have an important meeting the next day, you can gather and organize your presentation, write down your questions, pack up your materials, etc today. How calm would you enter that meeting without the drama of not finding the things you need? How confident would you feel totally prepared to answer questions and share your opinion? Taking the extra 10-15 minutes today for tomorrow’s success is so worth it!

If you just manage to get a good night’s sleep to replenish your energy, practice to say No and make a plan before you go to bed… your life will change – there is no doubt about this!

Small Changes, Big Impact – Part Five

Enjoy the last installment of our “Small Changes, Big Impact” series!

Comparing yourself to others? Stop!

Do you indulge in this counter-productive behavior? It is natural to compare yourself to others and judge your life compared to other people’s destiny. Want to be seriously unhappy? Looking at ways how the grass is greener on the other side of the fence will deliver a sad life.

Life is not a competition. Who wins and who loses is just a matter of perspective sometimes. Even when you win, constantly competing with your co-workers or friends is just exhausting. All that energy wasted without any results to show for!

We all have good and bad points, strength and weaknesses. Good and bad things happen to us. We all win some days and lose some other days.

And the funny thing is? Next time you compare yourself to someone else, remember that they are likely comparing themselves to you too!

Yoga practice is perfect for teaching about unnecessary comparisons. Yoga is no competition. In yoga, you compare your progress today to your own performance yesterday. If your co-worker can a hold a posture longer than you, that is awesome. If you are more flexible – wonderful! Know that both of you work on realizing your full potential in that minute.

Help others to bring happiness to life

Did you know that performing random acts of kindness towards others could actually benefit your health? You will experience less stress and more happiness – both are very advantageous for your health!

Why not make an effort to unselfishly help a colleague or even a perfect stranger starting today? A few ideas: taking over a small task from a co-worker so he/she can leave the office on time to pick up the kids, bringing flowers for the office or having a stash of healthy snacks to share in the office for those uninspired afternoon hours.

How about sending flowers to an old friend, complimenting a neighbor on their outfit, donating books to the school library or paying for the person behind you in the grocery queue? There are so many great ideas for making somebody else’s day a bit brighter.

Have you ever thought about gifting a family member or colleague with a yoga class card? It is a wonderful gift to experience “time out” from the usual stressful day! Maybe your act of kindness will start them on a lifelong yoga journey. You can purchase a yoga gift certificate through our secure shopping cart or just call us at 314-630-1677!

We hope our tips on small steps helped you to make a big change in your life! If so, please let us know in the Comments below!

Read all parts of this series! Here are the links to our recent series articles: Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. Enjoy!

Small Changes, Big Impact – Part Four

Discover more great tips on how small changes will influence your life deeply in our continued series.

Learn to say No

How many times do you say YES to new projects and tasks at your workplace even though you know you should say No instead? It might be clear from the beginning that you will not be able to finish said project on time. Or you miss resources that enable you to deliver great work. You might feel obligated to take up more work for whatever reason. The result? High level of stress, decreased performance and poorly delivered work. And you might even feel hostile against your job – all bad outcomes.

Just imagine: instead of saying automatically “yes”, take up a serious conversation with your boss or co-worker around the deliverables, time frame, etc. You discover all the important information around the new task, negotiate to find the best way to handle the project and then make a conscious decision to say Yes or No to it.

The same principles apply in your private life, too. If you are asked to organize a school event during a stressful time at the office – feel free to say No or negotiate it.

We often cause ourselves a lot of stress when we feel obligated to say yes to everyone all the time. We feel as though saying “no” is rude. But we all have a limited number of hours in the day and we can’t do everything we’re asked.

Try offering alternative solutions, or even just saying you can’t do it right now. Yes, it’s direct but you probably feel worse saying it than the recipient feels hearing it (as long as you say it nicely!)

Trying to be someone else?

Saying no is difficult as we learn early in life that we are supposed to say yes and take up more than we can handle.

Our whole life if full with these “supposed” behaviors. Our parents tell us early on how we are supposed to talk, play, sleep, eat, etc. Then school shows how we are supposed to learn and behave as part of groups. And it doesn’t stop until our last day.

It is so easy to forget who you are really. What true talents and strength do you have? How would you like to live? What is the best way to share your talents with the world? Maybe you have forgotten all the answers…

What if you began exploring your truth? What if you started being yourself?

Just tiny little steps of showing up as the real you will make you happier. If you always had a passion for fashion – why don’t you add a few fashionable accessories to your office attire? You don’t have to look like you just left the Milan runway and still make a statement about loving fashion. If you dream about writing short stories – why don’t you declare a 2-hour writing date every weekend?

We are all different, isn’t just beautiful? We’re not meant to be the same and we all have different destinies. Getting closer to yours might be challenging at first, but it will make you happier at the end.

Would you like to read all parts of this series? Here are the links to our recent series articles: Part 1 , Part 2 and Part 3. Enjoy!

17 Lesser-Known Success Quotes To Inspire You

Do you love quotes and use them to inspire yourself? Mostly we read the same quotes everywhere which is no wonder as those “little bites of wisdom” are proven to positively influence most of us. Sometimes though, you might crave new expressions of wisdom to rejuvenate your motivation to take action step and become the best version of yourself.

We gathered 17 lesser-known success quotes to spark your commitment to success.

“Either you run the day or the day runs you.” – Jim Rohn

“An object at rest tends to stay at rest, an object in motion tends to stay in motion.” Isaac Newton

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts breaks their bonds: your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” – Patanjali

“Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action.” – William James

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”- Pablo Picasso

“Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do.” – John Wooden

“Action generates motivation; not the other way around.” – Mark Amend

“You may only succeed if you desire succeeding; you may only fail if you do not mind failing.”- Philippos

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”- Dale Carnegie

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” – Bruce Lee

“Thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life.” – Dr. APJ Kalam

“Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising to tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Weak people talk and do not act, strong people act and keep quiet.”- Eliphas Levi

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” – Nietzsche

“All success in life, whether material or spiritual, starts with the thoughts that you put into your mind every second of every minute of every day. Your outer world reflects the state of your inner world. By controlling the thoughts that you think and the way you respond to the events of your life, you begin to control your destiny.” – R. Sharma

“I have not ceased being fearful, but I have ceased to let fear control me.” – Erica Jong

“There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed.” – Ray Goforth

Small Changes, Big Impact – Part Three

Craving a positive change in your professional life? The easiest way is to take small but consistent steps every day! Let’s continue with our “Small Changes – Big Impact” series!

Stop complaining!

We all engage a bit of complaining, right? And many times it is a totally OK way to connect to others. It is much easier to begin a small talk with a stranger when we start complaining about the weather. This is a topic that is not-threatening to engage in and a good basis for moving to other topics if both parties feel like it.

The problem is when you turn into a non-stop complaining machine. Have you ever met a chronic complainer? Griping about things to no end, complaining about the exact same thing for weeks, never having anything positive to say. Nothing screams louder that the person believes to be the victim of life. This being a “victim of life” stance irritates others deeply.

Chronic complainers love to share all the negativity but rarely ever listen to any feedback or advice they might get. You might spends hours listening to them. Try to give a tip to help with their bad fate but don’t expect them to take that tip seriously. A bad complainer will just find a new person to complain to.

If you feel you might be a bad complainer yourself, try to consciously listen to your conversations today. How many times did you complain today? To whom? What topics did you complain about? How did you feel after your griping session – better or even worse? Did you find any new ideas or solutions to deal with the thing you were kvetching about?

Listen to your own words

When you talk to some of your colleagues, you might just know exactly what they will say before they even open their mouth. Because they talk about the same things and use the same language all the time.

A few years ago I noticed that I use the word “terrible” all the time. Everything was terrible. I was talking to a co-worker about our jobs and the job market – and somehow began listening to my own sentences, speaking and hearing them at the same time. I was astonished to hear my non-stop “terrible-this-terrible-that” talk. I was shocked to hear my own negativity. It took some time and conscious effort on my part to change my pattern of “terrible” but was so worth it!

Awareness is always the first step! Make a conscious effort to listen to what you say in your conversations at the office. What are your themes? Which words do you use all the time? Look at the reaction of your co-workers! Do they look more hopeful and inspired? Or do they feel defeated and negative after talking to you?

You can change your patters! All you need is to switch off your automatic talking machine and choose your words with care and intention.

Remember:

Talk less but with a clear intention!

Listen more without the need to judge.

If you are willing to complain less and listen more, you will be pleasantly surprised to see the big impact this will bring to your life every day!

Would you like to read part one and two of this series? Here are the links to our recent series articles: Part 1 and Part 2.

Small Changes, Big Impact – Part Two

Does improving your personal and professional life have to be about making monumental changes? No. Even small steps in the right direction can often make a huge difference to your happiness. Plus taking things one step at a time will help avoid overwhelm. We are continuing with our “Small changes, big impact” series below:

1) Tame the email beast

How many times do you check your email account per day? Per hour? You might have noticed that checking email multiple times throughout the day can dramatically decrease your productivity.

Email is a major distraction to all of us. Feeling bored? Let’s see if there is anything interesting going on. Bad case of procrastination? Surely there is something else you can do before embarking on the project you are procrastinating on.

Email can get very addictive and you will find yourself in a loop of constantly checking private and office emails.

What if you decided to check your email 3 times per day only at the office? At the beginning of the workday, before lunch hour and in the afternoon. Let your co-workers know about your new system so they have a realistic expectation about you reading their emails. The good news is the world will not fall apart if you take a few hours to respond to an email! What if there’s any emergency? Your colleagues will find a better way to connect with you. Many times a personal discussion can help dealing with office emergencies.

2) Tech-free for a day

As much as we love technology, it is easy to get sick of it from time to time. We discussed the email beast above. Constant internet access, smart phones, messaging apps, social media and we become available to others all the time. And while it is nice to keep in touch… maybe we need some boundaries around our availability.

What if you switched off your phone as soon as you get home? Keeping it switched off is social situations? Simply saying “no” to constant availability.

Can you still remember the old days without mobile phones? We did survive and didn’t miss much, right?

Why don’t you consciously take time away from technology completely, for example for a day each week or month? Take Saturday or Sunday off from being online all the time. Who knows maybe you remember the activities you forgot you used to enjoy: reading a book, walking in the park or just daydreaming. Or you could use it as the perfect excuse to spend more time with your family.

3) Stop multitasking

Want to increase your productivity at the workplace? Stop multitasking immediately! It’s been proven time and time again that multitasking will not lead to better results or higher productivity. Especially women fall into believing that multitasking can be an answer to a more productive life. Well, it is not true. Some research suggested that multitasking actually can be unhealthy for your brain.

Focusing on one task and you will get more done in less time. Your quality of work increase, too! Decide to multitask less even if you feel the expectation to deal with more than one thing at one time. The myth of multitasking is still very apparent in our work culture so you might be challenged by others if you decide to stop this behavior.

Focus on one task and your productivity will increase automatically!

Find the 1st Part of this series here!

Small Changes, Big Impact – Part One

Big doors swing on little hinges – I am sure heard this old saying before. Small changes can result in big results in life. It is so easy to forget about how small steps we take influence the outcome of big things in life.

Are you looking to change your life on a personal and professional level? Are you waiting for a huge breakthrough to happen that brings about the desired change? Well, sometimes we are waiting and waiting and feel that nothing much happens, right?

Small steps and changes can build up to that big breakthrough we are dreaming about. Plus making little steps in the right direction might feel much easier and simpler.

Let’s look at small steps you can take in order to improve your work and personal life. This series will give you many suggestions for change. No, you don’t have to take all the steps we share – that would only result in major overwhelm. Take only one or two suggestions you like and find easy to integrate into your life – and leave the others.

Let’s begin!

1) Set Goals You Can Achieve

Setting goals can make the difference between just thinking about what we want to achieve and actually getting it done. Goals make your vision clearer and make you think of a pathway to achievement.

However, setting goals that are too difficult to achieve won’t be helping you. If you feel it is too much effort, you might never begin. If you feel it will take decades to reach that particular goal, you might procrastinate before you even start the 1^st step.

A big goal can put so much pressure on you that you might simply give up. Next time you make your goals, make sure they are SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. But most importantly make sure that your goals are achievable!

2) Rise Early!

Waking up earlier consistently every day will bring many improvements to your life. Numerous studies have shown that early risers are more likely to exercise, get better sleep, be better at planning their day, and getting more done in a day.

Yes, you might feel it is impossible for you to wake up 30 minutes earlier. This usually means that you are not getting enough sleep! The secret to waking up earlier is to go to bed earlier on the previous night.

Try to cut back on meaningless activities in the evening. What if you cut back on the number of shows you watch? Or decide to NOT watch the news late at night? One thing is sure you will be able to fall asleep easier and have a calmer night. And be ready to jump out of your bed earlier the next day.

3) Practice Gratitude

Although many things in life are beyond our control, the way we choose to see things isn’t.

Do you feel like bad things just keep happening to you? Why don’t you start to practice daily gratitude to train your mind to focus on the positives?

You can be grateful for small things in life. In fact, the small good things are the easiest to take for granted. On cold winter nights having a warm bed to sleep in – what a wonderful thing to be grateful for!

Start small! Every night before you fall asleep, think of just one thing you are grateful for. Of course, feel free to add more than one thing if you feel like it.

Feeling grateful is not about writing up a compulsory list of 10 things you feel thankful about. It is about evoking the feeling of gratitude in your life every day.

Check back soon for the next part of this series of “Small changes – Big impact” articles!