Sharon M Weinstein

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December 11, 2016 By Sharon Weinstein

How many times have you failed?

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas A. Edison

Think about it! Long before Walt Disney built Disneyland, he was told he lacked creativity. Before Arianna Huffington launched Huffington Post, 36 publishers rejected her second book. Consider Bill Gates, whose first company was a disaster, with a product that barely worked.

Nobody wants to fail, but even the brightest and most successful people have faced this challenge at some point in their careers. Life is a constant seesaw. Most of us teeter between our achievements and our mistakes.

Some mistakes are greater than others. Have you ever made a mistake?  Have you missed your sales target, blown a presentation, or lost an opportunity?

How does failure affect us?  What is one career or life failure that has taught you something about yourself? – Failure happens – whether we want to admit it or not.  But we can turn our failures into learning experiences that enable us to do better next time.

What about your job history? Did you ever accept a position that was a huge mistake – and you just knew that you were not in the right place at the right time?  I certainly did – I did not vet the future employer; I did not do my homework.  I did not realize that there were 5 people in my position in the previous 3 years and that the fact that I needed to fire my predecessor was a message not to be missed. Mistake – yes? Failure – no! 

Take action and move on. How do you get things back on track? Deal with your mistake head on, and then advance to the next thing. Start your next project, look at new ventures or consider a new task at hand. Remember your hard-learned lessons as you keep moving forward, and you’ll emerge stronger and more resilient than before. Join the ranks of Huffington, Disney, and Gates…who overcame failure and achieved success! 

Filed Under: C-Suite, Failure, Resilience, Success, Work-Life Balance, Workplace Stress Tagged With: balance, commitment, empower, Encouragement, Failure, goal-setting, SharonMWeinstein, success, work

November 27, 2016 By Sharon Weinstein

What’s in a name?

Is your name more famous than you are?  What’s in a name? I once had a neighbor named John Carson; when he made a hotel or airline reservation, he used the name ‘Johnny Carson.’  Don’t you think that he got a great seat, or an upgrade to first class or a suite?  Names can also be a detriment. What if your name is that of a misdirected politician (think John Edwards), or a serial killer? Does your website reflect your actual name? Does you brand reflect who and what you are? Have you ever been mistaken for someone else, or had someone pull back when you introduced yourself by your ‘real name?’

The world is filled with John Carsons, Michael Jacksons, Chris Browns, Elizabeth Taylors and Brad Pitts forced to field comments about their more famous namesakes. download Many people share their names with famous people, including:

  • Justin Bieber from Jacksonville
  • Beyoncé from New York
  • Matt LeBlanc from Canada
  • Bill Gates from Chicago
  • Sandra Bullock from Connecticut
  • Kate Middleton from Brisbane
  • John Carson from Denton

Is your name an icebreaker, or a nuisance?  Is your name more famous than you?

 

Filed Under: C-Suite, CEO, CFO, Clout, Consulting, Names, Public speaking, Workplace Stress Tagged With: balance, Educate, personal development, self-development, speaker, success, work

September 29, 2016 By Sharon Weinstein

Preferment…the new retirement

Today I spoke to a speaker colleague who told me that she ‘retired’ from accounting to begin her speaking career. Yesterday, it was a nurse who told me that she ‘retired’ from clinical practice to begin her coaching career. And last week, it was a corporate executive who told me that he ‘retired’ from manufacturing to pursue his consulting career.

Were they retired, still working, working part-time, or picking and choosing those projects with which they wanted to align themselves? Nearly all of the responses addressed the concept of ‘picking and choosing’ or preferring one project over another and one subset of professionals with whom to work over another. Did each of these professionals actually retire…to begin the next phase of their lives? Or, did they extend into the arena known as “PREFERMENT” meaning that they now get to do what they want, with whom they want, and when they want?

My own professional colleagues vary in age group from millennials to the C-suite and from sometime work to full-time plus work. Having worked full-time plus in the past, logging over 100 hours per week, 3 countries per week for over 10 years, I fully understand the idea of ‘picking and choosing’ one’s activities and potential partners.

Still intrigued, I researched the word and discovered the concept of prefermented dough to improve quality naturally and traditionally. Great concept, but being a non-bread maker, the term did not meet my immediate needs. Preferment is also the name of a champion horse; a non-equestrian, I continued my search for the right description. I was seeking information on what happens post-official retirement – in the healthy, seasoned professional population.

I can easily relate to the idea of retirement as a significant milestone and adjustment for my peers. Healthy, financially secure and energetic, they are revisioning postretirement life and moving from the comfortable rocking chair to a state of preferment, with an opportunity to refocus on new structure and purpose, including time for leisure, continuous learning, new pursuits, and perhaps encore careers.

It’s not retirement, it’s preferment, because this phase of one’s life provides the opportunity to do the things you prefer and are most meaningful to you. Only you can determine what those things are. Only you can identify where you want to spend your time and with whom. Only you can decide whose lives you want to impact and in what ways. As professionals, those of us in the clinical arena or in academia have been blessed with extensive careers during which we have done meaningful work. We are the seasoned professionals!

The word preferment is perfect for the new retirement. Regardless of their past positions, my colleagues are adopting this term as one of endearment and creating their own next Act…the one that will ignite their passion, bring fulfillment, and be preferred. Speaker – Coach – Consultant…they are excited about what the future will bring!

About Sharon:

Life Balance…it is what I do and who I am! I work with organizations that want to learn how life balance can drive safety, satisfaction, and success!

Sharon is an energetic, motivating and highly skilled professional speaker and author specializing in work/life balance. After all, she wrote the book.   She is the founder of SharonMWeinstein, an LLC and two not-for-profits.

 She holds the coveted Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation, the highest earned international recognition for professional speakers. This makes her one of only 12% of all speakers to hold this designation and one of only 22 nurses in the world with this credential.  www.sharonmweinstein.com

 

 

Filed Under: C-Suite, Celebrations, CEO, CFO, CIO, Clout, Coaching, Consulting, Dreams, Health & Wellness, Public speaking, Retirement, Work-Life Balance, Workplace Stress Tagged With: balance, coaching, commitment, consulting, development, empower, Encouragement, goal-setting, Public Speaker, self-development, SharonMWeinstein, smwgroupllc, speaker, time management, vision board

June 28, 2016 By Sharon Weinstein

How’s the C-Suite treating you today?

images (1)The Chief

So you are the Chief – Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer or Chief Information Officer! What is that “C” contributing to your stress levels, and what are you willing to do to relieve the stress. Do you really think that stress doesn’t have an impact on your body, your memory, your ability to function as a Chief, and your outlook on life?

The numbers tell it all about the body

  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 60% to 70% of all disease and illness is stress-related.
  • An estimated 75% to 90% of visits to physicians are stress related.
  • According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association, 60% of women surveyed said work stress was their biggest problem.
  • Job pressures cause more health complaints than any other stressor, says the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Your outlook

I can guess what you’re thinking… here’s one more thing I have to worry about. As a senior executive, you need to worry! You can’t – nor do you ever want to – eliminate stress altogether. Some stress is beneficial. I’ll even go out on a limb and say that stress by itself is never actually harmful or bad. It’s your reaction to stress that creates problems. It’s your outlook that counts!

We’re simply trained to ignore the signs of stress in an attempt to keep the problems at bay. No wonder: changing life-long behaviors is in itself stressful. This is a classic mind-body disconnect.

The Three Phases of Stress

As you know, just being in business today creates stress, and at your level, stress is more prevalent. Here’s how most people react to a stressor (such as: earnings announcement, problem at home, manufacturing flaw, countless and mind-numbing meetings):

  • First, in what is called the “Alarm Phase,” they react to the stressor. This might result in a burst of anger, shock, or surprise.
  • Second, they move into the “Resistance Phase,” when they begin to adapt to the stressor. They learn to cope with the dysfunction, lack of sleep, or 16-hour work days. This phase can last for years, and after a while will feel very “normal.”
  • Third, the body finally loses steam. They go into the “Exhaustion Phase,” where their ability to resist is reduced. They’ll feel tired, unable to concentrate, and will often catch colds or become ill – the body’s way of slowing them down.

I know from experience that there are many ways to more effectively handle the everyday stressors, as well as those big once-in-awhile stressors. I’ve taught meditation, mindfulness training, breathing exercises, and disseminated countless bits of information on general nutrition and the benefits of regular exercise. Perhaps, as the C-suite executive, it is time for you to learn how to relax!

Squeeze a few minutes of relaxation into each day

Far too many of us lead lives that are frenzied and hurried from the moment we wake up in the morning to the moment we crawl into bed at night. The more packed every moment of your day is the more you need to make time to relax; for a few minutes of deep breathing to 20 minutes of deep relaxation or yoga. Making this a habit will keep you in better stress shape for the day that chronic stress knocks on your door, which it almost certainly will if it hasn’t already. After all, in your senior position, the problems land at your door.

The human system can tolerate a tremendous amount of stress. Over the years, however, too much stress breaks down your resistance to illness and disease and impacts your memory. Remember, the negative consequences of your stress are strongly influenced by your rest habits. Since stress is unlikely to diminish in our high-pressured American lifestyle, take the time throughout your day for the natural unwinding of your stress response.

There are only 24 hours in each day

You don’t have time to rest, you say? You have more time than you think you do. You could:

  • Do deep breathing while driving to work and during other stressful moments throughout your day.
  • Get up 15 minutes earlier and spend the time doing deep relaxation, yoga or journaling.
  • Take 2 minutes several times a day to tense tight muscle groups for 10 to 15 seconds, and then relax them completely. Repeat this two to three times each round.

 So you are the Chief

images

How is the C-Suite treating you today? There is no better time to consider the actions that you will take to enhance your role and to preserve your ability to function as a Chief.

 

Filed Under: C-Suite, CEO, CFO, CIO, Health & Wellness, Wellness, Work-Life Balance, Workplace Stress Tagged With: Action, balance, C-Suite, Chief, Educate, empower, enrich, long hours, resolutions, Stress, time management

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