10 Tips to be Healthy and Happy from Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, “Eat, Pray, Love:”

1. Take a walk.
2. Write something.
3. Read something.
4. Don’t eat too much.
5. Spend some time in silence.
6. Stretch.
7. Send a message of love to someone.
8. Drink water.
9. Mess around in the garden.
10. Floss

I would add as number 11. “Spend some time with someone you love.” These are the little guys I love to spend time with, even if only on Skype!

Owen and SImon all dressed up for my Speaker Hall of Fame Award Banquet!

Almost all these tips are things that can be done during a work day, so please share them with your colleagues. Taking care of oneself is the first way to have a more passionate, productive workplace!

To learn more about Barbara’s work to help create workplaces of joy, go to www.barbaraglanz.com.

TRIP TO TURKEY — September 6 – 12, 2011

The impetus for this trip was the wedding of my second cousin, Heather Howard, on September 9. 2011. I joined my aunt, Joan Anderson , and my cousin, Loralyn Willis, and her husband, Fred, in Istanbul at the Taksim Life Hotel, and we spent the five days we were there having fun together.

Standing in Taksim Square

September 6-7 – Travel
I left Sarasota for Tampa at 9:15 am, my flight to JKF left at 12:05, arriving at 2:55, and then my Delta flight to Istanbul left at 4:50 pm, arriving in Istanbul at 10:15 am September 7 (3:15 am EST!) I took a cab with some of Heather’s friends and arrived at the hotel early afternoon. We were so impressed driving into the city with all the beautiful landscaping along the medians – lovely patterns of flowers, hanging baskets from poles, and much greenery. With all the domes, minarets, and spires of the skyline, we found it a beautiful city to enter.

Read More…

THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE –ALL IN ONE STAY!

In August of 2011 the National Speakers Association convention was held at the Anaheim Marriott. It was an interesting experience of contrasts between people and systems and how they impact service.

The convention began on a Friday, and until Tuesday the service had been adequate but not outstanding. At the final banquet of the convention on Tuesday night, I was being inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame, one of the highest honors NSA bestows, and all my children, two of my grandchildren, my favorite aunt and cousin, and a couple who is “adopted family” were all coming. However, the inductees were a secret, so no one was supposed to know who they were until that night, meaning that I could not be seen with my family ahead of time.

GrannaBarbara, Simon and Owen getting ready for the big event!

They all arrived sometime Tuesday afternoon which happened to be my grandson Owen’s sixth birthday. Because he was wearing a birthday pin he had been given on the airplane, the greeter in the lobby wished him a happy day which pleased him.

The banquet was an amazing experience for all of us. I was honored, thrilled, and humbled to be getting the award, and in my speech, I asked all 2000 people in the room to say, “Happy Birthday, Owen,” something he will never forget.

Somewhere during the evening the staff found a small cupcake and brought it to Owen during dinner, and using creative thinking since they had no candle, one of the waiters pulled out a match and did a quick “birthday wish.”

The evening lasted until almost 11:00 pm, so the little guys, 3 and 6, were exhausted at the end, but when they went back up to their room, they found a large tray filled with birthday goodies for Owen – a stuffed parrott, a pirate eye patch and sword, a treasure chest filled with candy, and a card from the staff at the Marriott. (The pirate theme tied in with the new update of “Pirates of the Caribbean which had recently opened at Disneyland.) We were blown away as NEVER had a hotel ever done anything like that before! Owen had a perfect birthday, and we could not wait to thank the manager of the hotel. Someone had been observant and had gone the extra mile to delight a little boy AND his family!

Read More…

QUESTION: Why should I take time to recognize employees when they’re just doing their job?

BARBARA ANSWERS: Click Here

For more questions and answers with Barbara, visit Barbara’s Video Q&A

Barbara Receiving her Award

More pictures after the link.

Read More…

LONDON Trip
August 9 – 16, 2011
I met Leila Witkin from London when I spoke at the Global Speakers Forum in Amsterdam in March. During one of our conversations, I mentioned that I had not been to London for years except to fly through the airport. Leila responded immediately, “I have two very precious tickets to the ballet of ‘Anna Karenina’ on August 10. If you can come, you will be my guest.” What a generous invitation!

As I thought about it, I realized I would be returning from California August 6 and the National Speakers Association convention where I would be (to be kept secret until then) inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame on August 2 and I was not booked to speak for the next week, so it would be possible for me to go to London. The more I considered it, the more I convinced myself that it was one of those serendipitous experiences that might never come along again, so several weeks later, I emailed Leila and told her I WAS going to come.

Leila and me at the ballet

Read More…

CPAE Hall of Fame Acceptance Speech ~ August 2, 2011

On August 2, 2011, I was honored. thrilled, and humbled to be inducted into the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame in Anaheim, California, at the National Speakers Association convention. There are only 120 members in the world, including Art Linkletter, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Zig Ziglar, Og Mandino and Ken Blanchard. The current members select and vote for the new members, thus the name “Council of Peers Award of Excellence”. Just five people are chosen each year. This year’s amazing recipients were Chad Hymas, Victoria Labalme, Mike Rayburn, Dan Thurmon, (and me)! All my children and two of my grandchildren were there and many, many precious friends, so it was truly a “night to remember!” This is the speech I gave when I accepted my award:

Read More…

In late June our Mastermind group met at the farm home of Jolene and Keith Brown in West Branch, Iowa. Even though I had grown up in a small town in Iowa and had many friends who lived on farms, I had never spent several days actually living on a farm. The experience was an eye-opener for each of us “city folks” and taught us some important lessons about hard work, community, and values.

Read More…

Happy Employees Create Happy Customers
By Barbara A. Glanz

Have you ever seen a company with unhappy employees who had happy customers?
I haven’t!

Employees need managers who can empathize with their stress and pain and who honestly try to create an environment in which they feel valued and respected despite all the changes going on around them. Then they can be their best for their customers.
According to an article by Kenneth Kovach in Employment Relations Today, when employees were asked what they valued most about their jobs in 1946, 1981 and again in 1995, the top three things employees they reported were:

1. Interesting work
2. Full appreciation for the work they’ve done and
3. A feeling of being “in” on things

Each of these motivators relates to an element of the type of caring, spirited workplace managers can create for their employees.

Read More…

QUESTION: What are some strategies I can use to show appreciation to others in my workplace?

BARBARA ANSWERS:

http://www.barbaraglanz.com/iquestions/iq21.html
Click on the link above to see Barbara’s answer to this question.

For more questions and answers with Barbara, visit www.barbaraglanz.com/iquestions.