Find a Life Coach

Panic attacks are one of the most frequently experienced disorders in the world. It is estimated that 4 or 5 out of a hundred people are severely affected by it, one way or the other. Because of panic attacks, a casual mood can turn into an eye-popping, jittery, can’t-sit-still-on-the-chair mood, like what a husband feels when he’s eagerly waiting for his wife to give birth to their child. A “little” anxiety is not a bad thing. It helps to protect you from harm or potential danger, real or imagined, like other emotions.

Human beings are the most fascinating and intriguing creatures in the world. One of the main reasons why we dominate the animal kingdom is the way the human brain works. One very distinct feature we have as human beings is our ability to have feelings. Although we do not discount that animals have feelings too, as evidenced by the way we see them react to certain situations, human feelings have the depth and significance that goes way beyond what animals can attain. For feelings that deliver us good, we develop ways to improve it even further. For feelings that deliver us harm, we also develop  ways to minimize it to acceptable levels. Anxiety or panic attacks are no exemption.

There is no need to totally eliminate harmful feelings because some of them are not 100% harmful. In some ways, they do us good. The idea is to control and not be controlled by our feelings. Let us take fear for example. Fear is one of the most infamous feelings we experience as human beings. It is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) internal block to our success. In spite of the negative perception we may have regarding fear, it too has its good side.

Fear protects us from getting hurt, physically and emotionally. The “little” fear within us is actually good. We need that “little” fear. It prevents us from getting too aggressive. The same is true with panic.

A “little” panic can serve as a form of defense. But being engulfed with excessive panic may hinder you from performing your normal activities and may deter you to take action especially on not-so-common activities. However, if you have only one option to face a panic attack, like it or not, you have to find the right approach to contain such an attack and suppress this discomforting feeling.

Panic attacks are actually products of the mind, an imagination of a perceived threat or danger that can be controlled. In reality, such danger does not exist. Even the worst scenario that you can perceive under these circumstances are not life threatening.

Life is too short to be preoccupied with anxieties that hinder growth. For this same reason, we must find the corresponding cure or remedy to stop panic in its tracks. In the same context about fear, panic protects us from harm; but when excessive panic becomes harmful itself, we have to explore ways to contain it to the level we want or need it to be.

Mariano Jauco is a Certified Professional Life Coach who has empowered busy business professionals, business owners and non-profit executives by sharing his knowledge to produce positive change in the world. His life coaching techniques and methods will help you reach your goals while creating more balance in your life. Life coaching will help you achieve the success and prosperity you deserve.

          Managers are those groups of employees who are at the first level of line management.   As the rank and file employees answer directly to them, the managers have the greatest influence on how the employees behave and how positive their attitudes are toward the company they are working for.    The employees’ perception of the company and how important they perceive their own roles in the company are vital to the success of the business.

          This is the exact reason why managers should have the right “ people skills ” to be able to effectively motivate the staff and deal with difficult problems.    The managers must serve as the guide of the staff  so every employee would have a someone to look up to and turn to  for coaching and support and for questions that they might have for their career development and work efficiency.    Thus, a manager must be a good leader and also a follower of company rules to serve as a model for his subordinates.

          The culture in the business and good staff management  are powerful forces that affect staff retention.    It is to be remembered that employees who feel good about themselves and are satisfied of their roles  and their contribution to the business are going to reflect this in the way they help push the company forward.    In much the same way that improper people management  can also force the workers to resign.    Thus, it is of utmost importance that managers have the knowledge on how to motivate, guide and oversee his staff.

          Since managers are in the frontlines dealing directly with the staff and faced with various issues,  for example, poor work ethics, various customer complaints, bad performance, low work productivity, etc., they must know exactly how to handle these problems, take appropriate action, and cope with stress at the end of the day.

          Statistics show that almost two out of three employees who do not show up for work is not physically ill.   Unscheduled absences are one of the major causes of low productivity.   This is most often due to lack of firm staff policies and want of  good staff discipline.  

          For most companies,  dealing with staff absenteeism is upon the frontline managers.   This is because it is the immediate supervisors or frontline managers who are most aware of the circumstances surrounding the absence of their subordinates.    Also, the managers are in the best position to be aware of the problem as soon as it starts and also in the position to very well identify its causes.   Therefore, their active involvement in the company’s absence policy and disciplinary procedures  is vital to the effectiveness and success of these policies.

           It is, however, unfortunate that most managers are not very well trained in managing absenteeism in the workplace.   They have been left on their own and without any means to carry out the often unpopular task of identifying, confronting and resolving frequent absence abuse.

          To ensure that supervisors and frontline managers are comfortable and competent in their role of managing absenteeism, they need to have the full support of senior management.    Everybody must be aware of the different objectives of the absence policy.    If there are misunderstandings between departments, the policy is bound to lose its effectiveness.

          To provide more consistency, supervisors should be trained in their responsibilities about managing absenteeism, advised how to conduct effective return-to-work interviews,  and educated in the imposition of disciplinary sanctions if the need arises.

          Managing absenteeism requires a firm company policy.    But, above everything else, it must have a “Plan B” is ever the problem persists.   It must ensure that the work is appropriately covered during the term of the employee’s absence.    A reliever should be assigned in order to cover the work so as not to hinder productivity.

          Importantly, critical actions must be taken to instill to the employees that absence abuse will not be tolerated and there are appropriate sanctions for these unjustified absences.  Some of the usual policies and absenteeism deterrents can be:

•  Having an absence policy in written form which provisions are made known to all the employees;
•  Confirming from the employee’s household when  the employee phones in sick for the day.  This will require a visit to the employee’s domicile.
•  Having a detailed record of absences which specifies the cause of the absence, medical record form the physician, days of absence, date of return and the like;
•  Identifying the diverse patterns of absences and the possible causes of these;
•  Conducting a thorough interview when the employee gets back; and
•  Imposing disciplinary sanctions if there is a need to do so.

One of the most common issue people deal with in regards to eliminate clutter and getting organized is. Having no clue to where to begin or where to get started, so it gets put off until afterwards, of course the reasons are usually honest.

Of course, there’s a lot going on in our lives. We are all over the place and there never seems to be adequate” time to get all our things done. And it’s easier to put organizing off because you assume it’ll take up too much time right now.

The other priorities like eating and resting (minor things, right?) of course take first on the list. But organizing yourself doesn’t have to be so time consuming every single day. And if you don’t start your home organization, even if just a small portion at a time, there are some true negative affects that, well, could kill you.

A little drastic, possibly but the impact clutter and disorganization has on your health is very, very real. It adds unnecessary weight to your already hectic life. It sucks away your get-up-and-go and makes you tired. And in many people, it raises the symptoms of depression. But enough of the negative things here’s how we can transform our self from being organized and getting rid of clutter:

     -More sleep

     -A better mood daily

     – Improved relationships

     -Easier house organization

     -Your bills get paid on time

     -More storage

     -More time to do things you actually enjoy!

All these things are really impactful and getting organized ought not to be delayed any longer. But I realize it is still too easy to delay for “later.” I will be honest, the here and now makes it easier to just leave things on the counter, on chairs and tables or throw items in closets and drawers.

It’s too easy to put things down and ignore my straightforward and important rule of “touch it once.” Though, like I mentioned earlier clutter can be deadly and this is no joke. A while back there was a story of a 62 year old woman from Washington that was found dead below nearly six feet of dishes, boxes and “clutter” that apparently collapsed on her a very sad and very drastic story. Take this poor woman’s life back approximately thirty years. How many days pass by when she procrastinated and said she would “get to it tomorrow?”

Now I hope your situation is not as severe but realness is reality. And unless you get things under control right away, you just don’t know what a disorganized house can become. At the very least I bet you’re feeling uncomfortable and a little frustrated with a real desire to simplify your life at home. It’s not a lot to demand, is it?

And we all know stress is not good. But maybe your situation isn’t so out-of-control, and you just have a desire to get rid of clutter and get your things organized. Or you need to manage document better because it happens that you draw a blank to pay a bill that was sitting somewhere in a pile (because you don’t possess a real system for your bills — which you need.)

No sweat, correct? After all, what’s a $5 payment here or a $35 late fee there? It adds up.

So how about you take a step in the direction of ending clutter in your house and getting organized before it kills you?

Have you ever concentrated on something so hard that the world seems to recede into the background? Like when you see a blemish on your chin and it begins to take on the dimensions of a quarter? Or when you are shuffling through a business proposal that you must deliver that day to an unsupportive group of peers?

Each, in their own right seem to gobble up every inch of computing brain space as you mull over advantages, consequences, causes, and reactions of others. Our level of anxiety over the mind numbing details might eventually increase to such an extent that other areas of our life run out of control. It gets to the point where nothing in business and in life is getting done. You are no longer productive!

Article Source: http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com

About the Author:  Karel Murray (http://www.Karel.com) is a Certified Speaking Professional, author of "Hitting Our Stride: Women, Work and What Matters" and business trainer who helps women entrepreneurs and executives balance their work/personal lives AND improve their overall productivity. Now, you can listen to her exciting, free interviews that will help you maintain and sustain a healthy business and a healthy lifestyle at http://www.JustForAMomentPodcast.com

Although advance planning for resource allocation is the ideal scenario, many organizations found themselves caught short by the severe constraints imposed by the economic downturn. What are the alternatives when organizations are operating in crisis mode and there is no “Plan A?”

Given the need to make decisions about how to curtail their operations immediately, leaders have two options that can help them in the short-run: (1) increase inputs or (2) decrease outputs. Within each of these options, there are several alternatives, some of which will be more viable than others depending on the given situation. Let’s look at each set of options in turn, and examine their feasibility.

Increase Inputs
Here are four ways to increase inputs:
1. Delegate
2. Outsource
3. Work more hours
4. Increase efficiency

Alternatives #1-3 presume the availability of resources such as people (i.e., those to whom you can delegate things) and money (e.g., paying others to do the work, paying overtime). Organizations that are short of those resources are unlikely to be in a position to select those choices. Although some employers may argue that they could avoid paying overtime simply by having salaried staff work more hours, such a view is short-sighted: people will burn out quickly, and they will be very likely to leave the organization at the first opportunity. Thus for most organizations in crisis mode, increasing efficiency seems to be the most sustainable way to increase inputs in the face of scarce resources.

Decrease Outputs
Here are four ways to decrease outputs:
1. Delay the promised goods or services
2. Provide partial delivery of products or services
3. Reduce service or performance standards
4. Decrease the number of products or services

Although none of these alternatives may seem very palatable, in a crisis situation they may be preferable to not being able to achieve the organization’s mission at all. For example, some customers may be open to a delay or partial delivery due to their own financial situations. Others may be unhappy with a delay but will accept it as an alternative to non-delivery.
Reducing service or performance standards may be a viable option for some organizations. For example, one organization I worked with recently is justifiably proud of its tradition of providing “excellent” service across the board. Given severe budget constraints, however, its leaders now are considering the possibility that customers will find “very good” or “good” service levels acceptable, at least in the short-term. This will allow the organization to re-allocate some resources or to continue to operate in the absence of others. However, for an organization whose mission focuses on providing exceptional service, this option is not feasible – unless it revises its mission statement.

Decreasing the number of products or services actually may serve the organization well in the long-term as well as in the short-term. Most likely some customers will be disappointed to find fewer choices. Considering the alternative is the inability to achieve the organization’s mission at all, however, the decrease may seem like a reasonable “price” to pay. And over time, if those products and services in fact are very important to the organization’s mission, they may be reinstated.

Recommendations for Successful Implementation
Here are four recommendations to help ensure that decisions about how to operate most effectively within existing constraints have the greatest positive impact:
1. Ensure the above decisions are the result of conscious, strategic choices based on the mission.
2. Once set, communicate the decisions clearly and in a variety of ways to employees, customers, and other stakeholders.
3. In most cases, radical changes will require the adjustment of stakeholders’ mindsets. For example, people who have worked for years under the notion that providing anything other than excellent service are likely to find it difficult to provide anything less. Leaders must address this issue in order to ensure successful change.
4. Recognize that the organization’s mission may have to change to reflect existing circumstances. This change may be short-term or long-term.

© 2010 Pat Lynch. All rights reserved.  Article Source: http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com

About the Author:
Pat Lynch, Ph.D., is President of Business Alignment Strategies, Inc., a consulting firm that helps clients optimize business results by aligning people, programs, and processes with organizational goals. For additional articles please visit our web site at www.BusinessAlignmentStrategies.com. You may contact Pat at Pat@BusinessAlignmentStrategies.com or at (562) 985-0333. Copyright 2010 Pat Lynch. All rights reserved.