5 Leadership Communication Strategies That Boost Employee Well-Being

How does executive communication impact employee mental health?

Employees who perceive their leadership as transparent boast a 12x higher job satisfaction rate. By dramatically increasing communication frequency, cutting jargon, and keeping updates under 100 words, leaders drastically reduce workforce anxiety and build systemic psychological safety.

Data shows employees who perceive their companies as transparent have 12x greater job satisfaction than those with the opposite perception. And greater job satisfaction impacts overall well-being.

But what do companies need to share with employees? Recent survey data from Axios of more than 1,000 people about workplace communications suggests employees want to see leaders send more thoughtful and insightful details, with more frequency and consistency.

Here are five practical and actionable ways for leaders to help reduce stress and anxiety across your organization.

1) First, ask your employees how they like receiving information. Some employees may not have access to a computer all day, so how will you reach them? Does your company centralize its employee communications, and if so, to what effect are your employees accessing those channels?

2) Emphasize the impact of information sharing. Often, we are the translators between executives and employees. Your C-suite is thinking one quarter and yet 3-5 years ahead. They are constantly speaking with customers, other industry leaders, and members of the public sector, all while ensuring the right balance between the needs of their employees and meeting the business objectives. This knowledge can ultimately benefit employees, which will help the company. To start, ask for 15 minutes once a month with your executives as part of a story-mining session to learn the three most insightful things they have learned.

3) Be more frequent. If your executives are going months without meeting with their employees, the perception is that there is something to hide. Increase the frequency and start small. If your executives meet with employees quarterly, recommend expanding to twice per quarter.

4) Communicate shorter, jargon-free, and impactful. Help your executives practice keeping their messages tight and understandable. Our role is to help them use words to communicate so employees understand, not impress with unnecessary vocabulary. For emails or newsletters, research suggests keeping them between 75 and 100 words. Will your audience understand your message within seconds? That’s the test!

5) Be more consistent. The more consistent executives share their messages with their employees, the better. This includes the communication style and channels your executives will use. And executives shouldn’t be afraid to repeat and reinforce their message.

Finally, measure the impact regularly and share the results with your leaders.

Changes will take time and require trial and error to find a solid rhythm. But just like the rhythms you create for your external publics, we also address them for our internal publics. These recommendations are examples, but a tailored communication strategy – backed with first-party data - will bode well for the relationship between leadership and its employees.

"Return to What?": Why Generic RTO Mandates Are Failing

How should leaders structure "Return to Office" policies to retain talent?

Blanket "return to office" mandates immediately fail when employees commute just to conduct video calls in empty rooms. To preserve talent and protect well-being, leaders must explicitly define the office as a hub for collaborative learning and deep mentorship, while reserving home working hours exclusively for focused, heads-down execution.

Every day I chat with someone about an update to their company’s return to office policy. I typically hear one of three statements:

- “We’re supposed to go into the office three days per week, but it’s not enforced.”

- “I go into the office, and there’s no one else there. It’s a waste of my time. I spend two hours a day commuting. Why am I here?”

- “We all go into the office, but all we do is stare at our computers and work. I don’t even work with anyone in my office!”

And here lies the problem with “return to office.”

We haven’t defined “return” and “office” in the current and future state of work. Business leaders: my call to action is to define these two words for your company and discuss them with your employees before implementing a return-to-office policy.

Let’s take a step back. I chat with a wide range of members of the public relations industry: from agency account executives and in-house PR managers to CCOs and agency CEOs.

To a T, learning on-the-job is a significant issue. New professionals are eager to learn, and business leaders want their employees to learn faster.

The value of learning from others in an in-person environment is immeasurable.

The problem, however, is twofold:

- Employees have made significant adjustments to their personal life while working full-time from home, from moving to another city to childcare. According to research from HR software company Gusto, “48% of workers said that the ability to work from home some or all of the time would be a major or the most important factor in determining whether to accept a job offer in the future.” Companies, are you listening?

- When companies send out corporate-wide policies saying, “we need everyone in three times per week,” they haven’t explained why and how it will be a different (and positive) employee experience.

Every company needs to answer two questions:

How are we defining “return”? Be as specific as possible. “Come in twice per week” does little for your employees. What activities are we prioritizing for our employees while in the office? If your team comes into the office and all they do is sit at their desk conducting video calls, that’s not a great use of their time. Get granular if you want your team to come in twice per week. One example: “From 10:00-3:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, please be in the office to discuss news trends, conduct brainstorms, and host actionable in-person meetings with your teams. Otherwise, continue working from home for the rest of the week.”

What activities should employees prioritize at home? Save your meetings and brainstorms to in-person discussions and spend time at home on your day-to-day heads down activities – writing, pitching, planning, research, and other activities requiring focus and concentration. Please encourage your teams to set boundaries while at home. Another issue I hear is that because it’s easier to start working, people working from home work longer hours, which causes burnout. Set boundaries with your team and stick with them, especially on nights and weekends.

In short:

- When in the office, prioritize learning and leadership time.

- When at home, prioritize deadlines and to-do lists.

Finally, listen to your employees. Conduct quantitative and qualitative research before implementing a policy. It will save you and your employees time and money.

The faster we can answer “return to what?” the better it is for companies and the well-being of their employees.

Strengthening the Essential Partnership Between PR and HR

Why must public relations leaders partner closely with Human Resources?

Replacing a burned-out employee costs up to four times their salary. Public relations leaders must forge a strategic alliance with Human Resources to effectively communicate internal mental health benefits, leverage Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), and tangibly boost organizational retention.

If you take care of your people, you will make more money. And It’s also the right thing to do.

According to the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), replacing an employee can cost three to four times the employee’s salary. Recent data from McKinsey states workplace flexibility and support for employee health and well-being are drivers in employee retention.

Employees’ experience at their company needs to be designed with their career, emotional, financial, mental, and physical well-being in mind. Let’s look closer at mental health benefits. Data from Gallup says 57 percent of U.S. workers cannot confirm the existence of easily accessible mental health support services in their workplace.

These key challenges can be solved by utilizing skills within our profession. Our strategic communications and relationship-building skills, traditionally used for external purposes, have increasingly been used for internal publics. PRSA has an entire section dedicated to this group!

We have an opportunity to work closely with our human resources counterparts to ensure people understand how to access the mental health resources and other benefits the company has designed.

Here are some ways public relations leaders can play a role.

- Understand how business decision-makers are influenced. The C-suite and their respective board of directors want to know how employee well-being programs will impact the company’s reputation and financial impact. If a well-run program can save the company 10x in turnover and health insurance costs, they will be more likely to say yes to new initiatives.

- Be aware of all the benefits your company offers. For example, even if you’re not a parent, are you still aware of the benefits for parents your company provides? How might your research impact a 1:1 conversation with someone you manage who is a parent or is expecting? Studies show we make buying decisions based on trusted family, friends, and colleagues. Does your company offer a new meditation app, therapy, or other services for mental health? Test out the benefit and try out the user experience. Even if you don’t use the service long-term, someone on your team or a trusted colleague might be interested in your feedback.

- Participate in employee resource groups, voluntary, employee-led groups to nurture a diverse, inclusive workplace aligned with the organization. These groups are great ways to connect with others outside your immediate work stream. They are also groups often empowered to share thoughts and ideas with business decision-makers on benefits available to the company.

- Share feedback with Human Resources. HR teams work tirelessly and thanklessly to source and select the right benefits based on their employees’ feedback. If you have feedback on behalf of yourself or your team, deliver it promptly to your HR team.

Our relationship with human resources has never been more important, nor has it had as much potential to advance our profession. I look forward to witnessing how these relationships evolve in the coming years.

Why Living Your Core Values Prevents Professional Burnout

How do company values impact employee retention?

When employees feel their organization actively embodies its stated values, they have significantly higher engagement scores and are 23% more likely to stay long-term. To prevent burnout in high-stress service industries, professionals must ensure their personal values explicitly align with their employer's boundaries and expectations.

We can safely say the well-being of the PR professional has been a volatile experience since March 2020. After three years of evolving relationships between employees and employers, it’s time to focus on strategies centering on stability. My 2023 call to action for you is to define, communicate, and live your values to ensure your well-being is front and center. Values are “the fundamental beliefs that guide and motivate our behavior and choices of what is important in life.” Brand-new employee experience data from Qualtrics says, “When employees feel their organization embodies these values, they’re 27% more likely to have higher engagement scores, and 23% more likely to stay working for more than three years.” The more your employees understand and embrace their values, the better they will perform for you. And the better they perform for you, the more money your company will make. Additional data from the same Qualtrics report says, “Globally, 63% of those who rate their work-life balance highly are willing to go above and beyond for their organizations.” Public relations is a service industry. It can sometimes require the beyond 9-5 Monday-Friday experience. However, we must set boundaries as the DEFAULT rather than the EXCEPTION. I encourage every public relations professional to spend this month doing the following: 1. Understand the values of your employer. Ask your manager or other leaders how they identify with or live those values. If you run your own company, review and refresh your values. 2. Understand how your personal values align with your company’s values. You should avoid working at companies whose values interfere with what is important to you! 3. Identify three things for your well-being to focus on this year in alignment with those values. Examples include hiring a financial planner, volunteering for a professional association, or blocking an hour out of every day for exercise. 4. Assess how your company’s values are consistently and strategically communicated at your workplace. For example, include them at the top of every internal meeting agenda, or reference them when praising others (directs, peers, and bosses) for outstanding work and how they tie to those values. 5. Encourage your employees to share examples of how they used your company’s values to improve their well-being. For instance: Chasing the Sun’s values are respect for time, transparency, and professionalism. If a Chasing the Sun employee told me this month they preplanned their entire 2023 paid time off schedule (as I used to do during my career), I might give them a spot bonus for prioritizing their well-being. Let’s look to 2023 as an empowering force for us to focus on living our values. Because when that happens, we can truly advance the PR profession and you as a world-class professional. I look forward to following along on your respective journeys.

The Essential Self-Care Guide for First-Time People Managers

Why is self-care critical for new people managers?

Direct reports model their professional behavior entirely on their managers. If a first-time manager fails to delegate tasks, sends late-night emails, or skips vacations, their team will quickly burn out. Proactively modeling visible, healthy boundaries is the most effective way a new leader can retain their talent.

As we head into 2023, many of us will be promoted and taking on new responsibilities. Some of you will become people managers for the first time. Congrats in advance!

Becoming a new people manager is a seminal moment for a public relations professional. I remember when I learned I’d be managing someone. It was one part exhilarating and one part scary!

A transition from tactician to one responsible for another person’s professional development is an important responsibility.

The key to a successful manager/employee relationship is taking care of your well-being so you have the energy to ensure your direct reports feel supported and confident to do their job.

Helping to prevent or minimize work-related stressors by proactively discussing workplace well-being will positively impact your managerial role.

Here are three well-being tips for new people managers.

Act like you now have a new job…because you do!

Having a sense of your new role and responsibilities will go a long way to ensuring your path is successful. Before you start managing people, speak with your direct manager, secure agreement on your priorities going forward, and what should be delegated. A great manager will guide you on how to make this evolution, which includes feeling comfortable with letting some tasks go to someone else.

Letting go is one of the most challenging parts of being a manager. You now can help someone else learn how to write a media pitch, develop a press list, write the first draft of social media posts, and other tactics you’ve already mastered.

Understand people will be following your lead.

We often look to our direct managers as a model for how we should function professionally. Your new directs will look at every move you make, including:

- If you’re sending emails late at night and over weekends.

- Are you joining conference calls while on vacation?

- Are you even taking a vacation?

- Are you scheduling meetings just to schedule meetings?

Modeling the behavior as one who prioritizes their well-being will show your team the right path forward and ultimately help retain your team members who otherwise might burn out and want to leave the company. See this new role as an opportunity to establish a best practice to protect your and your team’s well-being.

Ask questions and listen.

Now you’ve established your role and the boundaries you’ll set, now is the opportunity to have discussions with your new directs. As you’re building relationships, consider asking the following questions.

- What would help you maintain your well-being while working?

- If you’re comfortable sharing, name scenarios you found challenging at work that has impacted your well-being.

- How would you like to be supported if you are feeling stress and anxiety?

- How have workplace situations caused stress in the past?

- How can I best support your well-being?

Finally, one of the most important things I learned in my public relations career: your success is measured by the success of your team. Celebrate great work from your team, share kudos with your leadership, and give your directs opportunities to succeed and shine. Their accomplishments will be rewarded, and you will be rewarded as well.

Establishing these best practices will go a long way to ensure your well-being is a priority and those of your team as well.

Beating Seasonal Executive Burnout: How to "Fall Forward”

Does the end of Daylight Saving Time impact workplace stress?

Yes. The end of Daylight Saving Time and the resulting shorter days trigger a significant seasonal spike in cortisol (the body's primary stress hormone). Leaders must mitigate this seasonal performance dip by proactively adjusting sleep schedules weeks in advance and enforcing strict "home network only" boundaries in the evening.

Happy Fall, everyone. Time for all things pumpkin spice, leaves turning, and crisp mornings. There are three months left in the year. Most of what has happened this year has been completely out of our control. I want to help put you back in the driver's seat of your car as we start the final quarter.

For a majority of Americans, Saturday, October 31 will be the end of Daylight Savings Time. A time change can impact us mentally and physically for several days or weeks. Research suggests that there are “seasonal variation in cortisol levels with significantly higher levels found in winter and fall than in spring and summer.” Since cortisol is essentially your body’s main stress hormone, it’s important to recognize the impact of how we will feel in the coming months as the days are shorter and the evenings are longer. I am here to help you prepare for this change and implement techniques to make this experience more positive.

Here are three things you can do starting today to prepare for this change and ultimately “Fall Forward.”

Shift your mindset: Typically, we get excited about “gaining” an hour when we “fall back.” We are not “gaining an additional hour” as a result of the fall clock adjustment. We are “adjusting an hour.” There are still 24 hours per day ahead of you. Waking up at your “normal” time on Sunday, November 1 is critical to having a successful sleep pattern to get you through the week.

Recommendation: Schedule something now that you can look forward to participating in on the morning of Sunday, November 1. Schedule time to get outside and exercise, see friends (physically distant, obviously), or schedule a fall photoshoot with your family. Stay away from screens as much as possible; if you must work on the weekend, spend that time on Saturday, October 31 (before the Trick or Treating starts!). Encourage your colleagues and teams to do the same.

Make small changes week over week: Making habits permanent doesn’t happen overnight. When I started my 150 pounds weight loss journey in 2007, I started examining my breakfast and my breakfast only. The same approach works with how we can thrive during a time change. Start slow and with purpose.

Recommendation: Every week in October set your alarm to wake up 5 minutes earlier. If you typically wake up at 6:00 a.m., set your alarm to 5:55 a.m., the next week at 5:50 a.m., and so on until you wake up 20 minutes earlier in November. Spend that extra time on YOU. Read, meditate, journal, exercise, or get another kind of a quick, early “win” that can set your day off right.

Create your “home network only” time every evening: Studies show that time on our smartphones late at night has negative effects on our sleep patterns and daytime productivity. Focusing exclusively on your immediate home network – your family - in the evening can help you sleep better at night and feel more refreshed in the morning. Trust me, your social networks and all your notifications will still be there in the morning!

Recommendation: Set a reminder on your phone every evening that starts your “home network only” time. No more email or scrolling social media endlessly every evening!

Please take these recommendations to heart so you can start the last few months of the year on the right foot. Have a wonderful start to the fall, everyone.

Why "Toxic Positivity" is Destroying Your Team's Resilience

How does toxic positivity impact team mental health?

Forcing a "positive vibes only" culture during challenging times invalidates authentic emotions and drastically harms team mental health. Leaders must eradicate toxic positivity by deeply recognizing complex emotions, openly expressing vulnerability by saying “I don’t know,” and pausing automated business-as-usual messaging during crises.

In the public relations industry, it can be easy to focus exclusively on having a positive mindset. The issue with that mindset lies when we are working with those who are going through personal or professional challenges. While with good intentions, phrases like “They’re in a better place now,” “Get on with it,” and “Positive vibes only” can cause more harm than good. These phrases are examples of Toxic Positivity, defined as “the belief that no matter how dire or difficult a situation is, people should maintain a positive mindset.”

If you’ve been a recipient of toxic positivity, it could have had a negative impact on your mental health. In short, overcoming toxic positivity is about reading the physical and virtual room. As business leaders, we not only need to recognize our own emotions, but our colleagues and clients as well.

How can we reverse toxic positivity? Here are three ways.

Understand and communicate our emotions.

Much like a heartbeat or breath, an emotion is a physiological experience to give you information about the world. Research from UC Berkeley says there are 27 human emotions. From admiration, boredom, and calmness, to disgust, fear, and surprise, how we feel and communicate these emotions is critical.

When we recognize these emotions more profoundly, they can positively impact our personal and professional relationships. Understanding and expressing our feelings is fundamental to having good mental health. Next time someone asks you how you’re doing, particularly during a challenging time, go deeper by examining and sharing one of the emotions identified.

Be vulnerable by saying “I don’t know.”

We are often quick with our responses. As leaders, problem identifiers and solvers, we feel under pressure to have all the answers. We don’t have all the answers and can’t solve all the problems! We must respect ourselves enough to say when we don’t have a reply to a question. We must stop putting pressure on ourselves to have answers to all the questions. It’s also a sign of vulnerability; a positive trait people look for in leaders. Saying, “I don’t have all the answers,” or “I don’t know,” is incredibly powerful and ultimately shows leadership.

Have a social media pause plan in place.

Consider pausing your brand’s social media channels when a local, national, or global emergency occurs. The last thing your fans and followers want to see in their feed during a crisis is a sunny, cheerful post about an upcoming sale. Social media community management tools help ease the challenge of scheduling content. However, if you use an automated scheduling tool, please make sure you have a pause plan in case of an emergency.

Installing these recommendations will help retain and grow your relationships, even during the most challenging times. Be safe. Be kind. Be well.

The 6-3-1 Method: A Proactive Approach to Executive Paid Time Off

Why do executives struggle to use their paid time off?

Executives chronically underutilize their earned vacation days due to artificial guilt and a lack of pre-planned coverage. Leaders can permanently solve this by implementing the "6-3-1 Approach"—proactively scheduling their PTO for the entire year and utilizing a structured communication and delegation plan before logging off.

Heading into springtime, many of us are thinking about ways to enjoy time off away from meetings and deliverables. Unfortunately, recent data shows we are not entirely using a vital employee benefit: getting paid not to work. Brand-new research from the U.S. Travel Association says in 2021:

- Only 25 percent of Americans used ALL of their earned time off.

- American workers left an average of more than four days or 29 percent of their paid time off (PTO) on the table.

- More than half (53 percent) of remote workers work more hours now than in the office.

In an era in which we’re seeing companies attempting to offer four-day work weeks and unlimited paid time off, without a structure in place, issues of burnout will continue to soar.

Beyond the data, we continue to have the following perceptions:

- “It looks good to the boss if I’m available 24/7.”

- “My boss never takes a vacation, so I won’t either!”

- “If I take time off, I’ll have to do more work in less time.”

This month, I challenge you to take a different approach to your time off. Don’t expect your manager or human resources department to micromanage how much PTO you have remaining. Set your boundaries and take your earned time off!

Here are some actionable tips on how to use your earned time off.

First, create your proactive system.

In my public relations career, I used a 6-3-1 approach. I would take a week off every six months, every three months I’d take a long weekend, and every month I’d take a half day or full day. Setting this in my calendar gave me the confidence I will use my time off and set boundaries with my colleagues, managers, and clients. Design a system that works for you.

Once your vacation is scheduled, it’s time to set yourself up for a stress-free time off.

At least 1-2 weeks before your vacation, create a pre-vacation priorities plan. The process is as simple as getting out a piece of paper and sorting your priorities into four categories:

- Pre-vacation priorities: what must be done before you leave, and how are you making time for these priorities?

- Delegate: what project(s) will continue while you’re away, who is your proxy, and do they know what they need to execute?

- Post-vacation priorities: what are your work priorities when you return, and when will you work on those priorities?

- Delete: what is NOT a valuable use of your time or anyone else’s time?

Additional tips before you leave on vacation:

- Block out at least 1-2 hours in your calendar for your first day back. This time is for you to review your email inbox and get caught up before diving into meetings and other activities.

- Build in a recovery day. If you’re traveling, the stresses of doing so on a Sunday before going back to work on Monday won’t make you feel refreshed. Consider leaving for home 48-72 hours before you return to work.

- Ask your team to send you a “while you were away” email. I always appreciated a “what you missed” email when my teams shared immediate highlights, issues, and questions I should start reviewing upon my return. And I worked with my teams to return this in kind when my colleagues were away.

This approach will empower you to take the time off you deserve guilt- and stress-free. Now, get planning and enjoy your vacation!

Optimizing the Well-Being of the Client-Agency Relationship

How can agencies and clients build a mutually beneficial partnership?

Agencies and clients can instantly reduce turnover and project burnout by shifting their structural mindset from "us and them" to a unified team. By collaboratively establishing crystal-clear guidelines surrounding meeting cadences and core working hours, both parties foster a highly productive, long-term relationship

The pandemic has helped humanize all relationships in our industry, including the one between agency and client. As someone who has led more than a dozen account teams throughout my career, I know first-hand the importance of having perspective on the blending of personal and professional lives our clients are going through. I also know the challenges that agency leaders and their teams have daily.

Shared challenges of working from crowded homes, sharing constrained resources with partners and spouses, taking care of children and parents, and adopting pets have helped bring together clients and agencies like never before.

Heading into 2022, a new set of client and agency relationships will form. Contracts will be signed, and both parties will be excited about how the new partnership.

As a part of those new partnerships and strengthening existing partnerships, I strongly encourage my corporate- and agency-side friends to have a transparent discussion on day-to-day work expectations. Having a practical and actionable dialogue will help reduce stress, anxiety, and turnover.

Four ways the senior client lead and the senior account lead can drive a discussion on this topic include:

- Shifting the mindset of “us and them” to “we.” My most successful client relationships were those that the clients honestly thought of our teams as a true collective. The onus is on both the client and agency leaders to set a standard that this is a single unit.

- Sharing the realities of the client and agency team members’ schedules. Due to several people leaving their companies and joining new ones, this is an opportunity for clarity around core work hours across the collective team. Do the client and agency have similar approaches to remote and hybrid work expectations. If not, how can adjustments be made?

- Establishing clear guidelines on why meetings need to be scheduled. Is there a clear purpose? Is a pre-read sent ahead of the meeting? Is it a 60-minute meeting when a 25-minute meeting will do? Do all members of the client and agency team need to participate? Can they otherwise be working on projects? Are there expectations around having cameras on during meetings, which, while essential to establish rapport, can be draining if used too often?

- Determining the primary channel(s) to which the client and agency teams will communicate. Will the agency use the client’s standard tools (Microsoft Teams, Zoom, etc.), or is the client looking to the agency to establish norms for the business?

Building a healthy relationship between client and agency is essential to establishing a consistent, productive, and mutually beneficial partnership. Setting expectations in place that can positively impact the well-being of the collective team members will significantly impact the relationship in the years to come.

Eradicating the Burnout Epidemic Among School PR Leaders

Why do communications professionals struggle with taking vacation?

Communications professionals frequently suffer from "vacation guilt," falsely believing they must always remain accessible during a crisis. To eradicate burnout, leadership teams must relentlessly protect sleep hygiene, refuse to work through lunch, and proactively schedule paid time off six to twelve months in advance.

My school public relations friends, you have played a significant role in keeping us alert, aware, and safe throughout COVID-19. Despite all the challenges we’ve faced, I’ve never been prouder to be part of this family of professionals. Thank you for all you’ve done. That said, we must ensure we are prioritizing our well-being heading into 2022. Earlier this year, I surveyed 100 public relations professionals on the state of their well-being. Some of you may have taken the survey, and I want to share a few key points and recommendations. We are not taking our earned vacation: Fifty-one percent of respondents said they only took 0-3 uninterrupted vacation days, while 29 percent said 3-7 days were uninterrupted by work. Some of us “have too much work to do,” “feel bad to leave work for others,” or “have nowhere to go, so I might as well work.” I’ve heard all these excuses; I want you to get selfish with the time you’ve earned! - Recommendation: Take your vacation! Your employee benefits are there for a reason. My twist: consider scheduling your paid time off 6-12 months in advance. It might seem a little strange, but this approach will help you later by ensuring you take vacations. Of course, unexpected things may arise that require you to reschedule your time off, but I’ve found it’s the exception, not the norm. We’re not sleeping well: Seventeen percent of the respondents said that thinking about work impacts their sleep daily, while 46 percent said at least once per week that work affects their sleep. - Recommendation: One of the first things we recommend to people who aren’t sleeping well is to drink their water. The systems in our bodies are working while we’re sleeping and need water to process! Try to give yourself a 1–2-hour gap from your last drink of water before you go to bed, and limit alcohol and caffeine in the evenings. The lack of wellness resources is still high. Fifty-six percent said they do not participate in any program dedicated to improving mental and physical well-being. Related, people want to make time to exercise as most respondents said they would spend an extra hour out of their day to exercise. - Recommendation: Get with the program! Give yourself one month to challenge yourself to do the same exercise every day. Whether it’s walking for 30 minutes, doing pushups, dusting off your bicycle, or taking a swim at the local pool, find something that you can do every day for a month. Record your measurements and how you feel before and after your challenge. You’ll be surprised how much a simple change can have a positive impact. We are working through lunch. Thirty-one percent of the respondents said that they take uninterrupted lunch breaks away from their place of work. However, 20 percent said they never take lunch breaks. Because we are working through lunch, we often don’t focus on how quickly we’re eating. We need to slow down to eat our meals; we should give ourselves at least 15 minutes so our bodies have time to digest our food correctly. Eating too quickly can be hard on our stomach, PLUS our brain hasn’t caught up, which might cause us to overeat. The opposite issue can happen as well; we forget to eat. Forgetting to eat or skipping meals has its own mental and physical challenges. - Recommendation: Start with identifying 2-3 days per week that you can block off 30 minutes over lunch to focus on nothing but taking your time to enjoy your lunch, listen to a podcast or audiobook, and prepare mentally for the rest of the afternoon. Focusing on just these four things is a step toward improving your well-being and preparing your mind and body to tackle 2022. Finally, thank you, School PR leaders, for all you’re doing! I’ve never been prouder to work with this collective of trusted advisors. You are indeed my heroes. Most of all, you have done so with a level of empathy and humility that is truly inspiring.

Essential Soft Skills for the Modern PR Professional

How can new public relations professionals accelerate their careers?

To accelerate their careers, new public relations professionals must proactively offer solutions to leadership, maintain a real-time ledger of quantitative results, and explicitly prioritize their mental and physical well-being by proactively scheduling paid time off.

At ICON, I had the opportunity to lead a discussion on the “New PR Professional Soft Skills Guide.” It’s a presentation I recently developed after spending the last two years reflecting on my career journey before launching Chasing the Sun. Here are a few quick takeaways from the session.

- Keep an active resume of accomplishments. It’s easier to update your resume and LinkedIn profile in real-time, not just when you’re looking for a new job.

- How? Schedule one hour every month to write down all your accomplishments. Focus on writing your accomplishments using a Situation, Action, Result approach that shows quantitative impact (when applicable).

- You’re hired to help solve problems. Lean in and offer solutions proactively by showing your critical thinking skills.

- How? Instead of saying to your manager, “I need your help. I don’t know what to do,” say, “I’d love your thoughts before I go forward with solving this problem. I think we need to solve it by doing XYZ. Do you agree?”

- Volunteer on a board of directors for a non-profit, allowing you to gain insights into running businesses.

- How? Start with a topic you’re passionate about, and identify local organizations that align with those values. Reach out and ask how you can get involved!

- Prioritize your well-being.

- How? One quick way to do so is to schedule your time off proactively. I encourage my clients and workshop participants to take at least one week off every six months, an extended weekend every quarter, and a day or half-day off every month.

My final piece of advice: one of the endless benefits of joining PRSA is the opportunity to learn from each other. Ask any member for advice for starting your career, and you will hear endless examples of valuable thoughts to take with you on your journey!

Strategic Career Well-Being: A Leader's Guide to Retention

How can leaders proactively protect their team's career well-being?

Most corporate hiring surges happen early in the year, leaving unprepared teams with massive talent gaps. To protect team well-being and retain top performers, executives must conduct dedicated, bi-annual 1:1 career mapping sessions and learn to celebrate departing employees with grace rather than resentment.

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. It’s the season for football, pumpkin spice lattes, and…team planning!

As business leaders, we take pride in the people and teams we manage. Their success is our success and gives us the confidence to continue to evolve.

And after the holidays wrap up, a lot of decisions will be made by members of your team as they’ll be designing their personal and professional plans for the year. According to Indeed, “Companies tend to hire most in January and February.” Your team members might already be thinking about a move away from your company, leaving you with gaps to immediately fill.

Therefore, as you prepare for a busy holiday season, this is an opportunity to make sure you’re thinking about the career wellbeing of your team members.

Here’s how.

Talk with your team members about their role. When I ran agency account teams, I made time to talk to my teams often about their current role, what they are interested in doing, and how that mapped to the goals of the agency. Based on their feedback we did what we could to make sure their career trajectory was a fit for the client and the firm. As a result, that meant shuffling around responsibilities, creating brand-new roles, or finding opportunities for team members to work on other account teams. More than anything, the team members appreciated that their careers were being thought about first.

Recommendation: host 30-60 minute conversations with your team members every six months specifically focused on their role and how it ladders up to their career ambitions. Listen to what they are saying.

Be proactive about the future work environment. We know the evolving landscape of the work environment in this new era will continue to be a challenge. This can cause stress and anxiety for your team. Recently, I led a workshop for a public relations firm that wants to ensure its employees can work in person safely as part of a hybrid solution. We had a positive and transparent discussion with all agency employees centered around the specific benefits of working at home and in the office for both the employee, the client, and the organization.

Recommendation: if you haven’t already, discuss your expectations with your team. This is a topic I covered back in the March issue on designing your team charter.

Learn to let it go with grace; it’s essential for your wellbeing. A lot of us take our employees’ leaving very personally. We can question ourselves, which can cause an impact on our confidence. I want us always to take a step back, evaluate the situation, and examine our role. Often, we forget the positive impact we had on our team to set them up for success to secure that new role. The other thing we always need to keep in mind is that the employee you used to manage could become a future partner, client, or boss! Your employees will remember how you respond to them leaving.

Recommendation: when a team member is moving on, make sure to end this chapter of your professional relationship on a high note. Celebrate them and thank them for their partnership.

The Executive's Guide to Summertime Self-Care & Creativity

Why should executives prioritize spending time outdoors during the workday?

Spending intentional time outdoors during the workday drastically increases Vitamin D, reduces baseline anxiety, and according to Stanford research, boosts creative problem-solving by up to 60%. Leaders should immediately begin replacing non-essential video calls with outdoor audio-only meetings.

We’re heading towards summertime, which means barbeques, family vacations, and hopefully special moments with loved ones. Now that summertime is approaching, it’s time to enjoy the sunshine and get outside with intention.

Here are four reasons why it’s important.

- We need our Vitamin D. It’s easy, especially for those of us working from home, to stay inside all day. It is important to get outside every day for our Vitamin D intake. Vitamin D helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body, which are needed to keep bones, teeth, and muscles healthy.

Recommendation: One of the best ways to get Vitamin D is to be out in the sunshine. If you can spend even 10 or 15 minutes per day outside in the sun, you'll get that Vitamin D intake and you'll feel so much better. Just don’t forget your sunscreen!

- While you’re getting Vitamin D, you might notice that you feel more creative by being outside. Have you ever been out in nature when an idea suddenly popped in your brain? There's a study by Stanford University that says that walking can help increase creativity by up to 60 percent!

Recommendation: As public relations professionals, we are constantly brainstorming new ideas. Next time you need to get creative around strategic planning or writing new story angles, get outside with a pen and notebook that fits in your pocket, get moving, and those juices flowing.

- Being outside can reduce stress and anxiety. Spending time around trees and nature helps reduce my stress, makes me feel less anxious, and ultimately puts me in a better mood. There’s research behind this as well!

Recommendation: This summer, identify parks, forests, or greenspaces that you can access within minutes so you can take a call or spend a well-earned break by yourself. Not near a park? Find a nursery or garden center close by. You will thank me later!

- Finally, new research from Microsoft titled “Research Proves Your Brain Needs Breaks” has shown that joining fewer back-to-back video meetings can have a positive impact on your stress levels. This means that for every meeting you have on video, the following should be audio-only. And what better way to conduct such a meeting than by being outside!

Recommendation: Every week, look ahead to your series of meetings. Identify those meetings that are on video and turn as many meetings as possible to audio-only. Also, schedule short breaks to reduce as many back-to-back meetings as possible. Do it not just for yourself but for your participants as well.

Designing Your Personal Wellness Crisis Plan

How can executives maintain their health routines during a crisis?

To maintain their health routines during unpredictable crises, executives must proactively design a "Plan B" wellness protocol. By anticipating disruptions and pre-determining alternative micro-habits—such as a 10-minute walk instead of a canceled fitness class—leaders can protect their physical resilience without succumbing to frustration.

As public relations professionals, we train for managing a crisis. As we have lived through COVID, I have witnessed you lead in communicating timely, accurate, and essential information to the public, and that information has saved people’s lives. Thank you for all you have done, and we are continuing to do so during this time.

As we witness vaccination rates increasing through the spring and summer, it’s time to turn our attention to ourselves. Because we have been spending so much of our mental and physical strength writing, rewriting, and executing crisis plans for our clients and our organizations, it’s time to focus on our well-being.

How? Let’s start with applying techniques we already use when writing crisis plans for others and apply those to ourselves. Let’s design our wellness crisis plan.

Why do you need a personal crisis plan? Think back to the times you told yourself you wanted to go on a run or a hike or make time eating healthier meals, and for whatever reason, it just didn’t happen. It could be because you received an urgent call about a work crisis, or you spent that time with your children to help with homework, you felt sick, or something else got in your way to not allow you to do something that was going to better yourself mentally and physically

Especially in the COVID era, we have managed many obligations in our personal and professional lives. I want to empower us to take the know-how that we have in developing crisis plans for organizations and know how to apply those same theories for ourselves.

Because much like work crises, how we respond to the situation is more critical to the problem itself, so here are three things to think about when designing your crisis wellness plan.

Prepare for the worst. Are you looking forward to that exercise class or healthy meal you’re making time to prepare? I want you to think about various scenarios in which you might get held up from following through. What is going to get in your way?

Anticipate how you’ll react. Next, I want you to write down how you might respond when you can’t make it to that class or create that meal. Are you going to feel frustrated or upset? Will you feel like you have ruined your day? Or will you be prepared to say, “that’s OK,” and give yourself some grace. If you can prepare for disappointment or frustration now, you will be better prepared to deal with it when it happens.

Design your Plan B. Finally, I want you to write down what you’re going to do when you can’t do what you originally intended. For instance, if you are planning to go to yoga this evening and either the class was canceled, or you had a last-minute personal or professional conflict come up that impacted your ability to attend that class, what are you going to do instead? You can tell yourself, “that’s OK. I’m going to take the next one” or, “OK, I’m going to go walk around the neighborhood without my phone and take in some fresh air,” or “OK, I’m going to set my alarm early tomorrow morning and attend the next class available.”

Like the crisis plans we write for our organizations, thinking about our wellness plans in advance will set us up for success when things don’t go our way.

Why Every High-Performing Team Needs a Workplace Wellness Charter

How can managers set healthy work boundaries for their teams?

To prevent endemic burnout, managers must collaborate with their employees to document a concise Workplace Wellness Charter. This structural document explicitly defines core working hours, establishes communication boundaries, and details exactly how the team cross-covers for each other during paid time off.

I love springtime. After a long winter, it’s a welcome to bring on the fresh smells, crisp rain, bright flowers, and a renewed enthusiasm.

It’s also a great time to look at a special kind of plan I want you to consider developing.

I was recently chatting with a communications director for a global company. They’re building a brand-new team and asked for my thoughts on best practices to keep up team morale. They’re concerned about their team burning out, and they want to do what they can to ensure they are showing their team that they are prioritizing their wellbeing.

I recommended to them, and you, to develop a workplace wellness charter.

No matter if you’re a team of one or a team of 10, you need a set of norms that help set boundaries around work expectations. Such a charter is a short document and should be no more than one page.

Some of you might be thinking, “Mark, you’re crazy. There’s no way I can set guardrails around my work. I’m needed 24/7!”

I disagree. I’m challenging you to establish agreed-upon expectations with your teams. Getting buy-in from your teams will show leadership, demonstrate that you care about their wellbeing, and ultimately could see a reduction in employee turnover which will positively impact your firm, consultancy, or company.

Things that should be included in such a charter include:

A clear definition of “work hours.”

When I started my career, I received permission from my manager to work from 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Pacific Time, so I could contact media on the east coast before their deadlines and beat the afternoon traffic when commuting home.

What are the “core” business hours of your company? When should your team be expected to be available? Is it 9:00-11:00 a.m. and 1:00-4:00 p.m., for example, and other times are flexible so team members can make personal arrangements to go to the doctor, pick up their children from school, and eat lunch? What are the expectations for working on nights and weekends? Our profession isn’t 9-5, but I’ve witnessed a lot of people burn out because they believe they’re supposed to be available all day, every day. Is that truly the case? Discuss this with your team.

Establishing your core business days.

I have written and spoken in the past about how we as public relations professionals are not taking our paid time off. Set guidelines that empower you and your teams to take time off.

This isn’t just for in-house and agency teams. Consultants: consider including your bill of working rights with your clients.

During an event recently with the PRSA Independent Practitioners Alliance, one member said that they write in their contracts with clients that they will not work between Christmas and the New Year. I love that idea!

An actionable back-up plan.

How is your team ensuring that their established schedules and boundaries will be respected? How is your team cross-trained and equipped to effectively back each other up when taking much deserved time off? How does your team know that their manager will go to bat to ensure time off and boundaries are being respected outside of the team? Make sure there is time scheduled on a routine basis to ensure your team is prepared to cover, not just in the case of emergency, but also so your team can take a guilt-free and well-deserved vacation!

A defined purpose for scheduling and running meetings.

We are in too many meetings. Many of them are essential, however too many are nonessential or poorly run. What is your team’s decision process for scheduling, deciding who attends, their role, and preparing them for a successful, strategic, and actionable meeting? Documenting that for your team will go a long way to helping your colleagues reduce burnout.

Use this charter when onboarding new team members and in the interview process. Are you interviewing prospective candidates? Show them you are thinking about their wellbeing from day one by showing them this charter.

Finally, I’m not asking you to become an HR manager and set formal policies. Make sure that anything that is set up is per your company’s HR policies. All this said, having a plan in place will improve morale and set yourself and your team up for personal and professional success.

Have a wonderful March and the start of your spring.

Why Internal Communicators Are the Key to Wellness Benefit ROI

How can internal communications reduce employee turnover?

55% of employees have left jobs for better wellness benefits, yet nearly half don't understand the perks their current employer offers. Internal communicators can drastically reduce turnover by partnering directly with HR to drive awareness, pilot wellness programs, and visibly model the usage of corporate benefits.

Internal communicators, my dear friends, we need you now more than ever to lead the discussion on the importance of your employees staying mentally and physically resilient.

Why? It’s inherently tied to dollars and cents, and in an industry in which we public relations professionals are constantly evolving our key performance indicators, a surefire way to show your value is to demonstrate how your role can positively impact business results. But how? Through playing an active role in partnering with your HR team on improving awareness of and activating the use of corporate wellness benefits.

According to a survey by Randstad:

42 percent of employees say they are considering leaving their current jobs because their benefits packages are inadequate.

55 percent have left jobs in the past because they found better benefits or perks elsewhere.

94 percent want their employers to ensure the benefits offered have a meaningful impact on their quality of life.

48 percent of employees report knowing all the perks their employers offer, and only 40 percent say their employers help them understand the available benefits.

My primary takeaway from this survey: Americans have a long way to go to activate the corporate benefits offered by companies. How does this impact the bottom line? According to the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), it costs on average more than $4,000 to hire a new employee. And that’s not just a hard cost. Other time-intensive resources are spent by HR teams recruiting and onboarding.

If you as internal communications experts can act as a great partner to your HR teams, it can mean a real difference on the bottom line and subsequently your impact on the organization.

Remember, you are an employee also: You are in a unique position to use your employee experience to solve employee problems.

Here are three ways to lean in and partner with your HR team to improve awareness and activation of wellness benefits.

Audit your activity and lead by example. Ask yourself: are you taking advantage of your corporate wellness benefits? One of the best ways to build rapport with your HR teams is to show them that you are supporting the resources and benefits that they have worked hard to secure for their employees. Whether it’s a mobile application with meditation exercises or stipends for gym memberships or at-home exercise equipment, learn about the benefits offered by the company, use them, and report back to HR your experience.

Pilot, test, and iterate. Are you aware of a particular department of your company with extremely high turnover and/or stress and burnout challenges? Offer to partner with HR to run a pilot program that involves increasing awareness of (and subsequently, activating) your corporate wellness benefits to test proof of concept.

Demonstrate your results. Was the amount of turnover of your organization reduced? Were more employees using wellness benefits year over year? Don’t be shy when touting your efforts by playing a critical role in communicating with employees. This doesn’t mean superseding the smart and hard work of your HR department; it’s about elevating your role in impacting business results.

Working with your HR teams will have a win-win. It will show your value, it will show the HR teams that you want to help amplify the work they are doing, and ultimately help you and your fellow employees illustrate that your companies truly value their wellbeing.

For internal communicators, this is your time to shine! Your relationships within your organization and your skills are never more important than they are today! Thank you for all that you’re doing.

How to Protect Your Team's Well-Being During Daylight Saving Time

Does Daylight Saving Time affect employee productivity?

Yes. The "Spring Forward" time change disrupts sleep patterns and significantly lowers life satisfaction for weeks. Leaders can mitigate this productivity loss by actively encouraging teams to wake up incrementally earlier leading up to the change and establishing clear "home network only" boundaries in the evening to optimize sleep.

Happy (almost) Spring 2021. Time for flowers to start blooming and excitement for warmer and sunnier mornings ahead. While we are working through COVID, as professionals we still have the opportunity to lead by example and show up with confidence. One way to do so is to mentally and physically prepare for the upcoming time change. For a majority of Americans, Sunday, March 14 will be the start of Daylight Saving Time (DST). A time change can impact us mentally and physically for several days or weeks. Research suggests that “individuals in both the UK and Germany experience deteriorations in life satisfaction in the first week after the spring transition.” I am here to help you prepare for this change and implement techniques to make this experience more positive. Here are three things you can do for yourself – and suggest to your teams - starting today to prepare for this change and ultimately “Spring Forward.” Shift your mindset: Typically, we get sad or stressed about “losing” an hour when we “Spring Forward.” I want us to reframe our thinking. We are not “losing an hour” as a result of the spring clock adjustment. We are “adjusting an hour.” There are still 24 hours per day ahead of you. Waking up at your “normal” time on Sunday, March 14 is critical to having a successful sleep pattern to get you through the week. - Recommendation: Schedule something today that you can look forward to participating in on the morning of Sunday, March 14. Make time to get outside and exercise, visit with friends (physically distant, obviously), or schedule a springtime photoshoot with your family. Stay away from phone and computer screens as much as possible; if you must work on the weekend, spend that work time on Saturday, March 13 instead. Encourage your colleagues and teams to do the same. Make small changes week over week: Making habits permanent doesn’t happen overnight. When I started my 150-pound weight loss journey in 2007, I started examining my breakfast and my breakfast only. The same approach works with how we can thrive during a time change. Start slow and with purpose. - Recommendation: Over the next few weeks leading up to the start of DST set your alarm to wake up five minutes earlier. If you typically wake up at 6:00 a.m., set your alarm to 5:55 a.m., the next week at 5:50 a.m., and so on until you wake up 15-20 minutes earlier. Spend that extra time on YOU. Read, meditate, journal, exercise, or get another kind of a quick, early “win” that can set your day off right. Create your “home network only” time every evening: Studies show that time on our smartphones late at night has negative effects on our sleep patterns and daytime productivity. Focusing exclusively on your immediate home network – your family - in the evening can help you sleep better at night and feel more refreshed in the morning. Trust me, your social networks and all your notifications will still be there in the morning! - Recommendation: Set a reminder on your phone every evening that starts your “home network only” time. No more email or scrolling social media endlessly every evening! Please take these recommendations to heart so you can start the next few months of the year on the right foot. Have a wonderful start to the spring, everyone. Be safe. Be kind. Be well.

The Vulnerable Executive: Why Leaders Must Model Mental Fitness

How does a leader's physical health impact team morale?

A leader's visible commitment to their own mental and physical fitness directly sets the baseline for team culture and resilience. By actively sharing your wellness routines and demonstrating vulnerability, you empower your team to prioritize their health, ultimately reducing systemic burnout.

No matter what stage you’re in your public relations career, you are the future of our profession.

People look up to you to set an example. They look at every move we make; they analyze every email we send, how we lead meetings, and overall, how we conduct ourselves and treat others.

No one knows exactly how our work environment will evolve over the next year or decade, but one thing will always be consistent: our need to be mentally and physically fit to lead. Staying fit is essential to have the energy to build trust and rapport with your teams, which will increase respect, understanding, communication, and ultimately acting as trusted advisors to help your organizations meet their business objectives.

Staying connected with your employees will boost morale. It will help bring a human side to you and ultimately help grow those professionals to see you as the people they want to become.

Here are my three recommendations on how to do so.

First, analyze how you’re engaging with your teams and adjust as needed. Often, we revert to all-staff meetings in which we stand in front of a podium (virtual or physical) and deliver remarks. As we evolve in this new era, please identify ways to connect with your teams beyond one-to-many engagements. Ask your teams regularly to what degree they feel connected with you and each other.

Second, show your team how you’re staying mentally and physically fit and making yourself a priority. If you’re a public relations leader today, it wasn’t because of luck; it was in part because you’ve understood how to prioritize your mental and physical health. Many of you have established nutrition, mindfulness, and physical health habits. Where it’s going to yoga, using an at-home spin bike, hiring a personal trainer or nutritionist, many of you are investing in yourself. Share those stories with your team. Talk with your team about how you prioritize your health and wellness, especially if you’re using your company’s benefits in doing so.

Finally, open up. As many professionals are examining their personal and professional lives in the post-COVID era, this is an opportunity to reconnect with your teams, show your vulnerable side, and empower your team and give them the time to do so. Doing so will lead them to understand how important they are to you and ultimately show them how to treat their teams when they become managers and executives.

And ideally, you’re spending time with them in a way that positively impacts mental and physical health. Virtual walk and talk meetings are a great way to stay active with your team. Ask yourself how you prioritize yourself to grow in your career, pass that message along to your teams, and empower them to do the same.

The 12-Month Wellness Strategy: Writing a Letter to Your Future Self

How can executives maintain long-term focus on their personal health?

In an era of constant short-term crisis management, executives often lose sight of their long-term health. Writing a highly specific, physical letter to your "future self" creates a powerful psychological anchor that guides daily decision-making and forces accountability regarding your personal boundaries.

An essential role of the public relations professional is of the storyteller. We design and share the voices of those who otherwise are not heard.

This month, I’m asking you to write a letter to yourself about how you want to feel 12 months from now. What are the benefits of writing such a letter?

In an era in which many of us have focused on the near term, this is an opportunity to shift attention to the long term.

Studies show if you take pen to paper and physically write a letter (vs. typing), you’ll commit to it better.

This process will have specific elements that you can look through every personal and professional decision and ask, “how does this fit into my story?”

It sharpens your writing skills! By practicing this exercise on yourself, writing your own story can help shape the stories you tell of others. What should your letter include?

How do you feel about your well-being today? Use action verbs to paint that picture.

How do you want to feel one year from today? Describe a scenario that you want to experience because you made a change.

Why do you want to feel that way? This is the most critical part of your letter!

What are the tactics you will take to make that change? Focus on what is in your control.

How will you take the time to make that a reality? What steps will you take to focus on your well-being when you’re the only one who controls your time?

Whether it’s work- or family-related, something will get in your way. What are some examples?

How will you overcome those challenges? What is your Plan B in case things don’t go your way?

How will you hold yourself accountable? Will you identify friends, family, coaches, mobile applications, or other methods to stay accountable this year?

What do you want to happen because of this change ultimately? How should you use this letter?

When making choices about your professional future. How does your career support your letter? When speaking with prospective employers or exploring other career options, are you keeping in mind your letter?

When you’re saying “yes” too many times. The next time you’re taking on extra projects or activities, look at your letter before committing. How will taking on more impact your well-being?

When you’re lacking focus or direction. Throughout the year, you will find yourself in a lull. Pulling out this letter at least once per month will help remind you of where you want to go. This story is an opportunity to ensure you’re honoring yourself the way you deserve. Because that’s the most important story of all.

The Executive Holiday Self-Care Guide: Subtraction by Addition

How can leaders maintain their well-being during the holidays?

The holidays often lead to extreme stress and decision fatigue. Leaders can radically protect their well-being by mastering the art of saying "no," intentionally taking personal time away from screens, and refusing to wait until the New Year to execute positive health habits.

Happy Holidays to you. The days are shorter, the nights are longer, the stresses are higher, our patience runs lower. You’re wrapping up year-end reports, starting 2021 planning, all the while taking care of your family and surviving a global pandemic. Slowly but surely, you’re focusing more and more on everyone and everything except yourself. I’m permitting you to give the gift of yourself this holiday season. I think we deserve it every year but in particular 2020. Here are four ways to gift yourself this holiday season. 1) Say yes to saying no. “No, but thank you.” Simple words to say. Important to master. Picture this scene: It’s 6:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving. You’re at the in-laws for a physically distant meal. Dinner ended two hours ago. The in-laws tell you how much time they spent making all their pies. “I can’t wait for you to try all 5,” they say. “And of course, it goes perfect with whipped cream. I make mine from scratch.” Has this happened to you? You didn't plan to eat five. You planned to have one with a glass of wine, and be satisfied but not stuffed. How do you respond? My recommendation? “Wow, that sounds lovely. No, but thank you. I know you spent so much time on this, but I am full. How about I take one piece for tonight, and we can wrap the rest to take with us when we leave?” You can appreciate the time and effort put into the day. Sometimes you need to lay it on thick. But don’t let a potential guilt trip make you eat more than you want. Have some pie. Have a drink. But stick to the plan. It’s YOUR plan. 2) Give yourself permission to add personal time and play hooky this holiday. Every year around Thanksgiving I make sure to take at least one day off to spend with my mom. We go shopping, we catch up, we talk about life. It’s a special event. It’s also a day that I’m not on my phone, in a meeting, answering emails, or checking my social media channels. For that alone, it feels like bliss. Find a day. Find four hours to get off the phone, stay off your social channels, and play hooky. How will YOU spend YOUR time? 3) Feed yourself the premium fuel you deserve. Unfortunately, we live in a world where we're sold products that taste good but are not always good for our bodies. We eat and drink the equivalent of regular unleaded fuel when our body requires premium unleaded. We trust the good taste and short-term positive feelings to justify accepting regular unleaded gasoline. I am here to tell you: you are always premium. Remember that next time you’re at the grocery store. 4) Don’t fast-forward time and put off resolutions to 2021. I’m proud to have lost 150 pounds and have kept that weight off for more than a decade. When I started my journey, I didn’t suddenly change my diet and exercise habits on January 1. I started making my changes on a cold Saturday morning in December 2007. I made a decision that “enough was enough” when it came to my personal health. I know 2020 is the most challenging year most of us have experienced, however, there are two more months left. See these two months as a gift. Do not wait for 2021 to change what you want to change today. Have a wonderful holiday, everyone.