Everybody is a part of a team, large or small, and your efforts to motivate your colleagues should be team-based. Emphasize the connections among individual employees, among departments and between employees’ home and work lives. Here are three ways to accomplish this: 

• Build high opinions of one another’s skills and strengths. Encourage your staff members to praise their colleagues at meetings with such questions as, “Who helped you out this week?” Public praise from peers redirects focus away from the boss- worker relationship and extends accountability to the entire team, which in turn, reinforces team spirit.

• Recognize everyone’s contribution. Treat each individual as if his or her effort is the most important factor in team success. Pay attention to your colleagues' accomplishments and completed assignments, so you know how their activities affect the bottom line.

• Reward teamwork. During performance reviews, be sure to note contributions to team goals along with individual efforts. Employees will quickly realize the benefits of working toward team goals and will put less emphasis on standing out individually.

Here’s a technique I’ve mentioned before, but it’s so good, it’s worth repeating!

Instead of setting goals and making resolutions for the New Year, try this slightly different idea that might have greater impact on the results you get.

Instead of planning simple goals and resolutions, what if you imagine forward to the time when you are already at your goal, then you ask yourself how you got there?

Instead of saying “I’m going to lose 20 pounds,” or “I’m going to start going on more dates with my spouse,” or “I’m going to start putting 10% of everything I make in savings,” imagine you are already there. Then ask, “How did I get so thin?” “How did my spouse and I get so close and loving this year?” and “How did I get so prosperous?”

This twist is similar to what Noah St. John calls “afformations” in which he talks about turning affirmations on their head. When using this idea in goal setting, instead of affirming what we want in the future, we use the power of our inquisitive mind to picture the result and then ask how we got there. Our minds naturally want to find an answer, and in that answer might lie a more certain path to our goal.

By imagining goals in these terms, too, we’re picturing more than just the goal. We’re picturing the result of the goal.

So go ahead and reframe your New Year’s resolutions. Imagine you’ve already succeeded, and ask “How did I…?

Sincerely,

Gino Pezzani

Most resolutions revolve around health and exercise. Although that frequently means losing weight, one area you want to fatten up is your money supply. Here are some simple resolutions for adding healthy heft to your overall financial health.

• Save 10%. Put aside 10% of your income for long-term investments and retirement savings before paying any bills.

• Track your expenses. Record every dollar you spend for at least one week. You’ll get a more clear idea of where the money goes and which items you can cut back on.

• Energize your house. Look for ways to make your house more energy efficient. You’ll save on heating and cooling costs and you'll also help the environment.

• Stay home. Resist the temptation to eat out; cook more meals at home. Instead of going to the movies, stream a video, read a book or a play a game with your family.

• Don’t rely on credit cards. Credit card debt can eat up your savings and chip away at your future. Start reducing your debt, and don’t buy anything on credit if you don’t have enough money to pay the bill promptly.

The winter months can be hard on people with arthritis. Cold weather can exacerbate joint pain, making life uncomfortable when temperatures are low. The Integris Health website offers this advice for enduring winter with arthritis.

• Dress in layers. Stay warm indoors and outdoors. Wear gloves and add layers to your knees, elbows, and other places where your body aches.

• Eat healthy. Rich foods and sweets can cause a flare-up of rheumatoid arthritis. Limit your consumption of processed meats, desserts and unhealthy snacks.

• Minimize stress. Try meditation, deep breathing and yoga to stay in a calm frame of mind.

• Exercise. Physical activity helps increase flexibility, strength and energy, and helps ease arthritis pain. Aim for 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week, along with two strength training sessions.

• Wear compression gloves. These encourage blood flow in your joints, and help keep your hands warm.

• Get plenty of sleep. A lack of sufficient sleep has been linked to depression, fatigue and additional pain in people who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis.

• Talk with your doctor. If you’re in more pain than usual during the winter, then consult with your physician. It's a good idea to also let your family know about it, too.

The Ying Ying Shi Blog offers an “animal” quiz that might uncover some creative and thought-provoking insights about your spirit animal. Answer these three questions: 

Your favorite animal is           

Your second favorite animal is           

Your third favorite animal is                            . 

For each animal, list one characteristic that attracts you.

The first animal represents your aspirations as a person. The second animal  is a portrait of how other people experience your personality.

The third animal depicts your true personality.

New Year’s Day, Jan. 1. Start on those resolutions today.

National Science Fiction Day, Jan. 2. An unofficial celebration by many science fiction fans in the United States on the official birth date of famed science fiction writer Isaac Asimov.

Learn Your Name in Morse Code Day, Jan. 11. Impress your friends and family!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 17. Celebrating the life of the famous civil rights leader.

Penguin Awareness Day, Jan. 20. Almost everyone loves to watch penguins.

A frail elderly man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law and 4-year-old grandson. The family knew it was time for him to move home because his hands trembled, his vision was no longer sharp and sometimes his step faltered.

The newly minted family of four was patient with one another, but mealtimes were difficult. The grandfather would spill food and, on several occasions, drop a plate or a teacup, which shattered on the floor. One evening, after several accidents at the dinner table, the grandson watched in silence as his parents removed his grandfather’s plate and gave him a wooden bowl.

The next day, the father noticed his son playing with his wooden building blocks on the floor.

“What are you making?” he asked sweetly.

“I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when I grow up,” the boy said, just as sweetly. The child smiled and went back to work.

The parents were speechless. Though no word was spoken, both of them knew what must be done. 

That evening, the boy’s father sat even closer to his own father and gently guided him throughout the meal. From that moment on, neither the husband nor wife seemed to care when a fork dropped, milk spilled or when the tablecloth got soiled.

As a family, they learned that patience, care and empathy were pure reflections of love.

A grandmother took her grandson to the shopping mall in December to see Santa Claus. The young boy was very excited to sit on Santa’s lap. “Now, little boy,” Santa said, “tell Santa what you want for Christmas.”

In a loud voice, the boy shouted, “I want a Play Station, and a new bike, and some books, and—”

“You don’t have to shout,” Santa chuckled. “Santa isn’t hard of hearing.” The boy leaned forward and whispered, “No, but my grandma is.”

Two siblings worked for their father on the family’s farm. The younger sister was steadily given more responsibility over the years, and one day the older brother asked his father to explain why.

The father said, “First, go to Kelly’s farm and see if they have any geese for sale. We need to add to our stock.”

The son soon returned and said, “Yes, they have five geese they can sell us.”

The father said, “Good. What’s the price?”

The son went back to the farm and returned shortly . “The geese are $10 each,” he said.

The father asked, “Can they deliver the geese tomorrow?” Again, the son went back, and then returned with the answer. “They can deliver the geese tomorrow.”

The father told his son to wait and listen, called his daugher in from the fields and said to her, “Go to Davidson’s farm and see if they have any geese for sale. We need to add to our stock.”

The daughter soon returned with the answer. “They have five geese for $10 each, or 10 geese for $8 each and they can deliver them tomorrow. I asked them to deliver the five unless they heard otherwise from us in the next hour. And I agreed that if we want the extra five geese, we could buy them at $6 each.” 

The father turned to the older son, who nodded. He now realized why his sister was given more responsibility and reward.