 We learned from last week that Career Wellbeing is the most essential of the 5 ingredients to Wellbeing. So how’s it going?
Are you using your Strengths everyday? Are you spending time with people who share a common life purpose? Are you enjoying the time you're spending with your social networks? While Gallup has recognized that Career Wellbeing is most essential we still have 4 other ingredients to explore so the show must go on! Today we’re going to talk about the second ingredient: Social Wellbeing. If you think about memorable times in your life whether it be an event, an accomplishment, a project, or an experience they likely have one thing in common: the presence of another person. Gallup research found that people often underestimate the impact of our closest relationships and social connections. They also discovered that people with THRIVING Social Wellbing get at least 6 hours of daily social time. While at first glance you might think that’s a lot! Keep in mind this 6 hours includes time at work, on the telephone, sending emails, talking with friends and other forms of communication. Let’s put your Social Wellbeing to the test. Answer these questions honestly: 1. Do you have three to four close friendships? 2. Is your social network a group of people who have a positive and happy outlook on life? 3. Do you have a “best friend” at work? These questions may seem random but let me tie them all together for you… Gallup found that individuals with three to four close relationships are healthier, have higher wellbeing, and are more engaged in their jobs. These people have direct and indirect social contact with people who have a positive outlooks on life which dramatically boosts their chances of being happy themselves. In addition, those that have a best friend at work are seven times as likely to report being engaged in their jobs, are better at engaging customers, produce higher quality of work, have higher wellbeing and less likely to be injured on the job. When we spend time with happy, healthy, and productive people it in turn has an effect on our Social Wellbing. The result of spending at least 6 hours a day participating in social time can have the following effects: · Increasing our wellbeing · Minimizing stress · Decreasing the odds of having a bad day If you feel like your Social Wellbeing needs a boost, here are some suggestions: 1. Spend 6 hours a day socializing with friends, family, and colleagues. 2. Strengthen the mutual connections in your network. 3. Mix social time with physical activity. For example, taking a walk with your friend can motivate one another to stay healthy. Haven't taken the StrengthsFinder assessment yet?! Click here! Want to buy the book Wellbeing? Click here! If you're curious of where you rank in your wellbeing, take the Gallup Wellbeing Finder: Click here! reCreate's Strengths Mission For strengths to come alive, we must have the opportunity to use them everyday and make them personal. We showcase our friends, family, clients and anyone who dares to show us the personal side to what strengths mean to them. These post are meant to encourage, inspire and connect you to having a life well-lived in strengths. Like this post?! Comment below!!!
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 What's your top 5?
Woo, Activator, Strategic, Communication, Ideation How do you see them playing out in your life? My top 5 describe what I am naturally good at and always drawn to. I am the most effective when I operate in a combination of these five strengths. Prior to doing the Strength Assessment, I obviously didn't know the name for them... but I knew I was drawn to people and to connecting with them...I have always had a lot of friends and reveled in social settings, and I was overwhelmed with joy when I could connect on a deeper level and hit a place of understanding on a personal or professional issue. Apparently, that's the Woo in me! I have always loved to strategize and create, and also come up with ideas and put them into action. And let's face it - I always struggled with actually sitting down and cranking out the things that I so creatively dreamed up. It was uncanny how accurate the results of the tests were and put into words parts of my personality in a way that I could understand and apply them in my professional and personal life. What's your favorite theme? It's hard to choose... but I would say Woo and Communication. I treasure having the ability to see "beyond"...behind the surface, behind the walls that many of us put up... and using communication to help draw it out of people and brings things to light in people's lives that they may not have been aware of, and awaken traits in them that they didn't know they had! It blesses me to no end, and I feel recharged and like I am using something that comes so naturally to me to help others. Communication just helps to support this, as I am able to articulate and illustrate feelings and concepts in a way that others can understand. What's the one theme that get's in your way? My Strategic and Activator combination probably gets in my way the most, followed by Woo. I think at lightening fast speeds and draw conclusions and see patterns in a myriad of data...not to mention, with the Activator, I am always ready to put it into action. I've learned (been told :) that most people may not immediately be able to see what I do. I used to get frustrated and impatient that they would not be able to draw the same conclusion or track my train of thought, but now I try to lean into my Communication skill to try to illustrate and play out scenarios and people really respond to that. Woo gets in my way because I would rather be interacting with people over just about anything else - it is so strong in my make - up that I can default to putting aside almost anything for human interaction. How has knowing your top 5 empowered you to live a more authentic life? This was amazing, life-changing confirmation of who I am - and that far from having a certain set of weaknesses and feeling frustrated about that - I have a unique and very powerful combination of strengths that I need to give weight and respect to. My top 5 revolve around Communication and Influence... and I would guess any execution strengths - as in actually getting the tasks I dream up done, would come towards the bottom. For a long time, I felt like something was wrong with me because in many ways, this world values implementation and execution - and visionaries are seen as maybe a bit flighty or irresponsible. Through this exercise I learned that it is far from the truth - without those to inspire, to visualize, to brainstorm and to create...and of course to rally the troops - there would not be anything to act upon. So I have learned to value myself and what I can bring to any given situation - and not keep myself tethered to projects where I simply cannot help and where I will hold things back. It's a huge win win for myself and for my clients and those in my life. reCreate's Strengths Mission For strengths to come alive, we must have the opportunity to use them everyday and make them personal. We showcase our friends, family, clients and anyone who dares to show us the personal side to their Top 5. These post are meant to encourage, inspire and connect you to having a life well-lived in strengths. Want to be featured? We would love to showcase you!!! Haven't taken Strengths yet?! Click here! Like this post?! Comment below!!!  Last week we talked about the ingredients to our wellbeing.
Did you give it any thought? What areas are contributing to your wellbeing? What areas are taking away from your wellbeing? Over the next 5 weeks we’re going to dig a little deeper into Gallup's book Wellbeing and discover what makes each ingredient essential to our wellbeing. reCreate and Gallup want you to THRIVE! The first ingredient: Career We know that Career Wellbeing is about how you occupy your time or what you enjoy doing everyday. Seems simple enough, right? Gallup surveyed a population of people asking them: “Do you like what you do each day?” Guess what percentage answered a strong “yes”? Surprisingly... only 20%! Did you know that Career Wellbeing is most essential of the 5 ingredients? Makes sense. We spend the majority of our lives working. It shapes our identity. So let’s put your Career Wellbeing to the test. Answer these questions honestly: 1. Do you wake up every morning with something to look forward to? 2. Do you have the opportunity to use your Strengths everyday? 3. Do you feel you have a deep purpose for your life and a plan to attain your goals? If you answered, “YES” to all 3 questions you should be thriving in Career Wellbeing! We know, according to Gallup, those who have the opportunity to use their strengths everyday are 6x as likely to be engaged in their jobs and 3x as likely to report having an excellent quality of life. If you answered no, that’s ok, here’s 3 recommendations from Gallup go get started on improving your Career Wellbeing: 1. Everyday use your Strengths. Haven't taken the StrengthsFinder assessment yet?! Click here! 2. Spend time with the people who encourage your growth and have a shared mission and purpose in life. 3. Take the leap and jump into more social time with friends or organizations you enjoy being around. If you're curious of where you rank in your wellbeing, take the Gallup Wellbeing Finder: Click here! reCreate's Strengths Mission For strengths to come alive, we must have the opportunity to use them everyday and make them personal. We showcase our friends, family, clients and anyone who dares to show us the personal side to what strengths mean to them. These post are meant to encourage, inspire and connect you to having a life well-lived in strengths. Like this post?! Comment below!!!  Skyler McCurine is the Chief Priestess of Style at Le Red Balloon. In her picture she is showing off her strengths using her Gallup cards and her natural ability to win a crowd at TEDx. What are your Top 5? Empathy, Positivity, Futuristic, Connectedness, Individualization How do you see them playing out in your life? As an entrepreneur and visionary, I see my strengths infiltrate in every part of my business. As a personal stylist, I need to understand my clients on a deep and personal level. It’s important for them to feel that they can trust me and to feel uplifted, invigorated, and happy. I see my positivity and empathy when working with clients, sharing my business, and meeting with potential partners (I work with various charities and organizations in San Diego). I create a space for everyone to feel connected, joyful, and understood, haha...my strengths come to life. I am also a big picture thinker. One of my favorite pastimes is day dreaming about the possibilities of the future. I dream BIG things and futuristic is always inviting me to take risks, think bigger, and envision what my business looks like next year, in 5 years, etc. What is your favorite theme? Empathy. Always and forever. I believe the most important element of life is the ability to connect with others, to understand their perspective, their needs and wants. Empathy builds relationships, bridges gaps, fosters collaboration, and heals. I am so blessed to have this as my number one. It means that others are the driving force behind my decision-making. What is the one theme that gets in your way? Empathy. Always and forever. Yes, keep reading I promise this isn’t the same answer as the previous one. While empathy is important to connecting, it also causes me to be extremely emotional and bruise easily. When I watch documentaries about the suffering or speak with my homeless friends, sometimes I am paralyzed by emotion and concern for others. This is not a healthy use of my time, energy or empathy. The best use is for me to take action immediately, instead of being disabled by emotion! How has knowing your Top 5 empowered you to live a more authentic life? My little quirks and idiosyncrasies now have a name. They have taught me that they are indeed strengths and I do not have to sacrifice them or my values to be successful. It has taught me to recognize when I get in my own/other’s way and to be more self-aware. To find out more about about Skyler check out her facebook page! reCreate's Strengths Mission
For strengths to come alive, we must have the opportunity to use them everyday and make them personal. We showcase our friends, family, clients and anyone who dares to show us the personal side to their Top 5. These post are meant to encourage, inspire and connect you to having a life well-lived in strengths. Want to be featured? We would love to showcase you!!! Haven't taken Strengths yet?! Click here! Like this post?! Comment below!!! Baking a cake is pretty simple, right? As someone who is challenged in the kitchen I can somehow pull it off pretty well as long as I have the correct ingredients and make sure I set the timer (which I’ve learned the hard way a few times). What would happen if I forgot to add just one ingredient like eggs or butter? As you may guess it would come out tasting a bit “off” or downright yucky!
Happiness redefined Just as every ingredient is integral in making a cake that is tasty and enjoyable, so goes the ingredients in our lives that make for Well Being. Well Being is not just about being happy, being skinny, driving a Mercedes, having the most friends on Facebook, or scoring your dream job. It’s about how the areas of career, social, financial, physical and community all interact together. Lopsided living Solely putting your energy into one or two areas in your life throws you out of balance. Let’s use your career for example. Let’s say after 5 years you worked your tail off to move up the ladder and finally got promoted to Vice President. And boom…you even got a huge raise! The only catch is you were going to have much longer hours, have to travel more frequently and take your work home with you. You have two huge pluses in the career and financial areas in your life, but what about the other parts? Because of the travel and long hours, you can barely get to the gym and have resorted to eating fast food a few nights a week. You are getting home later so have little time with your family and are missing soccer games and dance recitals because of the long hours.You haven’t seen your friends in months because you’re dead dog tired by the time the weekend comes. The right recipe As you can see, when you focus too heavily in one or two areas of life, the “wins” you’ve had may cancel out because of the resulting strain it causes in other parts. Life gets lopsided from time to time but it’s good to keep an inventory and check yourself in the areas of career, social, financial, physical, community to make sure you are properly feeding each area. So ask yourself, what ingredients in my life are contributing to or taking away from my Well Being? How is your Well Being? Comment below!!! Haven't taken Strengths yet?! Click here! Team reCreate  What's your top 5?
Adaptability, Positivity, Restorative, Connectedness, Responsibility How do you see them playing out in your life? I see all of these characteristics and themes playing out in my life everyday as a wife and a physical therapist/trainer. However, I can specifically apply these to a recent experience where I went on a medical mission trip to Africa (where my picture was taken). First, It always helps to be adaptable and positive in a 3rd world country where nothing goes as planned. Secondly, I also love connecting with people and facilitating relationships by connecting others together; this was a fun part of working with the team and have already used some of those connecting skills which always energizes me. My responsibility was met with a desire to have the project run efficiently and effectively. My restorative nature played out with my desire to solve musculoskeletal problems and to see bodies restored back to greater physical comfort and efficiency. What's your favorite theme? My favorite theme is restorative! I love that there is a description and a definition via StrengthFinders to what I find joy in doing for others in the physical therapy field. I love trying to solve the body’s puzzle and help bring function back to someone. I however don’t think I could be effective at being a therapist or a trainer unless I had all 5 of my strengths working together! What's the one theme that "get's in your way?" Can I do two? Normally adaptability would be my answer here. Usually I need more structure and focus in my life. However, in Africa, on the mission trip I found that my sense of responsibility became most frustrating. It was the first time I had went with this group on this type of mission so not understanding all the “in’s and out’s” of the project hindered my ability to take responsibility for different aspects of the project. It was difficult to want to get things done but not know how. I actually learned from strengths that if I align myself with others that share the same determination to get things done then I will have more success. By the end of the week I understood to a greater deal what would be helpful to create a more efficient environment and the responsibility side of me may have become just a little more satisfied. How has knowing your top 5 empowered you to live a more authentic life? Knowing my top 5 has really given me direction and verbalization as to what my strengths are. In the past I have not understood how to categorize or give words to what I enjoyed or energized me. I now have a new language and guidance as to what God created me to be. It’s very eye opening and gives me confidence that I have skills that I can express to others. Even if others don’t use the strength finder language it’s easy to translate to anyone so that you can explain to anyone from a spouse to an interviewer why you may be handling situations the way you do and what you bring to the relationship. Knowing my strengths has opened up a new world for me. reCreate's Strengths Mission For strengths to come alive, we must have the opportunity to use them everyday and make them personal. We showcase our friends, family, clients and anyone who dares to show us the personal side to their Top 5. These post are meant to encourage, inspire and connect you to having a life well-lived in strengths. Want to be featured? We would love to showcase you!!! Haven't taken Strengths yet?! Click here! Like this post?! Comment below!!!  reCreate Love - Straight to Your Inbox!! That's right! Starting this month we will be sending our monthly newsletter with Strengths goodies, updates and words of wisdom from Team reCreate! When you sign up you get a FREE Beginners Guide to a Strengths-Based Journey! YES PLEASE! SIGN ME UP!  Join reCreate’s Strengths Group Coaching reCreate your life to catch up to your dreams! Have you been wanting to learn more about your StrengthsFinder results and put them to the test of living big?? reCreate is offering our first round of Group Coaching! In our sessions we will: • Discuss the Strengths philosophy and understanding your unique Top 5 • Understand how investing in your Talents leads to Strength • Help you own and value your uniqueness • Discuss successes and desired changes you’re looking to make • Use your Strengths to create goals to achieve those big dreams Limited Space! Sign Up Here!  A LIFE WELL-LIVED IN STRENGTHS
PART 2!!! Now that you know your Strengths, how do you own and appreciate them? We had an overwhelming request to host reClaim, our Part 2 workshop of A Life Well-Lived in Strengths Series. In this session participants will: · Dive deep into their top 5 strengths and correlating them to our past experiences, current circumstances and future hopes and dreams · Dig into barrier labels and why they can prevent us from living a life well-lived · Discover which of the four domains you mostly live in · Exploring the interplay of theme dynamics and how they create a lens in which we operate our lives If you loved our workshop and want to invite a friend who did not attend the first event- NO PROBLEM- we can get them caught up! An access code will be emailed to them within 24 hours of registration. They will take the assessment and there will be homework that must be taken and completed by April 21st. For more details check our Part 2 Series Page. Register Here!!  What's your top 5?
Shannon: Communication, Empathy, Woo, Developer, Positivity Jenny: Achiever, Empathy, Positivity, Connectedness, Developer How do you see them playing out in your life? Shannon: I work as a College Counselor and I get so much energy from interacting with my students. I try to make things personal for them and make them feel comfortable because the university system could be an intimidating for these young people. They not only use me for academic advice but also need someone to hear about the issues they are facing. I use my empathy to try and connect with people and the issues they’re going through. People who come to me need help with their career path and I love to use my Developer to provide guidance and my Positivity to help them to see all the things they may not be able to see within themselves. Jenny: I can see how each one of my strengths has guided me in my decisions and the current place I am in my life. My Achiever is how I am able to be efficient and get through tasks. I am the kind of person who can’t sit still and always has to be doing something productive. I go throughout the day checking things off a list because I have to walk away each day feeling accomplished. My Empathy and Developer strongly has affected where I’ve taken my career choices in working in therapy and now as a Strengths Coach. I love to help people see their potential and give them hope for their lives! My Connectedness has helped me to see how my life can affect the greater good around me and I feel a sense of responsibility to try and make that as meaningful as possible. What's your favorite theme? Shannon: Empathy is my favorite because I love to be able to emotionally connect with people. It helps me to understand people better and have deep, meaningful relationships. I really like to connect with people’s hearts. Jenny: My favorite theme is Positivity because it helps me to keep a perspective that sees the brighter side of situations. I try and believe the best about people and about situations that come up, even if they are more on the negative side. I'm definitely not perfect and have my moments when I wallow in the negative but somehow I can usually manage to get myself back to finding the good in people or negative circumstances. What's the one theme that "get's in your way?" Shannon: My empathy gets in my way because I can sometimes take too much time with people in my job and even on a personal level. I don’t have a lot of time on my hands being mother of 2, but I have a hard time cutting people off when I know we’re connecting and they may need my help or an ear to listen. I love to give of myself and connect with people’s hearts but I know I sometimes need to set a limit because it gets me off track with my job and personal responsibilities. My husband knows if I take the dog for a walk I probably won’t come back for an hour because I found a neighbor to talk to! It also takes me at least an hour to say goodbye to people if I'm at a party which I think is when my Woo gets in the way. Jenny: The theme that can get in the way for me is Achiever. This is my number one strength and it drives me to always getting things done. And I mean always. I have a hard time turning it off! I have an inner voice that almost doesn’t allow me to feel like I’ve earned the right to relax. My Achiever drove me to work full-time, go to Grad School and do an internship all at the same time! I realize my Achiever can take me out of balance because rest is just as important as getting things done. And in fact I may get things done better if I actually rested! I'm trying to consciously make it a point to allow myself permission to actually rest my brain. Maybe I should put resting on my list so I can cross it off. : ) How has knowing your top 5 empowered you to live a more authentic life? Shannon: Knowing my strengths has helped give me more confidence in who I am because I realize that these natural tendencies that I possess can be used to help others, which has always been very important to me. It has solidified for me that I am in the right career in my life advising and counseling college students. Also, on a personal level I now recognize my God-given abilities which I can better use with my family, loved ones and those I interact with daily. Jenny: Knowing my Top 5 has helped me to understand so much more about myself and the natural, innate ways I was created. The things I though were weird about me, I can now appreciate and even celebrate. I feel much more free to be who I am and also who I am not. I don’t try as hard to be someone that I think I should be and that is not natural for me. The hard thing about having a twin is that you are constantly compared and I've tried to be like her. I now feel free to be myself and not another version of her or anyone else I admire. I always want to improve myself but now see the value in investing into the areas that will give me the greatest results which is concentrating on my strengths. reCreate's Strengths Mission For strengths to come alive, we must have the opportunity to use them everyday and make them personal. We showcase our friends, family, clients and anyone who dares to show us the personal side to their Top 5. These post are meant to encourage, inspire and connect you to having a life well-lived in strengths. Want to be featured? We would love to showcase you!!! Haven't taken Strengths yet?! Click here! Like this post?! Comment below!!! Have you ever had a friend completely not see eye-to-eye on something?
Ever work for a boss whose short-tempered demeanor made you feel like an inconvenience? Or work with a pushy colleague that seems too busy to listen but constantly trying to get their point across to you? Are they intentionally trying to upset you or make you feel unworthy? The simple answer is no. At Gallup and reCreate we like to use the analogy of a lens. Everyone has their very own lens in which they see the world through. This lens is the way we think about situations, the way we interpret our feelings, and the way in which we behave. Collectively, our top 5 strengths create a lens in which we operate from. This is why we communicate the way we do, why we make the decisions we make, why we have expectations about how things should go. When looking at any relationship we have (work, home, family, friends), wouldn’t you say that communication is one of the most important, if not the most important dimension? If that is the case, shouldn't we work on how we communicate with one another? Shouldn't we work on understanding more of ourselves so we can in turn understand others? reCreate believes that communication is vital to a prosperous relationship and in order to get there you must first understand the lens you operate from. Here are three ways to get a jump-start on communicating more effectively: 1. Know your Strengths Communication starts with you. Go through each of your top 5 and ask yourself:
2. Discover others Strengths Know the strengths of those you are in a relationship with whether it be a friend, partner, or colleague. Once you can understand your own lens, then you must explore the strengths of those you are communicating with. Understanding how they think, act and feel can lead to some real ah-ha moments in the ways in which they communicate with you and the lens in which they operate from. 3. Start talking! Depending on the relationship and the way the other has made you feel in the past, opening up the lines of communication may be difficult. Taking the time to understand how a person's lens affects they way they think, feel and behave is essential in creating authentic communication and the key to better relationships. For the love of Strengths, Team reCreate Haven't taken Strengths yet?! Click here! Like this post?! Have an idea on how to communicate through your lens? Comment below!!! |
Team reCreate
Strengths-based Development (SBD) is our passion, commitment and life. Team reCreate is devoted to work that creates transformation, meaning and purpose in the lives of those we serve. This space is meant for you to get to know us, learn more about Strengths and hear from others in this line of work. Thanks for being on this journey with us! Archives
July 2015
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