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Use the Eisenhower Matrix to Organize your WFH Tasks

Post author By rs_ph_website
Post date June 15, 2021

Use the Eisenhower Matrix to Organize your WFH Tasks

rs_ph_website
June 15, 2021
1:40 pm
0 comments

We know that not all tasks are created equal. Especially as people who work from home; work tasks somehow get muddled into more important house chores and get lost in the process. Luckily, we have a tool to help you manage all tasks and organize your time better to be an effective and efficient team member.

The Eisenhower Matrix, is also known as the Urgent-Important Matrix. This tool helps us prioritize and decide what tasks we need to work on first. It bases the priority of the task on its urgency. Avoid feeling swamped in the feeling that you need to do everything on your own and find smarter ways to get the job done. This matrix was created by Stephen Covey with the late president Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States’ productivity philosophy in mind.

Eisenhower was known to be a man with many accomplishments under his belt. He was able to build projects and finish a lot of big steps for his country, and he managed to do all his accomplishments using this matrix:

The matrix is separated into four aspects that interact with each other: Urgent, Not Urgent, Important, Not Important.

The upper left quadrant is the most important and urgent task that needs to be done today or tomorrow at the latest. An example could be a performance review for one of your team members for their regularization due tomorrow.

The upper right quadrant is an important task that does not need to be done urgently, so it can be set aside for a temporary date for now, until it becomes urgent. An example could be a strategy meeting for an upcoming project set to launch next month.

The lower left quadrant is a task that is not important, but urgent. This you can delegate to others to get the load off. An example could be buying a few tickets for the movie tonight. You can delegate that to someone who is more able to do this and focus on more urgent tasks.

The lower right quadrant consists of tasks that are not urgent and not important to warrant action. So, you can shelve it indefinitely, or better yet, remove it from your headspace.

When using the Eisenhower Matrix keep these important tips in mind:

Try not to overdo your “Do now” pane. Fill it up with tasks that are aligned with your daily goals and work with it at the pace you are most comfortable.

Use sticky notes to effectively transition “Do Later” tasks into the “Do Now” quadrant.

If possible, try to combine personal with work tasks in this matrix to achieve balance in prioritizing to-dos

This June is Pride and Productivity Month at Rocket Station! We are using all our smarts to keep you clever and proud this month of the colorful flag. If you find these articles helpful, sign up in our mailing list and learn new things!

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Rocket Station is a company founded on the promise of exceeding expectations. Our culture drives us to set new standards, especially in our industry of providing virtual assistance and innovative business process solutions. While it’s easy for us to stay back and maintain our course, that’s just not the Rocketeer way.

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5 Ways to Better Motivate Yourself

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There’s not a single person around that doesn’t go through slumps at work. It’s a naturally occurring event for the average worker that may result from stress, exhaustion, or other factors. However, that doesn’t mean we just step back and accept these episodes of lower productivity and overall happiness. These are the times when we need to step up even more to motivate ourselves.

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Productive tips to Make Habits that Stick

Post author By rs_ph_website
Post date June 8, 2021

Productive tips to Make Habits that Stick

rs_ph_website
June 8, 2021
1:40 pm
0 comments

Do you ever get caught up in a cycle or loop that lets you get into the same negative results? Most of us do and, we are not even aware of why we end up getting the same results. This is where the powerful function of habit comes to play.

In Charles Duhigg’s book, The Power of Habit, the value of developing keystone traits that become habits cannot be overstressed. A habit emerges because the brain is constantly looking for new ways to expel less energy. In other words, the brain is always looking for a faster, more productive way for us to do things.

Our brains develop habits through a three-step cycle or better known as the ‘Habit Loop’. First, your brain is cued to go on autopilot. Then there is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps you brain to figure out if this behavioral loop is worth remembering for the future.

Because this is such an automated response, our habits emerge without our permission. It happens as a mechanism to help us adapt better to our environment. Forming positive habit loops can get you doing things more productively. Habits can develop cravings without us even realizing it, and because of this important aspect, you can use the ability of cravings to develop a habit.

So what about bad habits?

Bad habits can be changed if you change something in the loop. Usually, the best thing to change the routine, instead of changing the cue or the reward.

To break your bad habits, identify the cues and rewards, then, you can change the routine. Err on the side of grace: Not everyone has the same success or reaction to changing bad habits or adjusting to new ones. Be patient with yourself and figure out a way to make it all work according to your pace.

Pro-tip: Place Emphasis on Small Wins

Small wins that are celebrated help us leverage our mindset to bigger and more substantial achievements. The loop of achieving one small task is like a domino effect to help us tick off more small wins, which will eventually lead us to bigger wins.

Pro-Tip: Develop Keystone Habits

Keystone Habits are habits we perform that creates a culture with positive effects on your psyche as a person. Examples of keystone habits can be seen with parents learning to choose certain words in front of their children so a culture of temperance and mindfulness among adults is developed.

How can we apply this at work?

Companies can develop Keystone Habits to create better company culture. Keystone Habits such as: learning to celebrate small wins which fosters positive work culture and pushes people to do better. When you create keystone habits, you eventually trigger routines. Routines help with team members wanting to experiment and find better loops to get the job done. These in turn become organizational habits. Most of us call it work culture, but now that we are discussing this, we know that it is more a habit.

Pro-Tip for Leaders: Use Obstacles to Form New Habits

Great leaders use obstacles to as platforms to create new habit loops as solutions. They see obstacles as opportunities to improve organizational habits. This will not happen with people merely being ordered around to change the system. There must be an air of ‘crisis’ or ‘emergency’ that will push the organizational habits to change. Thus, adjusting the habit loop.

At the end of the day: You need to do the work

Habits must stick for it to work, and if you want it to work, you need to cultivate it. It is not enough that we establish a loop. Most of the time, we need belief systems that will push us to further cultivate habits into transformative behaviors that can change our lives.

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All Careers Leadership

8 Characteristics of A Value-Driven Professional

Post author By rs_ph_website
Post date June 1, 2021

8 Characteristics of A Value-Driven Professional

rs_ph_website
June 1, 2021
1:40 pm
0 comments

For every single person who works within a hierarchy, there exists varied beliefs on how one must present themselves. We are the output of our environmental factors and upbringing, and while this does either give us an edge or makes us handicapped, from here on out, the following characteristics I will discuss with you from Donald Miller’s book Business Made Simple is completely teachable.

At Rocket Station, we always emphasize that our team members are people of value, but how can we achieve that?

See yourself as a person worth INVESTING in

According to Miller, most successful people see themselves as a person with high economic value. If they were a product with set skills, they would be determined to use all skills to the best of their ability to prove themselves worthy within the ecosystem they occupy. Essentially, these individuals are hell-bent in proving their worth by making sure the company that invests in them gets their return on investment. They are, in turn, given more responsibility, are easier to promote and achieve greater compensation. This is mainly because they are seen as an economic investment. You must see yourself as someone who can offer value, someone who can bring success to the company.

If the company is investing x in you, make sure the returns you give back is more. The key to moving ahead is to be more of an investment as possible. Become a great return of investment.

Be a Hero not a Victim.

A person who possesses a hero mentality is someone who has a proactive and can-do mentality regardless of the odds.

Most of us possess the victim mentality by shying away from accountability, when in truth, it could have been done. What was the reason why you couldn’t complete the task given? Was it because of the load? Is it the internet connection? Or maybe just the situation you are in lead you to do a lousy job? People who act like victims always attribute their failures to things other than themselves. As a result, people will want to do their job for them. Victims always act as if the control is not within their grasp, like they are handicapped by design and that they simply cannot do anything because it is what it is. They have a defeatist mindset and are helpless.

Heroes on the other hand are people who face challenges, fall, try to stand up and fight for their right to succeed in this world. They don’t stay down long. They are quick to learn from their mistakes, eager to prove their worth without asking for charity, and are fast to take responsibility for shortcomings.

In this life, where there are plenty of reasons to consider yourself a victim, be a hero.

Keep your cool and know how to manage drama

Know how to de-escalate drama. This is a vital characteristic of value-driven professionals. There is nothing more harmful to your career than having a dramatic reaction at work. If after reacting dramatically after receiving feedback, people can avoid giving you feedback altogether, but they will have something to laugh about when you are not around if you persist on being the dramatic colleague.

Instead, learn how to de-escalate dramatic event. How do you do this? You step out of yourself and view the argument as if you were a calm and calculated 3rd party and respond to the dramatic event at the same energy level or lower of the person being dramatic.

For instance, if your co-worker forgets to send over their hours and you get angry and verbally demand that they do so, then you took the drama beyond the level that was accounted for.

The fact of the matter is, we trust and respect people who resolve drama at a level that is lower than the dramatic energy. So, become unflappable. Have a cool head. People who are capable of de-escalating drama without so much of a problem are not only seen as capable, but they are also easier to respect, trust and are given more responsibilities.

Accept feedback as a gift

The value-driven professional understands that feedback is the backbone of their growth and moves towards it not against it. They take feedback as a gift and an opportunity to grow. Having said that, not a lot of people can take feedback well, especially if it comes at unprecedented times. But the gracious acceptance of feedback means you possess a level of maturity akin to a valuable team member.

To make the acceptance of feedback as a habit, establish a routine about gathering feedback. A quarterly meeting about your performance can help you get the answers to the following questions:

What can I do better?

Are there things I do that seem unprofessional to you or to others?

Is there a way you think I can improve?

What is your opinion on the work I did with x project?

This is also very crucial: When getting feedback, aim to get it from people who have your best interests at heart. Know which mentor to talk to and which teammate to ask, listen to it, metabolize it, and make sure you can understand why they are giving you these points to improve without feeling resentment.

Be Competent in Managing Conflict

All value-driven professionals do not shy away from conflict. They understand that conflict is normal and navigating conflict is part of everyday life. They know this so well that they know that conflict and success come hand in hand.

As such, as value-driven professional, you can practice the following tactics to keep yourself more adept at managing conflict:

Expect Conflict. Condition your mind that it comes naturally in collaborating any task and is the byproduct of progress.
Control Your Emotions.
Affirm the person you are confronting.
Understand you could be wrong.

Value being Trusted and Respected more than being Liked.

The trait of a good leader is seen in their ability to garner trust and respect versus being liked by others. It is essential to treat others with kindness, but more priority should be placed in attaining a level of authority by performing these things an effective leader can do:

Set Clear Expectations. Have your team know exactly what you need, when you need it, and what must be done, and how it should be delivered.
Accountability. Does your team know they have to send x by x time? Do they know you expect a report? How can they punch in their work and measure their performance?
Rewards for Good Performance. Give good work a pat on the back, this pushes team members more.

Be Optimistic.

People who are brave enough to take risks because they see all the potential versus the odds are more likely to be successful. The see an opportunity, they take their shot, whether they hit or miss, they are quick to persevere and try again. They don’t kick the bucket each time something bad happens. Instead, they positivize their mindset and try to recalibrate how things can go well if they try again. Learning from their mistakes and pivoting as a way forward.

Have a Growth Mindset

A value driven professional always seeks to improve themselves. They seek to acknowledge their boundless potential and become open to learning new things. They never say, “this is who I am and that’s all there is.” They shift the narrative to, “This is who I am now, and there is no limit to what I can become.”

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All Careers Health and Wellness

A Mindfulness Plan to Keep Remote Work Stress at Bay

Post author By rs_ph_website
Post date May 20, 2021

A Mindfulness Plan to Keep Remote Work Stress at Bay

rs_ph_website
May 20, 2021
11:13 am
0 comments

No matter where you are in life, you can never go wrong with a well thought out plan. Whether it be your extensive travel itinerary to some far-flung country, or your grocery list for the week. Having a plan helps set the tone, helps you determine what is deemed as necessary or unnecessary and ultimately helps you reach your intended goal.

As remote workers, we may ask ourselves, in what ways can having a plan benefit me holistically? We can all agree that even when working from home, the stress is still present. Now, what is the best way to formulate a plan that could aid you in achieving more mindfulness and less stress at work?

Mindfulness, what is it?

Mindfulness is being in the present. It is being aware of what is happening here and now. Mindfulness is reacting and interacting with the world in a state of consciousness that allows us to reach a level of calm regardless of the chaos.

How does mindfulness help us manage stress better? Studies have shown that mindfulness is especially effective for reducing stress, anxiety and depression. By doing this, we help ourselves manage stress in ways that are calmer and more professional at work.

Here is your one-week mindfulness plan that will change how you manage stress.

Monday: Pick an activity and be aware of it.

For discussion’s sake, let us use your first meal on Monday as your intentional awareness activity. Be aware of what you are eating, pay attention to the details, the colors, take note of the aroma, and how it tastes. Tune out and be aware of your first Monday meal, have that delicious 20 minutes to yourself and learn the art of creating a peaceful thought bubble.

Tuesday: Sit Properly and Meditate

The next day, channel all your energy into sitting upright and properly. Focus on your breathing and be aware of how your posture contributes to the releasing of tension in your body. You sit, close your eyes, and focus your attention to your breathing while noticing thoughts, sensations, and feelings. Do this in an undisturbed place for 45 minutes and watch yourself feel more at ease afterwards.

Wednesday: Do Mindful Yoga

Yoga is in the center of most mindfulness practices. Yogic mantras focus on the intentional movement of the body in poses that contract the muscles and facilitate deep breathing. Tune in to how your muscles contract, and keep in mind the rhythm of all your deep breathing. For people who aren’t used to tight and heavy yoga, flow yoga or stretch yoga would be a perfect choice, especially for night shift workers who just seek to wind down.

Thursday: Practice Responding Versus Reacting

We have all been there. That sudden rush, and surge of anger or needing to be right. The uncontrollable urge to react with aversion or sadness to an event that doesn’t deserve our energy, but somehow manages to take it anyway. Instead of feeling this, do the S.T.O.P. method: Stop whatever you are doing, Take a deep breath, Observe your emotions, Plan your next steps then proceed.

Friday: Practice Facing Emotions

Once we successfully manage to understand how to react, we can slowly face how we feel with kindness and compassion. Most people normally turn to distractions to avoid negative emotions but sitting in them and allowing yourself to feel these emotions without prejudice aids us in building emotional resilience and flexibility. Mindfully release yourself from doing anything when you feel sad, angry, frustrated, or disappointed. Sit properly, take a few deep breaths, ask yourself: “What can I do to show up for myself right now?” and think of whatever affirming statements you have, and say it repeatedly either out loud or silently in your head until the negative feelings calibrate better.

Saturday: Practice Mindful Communication

By this time, we have experienced being able to respond versus react, sit in our emotions, and practice mindfulness methods to help us reach a more balanced state of being. Now, we can slowly work on communicating with others in a way that is more mindful. Learn to listen and observe each time you have a conversation with someone. Take note of their body language, their tone of voice, and the way they respond to you. Take a few seconds to sift through words that can be appropriate for the conversation, and really invest in the conversation and where it is going.

Sunday: Practice Compassion

Compassion and being present, is the end-goal of mindfulness. Compassion for others, for all sentient beings, and compassion for yourself in moments of silence. Compassion as an offshoot of mindfulness is a powerful construct that aids a person in being centered even during chaos. This is a soft skill that is so important these days.

Extra Activity: Plan this Into Your Schedule

The above-mentioned steps were lifted and adapted from the 8-Week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Therapy Plan created by Dr. John Kabat-Zinn in the 1970S. The program was created and proven to reduce stress and develop ease during chaos for multiple individuals. While the 8-week plan seems more comprehensive, we summarized them all into a seven-day mindfulness plan that is just as efficient.

May is mental health awareness month and at Rocket Station, we place immense value in the mental health of every Rocketeer. This month, we will be tackling topics that delve deeply into mental health for the remote worker and the things we can do to aid in nourishing and caring for one’s mental health.

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All Careers Health and Wellness

Getting over Overthinking: Ways to Cut Negative Thinking Cycles

Post author By rs_ph_website
Post date May 19, 2021

Getting over Overthinking: Ways to Cut Negative Thinking Cycles

rs_ph_website
May 19, 2021
10:42 am
0 comments

Negative thinking cycles are negative thoughts that stack on top of each other. Most people call it snowballing, we can call it a negative thought cycle. Why do we call it this? Because it never stops. You begin and end the day on a negative loop. Sounds scary, but research shows that majority of people have experienced this within their lifetime. So, if you are one of them you are not alone.

Why should we care about this? Let me introduce you to the cognitive thought triangle, wherein it clearly states that your thoughts, affect your actions and your feelings causing you to either perform positively or negatively in whatever area you are part of

The good news is, there is a way to combat negative thinking loops. Even better news is that mindfulness and you are the key to controlling these negative thoughts from getting out of hand.

Technique #1: Distanced Self Talk

In author Ethan Kross’ book Chatter, he discusses a phenomenon called distanced self-talk . Distanced self-talk is the act of speaking to yourself as if you were another person to best asses a situation. For example in times of danger, a young person named Sam facing a threat can asses the situation by saying: “Okay Sam, what do you do if this person comes any closer?” it’s easier for the brain to think of solutions when we coach others instead of ourselves. To which Sam can reply in his head, “I’ll have to make a run for it after I hit him with my shoe.”

In the lens of being a remote worker, when faced with a difficult client, you can revert to this technique to avoid an untoward reaction by saying, “Okay, self, how do we respond to this difficult concern?” and then you proceed.

Technique #2: Count things to distract yourself.

If we have learned anything from mindfulness so far, it’s that it helps you stay in the present. Mindfulness can also help you manage a lot of anxious thoughts, by disrupting them through counting. Place all your focus and attention to mindfully counting things that are well within your reach. The number of pens in your pencil case, the number of beads on your bracelet, how about the letters you are reading now?

You can even start listing down things that bring you joy to help disrupt the anxious thoughts and keep negativity at bay.

Technique #3: Turn to familiar and lovely aromas

Aromatherapy helps soothe the mind and keeps negative thoughts at bay by means of association. Simply smelling your favorite comfort food also aids you in this endeavor. If you don’t have a particular favorite Lavender Oil helps in granting a sense of calm when anxious thoughts threaten to invade your mental space.

Technique #4: Get off social media or exercise mindful consumption of online content.

An array of studies has discussed the depletion of mental health over social media usage. One way to counter this is to simply get off it. Set your phone on silent, delete the apps if you must or simply place your phone away when you feel like you are about to be swamped with so much negative chatter.

Social media has become a double-edged sword, in one hand you have it as an efficient marketing tool for businesses, in the other, it offers a pernicious and suggestive view of how life unrealistically looks. Now, while some people cannot live without social media, the main essence is to be more mindful about what you consume from it.

Technique #5: Vent to someone who understands

Venting is an act of expressing one’s dissatisfaction over an occurrence, event, or a situation. You may resort to having a therapist, a friend, or a family member in processing whatever negative thought cycles you have. Whoever it may be, be sure to choose people who offer a safe environment for you to share and simply be.

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All Careers Health and Wellness Leadership

Mindfully manage stress as you work from home with these easy tips

Post author By rs_ph_website
Post date May 18, 2021

Mindfully manage stress as you work from home with these easy tips

rs_ph_website
May 18, 2021
10:05 am
0 comments

Stress at home, stress at work; these were the common problems found by most people who didn’t work remotely. Imagine, now, if you were experiencing stress at home AND stress at work WHILE working from home? It seems like such a challenge.

While remote work does have a lot of perks, it can, like almost every job, become stressful. The stress remote workers experience comes as a unique circumstance due to their set up at home. There isn’t much division with the stressors from home and work; so, some people may have a challenging time managing the that amount of stress.

Luckily, we have compiled easy tips to counter that problem:

Tip #1 Meditate Everyday

Pause and take time to meditate each day. While we’ve all heard how amazing meditation can be for managing stress, as individuals who work from home a 10–15-minute meditation schedule can seem a bit dreary, but it is worth it.

If your schedule cannot squeeze in that amount of time, focus on just one minute and, once you find time for one minute, you will end up putting more time for meditation once you see its cumulative effect on your stress level.

Tip #2: Rate Your Stress

As we have been taught to measure pain on a scale of 1-10, do so with assessing stress. What is your threshold? Have you reached your maximum level of stress tolerance? How far do we still have till we end up having negative thought loops?

Knowing where you are at your stress level is a crucial way of keeping stress at bay. This is a mindful exercise to help you instill a sense of awareness that can catch and stop stress from progressing any further. There are plenty tools to help alleviate stress once you can rate it.

READ: MEDITATIVE TOOLS FOR LESS STRESS WHILE WORKING FROM HOME

Tip #3 Use Visualization When Needed

Picture your ultimate vacay when things in your day get cray. Taking yourself on a visual vacation may do more to help you manage stress than you may think. Why? Because as the chaos continues around you, you’ll allow yourself to re-center, even if it’s just for a moment or two.

Tip #4: Get in a good Laugh

Age old knowledge says that laughter makes the best medicine. Research shows that it actually does help calm down your body’s stress response, while also lowering heart rate and blood pressure. In order to combat stress, go forth and find meaningful ways to elicit laughter and all the happy hormones that come with it.

Tip #5: Exercise

Exercise releases a lot of neurotransmitters that aids in alleviating one’s mood, more so if you’re exercising with nature. If you are looking for a fool-proof way to stop your negative thought cycles and reduce stress, a particularly good dose of endorphins can and will do the trick.

So, we suggest you find time to get a breath of fresh air, get your heartbeat pumping and oxygen flowing into your brain as you release the stress and the sweat that goes with it.

Keep Your Stress at bay by controlling it from the onset.

Nowadays, it is easy for one to develop chronic stress patterns, even as remote workers. Managing stress is doable and fixable though especially when you are aware of the level of stress you are experiencing at that given time.

Utilize these tips to become more intentional in managing stress and keeping the stress at bay. When we become more mindful of what we need and the signals our bodies are telling us, we can take care of ourselves better. This is one crucial steppingstone to simplifying our lives and letting stress go.

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All Careers Health and Wellness

Meditative Tools for less stress while working from home

Post author By rs_ph_website
Post date May 17, 2021

Meditative Tools for less stress while working from home

rs_ph_website
May 17, 2021
9:51 am
0 comments

We have all been at a point in our lives when we just want to rest. Part of resting is also quieting the mind. How else can we best achieve this than through meditation? Meditation has been an age-old practice used for centuries wherein one performs deep breathing in rhythmic pace and mentally says mantras that helps in focusing on stillness and in easing the mind of busy thoughts. Meditation is so effective, it was proven to lessen anxiety, aid in alleviating depression and even some physical ailments such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), psoriasis, PTSD and many more.

So for people working from home with an array of things to do, how does one set up a meditative routine especially when work and home come hand in hand? We simply adjust our environment and use tools to help us meditate effectively. Here are some tools that can be useful in our quest to quiet the mind:

A Safe Undisturbed Space

Better to err on the side of care, but this goes without say: When meditating or accessing the art of mindfulness, one must first listen to their thoughts in complete stillness, away from all the hustle and bustle. Otherwise, you will not be able to focus on quieting your mind. So set a space that is dedicated to rest and relaxation, usually this is the place in your home that offers the most calming vibrations. Pick your spot and try to dedicate that to meditative practices.

Soothing Music

Music can help us ground ourselves well, use breathing techniques and even assist us with meditation. There have been multiple studies that favor the effect of music in the human stress response. It was found that cortisol levels (the higher cortisol levels the more stressed), of subjects were significantly lessened after listening to soothing music. You can find such music from YouTube, Spotify or Apple Music to help aid you in your meditative journey.

Meditation Apps for Guided Meditation

Currently, with the demand of COVID-19 on us physically, mentally, emotionally, and even socially; we find ourselves looking to more remote ways of performing the right meditative techniques. Last year one of Apple’s Best Apps of the Year 2020 was Shine. Shine’s focus was to provide guided meditation and to calm anxiety. Something everyone needed during these times. For more mainstream and accessible options, YouTube and Spotify have multiple channels and playlists that offer a variety of guided meditations that can help in bringing you into the habit of meditating.

Meditation Books

For those who prefer reading and knowing more about the science and processes of meditation, there are plenty of books that speak about mindfulness and meditation in the market. Here is a list from Good Trade that offers a list of mindfulness and meditation books for beginners.

Meditation Mala or Tibetan Singing Bowl

Meditation Malas and Tibetan Singing Bowls have been used by meditative practitioners for quite some time. Meditation Malas are energy balls formed into bracelets that bring positive energy when people need more calming sensations; they resemble prayer beads. Tibetan Singing Bowls are far from just musical instruments. They offer very faint, high-pitched sounds that are scientifically proven to induce the relaxation response, reduce stress, and potentially stress-related disease in the body. They are mostly found in many mindfulness workshops and are used by trained professionals to get the most out of meditation.

Scented Candles or Incense

Scented Candles and Incense have been attributed to relaxation in recent pop culture. Multiple studies have shown that non-animal tested, soy candles with relaxing scents aid in lessening fatigue, cortisol levels and promoting affective state of well-being.

Greenery or Potted Greens

Last month, we talked about green exercise and how merely brisk walking around nature on your way to work boosts your mood by 10-15% versus indoor exercise. The same can be applied to meditative practices. When trying to set up your meditation space, try to incorporate a view of nature, visual access to a small garden patch, some fresh air, or even just some potted greens. This can help ease the mind and bring forth a more relaxed and lighter environment for you to practice meditation.

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All Careers Health and Wellness

5 Health Benefits of Working From Home

Post author By rs_ph_website
Post date April 27, 2021

5 Health Benefits of Working From Home

rs_ph_website
April 27, 2021
2:02 am
0 comments

Working from home has become the new normal. If you’re one of the individuals that were uprooted and transferred to working from the comforts of home, you’ll find that there are plenty of health benefits surrounding it.

In the advent of this sudden surge of people working from home, telecommunications, software processes and cloud applications have naturally been in demand. With new technology came a lot of opportunities and challenges; ultimately, changing the way people work.

While everyone did need to take a minute in setting up their virtual workspaces, the benefits of working from home had yet to be discovered by the mass majority. The daily meetings were now relegated to quick teleconference calls. You didn’t have to worry about what to wear any longer to work, or your daily commute. You can spend more time with your family or schedule in more time for yourself.

When managed well, remote work can accrue a lot of benefits in multiple ways, we are going to take it a notch higher and say it can even make people healthier and more centered and here is why:

More access to healthy home cooked meals and preferred diets.

Gone are the out-of-office lunches in delicious restaurants that made people cheat a little in their diets. While working from home, you can control what you eat, and what you cook. The kitchen is, after all, just a room or two away.

Less office politics. Less stress.

One of the key indicators from stress is a negative work culture that has a lot of office politics. While office politics will always be part of every organization, the fewer face-to-face interactions helps keep team mates out of the issue. The “out of sight, out of mind” principle applies here. This enables team mates to instead, focus on tasks and projects at hand without having to see or experience office politics happening in a face-to-face set up. Thereby, lessening stress and increasing productivity.

More established boundaries.

Striking a more manageable work-life balance comes easier for people who work from home and this applies to how they set boundaries also with their personal and professional responsibilities. It’s easier to “turn off”, and tune out of work and are more able to focus on things that matter most outside of your workplace.

More “me” time or “family” time

While there will always be nuances to working from home and adjusting to the family, there is always an accepted idea that working from home is more favorable if you prefer having more time for your loved ones or simply just for yourself. This aids in contributing to the well-being of a team member greatly.

More autonomy

Working from home, aids in giving back to individuals one of their most valuable currencies: time. The autonomy to manage your schedule, such as when you eat, where and when you work in the day, when you meditate and manage meeting schedules help in providing that much needed balance that we all need to remain productive and motivated at work.

At Rocket Station, we place value in the health and wellness of each teammate and seek to empower them to lead a healthy lifestyle. This April, join our community by signing up in our newsletter to read more interesting articles about health and wellness and how it can help you at work.

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11 Nutrients That Keep Your Brain Sharp At Work

Post author By rs_ph_website
Post date April 26, 2021

11 Nutrients That Keep Your Brain Sharp At Work

rs_ph_website
April 26, 2021
2:24 am
0 comments

Scrolling on social media and scanning the web for health and wellness tidbits is enlightening. In the advent of the internet, we are offered a wide variety of advice on how to eat, live and practice healthy lifestyles. We see both traditional and new-age ways of keeping yourself healthy and fit; so much so that we can be immensely overcome with knowledge.

This experience is akin to a chef that has mastered one cuisine for the entirety of their life, only to find out that they need to master a new cuisine yet again, only with ingredients that are foreign to them. We understand this, which is why at Rocket Station, we want to help you keep things simple by bringing you back to the basics of nutrition. Because while there will always be new and exciting ways to keep our health on track, at the end of the day it boils down to the nutrients you put in your body.

Here we have an exhaustive list of the good brain nutrients you need to be in tip-top-shape for work. The following have been noted in journals and articles as the essential nutrients your brain needs to function soundly:

Omega-3 fatty acids

Where to find them: Fish (salmon), flax seeds, krill, chia, kiwi fruit, butternuts, walnuts

Omega-3 fatty acids have been studied to prevent the cognitive decay of the brain in mice. This has also proven to help stabilize mood and has worked in faster healing of rain injuries studied in rodents.

Curcumin

Where to find them: Turmeric (curry spice)

Turmeric has a lot of beneficial effects for the body. On a cognitive level, it protects the brain from cognitive decay and aids in overall prevention of Alzheimer’s, heart disease and cancer. It is a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.

Flavonoids

Where to find them: Cocoa, green tea, Ginkgo tree, citrus fruits, wine (higher in red wine), dark chocolate

The famous dark chocolate and their siblings that carry flavonoids have a particularly good effect on boosting brain performance especially when coupled with exercise. They are powerful antioxidants that help remove the body of free radicals that can cause oxidative stress in the body.

B Vitamins

Where to find them: Various natural sources.

It has been proven that supplementation with vitamin B6, vitamin B12 or folate has positive effects on memory performance in women of various ages. The Vitamin B also helps in the repair of brain injury and the further improvement of cognitive functions, nerve health, energy levels, eyesight, and healthy appetite to name a few.

Vitamin D

Where to find them: Fish liver, fatty fish, mushrooms, fortified products, milk, soy milk, cereal grains

Vitamin D has been proven to be extremely important in preserving the mind of the elderly. Vitamin D also helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body, leading to better bones, teeth and muscles.

Vitamin E

Where to find them: Asparagus, avocado, nuts, peanuts, olives, red palm oil, seeds, spinach, vegetable oils, wheatgerm

Vitamin E is proven to help the brain function clearly and effectively. It also the key in maintaining healthy immunity, healthy skin, and eyes.

Choline

Where to find them: Egg yolks, soy beef, chicken, veal, turkey liver, lettuce

In relation to the brain, dietary choline helps in prevention of seizures. It is also particularly important in improving one’s memory and cognition. It is also an essential nutrient for brain development.

Combination of vitamins (C, E, carotene)

Where to find them: Vitamin C: citrus fruits, several plants and vegetables, calf, and beef liver. Vitamin E: see above.

Vitamin C and Vitamin E are well known antioxidants that span even beyond the brain. Vitamin C alone helps boost one’s immunity, aids in managing heart failure and liver disease, reduces uric disease and protects your memory as you age.

Calcium, zinc, selenium

Where to find them: Calcium: milk, coral. Zinc: oysters, a small amount in beans, nuts, almonds, whole grains, sunflower seeds. Selenium: nuts, cereals, meat, fish, eggs

Calcium, Zinc and Selenium have various effects on cognitive function. It was studied that lifetime low selenium level is associated with lower cognitive functions in humans. In relation to the brain as well, higher calcium and zinc can reduce cognitive decline especially in elderly humans.

Copper

Where to find them: Oysters, beef/lamb liver, Brazil nuts, blackstrap molasses, cocoa, black pepper

Copper helps maintain healthy bones, blood vessels, nerves, and immune function, and it contributes to iron absorption. At a cognitive level, it was proven that patients with Alzheimer’s disease also lacked copper in their blood.

Iron

Where to find them: Red meat, fish, poultry, lentils, beans

Iron has been known to stabilize healthy cognitive function in women. The reason being is that iron aids in carrying carbon dioxide back to the lungs to be exhaled out of the body, thus enabling the brain to function better with healthier oxygen levels.

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Tags brain, career, health, nutrients, WFH, Work from home

All Careers Health and Wellness

Adaptogens: Elixirs to help you adapt while working from home

Post author By rs_ph_website
Post date April 25, 2021

Adaptogens: Elixirs to help you adapt while working from home

rs_ph_website
April 25, 2021
2:48 am
0 comments

Yoga, Ayurveda, vegetarian diets, and now adaptogens? Today, there exists a plethora of information on health and well-being, some are more practiced than most, and others have yet to be discussed more. Luckily for us, we will be discussing about something that can help you ease through remote work life efficiently: adaptogens.

What are Adaptogens?

According to Integrative Medicine, adaptogens are phytochemicals, which are believed to stabilize physiological processes and encourage homeostasis in the body. Adaptogens are found in nature that help the body cope with physical and emotional stress and restores balance in the body. In essence, they help the body adapt, react, and get through stressful episodes. They are safe, non-toxic, and non-habit forming. Examples of adaptogens are: ashwaganda, Siberian ginseng and the like.

How do adaptogens work?

Adaptogens help balance all the glands that are responsible in excreting hormones and neurotransmitters responsible for the stress response in humans. They somewhat bypass the stress response and helps the body cope with it better.

Effects of Adaptogens

The proper use of adaptogens have been proven to brighten one’s mood, have an anti-fatigue effect, have enhanced memory, focus and mental performance, and an overall improved stress response.

Researchers have found they have several effects on the body such as (a) neuroprotective elements, (b) anti-fatigue properties (c) antidepressive effects and can (d) act as a stimulant for central nervous system. Research shows adaptogens can combat fatigue, enhance mental performance, ease depression and anxiety, and help you thrive rather than just muddle through.

Why do we need Adaptogens as Remote Workers?

Let us be honest, being stuck at home doing work has a lot of upsides and some downsides to it. For most of us, it is having to singularly dismiss the importance of keeping our health in check, because psychologically, by being at home, we feel safe and therefore, feel like there are lesser threats to our well-being. That rarely is the case though, as night shift remote workers, it’s incumbent upon us to be even more vigilant to protect out bodies from late nights of being awake, disrupted body clocks, and stressful interactions with clients. Here’s how adaptogens can help:

Balances Hormones

Improves Mood

Anti-fatigue Effect

Fights Physical and Mental Signs of Stress

Tweaks Hormone Production and Improves Physiological Stress Responset

Helps aid in relaxation

Improves Stress Response

Boosts Resilience

List of Adaptogens for Your Perusal

Common adaptogens and the effects they have in the body

Ashwagandha: helps the body cope with stress on the daily.

Astragalus root: to help reduce stress and aging

Bacopa Monnieri: to protect the brain and improve memory and improve other aspects of cognitive function

Cordyceps: a mushroom that fights stress and helps balance hormones

Holy basil: to promotes relaxation

Licorice: to increase energy and endurance and help boost the immune system

Maca: to improve mood and increase energy

Reishi: helps us adapt to stress and improves sleep quality

Rhodiola rosea: to lower anxiety, fatigue, and depression

Siberian ginseng: provides energy and help overcome exhaustion

Wild yam: helps regulate female hormone levels

In a Nutshell

Adaptogens prove to be effective and more importantly, safe and non-habit forming. It aids our bodies combat stress and so much more, and would prove beneficial to maintain health and well-being while working from home.

At Rocket Station, we place value in the health and wellness of each teammate and seek to empower them to lead a healthy lifestyle. This April, join our community by

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