Surprising Habits Hurting Your Brain Health
Everything we think, feel, and do involves our brains, so keeping them healthy is worth our time. But doing so might require more from us than a nutritional diet, exercise, and occasional sudoku. Everyday habits can profoundly affect our neurological health, and some will likely surprise you. Checking Our Phones After Waking Up Many people have their phones in hand before they even get out of bed, but this morning routine could be doing significant damage. Immediately inputting so much sensory information causes our brains to miss crucial stages in the natural waking process. The dopamine we get from checking messages and likes also primes our
brains for more, creating further distractions throughout the day. Experts suggest waiting an hour to check your phone, but if you can’t last that long, every minute you delay counts. Engaging in Negative Thinking Did you know poor mental health impairs our ability to think clearly? The same is true with patterns of negative thinking. Neuroplasticity means the input we give our brains shapes and changes how they function, and negative thinkers have more difficulty reasoning and forming memories. Fortunately, neuroplasticity also means we can choose to change. Mindfulness, stress relief, purposeful positive thinking, and therapy can all help us learn to turn negative thoughts around. It will improve brain health, and we’ll likely feel happier, too. Spending Too Much Time Alone Humans are social creatures. So, while our brains need new challenges and information to stay sharp, they also crave social interaction. Spending time with others improves our mental health and ability to form memories. Socializing also keeps our brains active, which neuroscientists believe might fight dementia. Specifically, older adults can have trouble switching between active and daydream states, but social interaction will help sharpen that skill. Alone time is crucial, but too much of a good thing can be dangerous. Make sure to interact with friends and family often or find ways to meet new people whose company you enjoy.
USE THESE STRATEGIES TO GATHER EYE-CATCHING WINTER MARKETING PHOTOS Want to Sell More Snow Services Next Year?
A lot of the landscapers I work with have a tough time motivating their teams to take photos of finished landscapes in the summer. So, when I mention they also need snow removal photos, they laugh me out of the room! I get it — no one wants to stop and take a photo on a cold, dark morning when they could be finishing their work. But you need those snapshots to sell your service through your website and social media. So, what can you do? Here are a few ways to encourage your team to take those critical shots this winter.
to share their shots through iCloud. If not, use a shared Dropbox link, photo-specific email, or Google Drive folder they can send snapshots to quickly. 2. Motivate your team with money or recognition. You can hand out a certain amount of money per photo or turn taking snapshots into a culture-building opportunity. As I’ve mentioned before, Green Side Up Landscaping runs a monthly photo contest where staff vote for their favorite photo, and the winner takes home a $50–$100 gift card. It creates camaraderie and incentivizes quality work. 3. Hire a professional. You can save yourself the hassle of implementing the previous ideas by paying a professional photo or video team like ours to capture snow content for you. It’s not a low-budget fix, but it will produce the best, most consistent results.
1. Make taking and submitting photos as easy as possible. Train your team on how to take great snow photos using
photography tricks like focusing on high-contrast areas, adjusting the white balance and exposure settings on their phones, and using the rule of thirds. They’ll take more photos if they’re confident in their skills! You can bring in a photographer for this training or ask a photo enthusiast on your team to run it.
Put the wheels in motion on these options now to set yourself up for marketing success in 2024.
You can also increase submissions by making it easy for your team to contribute photos. If you’re all iPhone users, ask them
2 • (303) 544-2125
Read It in Your Tru
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator