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April 2022
FINE-TUNE YOUR LEADERSHIP ENERGY A Tip for Better Teamwork and Faster Growth
Until a few months ago, my winter mountain biking routine had a problem: It was missing the camaraderie of group rides. During the spring, summer, and fall, I can ride side by side with friends through the hills. But when the weather turns cold and snowy, it’s not ideal to bike outdoors. I stay in shape by pedaling inside on my old CompuTrainer, but there’s no nature to look at, and without my friends, I feel less motivated. This winter I discovered a solution: the online biking platform, Zwift. By the skin of my teeth, I hooked my CompuTrainer up to the platform and joined the Tour de Zwift 2022. It lets me ride with a group of other people who have logged in from all over the country. We bike together live, and I can watch our whole group on Zwift’s chart. When someone passes me, I’m always motivated to pedal harder. Last night on the bike, that rush of motivation reminded me of a concept I’m studying for work: energy leadership. This idea is outlined in the book “Energy Leadership: Transforming Your Workplace and Your Life From the Core” by Bruce D. Schneider. The basic idea is that as a leader, your energy is contagious. The mindset and reactions you have in your office, especially in stressful situations, can make or break your business’s growth because of how they impact your team. Schneider outlines seven levels of leadership energy, starting with the most negative (Level 1) and moving to the most positive (Level 7). About 95% of people react to stress with Level 1 and Level 2 energy. They feel victimized and angry. But you can move beyond that! Level 3 covers others you want as well as finding a “quid pro quo” solution to your problem, but Levels 4–7 are even better. When you move in that direction, you can project a real understanding and awareness of other people. At Level 7 — everyone’s goal — you can react with “absolute compassion” and “non-judgment.” “THE MINDSET AND REACTIONS YOU HAVE IN YOUR OFFICE, ESPECIALLY IN STRESSFUL SITUATIONS, CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOUR BUSINESS’S GROWTH BECAUSE OF HOW THEY IMPACT YOUR TEAM.”
Since learning about this system, I’ve kept a journal recording when I make negative judgments. This has helped me see places where I could lean into gratitude or cooperation instead, moving up levels on the energy leadership scale. I’ve also spotted patterns. For example, I’ve noticed that when I react in frustration (Level 1 or 2), that reaction has a ripple effect. If I snap at someone on my staff, they’re more likely to snap at a client. The same is true in reverse: When I react with joy, wisdom, and non-judgment (Levels 6 and 7), my team is more likely to pass on the positivity. It’s the same ripple effect I see on my Zwift rides, too. When someone else on the ride drops me a thumbs up, sharing their positivity, that’s incredibly motivating. I get a burst of energy every time! Similarly, when I ride side by side with other people, I get what’s called a “drafting effect.” I can coast on the rest of the group’s airstream and pedal faster without using any more energy. By riding close together and giving each other positive reinforcement, we can go farther and faster than we ever thought possible — just like you and your team can. A few weeks ago, my Zwift connection died. I didn’t realize until that moment just how much I relied on it. I couldn’t figure out how to fix it and fell into a funk. Finally, days later I managed to solve it! It was 11 p.m., but I didn’t care. I hopped on my bike, took a ride, and all was right in the world again. To achieve that feeling in your office, pick up a copy of “Energy Leadership.” I’ve learned a lot from it, and I think you will, too.
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Get Sprung 4 Ways to Harvest Positive Vibes in Spring
Enjoy more hours of daylight. Spring brings more hours of sunlight and warming temperatures that can give you more time to enjoy your morning cup of coffee outside. You can take an early stroll around the block, get in a workout outdoors, or just enjoy the fresh air. Also, many areas observe daylight saving time, which extends sunlight into the evening, so no matter how you choose to spend your extra daylight, make it an adventure. Welcome spring-cleaning. It isn’t called spring-cleaning for nothing! Decluttering, dusting, reorganizing, and tidying up feels great! It’s empowering and refreshing. There is something special about creating more space in your living space that gets the positivity flowing. Eat fresh, colorful foods. During spring, many delicious fruits and vegetables come into season. Berries, oranges, apples, carrots, avocados, cherries, spinach, and kale are all at their peak. Your local farmers market is a great place to get the freshest produce to fuel your body!
Have you ever noticed that springtime just feels lighter and brighter? That’s because, believe it or not, the seasons affect us. When spring rolls around, the energy shifts, and it’s up to us to maximize those positive vibes. Let’s examine how we can make the most of spring and inject some color and vibrancy into our lives again after a long winter. Rely on color. Colors have the ability to elicit certain emotions and feelings. Tropical tones and pastels are everywhere in spring — the clear sky, grass, and flowers — so allow them to fill your space and take them with you as constant reminders to smile. If you’re up for it, wear some new colors to brighten up your wardrobe, and don’t forget to take in a sunset when you’re able!
Spring is a time for new beginnings and positivity. Make the most of this spring season by welcoming a fresh abundance of love and life.
Raise a Glass — Or Several 6 Ways to Drink More Water Without Thinking About It
Drink a full glass with medicines. Many of us get in the habit of only taking a large sip of water with pills. However, whether you take a supplement, medication, or vitamin, wash it down with a full glass of water. Carry around a large water bottle. Taking your water with you in a large bottle reminds you to keep sipping wherever you go. Every chance you get, fill it up.
Staying hydrated is one of the pillars of healthy living. In fact, according to the Mayo Clinic, women should drink 11.5 cups (92 ounces) of water a day, and men should drink 15.5 cups (124 ounces) a day. But, if we’re being honest, water can be pretty boring to drink — there are things we’d rather be drinking, and busy schedules make it difficult. Here are some ways to work more water into your daily routine to promote optimal health. Begin and end your day with water. Make it a routine to drink a large glass of water upon waking up and before going to bed. “Bookending” your day like this ensures that your body is hydrated for both the day and night ahead. Drink a cup of water with each cup of coffee. Many of us are used to drinking more than one cup of coffee throughout the day. If you drink a glass of water with each cup of coffee, you’re sure to stay hydrated. Keep in mind that while coffee is a liquid and contains water, it’s not very thirst-quenching. Ice is your friend. Each time you pour a drink or make a smoothie, use lots of ice! Your taste buds will hardly notice the difference, and you’ll still have lots of flavor while boosting your hydration.
The bottomless water bottle is a perfect way to work more water into your day. As a bonus, you can use a measured bottle to see how much you’ve actually drank throughout the day! Infuse your water. Try giving your H2O an extra kick. Add berries, lemon, lime, or mint to your water to give it some flavor and help make it more enticing to drink!
Water is important for a healthy body and mind, so follow these tips and stay hydrated!
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MEET THE TEAM
1. Do you believe time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time? I absolutely believe that time spent doing something enjoyable is not wasted. There is a time for doing chores and taking care of business, and there is a time for sitting on the sofa, dreaming and watching the sunlight move over the houseplants. 2. Is it easy for you to accept help in achieving your dreams? It’s very easy for me to accept help to achieve my dreams. “Pulling yourself up by the bootstraps” is a myth. No one does it alone. 3. Would you rather be covered in fur or covered in scales? Karen Nielsen
I would want to be covered in fur! Who wants to pet a fish?
4. What does your family’s last name mean? (Look it up if you don’t know!) Nielsen is the Danish version of the name and means “son of the champion.” Everyone in Denmark must have been a champion because I’ve read that Nielsen is one of the four most-common Danish names.
Chile to Santiago, then to Peru, Bolivia, and back to Buenos Aires. It was an incredible experience.
5. What was the best vacation you ever took and why?
6. Do you believe in having a ‘five-year plan’?
T he best vacation I ever took was when I spent two months traveling around South America. The main motive was to meet with a poet in Santiago whose work I was translating for my master’s project. I flew into Buenos Aires on a one- way ticket with hotel reservations for three nights, went south and spent time in Bariloche, went back up through
I don’t think I’ve ever had a five-year plan. As John Lennon reportedly said, “Life is what happens while you’re making other plans.” I try to focus on what’s happening now and take advantage of the unexpected.
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THE RIGHT WAY! How to Get Rid of a Business Partner
If you’re reading this article, you are a business owner who has a partner, and you need to get rid of your partner. This is a dark topic, and you probably have some dark thoughts. You’re probably in a place where you’re disillusioned, maybe even up to betrayed. You’re angry at your business partner, maybe even angry at yourself, and you’re confused because you’ve got to figure out how to extricate yourself from the situation without giving up time, sweat, blood, and tears that you’ve poured into the business.
Of course, the third way to get rid of your business partner is to walk away. If you’ve watched the movie “Napoleon Dynamite,” you’ve been introduced to an individual named Rex Kwon Do, who runs a dojo and he teaches his students how to break the wrist grip and to walk away. That could be you. It may make sense, to get your freedom, to just walk away from the operation. As before, you’ve got to make sure that when you walk away, you’re leaving the liabilities behind. If you take the liabilities with you, you haven’t walked away.
Paul Simon famously sang the song “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.” And that applies, but all of those 50 ways will take one of three forms. The first way to get rid of your business partner is to buy your partner out. The thing to keep in mind about this is you can only buy your business partner out if you come to an agreement. If you were smart and you had your act together way back when, you prepared an agreement that anticipated this day and you have a formula in place, and it’s pretty straightforward. If you’re
In addition, if you walk away, you will need to figure out what you can take with you. Sometimes a business’s most important assets are intellectual property, things that are in your head or in your computer, such as customer lists, your method of operation, vendors, the way you do business, or your business plans. You’ll need to sit down with an attorney to make sure you know what you can take with you and what you can’t. You need to find out
whether you have a non-compete agreement or any agreement that precludes you from continuing with a similar or the same business on your own. Also, you’ll have a lot of work to do to sort out which stuff is theirs and yours. That will depend on whether you’re walking away from a corporation, an LLC, or a proprietorship, but you need to figure out who owns what, from equipment to money. There will be a lot to sort through in the process of just walking away. An additional consideration to think about when walking away is how do you mechanically walk away? What steps do you need to take to formally tell your world, tell your partner that you’re not an officer or director of such and such corporation so that you can’t be tagged with personal responsibility for stuff that particular business does when you’re done? How do you physically separate yourself? Those are all things that you’ll want to talk with an experienced business attorney about so that you make a clean break. If you’re contemplating getting rid of your business partner, I invite you to read our free report entitled “How to Get Rid of a Parasitic Business Partner Without Ruining Your Life.”
like a lot of people, you don’t have that agreement in place with your partner. So, you’ll need to have a heart-to-heart talk with your partner and decide on which terms to buy your partner out. In this situation, an experienced business attorney can help you get negotiating leverage by holding your partner to their responsibilities as long as they remain in the business. Your second option to get rid of your business partner is to sell your interest, either to your partner or to a third party. Usually, you’re not going to sell it to some other person. In a closely held company, the partners often have a say over who else can be brought into the business. So, you may have to sell to your partner. If you’re limited to negotiating with one person, then they know you can’t get a competing offer that they have to bid against. So it may not be a fair price. You will want to talk confidentially with your own business attorney about how to level the playing field. Also, if you do sell your interest to a partner, you have to sell it in a way that ensures that none of the business liabilities are going to follow you. A lot of times, business partners will sign a lease and give a personal guarantee, or they’ll take out a loan and give a personal guarantee, or the business will have payroll tax liabilities that are not paid and those attach to the owners. There’s potential personal liability with some of the aspects of the business. If you’re going to sell out, you’ve got to make sure that you’re not taking those liabilities with you.
If you would like more information about how to get rid of your parasitic business partner, please scan the QR code.
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TAKE A BREAK
The Difference Between Robbery, Theft, and Burglary WERE YOU REALLY ‘ROBBED’?
Robberies, thefts, and burglaries are all crimes, and the terms are often used interchangeably when people talk about
them. However, the actual definitions of each word are different in the legal and law enforcement world. There are a few things that you should know when it comes to using the
correct terminology.
Theft Theft is the criminal act of taking another individual’s property (both tangible and intangible) without their permission. To fulfill the requirements of the crime, the person committing the act must have the intent to permanently deprive another person of that property. Shoplifting, taking a motor vehicle without the owner’s permission, stealing money from another person, and taking by deception are all examples of theft. Robbery Robbery differs from theft in that while they both involve taking something from someone, robbery includes force or the threat of force. It is a violent crime, and the victim must’ve been in fear for the crime to be classified as robbery. It should be noted that the property that is taken during the crime does not need to be taken directly off of the victim’s person. It can be property that someone is in control of, such as bills in a cash register. Burglary Unlike theft and robbery, burglary is not always a theft crime. A burglary occurs when one unlawfully enters a structure they do not own or have permission to enter — and they have the intent to commit a crime once they are inside. Some examples of burglary include breaking into a vehicle or opening up an unlocked door to commit a crime after they enter. Thefts, robberies, and burglaries can be confusing, but they all share one thing: If you’re convicted of one of these crimes, you will face serious consequences. If you ever need legal advice or assistance, get in touch with a lawyer you trust. They’ve got your back!
PECAN CREAM PIE
This creamy pecan pie tastes like a dream and is simple enough for even a novice baker.
Ingredients
• 1 9-inch uncooked pie crust • 1 cup heavy whipping cream • 1/4 cup powdered sugar • 2 8-oz bars of cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar • 1/4 cup pure maple syrup • 1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans, divided
Directions
1. Cook pie crust according to package instructions. 2. In a small bowl, combine heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar. Beat for several minutes with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. 3. In a separate larger bowl, combine the softened cream cheese, brown sugar, and maple syrup. Beat together until combined and creamy. 4. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture and stir together until combined. Stir in 1 cup of chopped pecans. 5. With a spatula, spread mixture into the baked and cooled pie crust.
Sprinkle the remaining pecans on top of the pie. 6. Cover and refrigerate overnight before serving.
Inspired by TogetherAsFamily.com
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
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How to Improve Your Leadership Energy
Welcome Spring With Open Arms How to Drink More Water Pecan Cream Pie How to Tell if You Were Robbed or Burglarized
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Major April Fools’ Day Fails
April Fools’ Day Gone Wrong 3 Pranks That Severely Backfired
April 1, aka April Fools’ Day, is when people love to pull pranks on one another. But if they’re not careful, pranks can end with a court case or jail time. Let’s take a look at a few April Fools’ pranks that have brutally backfired. Navistar Plant Shutdown In April 2021, Pamela Sisco texted her sister about an active shooter at Navistar Plant in Clark County. Her sister was frightened, and she called the authorities to let them know about the situation. The plant shut down after hearing about the incident because they thought it was a real threat. When officers were at the scene, they charged Sisco with inducing panic and disrupting public services. This is a fifth- degree felony in Ohio, and she was sentenced to a year in prison. Radio Contest Gone Wrong KBDS (103.9 FM) is a radio station in California that held a contest in 2005. They told their listeners they could win a new Hummer if they tracked the number of miles of two Hummers as they drove around town. Shannan Castillo won the contest, and when she went to pick up
her brand-new car, the DJ came out with a remote control toy car. They then went on air and laughed about how they fooled everyone. Castillo hired an attorney and sued the radio station for $60,000 — the cost of a new Hummer. Practical Joke at Work Creates a Law Glenn Howlett was a services manager at London City Hall in London, Ontario, Canada. In 2004, he decided to take a vacation to relax and not think about work. His colleagues decided to tell him that a major project he was working on was due earlier than Howlett expected. So, he made his vacation short and decided to return to work to finish his project. He became so stressed out that he began having heart palpitations and collapsed. Afterward, he sued his now former employer for damages. As a result, the city passed a law prohibiting practical jokes within workplaces. As you plan your pranks for April Fools’ Day, remember not to go too far with your jokes. Make them lighthearted and fun so everyone can laugh about them in the future.
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