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An interesting story about the what someone would say about you at your funeral.

A friend attended her mothers funeral over the weekend, 500 people attended from the local town and interstate, only 5 years earlier her father passed away with 700 people attending.

Both parents were very active with there local schools, long after the kids had left, the local choir, fund raising drives and community projects, they were both very respected and valued.

As she started talking to an older gentleman about the eulogy and what a wonderful life that her mother had they got chatting about what they did for work.

The older gentleman, lets call him Jack, he said that he had a massive career change 20 years earlier following an earlier conversation he had regarding what would be said at his funeral. Jack had a extremely senior position with Microsoft that was extremely demanding but paid accordingly.

Well Jack commented that his eulogy would make reference to what a wonderful project manager he was, that he delivered the projects on time and on budget, that he was committed to the company and was devoted employee.

From that moment Jack decided to make a change to his life, he immediately resigned finally acknowledging that work only represented part of his life, that it also included his wonderful family, loving wife, fantastic children and an interest in golf and always wonderful things that will push aside to accommodate his 10 to 15 hour days.

Within a short period Jack found employment with a company that acknowledged that work only represented part of a person’s life, that the company would invest time and resources into helping develop the employees personal lifestyle. Ultimately an employee having a poor personal life would adversely effect their performance and happiness in the work environment so the work/life balance was paramount.

Every employee from the CEO down to the receptionist worked a standard 9 to 5 day, if there was a requirement to work past 5 PM, then it was concluded that one of the following had happened;

1.The employee was not working efficiently and therefore needed additional hours complete the required work
2.That the employee was under resourced to complete the job, that the person should have enlisted the help of more people to ensure that the job will be completed within the assigned time parameters.
3.That the job assigned employee was not appropriate based on his level of expertise or skill set.

This was the watershed moment that changed Jack’s life forever.
Quite often we are caught up in life, through achievement, or upgrading/updating our stuff, bigger house, a new car, the latest and greatest home entertainment system, the newest phone etc.
We just sometimes need the catalyst to start the ball rolling.

Ultimately does all of this stuff or those achievements bring you happiness in life, or is it more about the people around you, the relationships that you have and what you give out to those around you in your local community.

What will they say at your funeral?

When self-belief is combined with positive thinking anything is possible, especially when it comes to change your life. After losing his job, Bruce’s belief in himself, and what can be achieved if you set your mind to it, had awesome results.

A common occurrence within the Australian manufacturing sector also hit the compressor manufacturing company where Bruce worked – 40% of the workforce, including Bruce, were made redundant. With Bruce in his early 50s, the prospect of gaining employment was challenging and could’ve represented a very low point in his life.

But, for Bruce and his wife Lindy this was a watershed moment, and they were encouraged to pursue their own business, something that may not have done otherwise.

They sold their home in a Melbourne bayside suburb and with Bruce’s severance pay, purchased a beautiful B&B with restaurant called “The Shed Cafe” in the foothills of the Strathbogie Ranges in Victoria.

Well, for Lindy and Bruce the fact that they had zero experience in hospitality was no obstacle. They believed they could make it happen and learn the skills necessary to running a successful business, in Bruce’s words “we would rise to the challenge”. Lindy also knew she was a great cook and could adapt to managing 45 people, especially after her experiences running a busy medical centre.

Successful it is, within six months from initial purchase, bookings over winter proved to be very strong and restaurant patronage regularly met the 45 person capacity. They recently had a couple celebrating their 56th wedding anniversary.

The great thing about this positive change for Bruce and Lindy is that their work/life balance is now in check. If they want to take some time out to relax during the day they can, they recognise it’s all about getting balance in your life, rather than go, go, going all the time.

Often we talk about making changes in our lives, whether it be setting goals for weight loss, trying to get a better work/life balance, spending more time with the family or reaching big, hairy, audacious goals such as selling the family home and buying a business. Bruce and Lindy prove it’s possible.

Ultimately, you have to believe in yourself and think positively about achieving your goals.

During the stretching component of our boot camp last night a few Fitmates were commenting on how much better they feel after a bit of exercise following a hard day at the office.

These days unfortunately the stresses of work are compounded by additional financial pressures with meeting mortgages and the costs of living in our modern society. Quite often we are time poor and we have limited opportunities for physical exertion with longer working days and balancing the home/family life. Australia actually is in the top 10 for the highest average hours worked per week.

The great thing that our Fitmates noted was while they were exercising they forgot about work and could begin to unwind from the days work activities. Even one Fitmate in particular had an amazing amount of energy that was redirecting captured energy from a heavy day at the office. Even the other Fitmate’s were suitably impressed by her awesome energy at knocking out punch after punch.

Unfortunately there is a rising number of people consuming an excessive amount of alcohol in many instances as way to “unwind” from the days work activities.

This increased alcohol consumption has attracted the attention of the government to introduce educational programs recommending that people have 2 alcohol free days per week. This is really saying that there is a proportion of the population that is drinking above the recommended daily intake of 2 standard drinks on a daily basis. What may surprise people that that big goblet of a wine glass may be well over a standard drink which is 100ml for red wine.

Another by product is insomnia for some people who cannot “switch off” and keep churning through the days activities and stresses.

So maybe try fitting in some exercise after work, even if it means going for a walk around the block or parking the car a little further from the railway station or office car park. You may be surprised how much better you feel:))

A recent Nielsen poll found that Austtralians are on average spending 17.6 hours per week on the internet with 75% of those users using social networking sites. More concerning is children spending up to 22 hours in front of the computer screen surfing the net rather than being involved in physical exercise.

With Australia’s obesity rate going out of control there needs to be a change in our technilogical behavior. More alarming is that this phenomenon is starting to lead to obsessive compulsive type behavior and stress.

Part of leading a healthy lifestyle is having downtime to switch off and disconnect. I find it concerning that people cannot resist the temptation to check emails after work hours on there new smart phones even if there is a high probability it’s work related.

As technological advances in the area of instant communication and connecting with information, we are slowly eroding any down time.

It’s interesting that people often site the lack of time or tiredness for not exercising or adopting a healthier eating regime but as a society we are prioritising gluing our eyeballs to the computer or mobile phone screen, be it looking at/sending emails, SMS messaging, instant chat and surfing the internet.

I often wonder whether life back in the 1950′s may have been better for your health without all the latest technological gadgets.

We are moving towards a fatter, more fatigue society and unfortunately the internet and social networking responsibilities aren’t helping.

Relaxing on holidays, switching off and unwinding.

We need to spend more time relaxing on holidays, switching off and unwinding from the day to day duties that consume our lives.

If we have a consciously or unconsciously have an expectation of receiving a phone call or an email our minds are constantly on alert and not relaxed.

When traveling on a country train overseas, I decided to catch up on some sleep. Then suddenly the door separating 2 carriages abruptly tried to open & close. While being in a semi dormant state I thought the door would remain closed, well it didn’t and the pattern was repeated 6 annoying times.

Could I fall back to sleep, maybe but the expectation of the door slamming keep me awake and not very relaxed.
Eventualy 30 minutes into the trip the door sorted itself out and stopped opening & closing but I didn’t know this at the time.
So for the next hour I was waiting for the door to open & close, still feeling comfortable that this event may re occur even though it didn’t.

Fast forward back to your holiday and is waiting for that email or phone call like that banging door?

Learn to truly have a relaxing holiday by switching off and unwinding, you, your family or partner will be very happy.