Do This. It Makes Everything Better.

Time to read: 15 seconds

My daughter recently told me that I have no "chill." I prefer to think of myself as energetic and productive. And, she has a point.

Where are you on the scale of chill to energetic?

Regardless of where you are on the scale, I have something for you to try, something highly scientific and skilled that will take weeks to master.

Ready?

Here it is.

Lie down.

That's it. Simply lie down. The couch is a pretty good place although I can also recommend the floor. Rather wonderful things happen including rest, meditation, reading, dog love, and a cat on your stomach. Oh, and you become more productive when you take a break, Who knew?!

I feel like I've discovered something under-rated among the type-As and kept highly secret among those of you with "chill." Your secret is out, and it's marvelous.

Be well. Now you know what to do with your weekend. Have fun!

Summer of Rest, Recovery and Integration

Time to read: 30 seconds.

My fair city at sunset

Hey Rebels!

This is the summer of rest and recovery. Clients are quitting and changing jobs, heading back to the office, moving and experiencing all sorts of change. People are enjoying Fridays off, road tripping, and requesting that we space our sessions out a bit so they can integrate.

Integration. That's an important concept. I use it with clients to mean the time you give yourself to let things sink in. When you've been diving deep on your personal and professional development, sometimes you have to pause to let your learning absorb into your bones.

When you've lived through a global pandemic, political turmoil and social upheaval, you need a little time to integrate. When you give yourself space to integrate, you see what sinks in and sticks over time and set the stage to move forward again.

So, I am going to give you a few weeks of short, easy to digest content to aid your rest, recovery and integration. Today's is simply - consider the idea of integration. What does it mean for you? What do you want to integrate?

Then watch the next few weeks for tips and ideas for rest, recovery and integration.

The free download of The Corporate Rebel's Playbook for Returning to Life (and Work) is still available. It's chock full of info for you and your team. Many people have shared this playbook with their bosses (including my husband). If you love it, please share it.

Back to Basics

Time to read: 45 seconds

My home yoga studio

Last week, I saw anxiety at 3:00 am more nights than I care to count. As I lay in bed, yet again, I noticed that I had allowed my physical self-care to slide. Yoga fell off the radar. Cookies were a nightly snack. (If I'm honest, they were a morning, afternoon and nightly snack.) And clearly, sleep was elusive. Let's just say, my family noticed the slide, too.

So, this week, I committed to bring back the basics - nutrition, exercise, sleep, and mindfulness. I set up a one-week experiment.

My hypothesis: If I do basic things to take care of myself, I will feel calmer and sleep better.

Here are my commitments for this week:

• yoga 3x
• meditation 3x
• no sugar
• daily walks
• gardening

I'm a couple of days in and so far, so good. What physical practice belongs on your list of commitments this weekend?

Lastly, hold your goals loosely.

• 20 minutes of yoga? Time to celebrate!
• You might narf a piece of lemon cream cake if your daughter wants to get dessert for her family time choice. I don't know anything about that.
• 5-minutes of meditation? Yay you!
• Planting one plant counts as gardening.

See? Easy peasy if you keep your expectations low.

I'm going to hit that yoga mat covered in cat hair right now.

Your calm resilience is more basic and easier than you might think.

To your well-being!

Christina

P.S. Here are two free resources to help you and yours during this challenging time. Spread them around and enjoy!

1. Rebels at Home Challenge: This challenge is a series of eight 3-minute daily video exercises to uplift you and help you find your place in this global pandemic. And it will give you something new to talk about at your next Zoom happy hour. Sign up here.

2. The Unconventional Guide to Working from Home: This is a downloadable pdf of practical tips and big picture strategies to help you be efficient, focused and effective at home. Click to download the pdf here.

Summer is NOT Over Yet. What You Do With These Days Matters.

If you're in the USA, this weekend is Labor Day and Labor Day is the official end of summer and the return to well….labor.

And, it is still summer. You have 4 and a half glorious days of summer left. You have a long weekend. The pool is still open. The sun is shining.

Here's why this matters for you and your work:

1. Be present. Fall will come on its own whether you enjoy a trip to the lake or you worry about the rocket ship that launches in a few days. You may as well enjoy yourself. The practice of being present will serve you at work as well as in your leisure time by offering you less stress and more attention to opportunities.

2. Joy. Relish the joy of your time off. Laugh. Hang out with your family and friends. Eat. Play. A little joy will let your creativity soar over the weekend and will spill over to work on Tuesday.

3. Rest. Giving yourself time to rest and rejuvenate ensures that your best self will show up at the office on Tuesday (and incidentally, every day). You'll be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed next week.

And, next week is a short week for those in the USA! That's pretty great, too.

Enjoy your last gasp of summer. I'll be at the state fair with my family and hosting BBQs in the backyard.

Hit reply to this email and tell me your plans. Or pop into the Corporate Rebel HQ Facebook Community and tell us all about it.

With rebel love,
Christina

P.S. Even better than enjoying all this rebelicious insight yourself is to share it with your friends and colleagues. Forward this email  and they can sign up to receive all the juicy content right here.

It's my birthday. I'm giving you the gift I'm giving myself

Estimated read time: 34.24 seconds.

Happy Birthday!

My 49th birthday is on Saturday, and like a small child I'm thinking about what I want. (Here's a hint: It's not Legos.)

As many of you have noticed, there's been lots of exciting new stuff happening here at Corporate Rebel HQ. All this activity has been amazing and has taken a lot of energy.

These reflections make me think of you and all the energy you pour into your work. Big projects. End of year analyses. Performance appraisal cycles. Planning for 2017. This is a time of year when the pace starts to speed toward the holidays and what's next for 2017.

It's time for a little rest.

For my birthday, I'm giving you a gift. With this email, you have full permission to rest this weekend. To shut off your email. To sleep in. To eat cake. To snuggle your 2-legged and 4-legged loves.

I am going to do the same. I told my family I want to feel the love this weekend. Breakfast in bed. Handmade cards from my kids. A quiet weekend tucked on the couch watching Pretty Little Liars.

Enjoy your weekend!

Warmly,

Christina

P.S. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can sign-up for The Corporate Rebel Video Podcast and Newsletter HERE.

Something I rarely do!

Estimated read time: 50.44 seconds

I'll be chillin' with these two!

I've been a busy bee this summer. It's been fun. I've loved the interaction with all of you and the cool new things I've gotten to do. Our family has had fun travels and are enjoying our new house.

And, I tend toward workaholic, to believing that my self worth is tied up with production and constant forward movement. I have to be disciplined about slowing down, staying present, letting go, and chilling out. Can you relate?

I'm going to do something that feels even more risky to me than putting videos of myself in public. I'm going to take a week off!

Next week, my kids and I are going blueberry picking. I'll chow dairy products at the Minnesota State Fair, sleep in (oh yes!), buy folders and pens for the start of school, and watch stupid movies. (Mall Cop, anyone?)

Research shows that you are more creative and more productive when you let yourself rest. Yet, how often do you allow yourself to take a break? To recharge. To gain a new perspective?

If you feel like you drive yourself hard, that you've got too much to do and not enough time to do it, or that you would like some balance or rest, let's talk. Click hereto be taken to my calendar where you can schedule a time to chat (after next week, of course). As a recovering workaholic, I can help.

And if the whole chilling' is one of your gifts, please hit reply to this email and share your tips with me. It's my growth edge!

Here's to sleeping in!

See you in a week!

Christina

P.S. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can sign-up for The Corporate Rebel Video Podcast and Newsletter HERE.

Greetings from Costa Rica!

Estimated read time: 1.5 minutes

My daughter took this photo of her brother.

I'm in Costa Rica with my family this week. I was all prepared to write you a newsletter about rest and rejuvenation because, goodness knows this family needed both.

And then today I took surfing lessons, and I am bone tired.

All those groovy surfers who make riding the waves look easy are 1. amazing and 2. faking it.

Surfing is not easy.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am also afraid of waves. I love the ocean and the beach, and big waves make my heart pound and my stomach hurt. I agreed to surfing lessons when the waves were little ripples. Then, as the ocean wants to do, it changed. When we strode down the sand, surfboards under our arms, the instructor was using words like "wind" and "dangerous."

I was tumbled around like a Maytag washing machine. Waves crashed into my head. Our instructor said, "duck!" more than once. It takes energy to keep a surf board pointing straight in a moving ocean. Standing up was a lot easier on land, and I fell off the board more times than I can count.

I learned a few things and in my exhausted haze, I see metaphors for you. If you find them, please reply and tell me what they are.

1. Trying to surf was fun.
2. Trying to surf was humbling.
3. Surfing is now on my list of life experiences (and on the list of life experiences I don't have to repeat).
4. I survived every single wave, even when I was scared.
5. Right when I was about to quit, I got one great ride to the beach. I pumped my arm and yelled, "take THAT!" then got back on the board and went out for more.
6. My favorite lesson came from our instructor, Peto, who said to me as we were leaving the water: "Take it slow. You have to wait for the right moment."

Yes, Peto, that is an important lesson both in, and out, of the water.

As the Ticos say, "Pura Vida!"

Christina

P.S. My mother-in-law convinced me to go zip lining tomorrow. This family is trying to kill me. I need some rest!