What’s Your Personal Brand?

Creating a brand for yourself means creating an image that represents you as a unique individual. To many, this seems like a daunting task. These days, we have a wide array of skills, different personalities that we activate when we are around certain people (you know what I’m talking about), and other unique attributes about us, so we may feel it’s difficult to create a narrowed-down, specific, and differentiated brand. Let’s reflect for a minute, by asking ourselves these questions:

What are you an expert at?

What do people remember most about you?

What is your skill set?

What makes you different?

You may not know the answer to any of these questions yet. But everybody has a personal brand, whether they designed it, or whether it was assigned to them by default. So let’s take control of ourselves and our own images, by crafting strong brands that define our best selves.

The good news is that you don’t have to narrow your brand down to just one attribute about yourself. Your brand can be a multitude of skills, strengths, and personality traits that make you unique and memorable. When I analyze myself and my brand, I think of all of the things that I can offer that make me unique: I am an extremely optimistic person who applies that same optimism to exceed the goals I set for myself, I am a risk-taker who likes to get out of my comfort zone and tackle seemingly impossible problems, I am an active listener while being an engaged and keen advocator, I am eager to learn and receptive to feedback, and I like to find joy and adventure in every life journey. Although we may not realize it, these qualities about ourselves create our brand.

A great tactic to get you brainstorming your personal brand is to consider: What do people say about me when I leave the room?

What people say about you is gathered from the messages and signals that you send to others everyday, whether they are intentional or not. Do you come to meetings late and come to work dressed unprofessionally? This shows people that you don’t respect their time and you don’t respect the work environment around you, making your personal brand a negative one to others.

On the other hand, when you come to a meeting with your presentation prepared, engage your teammates, answer questions comprehensively, and smile throughout your presentation, people will think you are a hardworking, professional, optimistic, and team-oriented person, giving off a positive brand. Most importantly, if what your coworkers think about you and what you think about yourself are aligned, then you have a really strong brand.

You may ask, how do these opinions and assumptions get formed about you by your coworkers? Personal brand is highly dependent on these 5 interrelated elements:

1. Competency: What is the skill set that is unique to you? What do you bring to the table that others may not? In what areas are you an expert?

2. Credibility: What is your background? (i.e. work experience, college major, certifications, coursework). What is your story, and why are you the best person for the job?

3. Consistency: Will you consistently deliver high quality results? Are your determination and work ethic unwavering? Do you take accountability for your actions and the tasks to which you commit?

4. Currency: Do you reciprocate help to others? Do you look to provide help to others first, and do you exchange ideas with those around you to increase collaborative efforts?

5. Communication: Are you honest, open, and transparent? Do you provide constructive feedback? Do you foster a safe, collaborative environment?

Really take a minute to think about the questions posed above. These 5 C’s formulate your personal brand, reputation, and career development opportunities in the future.

But how do you take your unique brand and market it to others around you? A crucial part of creating a strong brand is being your own advocate, by promoting yourself on social media platforms. But be careful what you post: 55% of recruiters have reconsidered a candidate based on what they find on social media, with most (61%) of those double-takes being negative. The best way to be sure you’re promoting yourself in a positive way is to do the headline test, asking yourself: Would my reputation be ruined if the whole world saw what I posted on social media? Make sure what you post is appropriate, improves your reputation, and is professional. You also want to be consistent across your social media platforms, creating a strong brand throughout.

I hope this post got you thinking about your own personal brand. Good luck crafting it!

e

Maximizing Your Happiness and Success at Work

We are so busy with work these days. We get used to having a certain routine everyday, and after time, we are afraid to stray off that path. But to maximize your happiness and your overall success at work and in life, you must get out of your comfort zone, work on time management skills, and stay healthy while doing it. Read below to learn more:

1. Get out of your comfort zone: Try something new everyday!

Human beings are afraid of change (this has been scientifically proven). Getting out of your comfort zone by trying something new may seem scary, but this is only at the beginning. Change and lack of familiarity cause these fears to arise in us, however, by practicing something new as often as you can, you will make it a habit and lose that fear. You will start to see the benefits of getting out of your comfort zone as that fear turns into fulfillment and adventure!

Nothing contributes to our happiness more than shattering the delusions to which we cling.

An example of getting out of your comfort zone to try something new could be coming up to someone you’ve never spoken to, and starting a conversation with them. Most people want to meet other people, but are afraid of feeling rejection. If you come up to them and initiate the conversation, they will probably be excited and have a lot to offer to the discussion. People love talking about themselves — so make sure you ask questions about them! You never know who you can meet and who they may know, how they can help you, etc. By getting out of your comfort zone, you have just expanded your network with one conversation!

2. Don’t waste valuable time in meetings

If you work in corporate America, you know how much time can be wasted because of unproductive meetings.

To combat this, prepare ahead of time. If you’re leading the meeting, make sure that all of the meeting participants are on time and are ready to focus in the meeting. It helps when people don’t bring in their electronic devices and when they close their laptops — this ensures that everybody will be engaged and not distracted. Let them know that they can take notes on notebooks, as this is proven to increase retention, memory, and learning.

Another way to combat wasting valuable time in meetings is by keeping them organized and on a time-sensitive schedule. You can do so by making sure to send out an agenda with action items before the meeting, setting specific topics and goals of the meeting in mind before the meeting begins.

Lastly, if you are presenting or in charge of bringing any material to the meeting, make sure that it is open on your computer or email beforehand (such as presentations, emails, or other documents or files) in order to help make easy and fast transitions between presentations and save valuable time!

3. Stay active and healthy

What do most successful people have in common? They are fit and stay in shape. Many studies have discovered the direct correlation that exists between staying in shape and having a successful career. Working out, as well as nutritious eating habits, improve time management, boost mental performance and mental clarity, and improve employee morale, energy, and stress levels.

To stay active, make sure you can fit working out into your schedule. For instance, you can schedule your workouts in the morning by waking up earlier (if you’re a morning person) and going for a walk or jog in the park or around your neighborhood. Working out in the morning will surely give you a huge energy boost that will make you feel rejuvenated throughout the day. If you’re more of a night owl, you can do your exercise in the evening. The key is to find what works for you and do it consistently.

Hope these tips help you feel happier at work, and bring you great success in all of your endeavors!

e

Spicing Up The Cubicle Life

The majority of us who are working in the corporate world spend 8 (or often more) hours every day sitting at our cubicles! That’s one-third of our day, the other third of which we spend sleeping. And we often wonder, “Can I leave my cube, or will my boss think I’m slacking?” or “If I leave my cube, will I miss something important?” Well, chances are that if something is really THAT important and needs urgent attention, the person who needs you will find a way to get a hold of you. So let go of the mentality that you constantly have to be at your cubicle, and start finding a way to improve your work life balance.

We all can work on finding a better balance to our work day — making sure we get all of our work done effectively and efficiently, while also making sure to keep our mental health in check. Here are a few tips I can give you, based on my experiences, which have really helped me improve the quality of my work day:

1. Enjoy the outdoors: Stepping away from your cubicle and into the great outdoors will allow you to clear your mind and make room for good thoughts. Whether you have a large park near your workplace, a shady tree, or even a small patch of grass, fresh air will surely bring you energy, happiness, and a positive perspective. You can take 10 minute walking breaks every couple of hours, meditate, or just sit outside for a bit. Being outside will provide you with a much-needed release from the often stuffy, cluttered, and overwhelming cubicle and office environment.

2. Eat lunch away from your desk: Your lunch hour is the perfect time to step away from your desk and clear your head. You can meet up with friends or family at a restaurant, walk over to a nearby cafe, or just eat outside. If you’re running out of time, you can eat at your company’s cafeteria — as long as you get some time away from your desk.

3. Get some much-needed exercise: Although you may feel like you’re taking away from important work projects or deadlines, getting exercise (whether it is at a nearby gym, a jog outside during lunch, or squats at your desk), will actually improve your productivity at work. Working out boosts your body’s endorphin production, bringing you new energy and a focused mind. If your company has a gym, or if you can find a gym near your workplace, that would be optimal. You can go for a short class before work, during lunch, or after work — and shower at the facility in case you need to get back to the office.

4. Cube swag: Cube swag is super important. Your cubicle is basically like your room at home. Would you like your room at home if you had bland walls, dim lights, office supplies everywhere, and unorganized papers? NOPE. Here are a few ideas to enhance your cube swag: First, decorate your cube walls by putting up pictures or quotes that motivate you, posters, a calendar, a clock, etc. Just make sure that whatever you put up will inspire you every day. Also, make sure you keep it professional. No selfies, please. Second, keep it organized. Keep a file cabinet of important files, keep your papers stacked neatly, and keep your desk clean. Having it organized will boost your productivity, and also assure your boss that you are sane and capable of getting the job done.

5. Find your spot: Take a tour of your company. Go to the cafeteria, walk around different buildings, and survey your surroundings. Chances are you will find a space that particularly appeals to you — you can bring your computer and do your work there. Sometimes, we find that certain places get our juices flowing, increasing our productivity and improving our mood.

I hope I was able to provide you with some tips to spice up your cubicle work life. If you have any other tips or suggestions, please leave them in the comment section below!

e

Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail

Every new year, you will see your Facebook friends “checking-in” at the gym, posting pictures of the salad they had for lunch on Instagram, and tweeting every single step they took that day. That’s because each new year, we all want to start fresh. We want to learn from the mistakes we made the previous year. Everyone wants, and needs, a fresh start. The problem is how we all go about doing it.

New year’s resolutions are destined to fail, unless you frame them right. When you make a bold claim like “I want to get really fit, and go to the gym everyday” or “I want to find my passion”, you set yourself up for an unrealistic goal. Or when you make a list of 5 resolutions for the year rather than focus on 1, you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself to make them all happen.

Why new year’s resolutions fail — in a nutshell:

1. Scattered or vague goals: The less specific your goal is, the more likely you will fail (this has been statistically and scientifically proven). If it is vague, it is easier to make excuses to not achieve it. But if you make it more detailed, you will know exactly what you need to do everyday to make your goal a reality. For instance, if my goal is to “get fit”, this is an entirely impossible task I have set out for myself. There are about 1,000,000 steps I need to take (literally) before I can achieve that. If I make this goal more detailed, such as “walking my dog every morning to get my heart rate up”, I will know the exact actions I need to take everyday to make my goal possible.

To help myself even further, I can break my resolution up into mini-goals, like taking 5,000 steps a day or taking a spin class 3 times a week. Breaking your resolution up into mini-goals as well as adding specificity makes it more actionable, achievable, and honestly less intimidating for yourself. A good new year’s resolution would be to “incorporate more fruit and vegetables into your diet” vs. “to get healthy” or to “bike to work” vs. “to get fit”. These are tangible and specific goals that you can achieve everyday.

2. Too many goals at one time: The more goals you make for yourself, the more your willpower will suffer. How many times have you tried to cut out ALL fatty foods, or tried a juice cleanse, or tried to hit the gym everyday, until you gave up and binged on fatty foods only and gave up on the gym completely? This happens way too frequently, and it’s because we use an all-or-nothing mentality. Either I’m eating healthy AND exercising, or I’m not doing either. Either I’m eating healthy all day or I’m not at all. Either I accomplish going to the gym everyday, eating healthy, and walking more, or I don’t do either.

The problem with the all-or-nothing mentality is that as soon as you make one “mistake”, you are done for good. This is the real issue with setting too many goals — it perpetuates this all-or-nothing mentality. There is also a chain reaction associated with this mentality. When you break one, you are more likely to break all. A good way to avoid falling into this trap is to focus on one resolution, and break it up into mini-goals or steps if you wish, rather than making 5 resolutions. You can always add onto this list later if you please.

3. Why the hell not: We put so much pressure on ourselves every new year to achieve these new year’s resolutions — we post about them on every social media platform imaginable, and we tell all of our friends and family members. Don’t get me wrong, these are great motivators, but they also put every action you take under a microscope, becoming gossip that everybody’s talking about rather than a goal you are pursuing for yourself. Humans are interesting creatures in that humans like to see other humans fail.

As soon as you “fail”, you feel guilt and shame. Compare this guilt and shame to that of an addict. The worse an addict feels about a minor relapse, the more likely it will turn into a major relapse. I like to call this the “why the hell not method”. If you decide to stop smoking cigarettes for the new year, and you relapse and smoke one, this one setback turns into a storm of setbacks. “Should I smoke another cigarette?” … “Why the hell not, I already messed up.”

This ties back to the all-or-nothing mentality, making you feel ashamed and guilty. This is why new year’s resolutions are often not achieved — because we make ourselves strive for perfection. But no one is perfect. It’s OK to not be perfect, and it’s OK to have small setbacks or deviations in your journey. That’s why it’s called a journey – there are many roads — some bumpy, some curvy, some completely unpaved, but in the end, you will reach your destination if you just keep moving forward.

If you’re reading this, please do yourself a favor. Take the list of new year’s resolutions you made for yourself and light it on fire (ok, it doesn’t have to be THAT dramatic). Look at the goals you have written for yourself and see if you can prioritize which resolution is most important to you. Now, make it specific. How do you want to get fit? For how long do you want to study each day? In what ways do you want to be more organized?

Also, look at the why. Why do you want to achieve this goal? If the reason has to do with someone else, like losing weight for your boyfriend or getting a reputable job for your parents, then burn the page (you can actually do it this time). Any resolution that has to do with someone else is NOT a good motivator. At the end of the day, you want this goal to be for yourself — to achieve true satisfaction in your body, in your mind, and in your heart.

You can now let out a big sigh of relief — the pressure of achieving your nearly impossible new year’s resolution is off your shoulders. Instead, let’s take this new year and focus on becoming better versions of ourselves, for ourselves. We can do it!

e

Dealing with Disappointment

I came across this post from JillFit Physiques on how to deal with disappointment, and it just made everything seem so clear to me:

Truth: No one reaches adulthood without disappointing someone.

Whether it’s a parent or grandparent, a spouse or partner, or a close friend or family member — people will not always agree with our choices.

And if we think about it, we can see it from their point of view. It’s only human that they’d want us to remain in our safe zone. It’s safer for them because nothing has to change, and they perceive that it’s safer for us too. They want to keep us from making mistakes and ending up in pain. Of course they do, they love us and don’t want us to struggle. 

But that’s also an impossible task. None of us get out of this life without some real struggle (whether we go looking for it or not), and eventually, many of us will get to a point where we need to go out and do something for ourselves, something that speaks to our soul. And though that can be scary for all involved, it’s also just part of the journey.

And the outcome is disappointing others. It’s inevitable. And you might never convince your friends or loved ones to be on your team, but you can always practice kindness and understanding, and then do whatever you were going to do anyway. If you can’t convince them with words, your actions and outcomes will speak volumes.

And the irony of this is usually the second you don’t need anyone else’s approval anymore is usually about the same time they come around.

#MondayMusings

–Reposted from JillFit Physiques

We are not crazy. We are passionate.

It is rare that I come across something on the internet that gives me goosebumps. But this blog post, written by Yann Girard, was magical. Everything that I couldn’t put into words he said with wisdom and grace. I’ve chosen a few things he wrote about, and I want to touch upon them and add my own experiences.

1. Believing that you have a reputation will only hold you back. Our “reputations” are stopping us from achieving our true potential. It’s true, I have to admit, I am constantly worrying about what my family members will think of my career choices, and what my social media networks will think of me. As Yann Girard put it:

Believing that you have a reputation will only hold you back from really experiencing and living a life you deeply care about. It will hold you back from doing the things you’d really like to do but people discourage you.

Who cares what other people think? We should try different paths, find ourselves, explore the great outdoors, travel for a year, pursue our dreams of being a Hollywood actor, and the list goes on. At the end of the day, it’s your happiness and your approval that truly matter.

2. There will never be a good time for change. This is so true. But we only have obstacles in our way if we let them get in our way:

There will never be a good time for change. It’s almost always a bad time to change things in your life. You might not have enough money. People might turn their backs on you and talk shit about you…change will never be easy. But if you wait for change to magically happen you’ll most probably be waiting your life away.

3. Creating projects will help you find what you’re good at. I completely agree with this one. If we have our hand at trying different projects, putting our own spin on them, and even pitching new ideas at the workplace or for our own start-up, we will find ourselves in the process.

If you wait until you have that perfect idea or until you know who you really are or what you really want to do with your life you will probably never start doing anything.

It’s only by starting to create things that you will figure yourself out and find your true purpose in life.

4. The world is guided by fear. Girard points out that every single person is afraid of taking risks. We all fear failure, and that’s normal. But what makes people go from ordinary to extraordinary is overlooking that fear and going for your goals. Take that fear and make use of it; let it be your fuel for success.

5. Be human and admit your flaws. In our society today, we feel the need to hide our true selves, to hide our flaws. But what makes us unique is our flaws. Instead of putting on a mask, we should aim to be more human.

People connect with people and not perfect machines. So put that mask away and be more human instead. Don’t be afraid to show your flaws.

Make sure it’s your own story you’re telling and not someone else’s.

6. Nothing in life is really a waste of time. Every experience, whether good or bad, makes us grow. Every project we completed (or didn’t complete), every journey we embarked on, every failure we experienced, and every rock bottom we have hit; these experiences make us who we are. They tell our story.

Nothing. Is. A. Waste. Of. Time.

Not the shitty job you worked at for many years. Not the bad relationship you’ve been in for many years.

It’s either a blessing or a lesson.

7. The best things in life are the things we never really planned. I love that Girard wrote about this as one of his lessons. I feel the same way in that almost everything that I have accomplished thus far that I am most proud of was something I never planned. So say YES to different opportunities that are presented to you. Don’t want to be a salesperson but you get recruited for that position? Try it out, go on the interview, see if you like it. Tying in to the previous point, every experience is worth it. I gained confidence, strength, and life-long friends from the experiences that I didn’t plan, from joining a sorority (me, a sorority girl? Not even close!), to me accepting internships for HR, PR, marketing, you name it! Take every opportunity. You never know where it will lead you.

8. You have to lose yourself to find your true inner self. At this point of the article, I got real goosebumps. That is probably one of the wisest pieces of advice I have ever received from reading one article. Life is a journey. Let yourself get lost. You will find yourself along the way.

You actually really have to lose yourself to find your true inner self. I still haven’t found it yet but I have the feeling that I’m on the right track.

9. There is no such thing as overnight success. Girard is absolutely right on this one. Everything takes time to build. Be patient, be open, be kind.

Everything in life takes a hell lot of time.

But in the end, what truly inspired me and gave me renewed energy and motivation was his blog bio:

This is for the people who look at the world from a different perspective. The ones who are restless. The ones who strive for change. The ones who see things differently. The ones who don’t accept the status quo. The ones who challenge current thinking patterns. The ones who break down existing barriers. The ones who make the impossible possible. The ones who build new things. The ones most people call crazy, but we call them passionate. This is for the people just like you and me.

Thank you to Yann Girard for a beautifully written article. I could not have said it better myself. Please follow his blog and read more.

e

Happiness is a CHOICE

When we stop chasing the world’s definition of happiness, we begin to see that the decision to experience happiness has been right in front of us all along.

10 Minutes of Meditation

In our busy lives today, we are constantly multi-tasking which can be so exhausting on our physical and mental health. I have learned from my own work experiences that it is really difficult to prioritize clarity in the mind because we need to always be thinking about work. But let me tell you, I have found that I perform WAY better at work when I give my mind a rest for just 10 minutes a day.

I try to blog about the simplest, fastest, and easiest techniques to increase health and happiness in the workplace, and in turn, in your life on a holistic scale. By downloading the app Headspace, you can get 10 free meditation sessions for 10 days. You do have to subscribe after that, but let me tell you, it is worth it. The app talks you through the different steps of clearing your mind and focusing on your breathing and the way your body feels in the present moment. A soothing and calming voice guides you through the phases step by step.

1. Make Yourself Comfortable: Before you start your meditation session, be sure you find a comfortable space. I usually like to meditate outside, under a tree or in the shade. Make sure you are sitting up with a tall posture, but feeling comfortable and calm.

2. Deep Breathing: The 10 minutes start with some deep breaths, where you close your eyes and get to focus on breathing and providing your body with serenity and quiet. The app guides you through deep breathing, allowing you to focus on where your breathing is centered. Focus on how your chest moves up and down. This is a very calming feeling.

3. Awareness of Environment: After you have closed your eyes, the app navigates you through the environment around you. What noises do you hear around you, and how can you actively listen to the noises without getting distracted and out-of-focus? What are the smells around you?

4. Scanning the Body: The app guides you through scanning your own body, imagining what parts of your body are in pain and feel heavy, as well as the parts of the body that feel comfortable, relaxed, and well-rested. After you scan your body, you evaluate your mood. How do you feel in this present moment? Do you feel relaxed and peaceful, or restless and distracted? This allows you to connect your mind and body together, creating a mindful spirit and an aware being.

5. Focus on Breathing: This last step has been most crucial to me in terms of helping me focus on my breathing, regardless of the overwhelming thoughts that may want to consume my mind. The app guides you through counting your breaths, each inhale counting as one breath, and each exhale counting as another. Count your breaths until you get to the number 10, and then start over. Why do this? This trains your mind to focus on your breaths, and your breaths only. When you get to the number 10, your mind has trained itself to go back to 1, no matter how distracted or stressed you may be. The result is a mind that can focus solely on your breathing.

6. Unwind and Stretch: Make sure to stretch and slowly open your eyes. Take your time getting up, as your body adjusts to the environment around you. How did that session make you feel? Did it bring thoughts to light that you hadn’t thought of before? Does your body feel more connected to the mind?

Overall, Headspace has really helped me prioritize just 10 minutes of my day for mindfulness, relaxation, and most importantly my mental health. Give it a shot, and let me know how it goes for you!

Get meditating,

e

Clean Eating Challenge

Feeling lethargic, sluggish, and sleepy? I don’t blame you. I feel this way all the time, especially when working a 9 to 5 gig, and barely moving my body! We sit at work with our exhausted eyes glued to the computer screen, and our tired bodies glued to our chairs. But how is it possible to eat healthy when you are so tired, and your body just craves junk and sugar to keep you awake and sane?

Buzzfeed Life edition just posted this short and neat little article about clean eating, which they define as:

a two-week detox plan that’s all about eating real food in order to have more energy.

Sounds doable right? Well, that’s because it is! Rather than limiting yourself and having your body go into starvation mode, this meal plan makes you focus on eating real food – food that is good for you and won’t leave you feeling sluggish or hungry. That includes chocolate (yeah you heard me right!), sugary fruit, and protein. The plan breaks down your meals into 2 weeks, and provides you with recipes and a list of ingredients to make your meals. Simple enough, yeah?

Now this plan is not only about food, but it’s also about water. The plan encourages you to drink at least 6 glasses of water a day, and AVOID caffeine and alcohol. If you must drink caffeine (I will definitely be needing some), you are allowed to drink up to 3 cups of green tea per day or as necessary.

I know you’re probably thinking, how am I going to have time to prepare this food and prioritize this dietary change for 14 whole days? I’m about to break down some key steps and tips so that you know exactly what to prioritize:

1. Buy all of your food ahead of time – Buy on Saturday before the start of Week 1 and on the following Saturday before the start of Week 2 – and cook most of it on those days too.

2. Bring a water bottle with you wherever you go. Make sure you are taking small sips of water throughout the day. If you have trouble tracking your water intake, there is a cool app called Waterlogged which can help you do that.

3. Make it portable. Bring a lunch box to work with you to make your snacks and meals portable.

4. Print out the food schedule so you can keep track of what foods you will be eating on what day.

5. Keep a food journal. Write down when you didn’t stick to the food plan, so you can make up for it the next day.

After eliminating all junk, processed, and heavily-caloric items from your palette, you will start to feel energetic and ready to go about your day! It doesn’t hurt to give it a try, so go for it! And if you find yourself swaying off the path, don’t be so hard on yourself, and just pick up where you left off.

I’ll be doing the clean eating challenge alongside you, so send me your feedback!

Always the best,

e

Embarking on a New Life Journey

Hey everyone! It has been a long time since my last update. A lot has been going on in my life since then, so I thought I would update all of you wonderful followers! I graduated from UC San Diego with my Communication Degree and my Business minor, so thank you to everyone who has been supporting me and reading this blog throughout the process. Since graduation, I have done some traveling locally and internationally. I went to Napa, which was absolutely lovely, and I got to go hot air balloon riding. I also went on my first cruise to Alaska and Vancouver. It was so nice to put away all of my technology and just enjoy nature for once. Alaska was serene, peaceful, and beautiful. Vancouver was also a very cool place to explore. They have a thriving business center and a growing population of millennials, so it was great to see some young people around! Hopefully, I will get to travel again soon. My next adventure will probably be in Japan, since one of my best friends is teaching there. Besides traveling, I have mainly been working at a startup company in the Bay Area called Owl Vision, and I have been learning a lot on a professional and personal level.

I have also been going to the Bay Club for my fitness routine, which is what I wanted to talk about with ya’all today!

Although this blog has been focused mainly on health in the corporate world, I thought I would expand to health for adults in general, since this is such a crucial part of life. Don’t worry, I won’t stop writing about health in the workplace, but rather I wanted to approach health in a more holistic sense. Since recently moving back to the Bay Area from San Diego, I have joined the Bay Club Gym, which offers an array of awesome classes to its members. I have discovered a few that I have particularly enjoyed that I wanted to share with ya’all.

The first one is Body Pump. This class will kick your behind into shape. No matter how many times I go to this class, it always ends up beating me up! It focuses on building muscle strength, endurance, and flexibility by working 8 core muscle groups; from back to chest, shoulders to pecs, thighs to glutes, you name it, it will be sore by the end of the workout. Usually these classes are an hour long, so right when you feel like giving up, they will be over (thankfully). Your muscles will feel sore for a week afterward, but it is WORTH IT! Give it a try. You can check out what it’s all about on their official website.

The next class is called Body Combat. This class was created by the same makers of Body Pump, but it is more focused on intense cardiovascular exercises rather than solely muscular exercises. This class teaches you how to punch effectively, defend yourself, and is essentially like kickboxing. It is a fun mix of very energetic and intense cardio and some strength exercises along the way. Your arms will feel like falling off, but it is definitely worth a try. After a few weeks, you will not only feel more fit, but you will feel like you can defend yourself (if you ever need to…hopefully not). Check it out here!

The last class I would recommend for everyone to try is cycling. Now, I know all of you know what cycling is, but these group exercises held by a trained cyclist are so empowering! You can start on beginner level and add a bit of resistance as you go along, but I’m telling you, this is the class that will take your fitness to the next level. Honestly, I am NOT a biker. I have fallen off my bike on numerous occasions and don’t consider myself an advanced biker whatsoever. But these bikes are stationary (thank god), and are for all levels! Not only do you feel so good about yourself during the class, but you walk out of it feeling like a soldier. Soon, I may start to work on my cycling certification to become a spin instructor, but I need to master the art first!

I know people (me included) feel anxiety when they try new things, especially fitness classes, but trust me when I say that NO ONE has 100% mastered these classes. They are constantly evolving with new moves, new techniques, and new instructors, so you are not behind. Just put on your workout gear, and get ready to sweat! You will be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Get Moving,

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