You are here: Home / Archives for June 2010

Keep the fireworks in the sky

June 29, 2010 By Elizabeth Lombardo 1 Comment

As the 4th of July weekend approaches, many people will be facing the F word: Family.

Family get-togethers and reunions can be a time of joy for some and overwhelming dread for others.

The amazing Marina Khidekel wrote a wonderful article in July 5th edition of Woman’s World (on stands now) providing terrific steps to having a great family reunion. Check it out (on page 23).  I had the pleasure of being included in her “Ask America’s Ultimate Experts” article.

In this post, I wanted to provide you with 5 additional tips on how to have a positive experience when getting together with family:

  1. Determine your goal: Just because you are together again does not mean you have to re-hash old arguments.  Make a conscious decision to have fun and enjoy your time together, rather than settle arguments that started 20 years ago.
  2. Develop a mantra: To help you stay focused on your goal, develop a mantra or a certain phrase that you repeat and will help you focus on enjoying yourself.  For example “Everyone in my family has their good points, too.  I chose to focus on them.”  Research shows focusing on the positives helps you have a more positive outlook.
  3. Get moving- exercise not running away: Research shows exercise is a great way to reduce stress and release some feel-good endorphins.  Go for a walk, swim in the pool or put on some tunes and start dancing.
  4. Take “The Happiness Challenge”: research shows that focusing on the positive (rather than concentrating on what is not going well) is a great way to be happier.  In my book A Happy You: Your Ultimate Prescription for Happiness, I talk about The Happiness Challenge where you challenge yourself to find at least 3 positive things about whatever (or whoever) is causing you stress.  Look for the good in people (“She had a hard life and I know deep down she does care about me”) and situations (“How grateful I am to have so many family members” or “I am so grateful the sun is shining”)
  5. Have an “out” during the reunion: have a list of ways to reduce your stress during the event.  Ideas could include deep breathing, going for a walk, offering to do the dishes so you can’t hear your uncle continue to complain…

So enjoy the fireworks in the sky without any explosions among family members.

And please share some of your additional ideas on how to have A Happy You during a happy family reunion.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

Delivering Happiness

June 7, 2010 By Elizabeth Lombardo Leave a Comment

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s book Delivering Happiness is having its launch party tonight in Vegas.

I wrote about Tony and Zappos in “A Happy You” in Chapter W: Win-Wins.

Here is what I wrote:

Consider the philosophy of Zappos, the on-line shoe store. They have developed the ultimate win-win in business. CEO Tony Hsieh has said the company’s higher purpose is not profit but rather delivering happiness. As a result, much time and money go into enhancing happiness of the employees and their customers.

Regarding employees, for example, the culture is centered on what Hsieh describes as 10 committable core values (“those that we can actually apply”). These include:

  • Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
  • Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
  • Pursue Growth and Learning

With respect to this last one, “classic” books like Good to Great by Jim Collins are available for free to Zappos employees so they can quench their intellectual curiosity and become better people, not to mention workers. Food at the cafeteria and snacks in vending machines are also free to all employees, and cubicles (which even the CEO himself has) are decorated to allow self-expression of fun.

To make the customer experience as great as possible, when contacting customer service you actually reach a live person, with each representative in the US and trained to be upbeat, kind and helpful. In an effort to make buying shoes on line easy, merchandise can be returned for FREE up to a year after purchase.

The result? A win-win-win. Win for employees, win for customers and win for the company, with gross sales over $1 Billion in 2008. Seventy five percent of purchases are made by (happy) repeat customers. And, if you have been to Zappos.com you might notice they sell more than shoes. Why? According to CEO Hsieh because their customers asked for them to sell other items. Seems they want to buy more from this upbeat company.

Just ordered my copy of Tony’s new book “Delivering Happiness.” Can’t wait to read what I’m sure will be a humorous and inspiring story on how to bring happiness into the workplace.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , ,