[The Ripple Effect] Take Time For Renewal
Published: Fri, 07/12/13
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Welcome to July's issue of The Ripple Effect! Summer is in full swing and I love it - it truly is my favorite season. I trust you all are taking some time to enjoy the warmth of summer and perhaps even taking some vacation! Speaking of vacation, the past few weeks have been quite busy at C3 as I prepare to take two weeks off in July to travel internationally. I'll admit I could easily go an entire year without taking a vacation. I truly enjoy working and especially the work I do with my clients; however, many years of experience has taught me that vacations and time away from work is critically important to sustaining high performance and being at my best while working (and while not working!). Matt and I love traveling internationally (below is a photo taken while we were hiking in the Austrian Alps 2 years ago. We took tons of pictures - the views were breathtaking and are forever etched in my brain!) We love to explore other cultures and discover how people live in different parts of the world. We love to see scenery that we normally wouldn't see back home. I find it fascinating and also a great way to recharge my batteries.
Austrian Alps Hike 2011
I devoted this month's article to the topic of finding time to renew yourself and recharge your batteries. Summer is the perfect time to do this, especially with children home from school. It is prime time for family vacations! Even if you won't have the opportunity for a full blown vacation, hopefully you will take note of the suggestions in this month's article and, at minimum, find what you can do to refresh and renew yourself in small ways so you can continue to perform at high levels in all areas of your life. I hope you enjoy the article and, as always, feel free to pass this along to whomever you feel will benefit and keep spreading those positive ripple effects! Best always, Andria
Have you seen our recent blog posts?
Take Time For Renewal - Make It A Ritual
A ritual is defined as "a detailed method or procedure faithfully or regularly followed". It is something that is done repeatedly, often every day. Rituals for renewal are acts that we take on a consistent basis to renew us, to recharge our batteries, and re-energize. What do you do to regularly renew yourself and recharge your batteries?
A Harvard Business Review article written many years ago titled The Making of a Corporate Athlete (written by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, authors of the book The Power of Full Engagement) talks about the importance of regularly taking rests and stopping to recharge our batteries so that we can perform at our best. If you think about the way professional, or Olympic, athletes train, you notice that they train intensely for a period of time and then have an "off season" -- a period of time to rest their bodies and recharge their batteries so that they can come back and perform even better during the next season. The article goes on to highlight the fact that in our professional and personal lives, we do not take enough time to rest or recharge. There is no "off season" from our work or our personal lives and this can be detrimental to us and to our performance. The human body is not designed to continually sustain the level of stress and constant pressure we put on it. In order to be at our best emotionally, mentally, and physically, we must pause and take time to rest and renew ourselves. Yes, this can come in the form of a vacation; yet, how good are we at consistently taking a vacation where we completely disconnect? If you are good at it, then congratulations! But if you're not or if you find it hard to completely turn off your smart phone or the laptop, think about taking smaller steps towards resting or recharging. It does not need to be a week away (although that works) and can be as simple as a brisk walk 10 minutes a day or allowing yourself to take a hot bath every other day for 20 minutes. It can even be as simple as one minute of deep breathing every day. The idea is to pause and let your body and mind stop for a period of time; to refocus and renew yourself; to do something consistently so that it becomes your ritual for renewal. This past year, I've had the pleasure of working alongside some members of Tony Schwartz's team, who are leaders inside his organization, The Energy Project (http://theenergyproject.com/). Listening to and learning from them on the these concepts and seeing the positive impact that implementing these practices can have on individual performance is inspiring, to say the least. By doing these things for yourself, you will not only feel much better, but you will be able to perform better in all areas of your life. And yes, this most certainly will help you with your career growth and help you to be a better leader. The more you allow yourself to recharge, the better your performance will be. This most definitely will lend itself to supporting your continued career and personal development and will support you in being able to sustain high performance in all areas of your life. This month's developmental tip: If you are not regularly practicing acts of renewing yourself and recharging your batteries, pick one thing you can start to do on a consistent basis that acts as renewal for your body and mind. Commit to starting this practice in the coming week and continue to do it until it becomes a habit. Create your ritual for renewal. 
Andria Corso is the founder of C3 Coaching and Consulting. an Executive Leadership and Career Development Coaching and Consulting firm. C3's mission is to help our clients reach their highest potential. Read more about C3 here or contact us to find out how we can help you and your organization reach your greatest success. Contact information: Andria L. Corso ~ 888-432-4245 Connect with Andria & C3 at:
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Andria and co-author, Julie Simmons, have rescheduled their book signing/discussion at House of Steep in Arlington, VA to Wednesday, July 24, 2013 at 5PM. There will be time for a happy hour foot soak plus a book discussion and signing. More details can be found at: 
reinventing your career is to acknowledge that something is off and that you're no longer satisfied with your career as it currently stands. When you admit that things are not right and you acknowledge that you want a change, you begin to get 'unstuck' from where you are. Sometimes when we keep things bottled up or don't acknowledge what's wrong, we stay stuck in what's wrong. However, once you do acknowledge that something needs to change, it's not as if your career suddenly changes. In fact, your life will be pretty much the same as before you admitted your desire for a change. So, then, what does acknowledging really do for you and why is it an important first step to reinvent your career? Click on this week's video to find out! 
