The pressure of summer - don't work so hard!

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time." ~John Lubbock

During the summer, many workplaces operate short staffed due to employee vacations, workload reductions or staff training - during these times it is okay if you are finding it hard to stay focused and motivated.

Biorhythm or biological rhythm is a cyclic pattern of changes in physiology or in activity of living organisms – including humans. They are the rhythms that vary according to the time of day (circadian rhythms), and in part a response to daylight or dark, include the opening and closing of flowers and the nighttime increase in activity of nocturnal animals. Although the exact nature of the internal mechanism is not known, various external stimuli—including light, temperature, and gravity—influence our internal clocks.

During the summer, our natural tendency is to rest during the day and become more alert and stimulated in the evenings – the opposite of how we feel in winter. This is the explanation for why staying focused, motivated and energized at work during these summer days is more challenging – even if we have less work on our desks.
When we try to work contradictory to our cycles (such as shift workers or extended day workers) we suffer lower productivity, greater accidents and if done chronically – suffer depression and illness. This is why working during the summer can be more challenging. On the other hand, when we adjust our activity level to our energy level on the upswing, time disappears and our productivity skyrockets.

Most good things happen to us during the upside, and most bad things happen to us during the downside of a cycle. Therefore it is a good idea to work with and not against the natural aspect of a biorhythm.

So, cut yourself some slack today at work – goofing off is biological!

Do you know where you are going to?

As part of our special summer promo to help you know where you are going to - in terms of staffing, employee engagement, motivation and morale - Advance Corporate Training Ltd. has a limited supply of free Road Maps of BC to give away.

If youwould like a copy, simply send an email to admin@actraining.com with your Name, Company Name and mailing address and we will send it off to you - just in time for your summer adventures.

And if you need help mapping out your training and employee motivation needs, feel free to give us a call at 604.521.5473, visit us at http://www.actraining.com/ or send us an email to train@actraining.com.

Happy Travels!

What others have to say....

As we look forward to celebrating Valentine's Day this weekend, our thoughts turn to those we love - friends, family, spouses, partners and even good clients and partners. To help get our "inside's out" in the language of love, we here at Advance Corporate Training want to share some famous thoughts on love by some of the worlds most romantic people. Feel free to share them with someone YOU lovethis February 14th.

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
- Aristotle

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
- Lao Tzu

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,My love as deep; the more I give to thee,The more I have, for both are infinite.
- William Shakespeare

Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward in the same direction.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.
-Helen Keller

Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.
- Zora Neale Hurston

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride; so I love you because I know no other waythan this: where I does not exist nor you, so close that your hand on my chest is my hand, so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
- Pablo Neruda

2009 Calendars Available

As you know, each year Advance Corporate Training creates a desktop photo calendar for our clients, suppliers and friends featuring photos taken by one of our principles. This year's calendar, "Secret Beauties", features lovely art shots of the weeds and wonders beside the road, taken during a road trip to Yellowknife, NT last summer.

Please drop by our office at 650 Columbia Street, New Westminster to pick up your free copy (supplies limited!) and register to recive annual updates. Or, if you are too far away, email us your address and we will send you a copy in the mail.

Are you taking your time?

In a world full of rush hour and fast food, finding balance between life and work may seem impossible or challenging. "Take Back Your Time" day is dedicated to the promotion of work life balance for all. Advance Corporate Training Ltd. is committed to ensuring that all workers, white to blue collar have the opportunity to "Take Back Your Time".

You deserve it!

Enthusiastically Supported by: Advance Corporate Training Ltd.

For more information about how you can "Take Back Your Time" please visit:
www.timeday.org or call us at 604.521.5473.

Jelly Bean Challenge

Congratulations to Milagros for participating at the Information Session on September 16th

Congratulations Milagros Palacios!

She has won a copy of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey from the 'Jelly Bean Challenge' at the Vancouver School Board information session on September 16th from Advance Corporate Training Ltd.!

Join us next year for the Vancouver School Board information session on January 13th and 14th from 6:30pm to 9:30pm at 1580 W. Broadway, Vancouver, BC.

May I have this dance?….

After many episodes of Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance and one I'm embarassed to say I have seen (Master of Dance)...I was reviewing some workplace trends and discovered a theme...you'll see it in all our blogs this week... please read on...

Dancing close to your partner was an 18th century innovation that we know as the waltz. This metaphor well describes the workplace of the past where staff were expected to align their personal mandate closely with the corporate mandate and to mirror and model their boss to be able to climb the corporate ladder.

Today’s innovative workplaces are closer to another dance of the 17th and 18th century - minuets, where partners dance to the same rhythm but separately and loosely coupled. Today’s staff need the freedom of personal expression and individualism, not reminders to toe the company line. The minuet picked up tempo depending on the dancer and the musician… today’s workplaces must also demonstrate this situational flexibility.

And the future?

Well.. welcome back the Jitterbug! During the early 1900s, the Jitterbug was a dance performed by swing dancers who danced without any control or knowledge of the dance. This term was famously associated with swing era dancers by band leader Cab Calloway because, as he put it, "They look like a bunch of jitterbugs out there on the floor" due to their fast often bouncy movements on the dance floor.

In the future, our workplaces will rely less and less on the inherent expertise of our workers and more on tools and resources of expertise (like the content-rich aspects of the Internet, and the new generation of workplace productivity software). With our future employees expected to be less loyal and more mobile and the boomers aging out of the workforce, organizations will keep dancing but it will be the musicians who know the dance and the dancers who bring their energy and willingness to “jitterbug” that will take us in new, unknown directions.

Ever wonder if our logo is a "hole in the head?"

Advance Corporate Training Ltd. (ACT) is a brain-based learning specialist - our logo represents the six key secrets to ensuring learning takes hold in the learner and can transfer back to the workplace. Here are the six secrets and why engaging each one of them encourages higher learning levels.

Personal Relevance
(Association Cortex)
When we associate learning with what we already know, we are more open to a new idea. Info that supports our existing knowledge is better retained and transferred on-the-job.

Kinesthetic Learning
(Motor Cortex)
When we are engaged physically while learning, our brain operates more efficiently and we are better able to apply learned skills consistently.

Emotion & Engagement
(Somatosensory Cortex)
Emotion is often missing in many adult learning environments. When we emotionally connect to the material we learn more and deeper. ACT designs all its courses to engage this cortex.

Auditory Learning
(Auditory Cortex)
When we listen and speak we deepen our understanding. This cortex needs time to engage, so the start of all conversations should be “losable” data.

Visual Learning
(Visual Cortex)
We all need to have visual stimulation to be energized by learning. If we visualize our changed performance, we are more able to achieve it.

Broca's Area
Our ability to communicate clearly and to understand complex concepts is controlled here. Without learning that engages this area of the brain, we know but we don't understand and can't share our knowledge. True learning occurs after we achieve understanding, and performance change can not occur without understanding. This area was identified in 1861 by Pierre Paul Broca to be the “seat of articulation”.