Workplace Hero

Guest Hero: Dr. Alessandra Wall, Ph.D. - Licensed Clinical Psychologist at Life in Focus Therapy When negative events or mistakes happen, positive self-talk simply seeks to bring the positive out of the negative to help you do better, go further, or keep moving forward. The practice of positive self-talk is often the process that allows you to discover the hidden optimism, hope, and joy in any given situation. Along with a few other little added benefits like altering the expression of genes, strengthening areas in our frontal lobes and promoting the brain’s cognitive functioning. A few episodes ago, we were talking about To Do Lists (find that at www.workplacehero.me/todo) and I said: “It might not seem like much, but self-talk is a really important part of our self-esteem and confidence. By working on getting more positive self-talk, you’re more likely to get things done and feel more in control of stuff that’s going on in your life.” After that episode came out, I received three messages from listeners wan

Hello, My Workplace Heros. Brock Armstrong here, in a totally stripped down version of the podcast today because I am currently out of the office. Actually, you can think of this episode as my podcasting Out Of Office reply. I am spending the week at my mom’s house, visiting her, my sister, my niece and nephew and giving myself some downtime before I present at Western Canada’s first ever Podcast Summit in Calgary Alberta. I am doing a presentation of how to edit your podcast with style. And… er… I hope they don’t listen to this episode before my presentation… not exactly my best work. Ha ha! Anyway, since I am trying to walk the walk and not just talk the talk about being a Workplace Hero, I thought I would make this podcast a quick and clear lesson on Work Life Balance. Over at the Canadian Mental Health Association’s website they have a Work-Life Balance Quiz and I thought it would be fun to take it together. The website asks: Do you find it difficult to balance the different roles in your life? If so, you

Hello, my law enforcement luminaries, military magnates, healthcare heavyweights, service station superstars, transportation troubadours, fire stations favourites, and call centre conquerors. My name is Brock Armstrong, and I am… not the Workplace Hero. Not yet, anyway. If I am doing my job correctly, you and I are both slowly but surely, episode by episode, becoming a Workplace Hero. You can think of me as your partner in this endeavour or maybe your information funnel, conduit… or crazy straw? According to NSF's 2005 Sleep in America poll, 14% of North Americans take part in what is called shift work. Shift work is an employment practice designed to make use of, or provide service across, all 24 hours of the clock each day of the week (often abbreviated as 24/7). The practice typically sees the day divided into set periods of time (shifts) during which different groups of workers perform their duties. Shift work often involves evening or night shifts, early morning shifts, and rotating shifts. Many industri

Guest Hero: Ben Greenfield. Fitness, nutrition and human performance consultant at BenGreenfieldFitness.com Hello, my cubicle cardio, open space sit-ups, corner office chin-ups, home den dips, and coffee shop sprinters. My name is Brock Armstrong, and I am not the Workplace Hero. Nor am I the Workspace Guru, the Office Space Sage, or the Business Space Mentor. We are in this together, me and you. One podcast at a time. Improving our lives and hopefully dragging a few of our co-workers with us. Now, as we warm-up for our main-set (do you like my athlete lingo there?), I want to thank some true heroes - the folks who have left reviews for this podcast in iTunes. Thank you to: AstridH77, TreeClown, Westcoastlistener, JW108, WallyPhD, KristenStaite, and Kdigitty108 for leaving all 5 star reviews along with some helpful feedback as well. I truly appreciate it — and, if you are a podcast listener I know you have heard this a million times - but leaving a review really does help new listeners find the podcast. Plus

Hello, my cubicle confusers, open space side trackers, corner office orientors, home den distractors, and coffee shop confounders. My name is Brock Armstrong, and I am here, deep inside your ears, planting seeds of inspiration, to make you into a Workplace Hero. After you listen to enough of these podcast, I hope to replace the voice of your conscience - “put down that donut and get back to work - when was the last time you got up from your desk - do you really need to be looking at Facebook right now - always take the stairs.” Is that creepy? Maybe a little… anyway… In her book, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, Ann Voskamp said that “Simplicity is ultimately a matter of focus.” and I agree. It’s when you can truly shut out the world and focus on a problem that the complexity and confusion often falls away. Let’s face it, everything demands our attention these days. It’s not just our family, friends and co-workers but also our phones, our email and our social media that all fight

Hello my cubicle comatose, open space snoozers, corner office coziers, home den dozers and coffee shop shut eyes. My name is Brock Armstrong and I am here to turn you into a Workplace Hero. And don’t worry, to be this type of hero, spandex is optional. Before we slip into something more comfortable, I want to direct you to SkywalkerFitness.ca. That’s the coaching business that I run. Whether you want to run a 10k or a marathon, race in a triathlon, put on some muscle, clean up your diet, or get totally ripped, I will create a plan specifically for you. No cookie cutter one-size-fits-all programs, just 100% tailored programs that fit around your life’s commitments. And for being a Workplace Hero, I will give you a special deal on your first 3 months of coaching. Head over to SkywalkerFitness.ca and send me a note referencing this podcast so I can start building you the perfect program to meet your wellness goals. Ok, back to the topic at hand…       Let me set the stage for you - It’s Monday morning. Once agai

Hello, my cubicle carpoolers, open space cyclists, corner office car shareres, home den dawdlers, and coffee shop subway riders. My name is Brock Armstrong, and I am… not the Workplace Hero. If I am doing my job correctly, I am slowly but surely, podcast by podcast, making you into a Workplace Hero. I am simply an information super highway. Heh… remember how we used to call the internet that? No? You're probably too young. Anyway… Today's Heroic idea came from Workplace Hero, Erin Moline, who sent me an email saying "I'm in my car a lot and with traffic so heinous that I often have to focus a lot and it can be exhausting. I have my ergonomics correct in the car, but I noticed it makes me a little frazzled." And that is exactly what I plan to do with today’s episode. Remember, my Heros, that you can suggest topics you would like me to cover by sending me a note on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or by emailing podcast@workplacehero.me. Now, as much as I hate to start the podcast off with a depressing list of horr

Today's Guest Hero is Dr. Tamsin Lewis. You can find her at curoseven.com or @sportiedoc on Twitter. Hello, my cubicle conscious, open space surveyors, corner office respirators, home den inhalers, a nd coffee shop sighters. My name is Brock Armstrong, and I am… not the Workplace Hero. You see the reason the website for this podcast is www.workplacehero.me and not .com is because this podcast is about making you into a workplace hero and I want you to be reminded of that every time you visit the website, send me an email, or tell a friend about this podcast. And you will, right? Right? Before we dive in, I want to thank everyone who, at the time of this recording, has left a review on iTunes for the podcast. On the Canadian side: Dean Dwyer, elllietown, mijustiin, cawood1 and Elliotonitunes. On the #murican side: alex arrick, tdubs530, MAR150 and ukaserex. From the bottom of my workplace casual heart, I thank you all for your support. And without sounding too needy, if your name wasn’t on the list I just read

Hello cubicle counters, open space scorekeepers, corner office organizers, home den designers, and coffee shop systematizers. My name is Brock Armstrong, and I am… not the Workplace Hero. There is a good reason that the website for the podcast is workplacehero.me and not .com. I want you to be reminded that this podcast is for and about you, every time you visit. And yeah… the .com domain was already taken. Before we get started, a little housekeeping. Did you know that there are near verbatim transcripts of all the podcasts over at www.workplacehero.me? It’s true. I know that the majority of you are listening to this podcast while you are on the bus, in your car, at the gym or otherwise not near a pen and paper - so to take the onus off of you having to try to remember the important points, I am making it easy. The only thing you need to remember from this episode is www.workplacehero.me/todo. Slick eh? Ok, here we go! Between your job, your exercise program, your friends, your hobbies, and pretty much every

Guest Hero: Katy Bowman - Part biomechanist, part science communicator, and full-time mover at nutritiousmovement.com Hello cubicle crouchers, open space sitters, corner office pacers, home den dancers and coffee shop squatters. My name is Brock Armstrong and I am… You’re expecting me to say “I am the Workplace Hero” but I am not. The goal of this podcast is to make you into a Workplace Hero. I am simply here to give you something to listen to on the subway. Before we really dive in, here’s a teaser - some stats for you to be horrified at: Only 18% of adults get the total amount of physical activity recommended for good health. And 40% get no physical activity at all! We average North Americans work more than 47 hours a week and we are sitting down for most of that time. In fact we’re sitting down more than ever before in history: 9.3 hours per day! That's more time than we spend sleeping which is 7.7 hours per night. Before I overwhelm you with even more stats and percentages, I want to encourage you to visi

Guest Hero: Monica Reinagel - licensed nutritionist with a Master’s of Science in Human Nutrition. Hello cubicle cucumbers, open space spaghetti, corner office onions, home den Doritos and coffee shop shallots. My name is Brock Armstrong and I am… not the Workplace Hero. I know you expected me to say that I was. It happens every darn episode. But the goal of this podcast is to make you into a Workplace Hero. I am just hear to fill your ears with inspiration. When you think about it, most of us spend at least 40 hours per week at our place of work (47.7 hours is the actual average even if we only get paid for 37.5 hours). We put time and effort into what our home looks like. We put research into the car we buy or the clothes we wear. Why wouldn’t we put at least that much effort into how we approach our workspace? Before we get started, now that we are a few episodes in to the podcast, if you enjoy this podcast and the tips and strategies it contains, I encourage you to visit SkywalkerFitness.ca. That is the w

Hello desk defenders, cubicle champions, open space servicemen, corner office combatants, home den defenders and coffee shop conquerors. My name is Brock Armstrong and I am… not the Workplace Hero. That’s you! You see, the goal of this podcast is to make you into a Workplace Hero. I am your guide on this journey. Think of me as your auditory custodian. Today we’re going to talk about the particular ways to start your day. Over at Lifehacker.com I found and article where they say that the first hour of your morning sets the stage for the entire day to follow. Wow. Let’s sit on that for a second. Think back to this morning. How did you spend your first hour? {rewind sound} Personally I put my coffee on, went to the bathroom, took mine vitamins, fired up my laptop, grabbed my coffee and spent the rest of the hour responding to some easy/friendly emails and scrolling through endless photos of my friend’s pets on Instagram. Then I headed to the gym. I am not sure how that sets the stage for the rest of my day but

Hello desk jockeys, cubicle curmudgeons, open space operators, corner office carousers, home den dwellers and coffee shop squatters. My name is Brock Armstrong and I am… not the Workplace Hero. No no. I know you probably expected me to say that I was but no. I am not. The goal of this podcast is to in fact make you into a Workplace Hero. I am merely your guide on this journey. Perhaps I am more of a sherpa or concierge… but in any case, no matter what you w ant to call me, you are the true hero here. The aim of this podcast is for me to arm you, my amazing workplace-casual army, with the weapons needed to combat the potential and perhaps inherent downsides of our chosen lifestyle. And let’s not beat around the bush here, it is a lifestyle and we did choose it. We could all quit or jobs and move to the mountains to harvest our own veggies and catch our own fish and grow a beard down to our navel but honestly, how many of you want that? For more than a week anyway. Right? One of my largest pet peeves in life is