by Diana Ennen

Many of you are already established in business with your website in place, your business cards tucked away securely awaiting the next networking opportunity, and your promotional materials printed and filed away. You are set — Or are you?

Think back, when was the last time you revisited this area? When was the last time you recreated your promotional materials and added a new image? Have you actually read your website lately from the prospective of a potential client? If so, did it portray you in the best light and did it convince you to utilize your services? Did it have all your latest PR successes and latest services? If not, it’s time to jumpstart your marketing. The results, more clients and a new and improved you.

Here are just a few ideas:

Your Web Site

When doing your website or reviewing your website, take your time. This isn’t a race to the finish. Take it a page at a time and give it your all. Ask yourself:

Would it hold their interest? You need to make sure they aren’t bored with long paragraphs or unnecessary long wordy descriptions. They want to find what they came for quickly.

Is it personalized? When people come to your site, do they get to know you and your business or do they hear the same ole’ same ole’ that’s on all the websites in your Industry. It’s important to have you in there.

Get to the point. Go back and cut out unnecessary words, paragraphs, graphics, anything that just isn’t essential to the bottom line of providing the benefits of what you provide.

Is it understandable? Sounds simple, right? Go back over your site and make sure that you’ve clearly spelled out what you do. You know you’re the best, but have you adequately described this to your potential clients?

Can you add a few new graphics or colors or something to jazz it up? A change of your website’s theme colors can make a big difference in adding to a fresh new look.

Press Releases & Articles

How often do you write a press release and submit it out? Or better yet, when was the last time you did send one out? Ouch-that long. If you want to fine tune and bump up your marketing, then you absolutely need to write a good press release and get it out there. The main point in that sentence is — write a good one. How do you do that? Easy, make it something that informs and inspires. Make it newsworthy. Tie it into what is happening in today’s times and then connect your business to how you can make a difference. Did you remember the “call to action” paragraph, where you are telling them what you want them to do? And finally, just having a release isn’t enough. You need to actively submit it out and post it on your website, blogs, social networking sites, etc.

Social Networking

You need to do this. Actually you will want to do this. Once you get started you’ll love it too. So go ahead and do it. Most businesses will tell you that doing this makes a considerable difference in their business. Don’t have time to, hire a virtual assistant to do it for you.

Now, find the sites that interest you and get active and involved. Remember to succeed you need to be committed. You can’t just show up once every few months and expect it to work.

Your Promotional Materials

Just think how impressed your clients or even more important, those potential new clients, will be when they receive a letter on your new letterhead, with your new business card, a matching brochure, and maybe even a matching magnet with your business information on it. It’s time to jazz it up a bit and recreate a new image. You have so many more years experience in your business, let it show with your new promotions.

You’ll see how great you’ll feel with your new marketing image. Make it a goal to do this often. You and your pocketbook will be glad you did.

Diana Ennen specializes in publicity and marketing and helping businesses get the most out of their publicity efforts. She’s the President of Virtual Word Publishing, http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com and author of numerous books including Virtual Assistant the Series: Become a Highly Successful, Sought After VA. Stop by for free information on starting a virtual assistant business and our free PR Informational package.

by Matt O’Neill

You want to build a better diet for you and your clients. But will the latest nutrition trends help, or just add to the confusion? Dietician Matt O’Neill separates the positives from the pitfalls.

The obesity crisis is putting the pinch on fast foods and the food industry is scrambling to meet the demands of busy consumers who are demanding quick, healthy options. There is a boom in convenience foods at supermarkets, takeaways and service stations. But convenience and other trends could come at a price.

1. low-carb becomes slow-carb

Market researchers have predicted a peak in the low-carbohydrate craze and a downward trend in sales of low-carb foods. The new trend is “slow-carbs”, based on the concept of the Glycaemic Index (GI). Hungry, frustrated low-carbers are turning to less processed, wholegrain cereals for food, which are filling but not fattening.

• positives

Atkins and the low-carb diet gurus have spawned a whole new range of lower carbohydrate and lean, high-protein foods. If you know what you’re doing, you’ve now got more options to create the diet you want. Carb-reduced pasta, prepackaged “98% fat-free” deli meats and high-protein shakes offer simple ways to cut calories and still eat well. Low GI foods such as porridge, oat bran cereals, yoghurt and others can help you feel full before you eat too much.

• pitfalls

The attraction of low-carb diets won’t dwindle overnight, so there’s still lots of confusion to combat. For example, it’s hard to exercise without enough carbohydrates to keep your glycogen stores fuelled. But you also can’t over-eat or over-drink low GI products just because they have a low GI logo endorsement on the package. Helping clients better manage their hunger and appetite is the key here.

2. fast food becomes low-fat

Morgan Spurlock’s Academy Award nominated “Supersize Me” documentary about the fast food industry was a wake-up call for the multinational burger business. Now major players like McDonalds have introduced lower-fat burgers and salads in response to media pressure and demand for healthier choices.

• positives

Making the change from a regular burger to a lower-fat version will reduce the saturated fat that raises blood cholesterol. Ready-to-eat salads offer a genuine calorie saving and can represent one of the best on-the-go lunch-time options around.

• pitfalls

Some new “less than 10% fat” menu items aren’t necessarily lower in calories. Flatbread wraps, in particular, contain significantly more carbohydrates than burgers with light, fluffy buns and this can cancel out the calorie savings made when cutting the fat. Check the nutrition information to see if you’ve got a good deal for your waist line as well as your heart.

3. bars become a meal

Breakfast and snack bars are the big growth area in convenience foods. They offer fast nutrition for time-poor consumers, even on the way to and from the gym.

• positives

There are a wide range of low-fat, fruit-based snack bars which are much better choices than the three Cs: cookies, cakes and chocolate.

• pitfalls

Although many bars are low in fat, they often contain large amounts of sugar. Some are one-third to half sugar, and this means you won’t save too many calories. And a warning to fitness enthusiasts: swapping processed energy and protein bars for fresh fruit means you’ll miss out on a bundle of health-promoting antioxidants.

4. meals become drinks

If you haven’t got time to eat, why not drink your nutrition? Juice and smoothie bars are capitalising on our busy lives, providing liquid meals in a flash. Cafés and coffeebars have an added hook by providing a caffeine fix alternative for ex- and would-be smokers.

• positives

Vegetable juices offer a relatively low-calorie nutrient boost, packed with vitamins and antioxidants. Adding a banana and strawberries to a skimmed milk smoothie can top up your daily fruit serves.

• pitfalls

Fruit juice and dairy drinks can pack a lot of calories that slide down too easily. They enjoy a healthy image, but are not so healthy for our waist lines. Serve sizes, some as large as 800 millilitres can provide more calories than the meal you would’ve eaten. Go easy on these.

5. kids’ food becomes healthy

With up to 25% of children carrying excessive body fat, food companies are offering calorie-conscious kids’ foods at supermarkets and school canteens.

• positives

There’s an increasing range of healthier foods, marketed in interesting and fun ways for our kids. Fat-reduced, tasty savoury snacks, fruit packs and calcium-rich low-fat dairy desserts are good options. Even for adults, these are worth checking out.

• pitfalls

Some food companies continue to promote the idea that simply cutting fat makes food healthy for kids. Promoting a sweet treat as “99% fat free” ignores the high sugar content.

6. food becomes medicine

Health-conscious, or perhaps disease-phobic, consumers are looking for dietary alternatives to medicines to enhance wellbeing. The line between food and drugs has blurred with innovative food products known as “pharmafoods”, “neutrafoods” and just plain “phood” (food and medicine).

• positives

So-called functional foods can offer real benefits, especially for people with specific needs. Products with enhanced levels of omega-3 fats, soluble fibre and a range of phytochemicals (beneficial plant chemicals) offer simple ways to boost the intake of the good nutrients that are often lacking in our diet.

• pitfalls

Without getting the basics of good nutrition right first, navigating through a supermarket that looks more like a drug store could be very confusing. Individual foods won’t offer a quick fix for a poor lifestyle. You can also expect to pay a premium for these food products as food companies try to recoup the costs of developing and marketing new “phoods”.

final thought

Our fast-paced lifestyle is reshaping the way we eat at an alarming rate. To make healthy informed choices, we’ll need to slow down enough to read nutrition information and ask if it’s not available. Helping your clients understand and read food labels will help equip them to eat well into the future.

Matt O’Neill is a top Australian nutritionist and regular on Channel 7’s Sunrise program. You can subscribe to Matt’s free email newsletter, download useful tools or enrol in a course at his website at www.SmartShape.com.au

by Kate James

‘Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.’ Spencer Johnson

I have an inherent believe that most people are good…and that most people are honest. But some people choose to hide that honesty, keeping their true feelings close rather than speaking out openly.

The quote above suggests that living life by the principles of integrity and honesty is simple. But it’s complex and the real complexity lies in the shades of grey that colour the area between truth and dishonesty. This is further complicated by the fact that sometimes we don’t open up and say things as they really are because we don’t have that clarity ourselves.

Most of us set out to live honest lives. And on the surface, we do. We hand in a wallet we find on the street, we pay our taxes, we do the right thing by our employers and for the most part, we tell the truth to friends and family.

The ambiguity lies in the subtleties of life. In a small conversation with a friend, you find yourself agreeing with something when really you don’t. In a discussion with your partner you skirt around the real issue. With your children, your parents, your boss, you say yes when you really want to say no. Sometimes you’re not even aware of your true feelings at the time. For those of us who seem ‘hard wired’ to please others, there’s a natural tendency to simply go along.

These subtle untruths eventually have an impact…fine layer upon fine layer, gradually building a tangible film between the ‘authentic you’ and the ‘public you’. Sometimes the layers build for years before you become aware that you feel that your true self has been watered down and as a result, you find that your energy levels are depleted.

Mostly, we avoid the truth because we want to make other people happy. For many of us it’s habitual. We say what we think others want to hear but in doing so, we create a barrier that keeps us from really connecting.

Once you become aware that you’re not speaking openly, there’s that sense of having ‘an elephant in the room’. Something that isn’t spoken about that impedes an open and honest connection. A barrier that stands in the way of the lightness that comes with open, authentic conversation.

Whilst initiating and engaging in a heartfelt conversation can be daunting and sometimes difficult, the energy in a relationship (and in you) is miraculously restored when you lift the barriers to honest communication.

This is not to say that every single communication you ever have in your life must be completely open at all times. There’s a balance to be found and the simplest measure is to ask yourself whether withholding or sharing something will ultimately enrich the relationship.

Even if the short term impact is negative, creating openness and honesty is one of the best ways to breathe life into your relationships.

Tackling a tough conversation:

• Take some time to prepare - really think about what you need to say.
• Remove any accusations from the conversation. Getting your point across is easier if you can avoid making the other person wrong.
• Deal with just one issue at a time.
• Choose a time and place that is most conducive to a good conversation. Some people find it less confronting to talk openly when walking side by side rather than sitting face to face.
• Know when to let it go. If the conversation becomes heated and you or the other person feels overly emotional, agree to return to the discussion at a later date

Kate James is a work life balance coach, writer and speaker. She works with professional people who want to enhance their quality of life by making the right career and life choices. You can find Kate at www.totalbalance.com.au.

by Glenn Capelli

Cecil John Rhodes died in 1902 and amongst other things was the founder of the diamond company De Beers. After his death his Rhodes Trust establish The Rhodes Scholarship an international award for study at Oxford University.

Since then there have been a bucket load of famous Rhodes Scholars including the 1945 Nobel Prize winner Australian Howard Florey (the penicillin man), former PM Bob Hawke (Scholar 1953) and a 1975 Scholar in former Carlton Premiership Captain (and ex Head Boy of my old High School Churchlands) Mike Fitzpatrick.

However, my favourite Rhodes Scholar is not a politician, scientist, merchant banker or even footballer. My favourite Rhodes Scholar is the man who wrote the song Me and Bobby McGee – Kris Kristofferson.

I love Kris because he cannot only perform academically, he can also perform with:

• A guitar
• A mop - he was a janitor at one stage of his life
• A gearstick - he once drove trucks for a living and
• A stamina in that he has lasted in the music industry for decades

Kris Kristofferson is not only a Rhodes Scholar he is a Road Scholar too.

My figuring is that in today’s world the Rhodes/Roads mix is a good blend. Way back in 1995 the Enterprising Nation Karpin Report into Australian Leadership and Management Skills talked about the need for the T Skilled worker. This worker not only has deep specific, technical skills (the perpendicular part of the letter T) but also great broad skills (the horizontal part of T).

Broad skills include:

• Communication skills
• Empathy
• A breadth of learning
• Creative Thinking Skills

Broad skills are the stuff of Road Scholars; people who can get by in any given situation, people who can connect with others, people who are versatilists. A versatilist being a ‘person who can be a specialist in a particular discipline while at the same time be able to change to another role with the same ease’. In short, part Rhodes Scholar and part Road Scholar.

So master your Road Scholarship – learn something wide of your usual field, connect with folk who think differently than you, be curious beyond your own discipline and if ever you are busted flat in Baton Rouge – or anywhere else – have the Emotional Smarts and breadth to bounce back.

Glenn Capelli is the author of Thinking Caps book and radio pieces as well as being a top Keynote Speaker. www.glenncapelli.com. You can contact Glenn at glenn@glenncapelli.com

by Rosemary Marchese

Picturing yourself on a sandy beach or relaxing by the pool this summer? Aren’t we all? The end of year often brings hope of that well-deserved break. But has history would have it have you worked so hard that you feel too pooped to even think about exercising on holidays?

Don’t make it a chore…think of it as an opportunity!

Your holiday break is an opportunity to reinvigorate your body with some well-deserved opportunities to exercise. It doesn’t have to mean that you hit the resort gym sweating it out for two hours while your better half is poolside with a daiquiri! But time away from work is an ideal time to get more physically active, especially if you have found limited time to do so during the year. Here are just a few ideas to inspire you…

1. Going somewhere with a pool? Try some pre-brekkie laps (you could swim or walk them), water volleyball, and water polo or get in there with the aqua aerobics class! So many holiday facilities have a range of pool activities available you often just have to find out when they are on! Otherwise just get in there with family and friends to start your own game of volleyball.

2. Get in touch with nature and try a bushwalk or two. Walking is cheap and can be done at a time that suits you on your holiday.

3. Go on a half day shopping tour – you are bound to burn more kilojoules here than sitting by the pool the entire day. You could always follow it up with an aqua class and the rest of the day by the pool.

4. Lead by example and take the stairs not the lift. So often we think of it as a chore to climb stairs and opt for the lift. I like to appreciate the fact that I have the capability to walk and so many people would love to be able to do that. It’s gives me a better appreciation of my life and of course is good for stimulating that heart rate a little more than pressing that lift button!

5. Explore the city you are in on foot. Of course this will depend on where you are but so many of the best features of a town can be seen on foot.

6. Try a new sport. Pick up a tennis racket and start playing. Kick a soccer ball or play hide and seek with the kids.

7. Try a nightclub or two and start dancing!

The list could be endless but as you can see it doesn’t have to be a structured exercise program all the time. Just a little more exercise can help with recharging your body, soul and mind to help top off a break. Happy holidays!

Rosemary is a registered physiotherapist who has combined her expertise in health with fitness. She has over 15 years of experience teaching and consulting in the fitness industry, including personal training, PUMP and Pilates instructing. She is the co-author of the best-selling book ‘The Essential Guide to Fitness: For the Fitness Instructor’, which was specifically written for those people wanting to start a career in the fitness industry. She is also a former Editor for a fitness magazine and is now writing her second fitness book. Rosemary is a fit and healthy mother of two young children dedicated to helping busy mums achieve their health and fitness goals.

by Rob Wilkins

I am struck sometimes by the ability of individuals to trust process and intellect and not listen to that which they have always known to serve them best, their instinct. Instinct is not something that “occurs” but rather is something that, I would say, gifted individuals recognise and embrace.

It is the combination of intellect with instinct that creates that state of being mindful and alert to the possibilities of all situations.

Carl Rogers, the psychologist whose notoriety was derived by his now famous “Humanist” approach to psychology, once stated, ” I have learned that my total organismic sensing of a situation is more trustworthy than my intellect.”

Sense making is a term that is gaining amazing credence in Knowledge Management circles and my reflection of this is centered around this combination of intellect and instinct or “being mindful”.

My question is, “Is this a learned state or can it only be practiced by a gifted few?” (metaphorically speaking).

Jerry Braza PH.D, in his book “Moment by Moment” states “mindfulness is a natural state of living moment by moment”. The reason why this statement resonates so strongly with me is because of what I observe on a day-to-day basis as a Learning and Development Professional. I observe so many people caught up in the plans of the day, week, month or year and not giving their attention to the moment at hand.

Children provide a wonderful illustration of how the adult mind lets go of this natural skill of being mindful. I am reminded of a story of a family who are on their way to a party and come to a railway crossing that begins to indicate a train is coming. The father, who is driving and already anxious about arriving on time, thinks to himself “Great! Now we will definitely be late”. That is until his 4 year old daughter pipes up and says, “Daddy, Daddy, now we get to see the train go by! This is exciting!” The father appreciates the complete diversity of what his daughter is thinking and for a brief moment, appreciates being mindful and in the moment.

There is a lot to learn from mindfulness and what it means for recharging yourself and your day-to-day performance and I hope to talk about his in more detail in the future.

In the meantime, find yourself a railway crossing and enjoy the moment (metaphorically speaking of course).

Rob Wilkins is a Learning and Development professional with over 20 years experience in Corporate Learning and Development, Management and Executive Development, Learning Technologies and Organisational Performance Improvement. Currently completing his Masters in Knowledge Management and Business Information, Rob is considered a specialist in eLearning and Personal Learning Environments with a strong Knowledge Management influence guiding his research and professional development. Email: dawilkos@tpg.com.au : or more of his insights on a daily basis: Blog: http://roalp.blogspot.com

by Justin Hooper

You’d have to be on Mars not to know that we’re experiencing some of the most volatile markets in history. Let’s not kid ourselves…..this is not fun!

Having said that, what are we really concerned about? Why is there so much “panic” and fear around?

I’m not an expert when it comes to emotions but it seems to me that behind the concern that seems to be pervading the stock markets is a fear of losing lifestyle. Most people would be totally relaxed if they could maintain their lifestyle no matter what happened in the market.

Let’s take a look at a real life example of a client who requires $54,000 pa to fund their desired lifestyle:

Pension Account Value as at 10/10/07: $1,142,000
Drawdown over the past 12 months: $ 54,000
Pension Value as at 10/10/08: $ 858,000

In projecting how long the money might last in a meeting 12 months ago, a simple assessment ensued as follows:

Assumptions:

1. Conservative investment return ongoing of 7% pa
2. Cost of living at $54,000 pa indexed at 3% CPI

The projected balance of funds remaining after:

5 Years $1,250,000
10 Years $1,346,000
15 Years $1,415,000

Today (10th October 2008) one year later, the average return required to get that client back to $1,346,000 (“nine” years from now) is 11.67% pa. To get back to $1,415,000 (“fourteen” years from now) is 10.35% pa.

Is this achievable? History says yes. The average return of a model balanced portfolio (25% defensive and 75% growth assets) from 1985 to 30 September 2008 should have been around 11.39% pa. During the 5 years to 31 December 2007, this portfolio should have a return of 13.10% pa.

That’s not to say we shouldn’t do whatever we can to manage our situation. My view is control the “controllables” and don’t worry about the “uncontrollables”.

So what can you control?

1. Diversify

A year ago, International assets, particularly shares didn’t look too good. Fixed Interest funds were also significantly underperforming. In the past 3 moths in particular, they’ve certainly helped overall performance with the unit prices of the global equities funds (in our portfolios) increasing by in excess of 9%. (This is due to the decline in the Australian dollar).

The drop in interest rates has also helped improve the value of the fixed interest assets in the portfolios. Short-term Australian Fixed Interest funds have had a return of 7.80% and the International Fixed Interest has a return of 5.95% for the last 12 months up to 30 September 2008.

Diversification is the one ‘free lunch’ that you get when investing.

2. Eliminate Unnecessary Spending – there’s no harm in “tightening the belt” where it doesn’t affect your lifestyle.

3. Stay in touch with your adviser – you need a framework for making decisions and then an ability to keep your emotions from corroding that framework.

Justin Hooper,CEO, Sentinel Wealth Management, www.sentinelwealth.com.au

By Linda Anderson

Are you taking enough annual leave?

We all know the restorative benefits of scheduling holidays and taking time out from your business, not to mention the detrimental effect of never switching off. So here are some strategies to help you have the holidays that you need and deserve!

1. Plan ahead of time

I love the idea of spontaneous holidays but have never mastered the art of taking them. Therefore planning is essential to ensure holidays happen. When scheduling holidays, look at the next 12 months and block out periods of time to take off. This may correspond to school holidays, long weekends, seasons or an event you wish to attend.

I have a yearly planner on my wall for 2008 that has several sections blocked out in bright colours representing confirmed or tentative holiday plans.

2. Know your naturally quiet times

Does your business have periods which are naturally quieter than others? This is an ideal time for scheduling holidays without it disrupting the flow of business.

In my business, January is always a quiet month as clients are often taking a long holiday. Regular clients often take a break from coaching sessions and new clients often wait until February to make contact. All of this makes January a great month for me to take a holiday.

3. Put it in the budget

Many people resist taking any substantial time away due to the financial impact. If ‘time equals money’ for you, the solution is to budget for holidays ahead of time.

When I sit down each year to create financial targets I automatically deduct four to six weeks for holidays. This means I have to increase my earning in the other months to ensure I meet my financial goals.

Planning this ahead of time takes away the sense of financial pressure when I go on holidays.

4. Pre-book flights or accommodation

There is nothing like actually booking a part of your holiday to make it real. If you need the extra accountability to ensure you take that holiday, this strategy may work wonderfully for you. I have flights booked to go to Hamilton Island. No excuses now … I will be getting on that plane!

5. Create systems and structures that support your business in your absence

What systems, structures or support will you need for your business while you are away? Identify these in advance and take time to make the necessary arrangements. This is where a procedures manual can be a life saver.

Once you’ve written procedures that relate specifically to how to get your business ready for your absence, you can follow the same steps next time you go away.

In my business, I make arrangements like:

• Ensuring my clients have advance warning of my leave dates.
• Pre-writing weekly newsletters and programming them to send automatically.
• Having a VA available to respond to all enquiries received by phone, email or through my website.
• Ensuring all invoices are paid ahead of time.

You work hard in your business. You deserve to take great holidays every year! If scheduling holidays is something you have struggled with previously, commit to making 2008 the year you start taking holidays.

See you on Hamilton Island, perhaps?

By Andrew May

Sure, times are a little tough. But talk to some people right now and you’d honestly think the world was over. I met with a senior sales manager last week and from the moment I walked into his office my energy was drained. Bags around his eyes, shoulders slumped forward, and when he lumbered out of his chair to greet me he moved like a hairy sloth stretching out from one branch to the next. I made the fatal mistake of asking ‘how’s it all going’ and for the next 10 minutes was peppered with all of the reasons why business as we know it is over; how the world will never recover; and how we’re all totally, totally screwed. ‘Armageddon’ I could feel him screaming underneath his responses. ‘Armageddon, Armageddon the world is about to end!’

Now before you discount me as a totally insensitive ‘rhymes with chick’, let me acknowledge that times definitely are tough and there is a lot of pain out there. In fact we have seen the worst decline in the stock market since the 1937 depression. At the start of the year we had 5 major US investment banks, now there are only 2. In recent months we’ve seen Octagon, ABC Learning, Allco and a list of other companies go into receivership.

So yeah, this is like nothing many of us have ever seen before. In fact most Generation Y workers have never witnessed a downturn in the financial market in their working lives. But the world is not over and I still haven’t finished with my friend the senior sales manager. Now I’ve known this guy for more than 5 years and he is one of the best sales people I have ever meet. He leads a national team of more than 300 people in a very competitive, fast changing industry.

After hearing him out for 10 minutes and 12 seconds, (but who said I was actually counting?), I had to interject and metaphorically slap him across the face. ‘Jim, Jim. I totally agree with you mate. The world seriously is screwed. Why don’t you sell everything right now, pull the kids out of school, call your wife, pack up the car and head to the hills. Get out of here because listening to you for the last 10 painful minutes, I have no doubt the worst is yet to come. . .’

After staring at me gob smacked for a few minutes, he said ‘I think that was a bit harsh! There’s no need to take the piss and make me feel totally inadequate. Thanks for getting rid of every last bit of motivation I had left’ . Staring as intently back I said ‘Come on mate, snap out of it. I’ve known you for more than 5 years and you’re one of the best sales people I’ve ever met. Sure times are tough, but there’s still a lot that you can focus on in a positive way. Besides, if you’re behaving and acting like this, God help the people you lead every day – what on earth is their behaviour and attitude going to be like?’

After the dust settled we found a common ground and both agreed there were a number of areas that people can focus on, even in the toughest of times, to help people survive. So with the help of my mate Jim, here are 6 tips to help you get through the dip.

1. Turn off the TV!

One of the worst ways to start and every day right now is with a media diet saturated with bad news. Now I understand that if you work in the financial markets you need to know what is happening globally, but please have some periods in your day when you turn off the constant news stream. Unplug, switch off and change channels. Listen to some music in your car or plug in the ipod on the ride home from work. Read a fiction book or take your dog for a walk, take the kids to the park. Turn off the RSS feeds and get out of the habit of negative news updates 24/7.

2. Huff and Puff

Right now is a great time to focus more on your own health and wellbeing. Make sure you take a walk every day and lock in 3 planned physical activity sessions each week for 45 minutes to an hour. And you don’t have to go to the gym, especially if the thought of sweating inside a gym is akin to a trip to the dentist. Go for a walk on the beach or kick a footy in the park with your mates, paddle a kayak or enrol in a dancing class. Make yourself accountable to regular physical activity and also watch the food and fluid intake. Eat healthy meals and cut back on the caffeine and alcohol consumption.

3. Stimulate the brain

Keep learning. Nothing turns people into a shade of grey quicker than switching off the brain. Next time you fly grab the inflight magazine and fill out a crossword, enrol in an adult education course, pick up an instrument or learn a language. Watching my 6 month old daughter just amazes me how quickly we learn. It also shocks me as to how quickly we stop stimulating the brain or even ‘unlearn’ when we finish school and university. Learning should be a life long endeavour and all of the latest research highlights you have a reduced chance of alseimers and degenerative diseases if you keep the brain stimulated

4. Trim the fat

Cut back on discretionary spending and minimise as much financial stress as possible. Take your lunch to work each day, set a limit of how many times you eat out each week and cut back on spending to build a financial buffer to draw on down the track if needed. Now is a god time to practice being frugal with finances. It’s amazing how much you really can save by sticking to a weekly budget.

5. Delete stinking thinking

In essence this is about increasing your awareness of thinking (cognition). The best way to do this is to start keeping a thought diary. This involves writing down your thoughts (and feelings) in different situations throughout the day and carefully noting the relationship between certain types of thoughts and certain types of feelings. We all have approximately 50, 000 plus thoughts every day – it is important the majority of these thoughts are Positive Optimistic Thoughts (POT’S and not Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTS).

Just because you think something does not mean it’s true. Thoughts are not necessarily facts. If your ANTs are causing unnecessary distress you can learn to challenge or change them. This is simply a process that involves questioning your thoughts by asking questions like: Is this true? Is it helpful? Is it really that bad? Once you’ve identified and challenged your negative thoughts, it is time to start planting positive (but still realistic) thoughts. Focus on all the good things in your life; by actively looking for more good things in your life; by looking at difficult situations as opportunities to learn; and by believing good things will happen in the future.

6. Giggle, laugh and play

Finally, get a regular boost of fun and enjoyment into your routine. It’s amazing how much better you feel after a good belly laugh. Hang out with a friend or colleague that makes you laugh, watch a funny movie or just do something that you love.

Find your PPP - Positive Passionate Pursuit, a healthy activity that is good for you and where you lose yourself in the process. Every Thursday morning I hit the surf with a few mates, we swap between surf ski’s, paddle boards, surfing and swimming. I look forward to Thursday mornings each week and this helps me recharge, reenergise and renew.

Final comment

Yes, times are tough. But no, it is not the end of the world. Try and take a step back and focus on the areas in your life you can control and try to not worry about the areas or parts in your life you can’t control. Tines will get better and after every dip there is always a period of growth and prosperity.

Andrew May is is considered Australia’s leading expert on performance and productivity and is the author of the bestselling book, Flip the Switch. Andrew speaks at conferences across the globe, mentors CEO’s and senior managers. He is published throughout national and international media, with regular segments on 2UE radio, Mix 106.5 Body and Soul and Channel Nine’s TODAY show.

By Joanna McMillian

A vegetarian diet is generally thought a healthy way to eat — if it’s balanced, at least. Certainly, if you cruise the aisles of any health-food shop, you’ll find a vast array of plant foods, including numerous grains and foods made from grains, but seldom anything that comes from an animal, the clear implication being the latter is not “health foods”. Research tends to support this widespread belief, suggesting vegetarians are less likely to be obese and have less chronic illness such as heart disease.

High-fibre intakes from a diet high in plant food, including whole grains, are generally shown to be beneficial, while a high meat intake has been linked to increased risk of chronic diseases such as colon cancer.

Yet, on the other side of the coin, high- protein/low-carbohydrate diets such as Atkins tell us grains are pretty toxic to us, making us fat and causing or contributing to many of the chronic diseases afflicting the developed world.

No wonder so many of us are confused over what to eat and who to believe. So should we eat grains or not?

The argument against eating grains is primarily one of evolution. Genetically, we have changed little since our hunter-gatherer days. The best evidence shows that at that time, animal foods dominated the human diet. Plant foods, too, were consumed in large quantities, but mostly those that could be eaten with little preparation or cooking. Grains are not easily harvested and can almost never be eaten direct from the plant — they require some kind of processing and/ or cooking to make them edible. Grains did not, therefore, become major dietary players until the dawn of agriculture when humans learned how to grow and harvest crops to support the community.

This process started some 10,000 years ago and from this time grains became an increasingly important part of human diets everywhere. So much so that today grains provide the staple food for many communities worldwide. Indeed, from a purely environmental point of view, we can no longer feed the world’s population on an animal-based diet — we need grains and other plant foods to sustain us.

In evolutionary terms, however, we’re talking about a very short period of time. There is therefore a valid argument that genetically we have not (yet) evolved to cope with the change from a predominantly animal-based to a more grain-based diet.

Yet there is a major flaw in this argument: while we have eaten grains for thousands of years, overweight and obesity have only become a major problem in the past 50 years. In fact, the exponential rise in obesity is only in the last 20 years. Perhaps the problem lies not in grains per se, but in what we do to them.

When humans started to eat grain foods, we would have ground it roughly between stones to crack the hard outer shell, added water to the resultant mix and then cooked it in some way. Over time, we learned how to use grain to make bread or porridge, or as a thickener in stews. We learned that grains could plump out a meal, making it go a lot further relatively cheaply.

It’s the same story today. Animal foods tend to be much more expensive, while grain foods are cheap and readily available. But we have now learned how to grind them, remove the tough outer husk and polish the grain down to just the starch-rich centre. We can then cook the polished grain to give a fluffy white rice, for example, or grind this starch centre to a fine flour to produce fluffy white breads.

Or we take the fine flour and mix it with fat and sugar to make biscuits, cakes, crackers, breakfast cereals and so on. You can see that, over time and with sophisticated food manufacturing techniques, we have moved further and further away from the grain in its natural state. In fact, all we do is strip the grain of almost all its fibre and micronutrient content and use only the energy-containing part: the starchy centre.

We can measure the effect of this processing on our body. When carbohydrate-containing foods such as grains are eaten, the food is digested and broken down in the intestine to release the individual sugars, principally glucose. These are then absorbed into the bloodstream where the glucose is transported to cells all around the body to be used as fuel or stored for later use. How quickly this happens varies, depending on the food.

This is the basis for the glycaemic index (GI). The GI compares foods, gram for gram of carbohydrate, by directly measuring the rise in blood glucose after eating the food. If we compare directly the GI of grains under increasing levels of processing — ie whole grains, cracked grains, wholemeal flour and so on — to fine flour, we see a step-wise increase in the glycaemic response.

While we have eaten grains for thousands of years, the change in the past 20-50 years has been a dramatic increase in the consumption of processed grains with a high GI. As a result, the rises and falls in our blood glucose levels today are far larger than in the past and our bodies are just not designed to cope with this.

As to whether or not grains are good for us, the answer is clearly dependent on what form the grains are in. The positive research supporting the role of grains in the diet is almost always using whole grains or minimally processed grain products. Similarly, the evidence for consuming low-GI foods grows, supporting the same conclusion. In practice, this means fewer foods made from white flour, including bread, biscuits and cakes, and less polished white rice (at least choose a lower-GI variety). Instead, we can increase our range of grains focusing on those we can consume with minimal processing and/or that have a low GI.

Venture into the health-food aisle of your supermarket and you’ll find many grains that fit the bill. While some may be new to you, interestingly they are almost always part of traditional diets from other parts of the world. Barley, thought to be one of the first grains cultivated, makes a good nutty base for a risotto-style dish. Bulgur is popular in Middle-Eastern dishes such as tabouli. FreekehTM is an ancient Mediterranean grain with more fibre, protein and micronutrients than many others. Rolled oats (even Scotland has its healthy food!) make a nutritious breakfast as porridge or muesli. And quinoa (pronounced keen-wa), a tiny South American grain that was once the food of the Incas, has a high protein content, is nutrient-rich and can be used in a similar way to couscous.

In the bread aisle, look beyond your basic sliced white bread and be adventurous in trying a selection of wholegrain options: European-style grainy breads, rye sourdough, spelt flour breads, mountain bread based on barley, rye or corn, and traditional wholemeal flat breads are all far more nutritious choices. Expand your culinary diversity beyond processed wheat and rice and the bottom line is grains can indeed be a nutritious and delicious part of your diet. We needn’t look as far back as hunter-gatherer time for lessons from the past — we can learn much from the traditional diets of our contemporaries all around the world.

Joanna is a popular media spokesperson and is the resident nutrition expert for the Today show on the Nine Network. She is a health writer for Life etc magazine and writes a regular column “Ask the Food Doctor” for Slimming & Health. Joanna has authored or co-authored a number of books including the internationally published The Low GI Diet and The Low GI Diet Cookbook. Most recently Joanna teamed up with ‘The Food Coach’ Judy Davie and their joint book Star Foods (ABC Books) was released April 2008. Her next book is a must have guide for all women who want to look and feel their best, called Inner Health Outer Beauty. It will be released by Random House April 2009. www.joannamcmillanprice.com