Saving Our Language in the New Year By Ken Goldstein

The Networker

I was trying to come up with what to put in this month’s article when I received a great little piece from Doc McIntyre from UoT that I thought worthy of sharing:

Saving Our Language in the New Year By Ken Goldstein

Stop beginning any spoken sentence with Candidly, Honestly, Quite frankly, Truthfully, or To tell you the truth.  Stagnant qualifiers pollute our language.  If these preambles aren’t implicit, don’t speak.

Beginning a statement with “honestly” conveys that it’s different from your other statements, which must be lies.
When I was a young lawyer — many, many years ago — I was told that when a witness started his answer with something like “to be honest with you…” he was about to lie.

Actually, in my opinion (humble or otherwise)…

Stop prefacing earnest speechifying with “Let’s be clear” or some variation thereof.

Stopending letters and emails with “sincerely.”  And why do we still start letters with “Dear…?”  Come on, few people in this day and age deserve such acknowledgement, yet we use it for letters sent to strangers and corporations.  Save it for friends and loved ones.
For God’s sake, don’t use “for God’s sake.”  I doubt He/She cares.

“With all due respect” is alead in that often means “I don’t respect your opinion at all, you moron.”  And why do some people preface their own opinion with “some people feel that…?”  Are they too afraid to own their opinion?

Unless you started a statement with a joke, don’t begin a new statement with “In all seriousness…”  And never state that “It’s common knowledge that…”  Too many people use that to give support for their own narrow opinion.

Don’t say “literally.”  Ugh.

Don’t end a statement with a question, such as “…isn’t it?”

I once asked a question of some guest speaker at a very large public meeting starting a sentence with “surely.”  He responded that he distrusts any question beginning that way because it sounds as if I have already made up my mind!  My friends who were there quoted the line from Airplane, “Don’t call me Shirley.”

So, there you have it, literally some easy fixes for the New Year.  Honestly, we can’t fix the entire world, but quite frankly, any healing in our broken communication is worth the effort.  With all due respect, it’s worth a try, isn’t it?

…

I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did – but it also got me really thinking about communication.  Not just the mechanics of how we frame our words, and things that should be left unsaid – but the things we don’t say at all or as much as we should.  So as we set forth into 2019, we could use less of the words and phrases above, but we can also be better at saying more of some others. Below are a few I intend to work on.

Simple manners and courtesies sometimes get forgotten in the rush of the day – remember to say: “Hello/good morning/good afternoon” etc, “Thank you”, “You’re welcome”, “Please”, “Excuse me”. Remember greetings/please/thank you work in e-mails too!

Give encouragement (you have an infinite supply)  – “Everything is going to be OK”, “You can do it”, “You’re awesome”, “This will pass”, “I care”, “I’m listening”, “Can I help you with that?”

Be human, you don’t have to be a super hero every day – “I don’t know”, “I made a mistake”, “I’m sorry”, “I need help”

Be real, it’s good to be open about feelings instead of letting them fester – “I disagree with you, but I still like you”, “You hurt my feelings, let’s talk about it”

Connect and network – “I understand”, “I would like to introduce you to…”, “Tell me about yourself”

And always, always tell those you love how you feel every chance you get.

Happy communicating in the New Year!

Lorie Vega, Secretary
Ellsworth AFB 28th Force Squadron

The Best Kind of Gift

The Networker

December is here and with it the magic of the holiday season is upon us.   Everywhere we go the festive sights and sounds of the season are all around us.  To many, Christmas is the most wonderful and happiest season of all.  We spend hours shopping for the perfect gift for that someone special, baking, decorating and preparing for this special holiday.

Christmas can also be a time of sadness.

The inability to purchase that special present for their children, family or friends or loneliness from being separated from family and friends, While for others, sitting down to a big Christmas dinner may be only a wish and not a reality.

So, this year as you are preparing for the holidays, make the time to give a gift of kindness, it may be all that someone needs to make their holiday season a little brighter. Here are several ways to show an act of kindness during this giving season.

1. Drop money into the Salvation’s Army basket or purchase a small gift for an unknown child.
2. Take a plate of fresh-baked Christmas cookies to a shut-in.
3. Invite someone over to share Christmas dinner with you who might otherwise have spent the day alone.
4. Send a card to a friend who you haven’t kept in contact with just to let them know you are thinking of them.
5. Fill a box with all of the trimmings for a Christmas dinner and give to a family in need.

In return for your gift of kindness, you will be rewarded tenfold with a grateful smile and a heartfelt thank you.  I know, I have been the receiver of such a gift, it was not only the best gift that I received that year, but it has become a treasured memory of three small boys overjoyed at the receiving of a simple gift….a Christmas tree.

Happy Holidays to each and every one of you and blessing for a bright and happy New Year!

Peggy Hettick, Treasurer Elect
Quality Medical Legal Consulting, LLC

Some Suggestions for A Better Walking Workout

The Networker

1. Walk Proud, as you walk, do it with proper posture and purposeful movements.  Concentrate on keeping your spine straight, keeping your ears and shoulders directly above your hips your head should not jut too far forward or back, but sit right above the neck.  Use all of core muscles by slightly squeezing your abdominal muscles.  Good walking posture will energize your body by making exercise much easier.
2. Pump Those Arms.  Your arms help guide you if you put a little energetic pump into your swing.  Let your arms hang naturally at your side to start.  Then let them swing naturally to and fro as you walk with a slight bend in the elbows.
3. Shorten Your Stride.  Shorten your steps and focus on purposeful movements at first.  Instead of speed concentrate on coordination.  With each step, roll the foot from heel to toe with smooth ease.  This proper form will strengthen your bones and improve your balance so eventually you can accelerate your walking speed.
4. Track Steps with a Pedometer.  If you have trouble getting motivated to walk, try counting your steps with a pedometer.  With a pedometer its a means of motivation…it’s like having a walking coach or walking buddy for encouragement.
5. Loosen Up.  Learn to keep your body relaxed, which means loosening the tension in your jaw, face, and hands, resist the urge to make fists as you walk.  Focus on good posture, but keep your arms and shoulders relaxed and loose to power your walk.
6. Walk with a Heart Rate Monitor.  Wearing a heart rate monitor while you walk ensures you’re getting the most bang for your buck.  This will keep you walking at an optimal intensity for your efforts.
7. Squeeze Through your Glutes.  Walking calls many muscles into play mainly the large group of muscles located in the back of your legs and buttocks.  When you walk you use other muscles as you give your glutes a squeeze.  When you are walking think about walking on pebbles or marbles as you walk.  This multi-muscle sequence will help improve glute strength and stabilization.
8. Keep your Eyes on the Prize.  If you don’t enjoy walking, the prize I’m referring to might very well be your couch. But if you do decide to start walking, keep your head up, your airway expanded for deep breathing, chest open, and your eyes fixed on the horizon.  This will ensure straight and level head and neck alignment.

These words of wisdom for Walking is taken from a study done at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. If you can walk at least 15 minutes after every meal, it will improve your glucose absorption – resulting in weight loss and improve heart and muscle function.

Self Care

The Networker

September is the back to school and get back into the routine month.  It’s often filled with busy school schedules, kids activities, and squeezing the last bit of sunshine before fall arrives.  Not to mention our work lives of owning a business, working for a local business, or a part time side hustle as well as our volunteer opportunities.  We can run ourselves out of time and energy.  So here are a few tips to take care of YOU!

1. Get plenty of rest.
2. Eat a balanced diet and allow yourself a treat at times.
3. Practice saying no.  And if this is difficult for you, use the standard line of “I’ll have to get back to you on that” to buy yourself time to think about if you want to commit to what is being asked of you.
4. Exercise regularly as it relieves stress and releases endorphins (feel good) in your brain.  Sex does the same thing.
5. Spend time with the people you enjoy spending time participating in activities you like.
6. Spend some time by yourself, even if it’s locking the bathroom door while you shower.
7. Do something nice for yourself every day and you get to pick what that is.
8. Spend time with your girlfriends.  There is nothing better to pick you up that spending time laughing and enjoying good conversation with girlfriends.  Wine helps too.
9. Eliminate people and things in our lives that are negative, toxic, and draining.  You deserve better and you are worth it.
10. Put yourself first and give yourself permission to be “selfish” in this area.  You have to be filled up before you can pour into others.  Give it a try. And you’re not really being selfish.  You are loving yourself and modeling that to others.

I hope you all have a great month getting back into the school and structured routines that fall brings every year.  Take care of you by putting yourself first.  You are worth it!