Tom Rath's Blog, page 3
November 4, 2013
We the people…are the problem
In America we face a health crisis of epic proportions. A majority of people now die from largely preventable conditions. Businesses are going broke on account of rising healthcare costs. People we love are sick, tired, and dying far too early.
To greatly oversimplify the problem, “we the people” of the United States have created a lifestyle that is unsustainable.
We engineered activity out of our lives in the name of convenience. We created foods that put fried, fatty, sweet, and salty ahead of fresh, natural, and healthy. We quickly sacrifice sleep to work longer hours in pursuit of the American Dream. Even when we do these things with good intentions, they have life threatening consequences.
Obesity rates by country (via WHO)
Our sedentary, sleepless, fast food lifestyle is now infecting the rest of the developed world. The percent of people who are overweight or obese is now even higher in Mexico and wealthy Middle Eastern countries than it is here in the U.S. If we fail to do something about this soon, the lifestyle we export will kill far more people abroad than wars and drones over the next quarter century.
As a citizen of the United States, my take is: we have a responsibility to help fix the global health crisis we started.
After studying the sources of this crisis for several years, I am convinced the best way to curb this epidemic is one social network at a time. If you look back at how we reversed the trend of smoking, we essentially pushed cigarettes to the edges of our largest social networks. We kicked smoking out of our schools, offices, restaurants, stores, airplanes, homes, and buildings.
When we debate what led to this change in smoking, or any other large-scale societal shift, it is easy to underestimate the role of the workplace. Yet I have found that organizations are the largest and most influential networks for creating dramatic change. If we want to tackle the crisis of poor health, we need mobilize these social networks. The best way to combat poor health is one workplace, school, and congregation at a time.
When your boss and colleagues care enough to invest in your health, it is good for you and the business. If a school makes an effort to provide kids the right foods and help them to be more active, this benefits the student and the family’s health. If you embark on a program to improve your health with a church or community group, you are more likely to stick with it over time.
Because traditional organizational-driven health programs bypass these social networks, most employees do not realize that having healthier colleagues is in everyone’s best interests. If my colleagues stop eating donuts and are more active, it saves me money on next year’s insurance premium and I get to work with people who have more energy and creativity each day. Yet most organizations fail to make health a cultural priority. Instead, they treat healthcare like any other expense.
Employers and employees alike need to start thinking about health as an investment, not an expense. Companies can give employees time, resources, and leaders who genuinely care about each person’s health and well-being. As employees, we need to start thinking about how we can build healthier work teams. This starts by taking ownership for our own health, and then continues by helping a close friend or colleague.
At some point, we need to realize that we are all in this battle together. I need to be healthier to enjoy my days, live longer, serve my community, and be a more active spouse and parent. I need my loved ones to be healthier so they are happy, energetic, and around for years to come. I also need my colleagues to make better lifestyle choices so they can contribute more to our shared work, minimize the soaring cost of healthcare for all of us, and help to create a culture where good health is a priority.
This global epidemic of poor health will not be fixed by policies, governments, or insurance companies alone. We will fix this problem by looking at our own choices, helping the people we love, and investing in the health of our immediate social networks. Within these networks – families, businesses, faith groups, and communities – lies the solution to the greatest social and economic challenge of our generation.
Connect with Tom Rath:
- Facebook.com/AuthorTomRath
- Twitter.com/TomCRath
- Google.com/+TomRath
- Linkedin.com/in/trath/
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October 23, 2013
Three ingredients for a good day
BY TOM RATH
(This post originally appeared on Psychology Today)
Making better choices takes work. There is a daily give and take, but it is worth the effort. The vast knowledge we have to prevent cancer, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses is staggering. Every day, I read about new ideas and research that could help someone I care about live a longer and healthier life.
What I learn from this research also influences my countless daily decisions. Every bite of food either increases or decreases my odds of spending a few more years with my wife and two young children. Half an hour of exercise in the morning makes for better interactions all day. Then a sound night of sleep gives me energy to tackle the next day. I am a more active parent, a better spouse, and more engaged in my work when I eat, move, and sleep well.
What seem like small or inconsequential moments accumulate rapidly. When your good daily decisions outweigh your poor ones, you boost your chances of growing old in better health. Life itself is a big game of beating the odds. Take, for example, these four largely preventable diseases: cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and lung disease. Combined, they kill nearly 9 in 10 people.
Researchers have estimated that 90 percent of us could live to age 90 with some simple lifestyle choices. What’s more, we could live free of common diseases that make our final years miserable. Even if you have a family history of heart disease or cancer, most of your fate is in your control.
A recent study suggests you do not “inherit” longevity as much as previously believed. Instead, the sum of your habits determines your life span. How long you live is more about how you live your life and less about how long your parents lived.
As I explained in a previous post, I am a living testament to the fact that lousy predispositions can be encoded in your genes. Yet even in this extreme case, my decisions affect the odds of new tumors growing and my existing cancers spreading. The reality is, the majority of your risk in life lies in the choices you make, not in your family tree.
No single act can prevent cancer or guarantee you will live a long life. Anyone who promises you something that absolute is a fraud. Yet there are countless things you can do to improve your odds of a longer, healthier, and more fulfilling life.
Starting your day with a healthy breakfast increases your odds of being active in the hours that follow. This helps you eat well throughout the day. Consuming the right foods and adding activity makes for a much better night’s sleep. This sound night of sleep will make it even easier to eat well and move more tomorrow.
In contrast, a lousy night of sleep immediately threatens the other two areas. That bad night of sleep makes you crave a less healthy breakfast and decreases your odds of being active. In the worst-case scenario, all three elements start to work against you, creating a downward spiral that makes each day progressively worse.
New research shows that tackling multiple elements at the same time increases your odds of success, compared to initiating a new diet or exercise program in isolation. Eating, moving, and sleeping well are even easier if you work on all three in parallel. These three ingredients for a good day build on one another. When these elements are working together, they create an upward spiral and progressively better days.
If you eat, move, and sleep well today, you will have more energy tomorrow. You will treat your friends and family better. You will achieve more at work and give more to your community.
Adapted from the book Eat Move Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes by Tom Rath (Missionday, 2013)
Additional Reading and References:
Jones, D. S., Podolsky, S. H., & Greene, J. A. (2012). The burden of disease and the changing task of medicine. New England Journal of Medicine, 366(25), 2333–2338. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1113569
Simple lifestyle changes can add a decade or more healthy years to the average lifespan, Canadian study shows. (2011, October 21). ScienceDaily. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2011/10/111021074730.htm
Lifestyle affects life expectancy more than genetics, Swedish study finds. (2011, February 8). ScienceDaily. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2011/02/110207112539.htm
Wilhelmsen, L., Svärdsudd, K., Eriksson, H., Rosengren, A., Hansson, P.-O., Welin, C., Odén, A., & Welin, L. (2011). Factors associated with reaching 90 years of age: A study of men born in 1913 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Journal of Internal Medicine, 269(4), 441–451. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2796.2010.02331.x
King, A. C., Castro, C. M., Buman, M. P., Hekler, E. B., Urizar, G. G., & Ahn, D. K. (2013). Behavioral impacts of sequentially versus simultaneously delivered dietary plus physical activity interventions: The CALM Trial. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. doi: 10.1007/s12160-013-9501-y
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October 3, 2013
Daily Eat Move Sleep tips (on your favorite social networks)
If you are interested in daily tips and discussion about better ways to eat, move, and sleep, please join us on the following networks for more frequent posts, discussion, and answers to your questions:
Facebook Eat Move Sleep Page (like for regular updates)
Twitter @EMSBook Feed
LinkedIn Eat Move Sleep Page (follow for regular updates)
Google+ Eat Move Sleep Page (add to circles for updates)
Pinterest Eat Move Sleep Board
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October 1, 2013
eatmovesleep.org website, assessment, and tools
The new website, social media feeds, tools, assessment, and customized plan are now live:
Eat Move Sleep Website: blog, guest posts, tools, customized plan, and discussion guides right here on the Eat Move Sleep website
Facebook Eat Move Sleep Page: frequent and brief posts, daily tips, active reader discussion
@EMSBook Twitter Feed: all posts, activity, reviews, and news (submit your ideas with @EMSbook and we will RT frequently)
@TomCRath on Twitter: periodic updates from Tom on health and business related topics
LinkedIn Eat Move Sleep Page: follow us on LinkedIn for posts and discussion on building healthier teams and organizations
Eat Move Sleep on Google+: regular updates, discussion, and guest posts
Pinterest Eat Move Sleep Board: daily images and tips from the book and website to share and reuse
The post eatmovesleep.org website, assessment, and tools appeared first on .
August 13, 2013
Publisher Q&A on the Eat Move Sleep book
Q: What prompted you to write a book about health?
A. After writing business books for more than a decade, I realized that improving health is the biggest business challenge of our generation. Nothing breaks household finances, corporate balance sheets, or national economies faster than poor health.
But the much larger reason why I decided to focus all of my time and energy on this topic is because I was tired of seeing people that I care about suffer unnecessarily and die early. We are literally killing ourselves, sapping our energy, and destroying our wellbeing as a result of lousy decisions we make about our health each day.
Q: Why have you spent so much time studying this topic?
A. I first started doing this research to save my own life, literally. While I have been reluctant to discuss this before, I have been battling cancer for more than twenty years now. Ever since my diagnosis, I’ve spent time every day learning about specific things I can do to extend my odds of living a bit longer. Over the last decade, I have focused more attention on helping friends, family, and colleagues to learn from these discoveries and lead healthier lives.
Q: What are some of the most important things you have learned from this research?
A. What I learned, not only about how to prevent cancer, but also how to prevent heart disease, diabetes, and obesity – is remarkably encouraging. The vast majority of human disease and illness is preventable. There are hundreds of specific, proven actions we can take to increase our odds of living longer and stronger. What matters most are the small decisions we make each day, ones that give us more energy in the moment and also prevent illness in the future.
The second major finding is that these three elements – eating, moving, and sleeping – build on one another. Eating right makes it easier to be active. Being active makes it easier to sleep. Sleeping well helps you to avoid bad foods, and so on. As a result, working on all three at once is even easier than focusing on one area in isolation.
Q: Don’t we already know that we should be eating, moving, and sleeping better?
A. In Eat Move Sleep, I cover a lot of the essentials that people know they should be doing, but have trouble applying on a daily basis. I like books that help me figure out how to apply things I already know but don’t do. There are several things in the book I have known for a long time, yet did not practice myself until I learned new ways to connect short-term incentives with what is best for my long-term health. Frankly, my biggest challenge in writing this book was narrowing down to the most practical findings for a broad audience, given the wealth of good science on these topics today.
More:
Request a PDF preview (first three sections) of Eat Move Sleep via email
Related blog posts by Tom Rath:
One question to ask before you take (or leave) a job
The post Publisher Q&A on the Eat Move Sleep book appeared first on .
August 7, 2013
Amazon Q&A on the Eat Move Sleep book
Q: What prompted you to write a book about health?
A. After writing business books for more than a decade, I realized that improving health is the biggest business challenge of our generation. Nothing breaks household finances, corporate balance sheets, or national economies faster than poor health.
But the much larger reason why I decided to focus all of my time and energy on this topic is because I was tired of seeing people that I care about suffer unnecessarily and die early. We are literally killing ourselves, sapping our energy, and destroying our wellbeing as a result of lousy decisions we make about our health each day.
Q: Why have you spent so much time studying this topic?
A. I first started doing this research to save my own life, literally. While I have been reluctant to discuss this before, I have been battling cancer for more than twenty years now. Ever since my diagnosis, I’ve spent time every day learning about specific things I can do to extend my odds of living a bit longer. Over the last decade, I have focused more attention on helping friends, family, and colleagues to learn from these discoveries and lead healthier lives.
Q: What are some of the most important things you have learned from this research?
A. What I learned, not only about how to prevent cancer, but also how to prevent heart disease, diabetes, and obesity – is remarkably encouraging. The vast majority of human disease and illness is preventable. There are hundreds of specific, proven actions we can take to increase our odds of living longer and stronger. What matters most are the small decisions we make each day, ones that give us more energy in the moment and also prevent illness in the future.
The second major finding is that these three elements – eating, moving, and sleeping – build on one another. Eating right makes it easier to be active. Being active makes it easier to sleep. Sleeping well helps you to avoid bad foods, and so on. As a result, working on all three at once is even easier than focusing on one area in isolation.
Q: Don’t we already know that we should be eating, moving, and sleeping better?
A. In Eat Move Sleep, I cover a lot of the essentials that people know they should be doing, but have trouble applying on a daily basis. I like books that help me figure out how to apply things I already know but don’t do. There are several things in the book I have known for a long time, yet did not practice myself until I learned new ways to connect short-term incentives with what is best for my long-term health. Frankly, my biggest challenge in writing this book was narrowing down to the most practical findings for a broad audience, given the wealth of good science on these topics today.
(View on Amazon.com or visit the Eat Move Sleep main page)
More:
Follow @TomCRath on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn
Related posts by Tom Rath
Health is your business
One question to ask before you take (or leave) a job
The post Amazon Q&A on the Eat Move Sleep book appeared first on .
July 31, 2013
Be more of who you already are
Dr. Donald O. Clifton (1924-2003)
Be more of who you already are.
That is the primary lesson I learned from my mentor and grandfather, Donald O. Clifton, who spent a lifetime studying “what is right with people.” Don helped me to see that if I spent my life trying to be good at everything, I would never be great at anything.
In the late 1990s, after helping thousands uncover their strengths through in-depth interviews over three decades, Don and his team created a web-based assessment called StrengthsFinder. Don’s dream was to help far more people uncover their strengths. In the early days of working on this project, each morning Don would print a report of all the people who had completed StrengthsFinder the previous day. It was a measure of his big mission in life.
When I walked into Don’s office each morning, he would show me that printed report and ask a question like, “Do you think the number will ever be 100,000?” Later on he asked, “Do you think we will ever get to a million?” This week Gallup reported more than 9 million people have used the Clifton StrengthsFinder to build on their strengths.
Another important metric Don and I watched during those early years was the number of students who had been through a program called StrengthsQuest. We knew it was even more important for young people to learn about their natural talents, before they enter the world of work. Today, over 600 schools and universities have used this program and more than a million students have had a chance to build their lives around strengths.
This student program is just one example of strengths-based education for a specific group. Over the last decade, Gallup has developed strengths-based books and programs for kids, teachers, managers, leaders, salespeople, coaches, faith-based groups, and for building entire strengths-based organizations. These are all great starting points for a conversation about strengths.
Help another person to discover their strengths today. Almost all of the growth around one’s strengths occurs in the context of a relationship. If you invest in a person’s strengths every day, they can be more of who they already are.
More:
Follow @TomCRath on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn
Other posts by Tom Rath
Health is your business
One question to ask before you take (or leave) a job
The post Be more of who you already are appeared first on .
July 30, 2013
One question to ask before you take (or leave) a job
Stop for a moment and think about what truly matters in a given day.
Having more energy. Quality time with friends and loved ones. Doing great work that makes a difference. Being active throughout the day. Getting a sound night of sleep.
Yet when we consider a new job, our attention gravitates towards the functional: salary, benefits, hours, your workspace, and the like. Even superficial perks like on-site dry cleaning and doggie daycare sometimes get more consideration than the things that will truly matter a year from now.
The next time you are considering any type of career move — from a new job to an internal job change or even quitting — ask this one simple question:
Will I be healthier as a result of this new job?
If you are considering multiple job options, ask yourself which one is more likely to improve your health and well-being two years from now. In the end, that will matter far more than the 10% difference in pay, a better benefits package, or nicer office. The right job should do as much for your health, relationships, and well-being as it does for your bank account.
Another little secret is that an employer who helps you see how they will improve your health and well-being is also more likely to succeed as a business in the future. What’s best for your health is almost always aligned with the organization’s long-term interests. In addition to improving the lives of each employee, a healthier workforce makes an organization more efficient, profitable, and gives it a competitive advantage.
More:
Follow @TomCRath on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn
Related posts:
Why I am not writing another business book
The Business Case for Wellbeing (from the Gallup Business Journal)
The post One question to ask before you take (or leave) a job appeared first on .
Health is your business
If you work for a business, improving health is your job.
Here in the United States, employers and workers alike shoulder the collective healthcare costs of everyone who works for their organization. Whether you realize it or not, your insurance premiums are paying for the colleague who eats bacon cheeseburgers for lunch every day, is rarely active, and tired throughout the day as a result. Nothing breaks household finances, corporate balance sheets, or national economies faster than poor health. This economic cost is just one piece of the problem.
There is a much larger reason why I decided to focus all my time and energy on improving health, after writing business books for the last decade:
I am tired of seeing people suffer unnecessarily and die early.
That may sound dramatic, but it is the truth. We are literally killing ourselves, sapping our energy, and destroying our wellbeing as a result of lousy decisions we make about our health each day. Last year, after losing far too many friends, colleagues, and loved ones to largely preventable conditions, I had enough. So I stepped away from a job I loved to dedicate all of my time to help fix this colossal problem.
After studying the state of health and business for more than a decade, it is clear to me that improving health is the biggest social and economic challenge of our time, all wrapped into one. What’s more, preventing disease is a deeply personal topic for me, one that I have been researching for many years.
While I’ve been reluctant to share this before, I have been battling cancer for the past 20 years. I have a rare genetic disorder that has led to cancer in my eye, kidney, pancreas, adrenal glands, and spine. In order to stay ahead of my condition, I review hundreds of studies every month to figure out how I can slow the growth of new tumors and spread of existing cancers. What I learned, not only about how to prevent cancer, but also how to prevent heart disease, diabetes, and obesity – is remarkably encouraging.
The vast majority of human disease and illness is preventable. There are hundreds of specific, proven actions we can take to increase our odds of living longer and stronger. What matters most are the small decisions we make each day, ones that give us more energy in the moment and also prevent illness in the future. Unfortunately, most of this knowledge goes to waste, as we continue to make decisions that poison our future.
In order to help fix this problem, I decided to go completely offline last September. I felt compelled to help the people I care about and be a part of fixing this global epidemic of disease. So I literally closed my inbox, stopped taking speaking requests, meetings, phone calls, and did not travel. Instead, I spent all of my time trying to distill what I had learned over the years into a book. My goal was to summarize the most essential findings on human health for a general audience.
I am back online now, after submitting a final draft of a book on this topic for publication. The new book, Eat Move Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes, contains the most proven and practical ideas from all of this research. While the book will be out in early October, that is just one piece of a larger conversation. It is clear from all of my research: the only way we can curb this global health crisis is one social network at a time.
If you look back to the way communities made littering socially unacceptable, it happened one network at a time. Then I will admit that I did not start recycling for all the ‘right’ altruistic reasons, but as a result of peer pressure from my social networks. Here in the United States, our biggest social networks (workplaces) have literally kicked smoking to the curb faster than I thought was possible. Yet these challenges pale in comparison to what we face today, with an unnecessary epidemic of poor health.
So I am going to make health my business, and I encourage you to do the same. We owe it to our families, friends, and organizations. Now that I am back online, I will continue to post here on these topics and look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas about how we can save lives, organizations, and economies.
More:
Follow @TomCRath on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn
Related posts:
One question to ask before you take (or leave) a job
The post Health is your business appeared first on .
July 23, 2013
Why I am not writing another business book
If you work for a business, improving health is your job.
Here in the United States, employers and workers alike shoulder the collective healthcare costs of everyone who works for their organization. Whether you realize it or not, your insurance premiums are paying for the colleague who eats bacon cheeseburgers for lunch every day, is rarely active, and tired throughout the day as a result. Nothing breaks household finances, corporate balance sheets, or national economies faster than poor health. This economic cost is just one piece of the problem.
There is a much larger reason why I decided to focus all my time and energy on improving health, after writing business books for the last decade:
I am tired of seeing people suffer unnecessarily and die early.
That may sound dramatic, but it is the truth. We are literally killing ourselves, sapping our energy, and destroying our wellbeing as a result of lousy decisions we make about our health each day. Last year, after losing far too many friends, colleagues, and loved ones to largely preventable conditions, I had enough. So I stepped away from a job I loved to dedicate all of my time to help fix this colossal problem.
After studying the state of health and business for more than a decade, it is clear to me that improving health is the biggest business challenge of our generation. It is also the biggest social and economic challenge of our time, all wrapped into one. What’s more, preventing disease is a deeply personal topic for me, one that I have been researching for many years.
While I’ve been reluctant to share this before, I have been battling cancer for the past 20 years. I have a rare genetic disorder that has led to cancer in my eye, kidney, pancreas, adrenal glands, and spine. In order to stay ahead of my condition, I review hundreds of studies every month to figure out how I can slow the growth of new tumors and spread of existing cancers. What I learned, not only about how to prevent cancer, but also how to prevent heart disease, diabetes, and obesity – is remarkably encouraging.
The vast majority of human disease and illness is preventable. There are hundreds of specific, proven actions we can take to increase our odds of living longer and stronger. What matters most are the small decisions we make each day, ones that give us more energy in the moment and also prevent illness in the future. Unfortunately, most of this knowledge goes to waste, as we continue to make decisions that poison our future.
In order to help fix this problem, I decided to go completely offline last September. I felt compelled to help the people I care about and be a part of fixing this global epidemic of disease. So I literally closed my inbox, stopped taking speaking requests, meetings, phone calls, and did not travel. Instead, I spent all of my time trying to distill what I had learned over the years into a book. My goal was to summarize the most essential findings on human health for a general audience.
I am back online now, after submitting a final draft of a book on this topic for publication. The new book, Eat Move Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes, contains the most proven and practical ideas from all of this research. While the book will be out in early October, that is just one piece of a larger conversation. It is clear from all of my research: the only way we can curb this global health crisis is one social network at a time.
If you look back to the way communities made littering socially unacceptable, it happened one network at a time. Then I will admit that I did not start recycling for all the ‘right’ altruistic reasons, but as a result of peer pressure from my social networks. Here in the United States, our biggest social networks (workplaces) have literally kicked smoking to the curb faster than I thought was possible. Yet these challenges pale in comparison to what we face today, with an unnecessary epidemic of poor health.
So I am going to make health my business, and I encourage you to do the same. We owe it to our families, friends, and organizations. Now that I am back online, I will continue to post here on these topics and look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas about how we can save lives, organizations, and economies.
More:
Follow @TomCRath on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn
The post Why I am not writing another business book appeared first on .
