Joe Robinson @WorkLifeSkills

Without worries would you have another couple weeks to add to your living years? Months? Years? Decades? Stress constricts the brain to the perceived crisis of the moment, so it blots out the life around you. Shut down stress with our work-life training & put life on the agenda.

Thoughts aren't real until they get into the world of experience, but they can cause plenty of real damage if we can't manage them. The key is looking at thoughts, not from thoughts.

I was interviewed for this great article in Forbes on why vacations have such far-reaching mental health benefits. Time off is medicine. Researchers say, though, we don't get the recovery benefits of the vacay, if we're doing office email the whole trip. tinyurl.com/4me2y9rc

Mirror neurons make us yawn or laugh when others do. Or get highly stressed when others are flying on crisis mentality. Whose stress are you picking up today? What's in the other person's head doesn't have to be in yours. You can opt out of secondhand stress.

I was interviewed by Monica Pitrelli at CNBC for her great story below on the vacation email pileup. Our Email Intervention Campaign survey found 25% of U.S. workers have skipped a vacation because of fear of the email flood, while 84% check on vacation. tinyurl.com/95nf49ha

Once there was only one channel for messaging. Now it's WhatsApp, Slack, Teams, texts and more. How many do you have? Our Email Intervention Survey found 71% of U.S. workers use 3 or more messaging apps, while 28% have more than 5 messaging apps. How much is enough messaging?

We just conducted a national survey of email behaviors in the U.S. as part of our Email Intervention Campaign and found that 88% of workers support a right-to-disconnect after work law, while 87% support company permission to disconnect after work. tinyurl.com/26uenuyh

Work-life balance isn't a frill but a mandate of physiology. The autonomic nervous system is balanced by the parasympathetic of rest & digest. Positive emotions offset negative emotions. The mandate of balance is clear. Those who are unbalanced we tend to give a wide berth to.

A crucial part of work-life balance is taking your health as well as your life seriously. Working in an unsustainable way drives health problems. Studies have shown that work-health balance is as important to job satisfaction as work-life balance.

Stressed lab mice, measured by cortisol levels, take out their stress on other mice by biting them. Then their cortisol levels drop & they feel better. It's the same for humans. We are rigged to go off on others, but we don't have to if we manage reflex reactions & emotions.

Studies show that one of the keys to bouncing back from negative events is being able to quickly turn it around. Optimists are adept at flipping a negative to a positive. You don't want to deny the negative, but clinging to it leads to bad health, work & life outcomes.

Dick Fosbury wasn't good at high jumping the way everyone else did it. So he did something different. Instead of going over the bar on his stomach, he went over on his back. Fosbury won an Olympic gold medal and changed the entire sport. He inspired all to do something different.

As if we don't have enough stress of our own, we are designed to simulate expressions & emotions of others. Mirror neurons make you laugh when someone else laughs. When someone is stressed you pick up on it. Whose stress are you picking up today? More in Work Smarter, Live Better

Anyone remember the concept known as a "break," where you stop popping blood vessels and step back for a few minutes? Studies show breaks are essential for work recovery and reducing strain that drives stress during the day. As a result, they increase attention and productivity

Chronic interruptions make us stupid, reducing IQ by as many as 10 points. They blow up your working memory, so it takes longer to get things done. And they make anything you do seem harder than it is. More in my new book, Work Smarter, Live Better.

Busyness feels productive, even if there's no real intention behind the commotion. Racing every minute becomes our identity. Who or what are you too busy for? An extra conversation with a colleague, with your partner? Time with friends? They're the first to go when we get busy.

The twisted irony of burnout is that it makes people who define themselves by their work ethic no longer have the drive or interest in their work. Studies show burnout mirrors the stages of depression. Learn how to opt out of burnout in my new book, Work Smarter, Live Better.

You can increase the power of Valentine's wishes by telling your Valentines what you admire about them. Admiration is a powerful positive emotion that goes to a person's core need of competence. Try it, and tell me how it went. More in my new book Work Smarter, Live Better.

Most of us aren't very good at boundaries. Yet in an unbounded workplace, we have to be. In every company there are those who speak up & propose better solutions. They tell me in trainings in front of their colleagues. And they still have a job! More in Work Smarter, Live Better.

Working through burnout can cost not just health and spirit, but your job too. Exhaustion, weariness, and cynicism drive performance south. We are not bots. There are no silicon chips upstairs. More on how to beat burnout in my book, Work Smarter. Live Better. #work #stress