A Day at the Beach

What is more relaxing and rejuvenating than a warm sunny day under an umbrella with your feet propped up gazing out at a beautiful beachscape? Well, it’s possible the beach is not your cup of tea, but fill in beach with poolside, cruise, or whatever “floats your boat”.

Bring the Beach Moments Home:

• Remember the moments. Take time to think about those times when you feel most relaxed and serene. Sometimes just a thought can create a sense of peace in one of the more chaotic or stressful times of life.
• Incorporate the moments.  Refuse to let stress and busyness consume you.  Infuse your day with a few beach freeze-frames. It truly is possible. It needs to be made a priority and then it will work FOR you and not take FROM your time.
• Find ways to make difficult tasks easier and improve transactions and communication.
• Use humor. Gail Zack Anderson, speaker and founder of Applause, Inc., claims humor in a business presentation can:
• relax the audience
• build bridges
• make us stand out from the crowd
• create and maintain interest
• make us better speakers¹
When it comes to business letters and emails, though, a dose of caution is advised as the reader cannot detect the writer’s tone or may even completely misread the humor intended.

• Chat. Make your communications a little more personable. This can be done tactfully and in a professional manner if you “write for the person who will be reading it”, says Lindsey Pollak, career and workplace expert, e-mail etiquette consultant, and author of Getting From College to Career.² She continues:  “ if they tend to be very polite and formal, write in that language.  The same goes for a receiver who tends to be more informal and relaxed.”
• Shine through. Be yourself. Let me rephrase:  be your relaxed beach self in your communications. This too can be done professionally.
• Take advantage of casual. Business casual has become the norm, so run with it, when you can.  “Offices are becoming more accepting of different styles of business wear. From business formal, smart casual, to casual Fridays, we have witnessed that “professional” has many, diverse faces”, says Canadian designer Sin-Young Kim.³

Business as usual?  Or beach-infused business days. Why not challenge yourself to add some beach therapy to your work life?

¹“Humor has it: Why use Humor in Business Presentations”. Management Library. http://managementhelp.org/blogs/communications/2011/08/29/humor-has-it-how-to-use-humor-in-business-presentations/. 8/29/2011

²“25 Tips for Perfecting Your E-mail Etiquette” Inc.com. http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/email-etiquette.html 6/14/2010

³“What is Business Casual?” Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/reneesylvestrewilliams/2012/05/09/what-is-business-casual/ 5/9/2012