Easy ways to boost your activity level

An active lifestyle is more than simply visiting the gym for an hour or jumping around in the living room to an aerobics tape. Be creative and find ways to incorporate movement into almost everything you do. Here are some suggestions from WF team to get you started and help you boost your activity level. Believe me, if you make a conscious effort to integrate more activity into your daily life, it will eventually become second nature. Give some of these suggestions a try!

• Walk as much as possible by parking the car a few blocks away from where you're headed or walk to an appointment from your office instead of driving. Whenever you're walking try to focus on long strides and a quicker than normal pace. This gets the heart rate going a bit faster than just meandering along.

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk up the stairs as quickly as you can. For a little variation, try slowing down and taking two stairs at a time to further strengthen your legs.
  During breaks at work, walk the stairs, walk around the building or walk down the halls. Find any type of activity that keeps you moving during your break (you can sit at your desk and relax after the break!)

• Whenever you're walking somewhere, take the "long way around." Use this technique to get anywhere you're going... from shopping at the mall to getting a drink at the water cooler.
  Don’t use drive-thru windows. Park and get out of your car to do your banking, grab a bite to eat, or pick up the dry cleaning.

• At the supermarket, carry your own groceries out to the car without the shopping cart. And remember... park the car in a spot furthest from the store entrance!

• Whenever possible, stand instead of sitting. Even standing still will burn more calories than sitting on your rear end!

• Loose the remote. When was the last time you actually got up from your seat, engaged all your leg muscles, and walked over to change the channel on the TV?

• Unless it's urgent, always opt for the bathroom that's furthest from you. Better yet, use the bathroom upstairs! Do the same for answering the telephone. It’s estimated that Americans save walking approximately 70 miles per year with the advent of extension phones!

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Get an Education and Get a Job

Looking for a job can be an education in and of itself. The old saying is that looking for a job is the hardest job that you will ever have. That may well be true, especially in these trying economic times. You write, rewrite and revise your resume a million times. You send out query letters by the ream. You have filled out so many applications that you have carpal tunnel and permanent ink stains on your fingers. You have gone to interview upon interview, the faces of Human Resources all blending in to each other. What is holding you back? Why can't you get a job?
One of the first things you should take a long hard look at is your education. Did you get handed your high school diploma and then stop trying to learn? Were your grades less than stellar? Were you satisfied with just good enough to get by? The world moves far too quickly for mediocre education, or for someone to just take yesterday's knowledge and proceed into the future. Look at computers for instance. When I was in high school, computers were huge, block shaped behemoths taking up most of a desk. Computer class was only offered as an elective at that time. Now, my own children have been introduced to computers and their uses early and they are an integrated part of their regular education, not a side note.
In the business world, those who make decisions want to surround themselves with people who are smart, savvy, people who know things. Of course there is always some specialized training when a new job is started, but no one wants to start from scratch so to speak with their employees. An education that goes beyond what is required by law will say that you are dedicated to bettering yourself, that you are a real " go-getter" and that just well enough will not be adequate for you. CEOs like that kind of attitude.

If there are too similar applicants for a job, Human Resources might use education as the tie breaker, and you want to make sure that you come out on top of that race. If your educational and career goals mesh up well, you will be sure to go far. It should be written above the board (or the clock where more students will actually see it) in every classroom across the country: Get an education and get a job.

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