Managers are often heard complaining about their best employees leaving. However, I agree that they really do have something to complain about as there aren’t many things that are as costly as good people walking out the door.

Anyway, before you know it, you can also hear them blaming everything and everyone that exists under the sun while ignoring a major fact: people don’t leave jobs, they leave their managers!

Fortunately, good people leaving is something that can easily be avoided, it just needs a new perspective on the manager’s part and a few efforts put. 

These 9 things are on top of the list that managers do to make their best employees leave!

1. They Make People Overwork

It is extremely tempting for managers to give all the work to their best people and they usually fall right into the trap. However, research from Stanford shows that productivity per hour declines sharply when the workweek exceeds 50 hours and employees feel as if they are being punished for being good workers. 

If you must increase the work given to talented employees you must also give them raises, promotions, tittle-changes and other rewards for the good work. If you keep on giving more work without changing a thing, they might go somewhere else where they will be more appreciated and rewarded for their work.

2. They Don’t Recognize Contribution And Reward Good Work

Never underestimate the power of a pat on the back. Everyone likes kudos and it’s the manager’s job to communicate with their employees in order to find out what is it that motivates them the most (for some it’s a raise, for others public recognition and so on). 

3. They Don’t Care About The Employee

More than half of the people who leave their jobs do so because of the relationship with their boss. It’s virtually impossible to work for someone 8 or more hours a day if they don’t care about anything other than your production yield. Good managers are also personally involved into their employees’ lives and they make a good balance of being professional and being human. They also celebrate an employee’s success, empathize with those going through hard times and so on.

4. They Don’t Honor Their Commitments 

Making promises to people places you on the fine line that lies between making them very happy and watching them walk out the door. When you uphold a commitment, you grow in the eyes of your employees because you prove yourself to be trustworthy and honorable (two very important qualities in a boss). But when you disregard your commitment, you come across as slimy, uncaring, and disrespectful. After all, if the boss doesn’t honor his or her commitments, why should everyone else?

5. They Hire Or Promote The Wrong People

Good, hard-working employees want to work with like-minded professionals. When managers don’t do the hard work of hiring good people, it’s a major demotivator for those stuck working alongside them. Promoting the wrong people is even worse. Working your tail off only to get passed over for a promotion that’s given to someone who glad-handed their way to the top­­­­­­­, is a massive insult.

6. They Don’t Let People Pursue Their Passions

Talented employees are passionate. Providing opportunities for them to pursue their passions improves their productivity and job satisfaction. But many managers want people to work within a little box. These managers fear that productivity will decline if they let people expand their focus and pursue their passions. This fear is unfounded. Studies show that people who are able to pursue their passions at work, develop a euphoric state of mind that is five times more productive than the norm.

7. Their People Skills Are Undeveloped

Good managers manage, no matter how talented the employee. They pay attention and are constantly listening and giving feedback.

When you have a talented employee, it’s up to you to keep finding areas in which they can improve to expand their skill set. The most talented employees want feedback—more so than the less talented ones—and it’s your job to keep it coming. If you don’t, your best people will grow bored and complacent.

8. They Cage Their Creativity

The most talented employees seek to improve everything they touch. If you take away their ability to change and improve things because you’re only comfortable with the status quo, this makes them hate their jobs. Caging up this innate desire to create not only limits them, it limits you.

9. They Don’t Challenge People Intellectually

Great bosses challenge their employees to accomplish things that seem inconceivable at first. Instead of setting mundane, incremental goals, they set lofty goals that push people out of their comfort zones. Then, good managers do everything in their power to help them succeed. When talented and intelligent people find themselves doing things that are too easy or boring, they seek other jobs that will challenge their intellects.

To Sum It All Up

If you want your best people to stay, you need to think carefully about how you treat them. While good employees are as tough as nails, their talent gives them an abundance of options. You need to make them want to work for you.

Nursing homes can be very lonely places for elderly people, contrary to popular belief. In fact, elderly people sometimes face severe isolation and some of them suffer even from depression and loneliness.

In the east, when people get old, their children take care of them or they are taken care of in some other way. But in the western world, it is common for people to go to a nursing home when they reach a certain age.

An Inter-Generational Learning Center in Providence Mount St. Vincent, Seattle, WA has done something AMAZING in order to ensure that the elderly people in their nursing home are happy.

They put some pre-school children in the nursing home. The family members of both the children and the elderly people and the staff were very pleasantly surprised when they saw the difference and the impact that the children had on the elderly people.

Evan Briggs, was so impressed by the positive outcome of this idea that he decided to make a documentary film called “Present Perfect”, in order to raise the awareness about this innovative project.

You can watch the trailer of the movie in this video below:

Psychologists give a detailed explanation about this phenomenon. Elderly people are known to be very calm and patient and they provide a somewhat comforting environment. Young children on the other hand,  are very lively, cheerful, naive, curious and full of energy which is exactly the type of energy that is lacking in elderly people. 

While people which are between the ages of 20 to 60 are in a constant rush and even stress, elderly people do not have this problem, so they have endless patience to deal with children’s curiosity and naughtiness. 

As you can see from the video, the joy that these children bring in the nursery home with their very presence is huge and the elderly are really having a blast and enjoy interacting with the young.

Being stressed, tired, anxious and depressed are mental states that are somewhat considered as “normal” nowadays. However, it can be extremely tiring waking up everyday feeling unfulfilled and purposeless. That is why the 21st century in an era of extreme obesity, depression, ADHD, people alienation and many other negative mental conditions.

FORTUNATELY, THERE IS somethings that we can do to help ourselves. 

Namely, psychologists have discovered that these 5 things are activities that we can do on a daily basis in order to feel happier and more fulfilled.

1. Laughter

Yup, that’s right, the old fashioned medicine is always first on the “happy list”. That is so because laughter triggers the release of endorphins which are feel-good chemicals that increase feelings of well-being.

When I dealt with depression for an example and thought I had nothing to laugh about, I watched some of my favorite comic series, such as Friends or just played some comedians. Sure, the first laughs come “artificially” (by playing something funny), but it is essential that you start laughing, cause after not more then a few days you WILL feel better and get started. 

So LAUGHTER people, laughter! 🙂

2. Singing or dancing

Psychologist claim that singing is a natural catalyst of negative feelings, negative energy and so on. It doesn’t matter if you are singing like Celine Dion (or someone that you like) or you are completely tone deaf. It just matters that you sing, out loud, relaxed and shamelessly of course. 

Dancing or playing a musical instrument have the same effect. Research show that playing an instrument can decrease feelings of loneliness and increase feelings of well-being, plus it’s an excellent social activity and a conversation starter. 

3. Exercising

This one has been forced on people for too long now. But, I’m here to tell you that psychologist state that exercising in order to have the “perfect” body, has nothing to do with feelings of happiness, on the contrary, it can sometimes lead even to frustration and again over-eating.

Exercising is on this list because the simple process of movement triggers releasing a list of hormones that are associated with feeling happy, breezy and joyful. Think of children, they don’t run around all day in order to be “fit”, but because it’s fun!

It’s enough to take a walk in the park, go to the swimming pool or take a hike on the nearest hill to turn your day around in a positive way. Choose an activity that YOU like, that’s the most important thing!

4. Giving to others

Donating food, old clothes, money, old furniture or anything that you have lying around in your home and that you don’t use can be EXTREMELY fulfilling!

Psychologist and sociologists claim that sometimes giving to others and thinking less about ourselves can even have a bigger effect in making us happier, than constantly trying to make OUR lives better. 

Being a hard-worker in order to become a better person, being better at out jobs and creating better life conditions is of course something that we must do, everyday, tirelessly. But, giving and thinking about others will also give us feelings of selflessness, generosity of spirit and joy!

5. Meditation

This activity is the last one, but certainly not least! 

Meditation is simply the best medicine ever! You might feel that you are “doing nothing”, sitting there with your eyes closed, silently, but you are in fact doing more than you could ever imagine!

Psychologists and neurologists list hundreds of things as benefits from meditating on a regular basis (a half an hour a day should be enough for a beginner) and here are just some of them:

• Bigger self-esteem and self-acceptance
• Less worry, anxiety, impulsivity and stress
• Less feelings of loneliness, fear and depression
• Increases optimism and relaxation
• Improves mood and emotional intelligence
• Better concentration and information processing
• Increases mental strength and focus
• Increases memory retention and recall
• Better cognitive skills overall

So there you go, a simple 5 ingredient recipe for a better and happier tomorrow. You don’t have to start doing all 5 of them at the same time, but make sure that you at least try all 5 activities. If you like them all, great, and if you don’t, stick to at least 2 of them. That’s my challenge for you today and I PROMISE that you’ll have results!

Hope I helped you and I wish you a WONDERFUL day!

Choosing our thoughts wisely is a MUST, as we are what we think!

Our mind is so powerful and most of us don’t even know how much. For an example, our brain can perform an estimated 10 quadrillion operations per second (WOW!) without us even knowing it.

However, there is only one thing our mind can’t do, thus making our subconscious in charge of our present life and the outcomes we get, regardless if they are good or bad.

What is that one thing our mind can’t do? Watch the video to find out and learn how to take control over your life!

It is very easy to get away in solitude and isolate yourself from all the annoying people, from all the negativity and evil in the world. Some of us have the opportunity and means to do this, if not regularly, but couple of times in the year.

Oh, those lucky ones who can get away in a beautiful resort and forget all about their problems and just relax….or are they lucky? Are these people really on a vacation or this is just a temporary, but conscious blindness that problems and negativity don’t exist? Well I suppose it is the second one.

The lucky ones are those who can remain in their inner peace while fighting on the first battle line in a war called “life”! And it is very possible to work, to deal with all that life serves you and to stay calm in the same time.

You see, we all have someone in our lives who loves to complain all the time and suck the life force out of everyone in the room. But this is not the reason for you also to become negative as they are or to embrace the situation as an unchangeable one.

And here are some pointers of what you could do when you are surrounded with such people that totally drain you or after speaking to them you feel like a firecracker ready to explode.

1.State your limits

A person is much like a house, if you don’t have a fence around your land all kind of animals shall come and eat the beautiful grass you have tended for years. Then they will destroy the walls and eventually walk right into your living room and dine with you. So it is of utmost importance for you and your health to put around you a big stop sign.

And if needed, be very open and loud when the other person persists in crossing over your limits, your fence. Protect your inner peace, because no one will do it for you.

2. Don’t lose your intelligence

In anger people very often lose their intelligence. They lower themselves so much that they start only to respond to all the negativity coming up their way. And this kind of resolving a problem is very wrong.

Only responding and not reacting, not defending is never the right choice. When someone starts their sad song recital, you should very politely distant yourself from that person and don’t react at all. Simply leave. If this is not possible, do tell that person that you don’t want to hear that same old story and try to change the subject.

3. Stay away from the “trigger subject”

If we analyze all those negative people, we shall come to an understanding that they complain or burst in anger only about one particular thing. If you find the source of the problem that keeps this person to talk 24/7, try to avoid that particular subject.

And if someone else touches that trigger, you should quickly change the conversation to a lighter topic or find something that involves deeper thinking so you can keep their mind busy.

4. Focus on finding solution 

If the negative person is someone close to you or someone you work with it’s not that easy to walk away and leave them standing. So this negative situation is inevitable and the best way to survive is to think about all the solutions that can actually help that person to solve their problem.

If they are willing to listen, stay and talk, try to find some happy conclusion to this whole negativity. But if you see that they are not interested in resolving their situation, why should you be their savior? Remember you cannot save someone who doesn’t want to be saved. They’ll only drain you while you are helping them.

5. Maintain emotional detachment 

Every time you are surrounded with negative people or you are in a negative situation that isn’t yours, you must emotionally distance yourself from everything that is negative.

Try remembering that you are not your friend or that negative person, you are not this situation, the situation doesn’t involve you, it is just happening around you. So don’t let yourself be pulled down, stay as a spectator and just observe, use this experience as a lesson from which you can learn something for future times if you find yourself again in such situation.

6. Don’t try to change others 

Trying to change the attitude of others is our biggest mistake. People in essence are egoistic and they think that they are always right. And you can never ever try to discuss a change of character with someone who enjoys being in the center of every drama, and makes drama when they are not in the center!

Remember that not everyone is like you and even if they were, they’ll probably need some time to come to their senses. So say what you have to say, detached yourself from all the negativity they want to transfer to you and let them be. If they want to be miserable it’s their right, they’ll be unhappy, not you.

7. Find time to recuperate 

If you live or work with a negative person and you can see that there will be no change in their attitude for the time being, you should find a way to keep your energy level high on daily basis.

It’s not a world’s end if you are stuck with a negative person, you just need to find a practice that equalizes the energy they take, with the new energy that you shall bring into yourself. There are plenty of such beautiful techniques you can use: meditation, yoga, tai-chi or any spiritual practice that you find yourself connected with.

Remember always to charge yourself with enough positivity, so even if they take some, you will stay happily calm and perfectly all right.