CC360 Blog

Thoughts & Commentary

March Madness to Bolster Our Cognitive Skills?

March Madness to Bolster Our Cognitive Skills? What if you were to learn tapping into the March Madness basketball tournament could be a key to bolstering our cognitive skills and thus enhance a range of personal, professional, and athletic pursuit outcomes? If you’re a basketball fan, you’ll be happy to

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Where Motivation Falls Short

Where Motivation Falls Short Motivation sells. Posters, action-hero films, heart-pumping playlists, YouTube speeches, books, podcasts and more, motivation is the caffeine of positive movement forward. It’s the lightning before the thunder… the (positive) shock to our system… the lift, boost, and jumpstart to make things happen!! Back in college, my

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Big-time Simplicity

Big-time Simplicity Simplicity is at the heart of an effective wellness strategy – both for individuals and organizations. Over the 18 years since Catalyst was launched, the successful pattern has been crystal clear: Simplicity wins the day. As individuals, we love to chase the headlines and fads, but it (almost)

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Composing the Story of Our Life

Composing the Story of Our Life Listen intently to the words your friend, partner, child or others select when willing to go beyond surface level conversation. In doing so, you’re likely to garner access to a treasure-trove of insights, oftentimes those of which even they are not aware. The way

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Time Out?

Time Out? “It’s like there’s a clock ticking non-stop inside my head.” Time can be an immensely valuable asset… and simultaneously a veritable prison of constraints. Awareness allows us to optimize our days… while trapping us into the never-ending task of pursuing such optimization. It provides foundational structure on which

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The Bank of Life

The Bank of Life Living below our means and investing the difference is a proven strategy for financial success. Witnessing the transformative power of compounding interest, as demonstrated by Forbes, where saving $100/month turns into over half a million dollars in 40 years, makes it easier to reconsider our spending

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The Pitfalls of PREcrastination??

The Pitfalls of PREcrastination?? We’re all familiar with the drawbacks of procrastination – the rushed work, the impact on teamwork and family dynamics, and the toll on health from last-minute, caffeine-fueled efforts. But what about its seemingly virtuous counterpart, PREcrastination? The individual who sets artificially early, sometimes excessively early, deadlines

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Olive Oil? Or Snake Oil?

Olive Oil? Or Snake Oil? Ah yes – the well-known benefits of olive oil. Various studies indicate benefits ranging from heart health and reduced stroke risk to anti-inflammatory properties and a boost in antioxidants. Sounds almost magical, right? As someone who’s automated the “big salad with a protein source” lunchtime

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What’s your 1%?

What’s your 1%? 1%. During a recent interview on the Catalyst 360 podcast, we were reminded that’s the approximate loss of muscle mass most of the population loses each year after the age of 40. Except it’s rarely phrased as such. Typically we are told we “lose 10% a decade”

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Trigger Happy?

Trigger Happy? What’s triggering me? When I get upset, discouraged, stressed OR excited, energized, joy-filled, what is the precursor to those emotions? Simply pausing to ask the question can be of great value, perhaps not in changing that particular moment but certainly to provide many enhanced future moments. Last year,

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Where’s My Focus?

Where’s My Focus? What a whirlwind of a year it’s been on the global stage! From the advent of AI to political turmoil, stock market rollercoasters, and conflicts spanning the globe, external events have kept us on our toes. While these external factors undeniably affect us all, it’s essential not

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The Magic in a Monday

The Magic in a Monday In the world of weekdays, Mondays often (always!) find themselves at the bottom of the popularity charts. Memes humorously highlight the Monday blues, and surveys consistently rank it as the least favored day. We’ve even suggested a Sunday night self-check to assess our feelings about

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Resource… Not Ruler

Resource… Not Ruler Welcome to the dawn of a new year, a canvas painted with the promise of fresh beginnings and untapped opportunities. However, as we embark on this journey, it’s crucial to recognize the subtle algorithms we create within ourselves—distinct from the ones that govern our social media feeds.

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Don’t Fall for It

Don’t Fall for It This is “that” week. The week when many of us are either off work or at least working a modified schedule. The week heading into the fresh start of the new year. The week when our schedules provide more flexibility (and perhaps more sleep), our minds

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Thoughts & Commentary

Rethinking Busy

Rethinking Busy Last month in this space, we explored the value of treating certain words/phrases as red flags in our lives. From your comments/emails, it appears at least one of them struck a chord: busy. There was agreement about the broad usage and suggestions of other ways to phrase it

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Connecting More Than Dots

Connecting More Than Dots Week after week after week we focus on the 4 Cornerstones: Move – Fuel – Rest – Connect. Enhance any of these 4 and you’ll not only improve your wellbeing (and life!) but you’ll also automate improvements across the other three. The first 3 and the

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A Better Version of Better

A Better Version of Better In the world of health, wellness & performance, everyone’s got an angle – a schtick – they claim is the magic solution to the life you’ve been dreaming about. Maybe it’s a specific diet, a new cream, fitness equipment, training plan, spa escape, motivational video,

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The Words We Choose…

The Words We Choose… I’ve long believed that the true value in refraining from certain colorful expressions is not so much about condemning these words but rather more about the verbal laziness they demonstrate on the part of the user, as we noted in this 60 second clip. However, our

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Family – Amiright? (The Curiosity Cure)

Family – Amiright? (The Curiosity Cure) It’s the week leading up to the most anticipated holiday of the year! Yes, indeed, Thanksgiving has now taken the top spot in popularity here in the United States. For many people (as recent surveys suggest, around 79% of Americans), this holiday offers precious

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National Resolutions Launch Week!

National Resolutions Launch Week! The attention on New Year’s Resolutions may not kick in for another 7 weeks, but did you know THIS WEEK is (at least as far as we’re concerned) National Resolutions Launch Week?? Indeed! Coop – what in the world are you talking about? It’s the first

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Choose Your Hard

Choose Your Hard When it comes to making positive changes in our health, wellness, and life, we often find ourselves fixated on two words: “It’s hard.” Indeed, the process of change can be a formidable challenge. Even if we’re dissatisfied with our current circumstances, the gravitational pull of our ingrained

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Sports and Spherical Thinking

Sports and Spherical Thinking As I sit here at my keyboard, my gaze lands upon a cherished gift from our daughter, Danielle, and a smile graces my lips. It’s a framed collection of precious family memories, and what strikes me is that six out of the ten featured moments revolve

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Autopilot: The Invisible Opportunity

Autopilot: The Invisible Opportunity Autopilot, the silent conductor of our lives, wields both incredible power and perilous influence over our health, wellness, and performance. Paradoxically, it holds the key to both our ascent and our downfall. These two seemingly contradictory statements are a testament to the dual nature of autopilot,

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Graduation (at any age)

Graduation (at any age) A recent guest on the Catalyst 360 podcast left me pleasantly surprised when he used a unique choice of words to describe a significant transition in his life: graduation. Our conversation had nothing to do with school; rather, we were discussing what most people would commonly

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Playing Jenga with Employee Wellbeing
Thoughts & Commentary

Playing Jenga with Employee Wellbeing

Playing Jenga with Employee Wellbeing (and our promise) Are you a fan of Jenga? This classic game starts with a tower constructed from identical wooden blocks, and players take turns removing these blocks until the tower inevitably tumbles. A recent column by Seth Godin discussed the peril of businesses engaging

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Margins

Margins One of the most important elements leading toward enhanced health, wellness, performance and life is margins. That’s right: margins. The difference between “available” and “committed.” As we discussed in this episode, access to Freed Will (in contrast to Free Will) depends upon it – perhaps more than any other

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In the Meantime

In the Meantime I can’t get author Jenny O’Dell’s words out of my head: “In the meantime, you wait with your ear to ground for patterns of vibration that will never repeat themselves. Faced with flatness, you look for an opening…take it… and don’t look back.” Did that capture your

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What Would Odysseus Do?

What Would Odysseus Do? We continue our BE-coming journey by tuning into our default modes and identifying potential guardrails, both critical keys to the process. In doing so, we’re going to tap into another famous journey: the Odyssey. Written by Homer in the 7th or 8th century BC, it remains

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Catalyst Cornerstones
Thoughts & Commentary

Foundations Over Fads 

Foundations Over Fads  In our ongoing BE-coming journey, it is simple (even exciting!) to get sidetracked regarding the “coming” element, and in the process disrupting our BE-ing. Let’s put an end to – or at least tap the brakes on – that this week. If you’ve missed the BE-Coming columns

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Our lens (ratio) determines our lives 

Our lens (ratio) determines our lives  How are we seeing the world? Our answer likely determines the life we’re living. As we continue our BE-coming journey together (see previous columns here), today we’ll consider the lens through which we are seeing the world and it’s influence on the life we’re

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Adding Zeros for a Better Life

Adding Zeros for a Better Life  Last week we discussed the Big 3 limiters of Freed Will and how to get rolling with a Time/Money/Health debt snowball to begin opening that funnel to enhance our lives and the lives of our employee team members and coaching clients (you can access

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Time/Money/Health Debt Snowball 

Time/Money/Health Debt Snowball  Years ago, a running buddy made a comment that stuck: “It seems life requires you to pick 2 out of 3 among time, money and health. You sacrifice health to earn more money… sacrifice money for time… sacrifice time to boost overall health. We get to choose

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Personal Vision 2023
Thoughts & Commentary

Horton Hears a What?

Horton Hears a What? Dr. Seuss’s elephant Horton was going about his day (On the fifteenth of May, in the jungle of Nool, In the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool…) when he effectively tapped into Phase II of our BE…coming journey. For reasons unknown, yet

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The Role of FREED Will in Health and Wellbeing 

The Role of FREED Will in Health & Wellbeing  Why not start out the BE…coming journey by diving into a concept that has been engaging philosophers and neuroscientists for thousands of years (free will)? That shouldn’t take more than a few paragraphs, right? 😊 No – we’re not going to

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work your core standing up
Health & Wellness News

Work Your Core Standing Up

Core training is has become a key focus in fitness training because of its ability to strengthen the muscles that move and stabilize the trunk, including the full range of abdominals and back muscles. A strong core powers the body to carry out day-to-day functions, and also reduces stress on

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The Foundation and 7 Progressive Steps of BE…coming

The Foundation and 7 Progressive Steps of BE…coming Last week, we introduced the concept of BE…coming. What it means, why it matters, and some of the key elements we’ll be covering in the coming weeks for those of you interested in walking this journey with us to enhance health, wellness

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The Opportunity in BE…coming

The Opportunity in BE…coming Becoming: to undergo change or development… to change from one state of existence to another. Its root word “come” is a verb of motion from the Old English cumin, which means “to move with the purpose of reaching, or so as to reach, some point; to

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8 water facts and questions
Health & Wellness News

How Much Water to Drink? 8 Water Facts and Questions Answered

Do you really need 8 glasses of water every day? Should you filter your tap water? Get answers to these questions and more, including if vitamin-spiked water is worth it. The below 8 water facts and questions will help clear up what most bodies need to maintain good hydration. Do

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Thoughts & Commentary

Are We Asking the Wrong Question?

First Principles Thinking in Context of Employee Wellbeing Strategy It’s that time of year when employers are asking “how can we improve our employee wellness program?” If Aristotle were to poke his head in the room, he’d likely point out that’s the wrong question. Instead, he’d likely suggest leaning in

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healthy fixes for junk food cravings
Health & Wellness News

Healthy Fixes For Junk Food Cravings

It happens to the best of us: a handful of chips here, a cup of ice cream there and before you know it, you’ve fallen off the healthy eating wagon. Salty, sweet, crunchy snack foods are all around us and oh-so-tempting. And that temptation becomes even stronger when you’re trying

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Catalyst Coaching 360 - Mountain View
Thoughts & Commentary

Creating Your Personal Vision for 2023

“For many, the big choices in life aren’t really choices; they are quicksand. You just sink into the place you happen to be standing.” Author David Brooks is credited with expressing those words, but we ALL know what it’s like to live them. We move through each day, letting the

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Finances

Mastering PREtirement

Are you planning to retire someday? Maybe that “someday” is decades away. Maybe it’s later this year. Regardless of your timeline, this special episode – our 233rd, which kicks off our 5th season – could potentially be among the most important we’ve ever released in terms of impact on the

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Health & Wellness News

Write Your Story: Tapping into world’s greatest mining tool

In early 1848, the entire population of settlers across all of California would fit in a moderate sized high school gym, numbering less than 1,000 people. By the end of the following year, that figure grew exponentially, exceeding 100,000 people. What happened and what does it have to do with

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why healthy diets fail
Health & Wellness News

The 4 Reasons Why Diets Fail

“Losing weight is one of the top resolutions made every year, yet only 20 percent of people achieve successful weight-loss and maintenance,” says Jessica Bartfield, MD, who specializes in nutrition and weight management as part of her internal medicine practice. And despite whole-hearted and good intentions, there are four main

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Food Labeling
Health & Wellness News

What Food Labeling Really Means

by Nikki Tucker Food labeling is required for prepared foods such as bread, cereals, canned food, frozen food, snacks, desserts, drinks etc. Labeling for raw produce is currently voluntary, according to the Food and Drug Administration. However, even with food labeling, many people are misinformed about what’s healthy and what’s

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Getting the right nutrients for your age
Health & Wellness News

Getting The Right Nutrients For Your Age

Age may be nothing more than a number, but when it comes to nutrition status, certain vitamins and minerals may be of concern as people age. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released the Second Nutrition Report which shows that Americans generally have good levels of some

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Certified Wellness Coach
Health & Wellness News

Why Isn’t My Employee Wellness Strategy Working?

Setting Effective Goals for a Successful Employee Wellness Strategy When an employee wellness strategy isn’t working as planned, it’s important to go back to the basics and look at the expectations on both sides. Employees want to improve their health and lives in ways that matter to them, not to

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Workplace Wellness ROI
Health & Wellness News

Increasing Employee Wellness Program ROI

Don’t Miss Opportunities to Boost ROI for Your Employee Wellness Program Are you missing out on one of the most valuable opportunities to increase the ROI for your employee health and wellness program? Most companies focus on the one or two most obvious areas for growth: Health and Wellness. While

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Improve Workplace Wellness
Health & Wellness News

How to Improve Your Employee Wellness Program

Practical Advice for Improving Your Employee Wellness Program How is your company employee wellness program going? If you’re looking for ways to increase your impact and improve the employee experience, we have some practical advice and things to consider for bringing about effective, positive change in your employees’ lives. A

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Value of Health Coaching
Health & Wellness News

The Value of Coaching in Workplace Wellness

What Most Employers Don’t Know About Coaching After 25 years of living in the same area, we decided it was time to make a move. First step once we were serious? Find a real estate agent. We considered several, interviewed three and finally decided on one. But I have a

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