October 29, 2013 • Volume 4, Issue 22 • ISSN: 2154-3240

In This Issue

♦	Feature Article: Comfort Zones
♦	Ask Amanda: How do I deal with entitled employees?
♦	Practical Tips: Handle Frustration

Comfort Zones

Comfort zones, as defined by the esteemed Wikipedia, are:

“a behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk....A comfort zone is a type of mental conditioning that causes a person to create and operate mental boundaries. Such boundaries create an unfounded sense of security (emphasis ours).

Like inertia, a person who has established a comfort zone in a particular axis of his or her life, will tend to stay within that zone without stepping outside of it. To step outside their comfort zone, a person must experiment with new and different behaviors, and then experience the new and different responses that occur within their environment.”
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	Be willing to feel the truth.

Practical Tips:
Handle Frustration

Researchers at Northern Illinois University discovered that managers who exercised for even 30 minutes once or twice a week were less likely to be abusive to subordinates than those who were more sedentary. Lead author James Burton, Ph.D., said, “Being active buffers the tendency to have outbursts.”

While this isn’t news to most of us, it’s a good reminder that exercise can help minimize the negative effects of stress and improve your mood. It may be harder to get up to exercise with daylight savings time ending soon but doing so will have your heart and coworkers thanking you.

I am managing a team consisting of people in their mid to late twenties. To say they are challenging is an understatement. They each want the most interesting assignments, expect a pat on the back when they do the smallest little task, and fully believe they’ll be in the corner office within a few years. Argh!!! L.S., NY, NY

Whenever I have a challenge with someone, I find it most helpful to try and understand their viewpoint. These staffers grew up during the 1980s and 1990s when parents focused on self-esteem (“you can do anything”) and family life was oriented around the child.
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About Us: Our Corporate Life LLC (OCL) is a company that offers a new system for reducing unnecessary workplace suffering caused by the organizational, interpersonal, and ethical issues of our time. It is founded on the belief that adhering to core human values and achieving business success are always compatible. Working with both companies and individuals, OCL helps create solutions that enable corporate employees at every level to optimize profits while enabling them to thrive in the corporate environment. OCL was founded by Amanda Mitchell to help meet the needs of people working in corporate America during this transformative moment in our nation's history. The OCL system reflects her experience and insight gained from a 20–year corporate career working with Fortune 500 companies, and as an executive coach to senior–level corporate executives.