Are You Getting Enough Hugs to be Healthy?

You Need More Than You Think!

Me and Cinderella- the woman who gave me my hugs growing up!

According to noted American pyschologist and educator, Virginia Satir, we need 4 hugs a day for survival, 8 hugs a day for maintenance, and 12 hugs a day for growth.

Most people are lucky if they get 1 or 2 hugs a day.

So up your intake and give hugs freely. Recently, I was visiting one of the non-profits I volunteer for and talking to a little boy, stroking his back. He just leaned in for a hug, which I was more than happy to give. We all need touch, and in this day and age, hugging can heal so much. Take the time to give full-on, heart-felt hugs to others as a way of sharing. The rewards for everyone are so worth it.

Kindly share this post if you liked it.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Feed Your Brain Right

A Healthy Brain Impacts Everything

Believe it or not, your brain is key to everything you do. Your body couldn’t function without your brain, your decisions, communication and life choices couldn’t happen without your brain. You can’t be truly happy or Fired Up! without a healthy brain. And your brain has everything to do with stress. Worry, anxiety, fear, sleeplessness- all related to our brains. Supporting brain health through sleep, nutrition, and movement strengthens clarity and decision-making, which are essential to leadership resilience under pressure. We take our brain for granted and Dr. Daniel Amen, brain specialist, says that’s a big mistake. Here’s some food for thought:

• the more you weigh, the smaller and less effective your brain– yikes!

• damage to the front of your brain hurts decision-making for the rest of your life, so that’s why helmets for skiers, bikers, etc are so critical for both adults and children

• less than 7 hours of sleep means low blood flow to the brain: you can’t think right. Get at least 7 hours!

Stress Tip: Feed Your Brain the Right Activities & Food

You already know that ice cream, processed foods, sugary white foods are bad for you,
on so many levels. They impact the way you handle stress, they impact your energy and blood sugar levels. You can’t be motivated and happy with a poor diet. Brain food is a healthy diet:

• lots of raw fruits and vegetables
• small protein meals throughout the day
• nuts and protein snacks at afternoon meetings to improve mental clarity.

Low blood sugar = poor decision-making.

Exercise is important, but include weight training twice a week. The stronger you are as you age, the healthier your mind. And do coordination exercises each week- ping pond, tennis, dancing are all great.

Kindly share this post if you liked it.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Feeling Stuck?
Why Lack of Motivation Is Often a Signal, Not a Flaw

Humans are wired for growth. When novelty, challenge, and progress disappear, motivation declines. What feels like laziness is often stagnation.

The brain thrives on engagement. Without it, energy drops. Creativity narrows. Performance plateaus.

A lack of motivation is not always about discipline. Sometimes it is about insufficient stimulation.

High-performing professionals often fall into routines that feel safe but slowly drain vitality. Over time, this can contribute to burnout, not because of overload, but because of under-engagement.

If you feel stuck instead of fired up, consider reintroducing structured novelty.

Why Novelty Restores Energy

New experiences activate curiosity and sharpen attention. When learning or exploring something unfamiliar, engagement increases and momentum returns.

You do not need dramatic reinvention. You need intentional disruption.

Practical Ways to Reignite Momentum

Create a 90-Day Reset

Every quarter, schedule a short experience that is different from your routine. Travel somewhere new. Attend a workshop outside your field. Change your environment.

Explore Unfamiliar Environments

Visit restaurants, neighborhoods, or events you have never tried. Exposure broadens thinking and perspective.

Expand Your Circle

New conversations introduce new ideas. Seek out people outside your typical professional network.

Develop a New Skill

Challenge stimulates growth. Whether it is a creative hobby or a professional certification, skill acquisition rebuilds confidence and engagement.

Motivation is rarely restored by force. It is restored by movement.

If lack of motivation is accompanied by exhaustion or emotional depletion, it may signal deeper stress. Explore how to prevent burnout before it escalates.

You can also strengthen sustainable performance through the Leadership Resilience System and practical stress management strategies.

Choosing growth is choosing energy.

The Surprising Source of Most Pain

Lack of Sleep Causes Many Serious Issues

sleepless

New research out of England shows that lack of sleep is the strongest predictor of pain for those over 50. Pain obviously causes more stress and makes you sleep poorly. It’s a vicious cycle. Restless or insufficient sleep has so many negative consequences and severely impacts wellness:

• the World Health Organization has considered labeling less than 7 hours a night of sleep as a carcinogen- cancer-causing agent
• increased risk of heart disease
• fewer new brain cells created
• premature aging
• excess weight- 20 pounds usually
• 3x more susceptible to colds and flu
• greater stress and less ability to respond well to problems

Three factors influence your ability to get a good night’s sleep:
• timing- try to go to bed at the same time every night
• duration- you need at least 7 hours of sleep
• intensity- which is impacted by whether you got 30 minutes of sunshine during the day and whether your room is nice and dark at night

Be careful not to look at your ipad®, phone screen or computer before bed- leave at last an hour before bed when you shut down exposure to visual stimulants from computer screens. Your overall health and wellness depends so much on good rest. Getting a good night’s sleep every night has a huge impact on your health, your stress levels, your body’s pain and more. Make it priority. Your body will thank you.

Kindly share this post if you liked it.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Sugar is my Nemesis- How about you?

I can’t be trusted around sugar. I know this about myself. Because I eat it. Even though I know better. So I never have it in the house. If it’s there, I eat it.

There are so many reasons why sugar is bad for you. Try reading Sugar Blues, which I did decades ago when I switched to stevia and stopped eating double-stuffed oreos.® (Sigh…I miss them.)

According to a recent article in Prevention, people with heavy sugar intake have a 58% higher risk of depression. Sugar weakens your skin and causes wrinkles, damages your kidneys, creates inflammation and can make arthritis much worse. Not to mention how it contributes to obesity and disease.

I had been doing so well for several weeks (after Christmas) and then I decided to throw a surprise birthday party for one of my best friends. This, of course, meant I had to bake her a cake, and I did. Not one but two cakes, since she told me she loved banana cake as well as chocolate. (Look it up- very similar to banana bread with icing.)

And that was my downfall. Because when I iced the cakes, some icing got on my fingers. And when we sang happy birthday and she blew out her candles, I cut the cake. I had to have some myself just to be polite. (LOL) They were good- wayyyyyy too good. So this morning I sent most of the chocolate cake off to work with my husband, where I thought he might give it away (although I knew better. He has the same addiction I do.)

I kept one piece for me to enjoy and savor. I threw the excess icing in the trash so I could not get to it. And after being out on the road all day, seeing clients, preparing for a speech, coaching a great lady, I came home to that piece of cake. And I savored it.

And tomorrow as I look at my swollen stomach, which has now pooched out in front by several inches, I will no longer eat the sugar. I will return to my normally healthy eating habits of organic food, fruits and veggies and protein. What can I say…I’m only human and I’m working on it. I forgive myself and move on. What about you? What are your guilty secrets?

Kindly share this post if you liked it.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Success Lessons from Olympians

You Can Use Their Tools to Your Advantage

If you watched the Olympics at all, it was nearly impossible not to feel inspired. Beyond the medals and podiums were stories of resilience—athletes overcoming adversity, recovering from setbacks, and continuing to perform under extraordinary pressure.

What makes Olympians compelling is not just their talent. It is their ability to stay mentally steady, focused, and motivated over long periods of uncertainty, failure, and intense scrutiny. Those same skills apply directly to leadership and professional success.

All of us pursue meaningful goals and encounter moments when momentum falters. The question is not whether challenges will arise, but how we respond when they do.

One insightful perspective comes from an article on how Olympians sustain motivation over time. The core lessons are surprisingly practical and highly transferable to leadership roles.

Three Success Lessons Olympians Practice Consistently

Mindfulness and presence. Elite athletes focus fully on the moment they are in. When attention is scattered, performance suffers. Presence is one of the most reliable ways to access clarity and peak performance.
Constructive self-talk and support. Olympians are deliberate about how they speak to themselves and who they allow to influence them. Encouraging mentors and steady inner dialogue help them recover quickly after mistakes.
Optimism under pressure. Optimism is not denial. It is the ability to interpret setbacks without losing confidence or direction. Athletes who maintain a positive outlook rebound faster and perform more consistently.

These same practices help leaders remain effective when expectations are high and conditions are unpredictable. Resilience is not about pushing harder. It is about regulating focus, emotion, and energy over time.

If you want to understand how these principles fit into a broader framework for leading under pressure, explore the Leadership Resilience Hub.

Have a strong week fueling your goals with focus, optimism, and steady effort.

Kindly share this post if you liked it.

The Worst Boss You Ever Had

Could Teach You A Few Things

Over 30 years ago, I had a boss who regularly came in and yelled at the staff. For no reason. He just vented his anger at the world onto his staff. And yet he was brilliant, creative, andvery effective at sales. But he was not so good at managing and retaining employees. No matter how terrific the rest of the job is, if you’re being screamed at for no reason, that verbal abuse will drive you away. Few people can tolerate constant demeaning.

Here’s what I learned from him:

• NEVER be a yeller. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t days when you’re stressed and frustrated, but don’t take it out on the people you work with. If you’re that upset, go for a walk, go workout, get in your car with the windows up and yell there. Just not at people. Ever. Really. It’s abusive.

• Positive specific praise and reinforcement goes a long way. Most people like public recognition and like being told specifically what they did well. If you really want to thank someone, give them a written note as well; these are rare and amazingly effective. Sticky notes work, too.

• Financial reward only works so far. Continual humiliation, denigration, verbal abuse and difficult work environment will drive out even the most dedicated achievers away. If you want to retain good people, treat them well.
Find out what is important to them and reward accordingly.

Kindly share this post if you liked it.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Comparison is the Thief of Joy

Why Are You Comparing Yourself?

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” Theodore Roosevelt

This is so true. Why do we as humans spend so much time comparing ourselves to others. I remember as a child that phrase “Keeping up with the Jones.” One of my childhood friends had gotten a swimming pool and everyone else was so envious. None of the other families could afford one and they began to compare themselves and find themselves lacking. Or they badmouthed the family that did have the pool.

That same pattern continues throughout adolescence, where we compare our bodies to those of others, our skin, our romantic relationships, our academic achievement, almost every aspect of ourselves. Our peers don’t make it any easier, and bullies can make it
downright painful.

And as adults, it continues. Our co-worker gets a promotion and we wonder “Why not me?” We judge ourselves as inferior.

All of this is a big waste of time and energy. Truly, the only thing we should be comparing ourselves to is ourselves. Letting go of comparison and choosing self-defined progress strengthens leadership resilience, allowing people to stay grounded, focused, and confident under pressure.

Measure your progress with your goals and dreams. How far have you come? What have you achieved? What have you overcome? And if you don’t have goals and dreams, set some. That way, you can gauge your success.
But let go of the comparison game because you always lose. There will always be someone more and less successful, more and less beautiful, more and less wealthy. Measure yourself on your terms and embrace your own unqiue talents, gifts and magnificence. You are a gift to the world if you will share yourself.

Kindly share this post if you liked it.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

The Power of Hope

Transform Your Life with Hope

Making Hope Happen- blog by Snowden McFall, stress speaker

“Hope matters. Hope is a choice, Hope can be learned. Hope can be shared with others.” Shane Lopez, Psychologist

The author of this book, Dr. Shane Lopez, is a leading researcher on hope, and a Gallup Senior Scientist. He believes strongly in the power of hope, as he personally recovered from West Nile Virus and almost died. The hope his wife instilled in him during his illness is what led to his recovery during extreme pain. She continually described wonderful places they would travel, great vacations they would take, and the impact they would have on others. It worked- he recovered and they visited all those places.

“How we think about the future-how we hope- determines how well we live our lives,” he says.

Hope is much more than optimism. Shane says optimism is an attitude, while hope is belief plus action. Hopeful students achieve higher grades than students with the same IQ but less hope. Workers with hope are more productive by an hour a day, than their non-hopeful co-workers.

Hope is linked directly to a sense of meaning in life, which we know from Harvard research is directly tied to human happiness.

What do you want to hope for in 2014? How will you tie the belief that you can succeed to positive action? What is your fondest hope?

Kindly share this post if you liked it.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

5 Ways to Fire Up Your Sales Without Pressure

Effective sales do not come from force or manipulation. They come from trust, presence, and genuine human connection. When leaders approach sales as service, results follow naturally.

Five Ways to Strengthen Sales Through Connection

1. Truly Listen to Your Customers

Everyone wants to feel heard and understood. Ask thoughtful questions about their needs, concerns, and priorities. Focus on helping first, even if it does not result in an immediate sale. When people trust you as a resource, they return.

2. Use Stories and Real Customer Experiences

Stories create credibility. Share examples of real people whose challenges you helped solve. Testimonials reinforce trust when used ethically and with permission. One participant from a leadership program shared:

“Snowden McFall, may I personally say what a fabulous speaker you are. We all enjoyed your keynote speech. Productivity is certainly the topic of the decade. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
— Mary Fisher

3. Focus on What Matters to Them

Effective sales conversations center on benefits, not features. Ask yourself what problem this person is trying to solve and why it matters to them. Demonstrating understanding of their reality builds confidence and relevance.

4. Address Objections Thoughtfully

Anticipate common concerns and address them proactively. When you acknowledge hesitation openly, you demonstrate empathy and preparedness rather than defensiveness. This creates psychological safety and trust.

5. Lead with Genuine Enthusiasm

Authenticity is contagious. When you believe in the value of what you offer, others feel it. Enthusiasm grounded in service, not pressure, builds momentum naturally.

Sales effectiveness improves when communication is clear, grounded, and human. These same skills are foundational to leadership presence and influence. Learn how leaders strengthen clarity and connection under pressure at
Communication and Executive Presence.

When sales conversations feel aligned and respectful, both sides win.