Written by: Katarzyna Dorosz, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
You help companies train employees. You teach motivation, time management, and coping with stress. Do these three elements determine success in managing a company?
The company is like a family. If there is harmony and peace there, it profoundly affects its development.
Smart company management is the basis for the success of all employees and the entire management team.
This applies to every rung of the corporate ladder. You cannot require discipline from lower-level employees if upper-level management is dysfunctional.
Where did you learn these concepts?
In Poland, I worked in the media, and this requires consistent discipline and good time management.
It is a job under constant time pressure and stress.
You must be ready several hours before the press runs or the TV or radio program starts.
If you have a headache or are stressed, you have to deal with it.
After all, it is similar for almost everyone in everyday life.
Nervous at work, we go home and transfer nervous energy to our friends, family, and domestic life. And if at home, we are nervous, we transfer this to work.
We literally transfer this emotional energy from one place to another.
I have learned to find my balance on my way home or on my way to work. I've been practicing this for many years, and it is efficient and critical.
This method of finding a balance between private life and work turned out to be very effective and rewarding.
I now teach how to apply it, implement it and teach others to make it easier for us to live with them and they to live with themselves.
For several years I have also managed large companies as a director.
Besides, as a child, I practiced various sports, including ballet, for 3 years. Sport teaches us discipline and motivation. Thanks to this, I found the joy of learning.
Planning is the most helpful skill for me.
I've achieved such a degree of excellence that if I plan to write a book in two months, it usually occurs. I am task-oriented and motivated.
I am happy to pass this knowledge on to the owners of companies and their employees. I believe that using these techniques; they can achieve greater business success and build peace and harmony in their companies.
I believe in and use the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen. Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning "change for the better" or "continuous improvement." This Japanese business philosophy examines the processes that continuously improve operations and also involve all employees. Kaizen sees improvement in productivity as a gradual and methodical process. This is also my experience.
Discipline can be learned - it's training, after all. All we need is a willing spirit and a determined mind.
In a few points can you show us how to do it?
I will cover this with a simple example:
Scheduling time appropriately helps us reduce the stress of effort against time.
The order then prevails around us, and despite the stressors in life, we can achieve peace at work.
Delegating tasks will allow you to gain time for yourself and for your passions.
Exercise and movement will arouse our enthusiasm and energy, which will increase our body’s endorphins and give us both enthusiasm and determination. In short, the mobilization to act.
Prioritize in the morning – always do what's important or critical first.
Let's start thinking about what we want, not what we don't have.
In the evening, let's plan the next day - planning saves time and increases productivity - our subconscious will work for us at night.
Let's think on paper. Write everything down, buy notebooks and take careful notes, and nothing will escape our attention.
Let us not look at what others are doing. Let's focus on our needs.
Let's read at least a fragment of a favorite book every day.
When setting goals, I encourage you to use the SMART method, which I use in my training.
A good way to set new goals is to make them:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Timely.
Specific: understanding should not be a problem, the wording should be unambiguous and leave no room for loose interpretation, the goal must be clear and detailed. Instead of saying, "I want to be more active," say, "I'll be exercising 20 minutes a day.
Measurable: formulated so as to be able to quantify the degree of achievement of the goal. I am going to lose 4 kg in 2 months.
Achievable: Avoid targets that are too great. Divide yourself into stages and follow them step by step.
Relevant: The goal should be an important step forward; at the same time, it has to be of value to you. Is your goal actually important to your life now? How will your life change when you achieve it?
Time-bound: Is your goal something you can do now, or can it wait later? Define the exact date of achieving the goals you have set.
Can you recommend any simple exercise that works well for goal planning?
Of course, this is a simple exercise:
Write your goal on a piece of paper.
Then just think about your success.
Feel yourself achieving it; feel yourself increasing your self-esteem.
Feel how endorphins, or the “hormones of happiness,” are secreted ... describe this feeling to yourself.
Feel the moment of triumph ... it's more or less the same feeling as marathon runners get crossing the finish line.
Don't worry when you don't get what you want the first time.
Failure, on the other hand, is a science that enables a fresh start.
Thomas Edison ultimately built the electric bulb - do you know how many failures he had? What trials and tribulations? How he overcame those?
Edison always replied, "I only found 10,000 ways, not failures."
You can too!
What makes your method innovative?
I am a practitioner for many years, not just a theorist. I studied Marketing and Management in Poland and the USA and graduated from the German Economic Association.
I have visited over 500 companies. When I come to the company, after a short conversation, I am able to analyze where the problem is. The problem many times results from poor company management - in general, the owner of the company has too many responsibilities, he/she does not delegate tasks or manage time or personnel well, and frequently does not know how to motivate their employees. Putting pressure on employees is almost always the worst management method. Working under stress and the inability to deal with it, as well as bad work habits, are a definite path to business failure.
It is remarkable that oftentimes thanks to my training program, management personnel finally find time for a meal with their family during the working day.
They are remotivated to go on vacation with their family. They start taking care of their health because they see the potential in this change. This is where the new life of the individual and company begins.
Each of us wants to be successful in our professional and private life. However, we are frequently not able to take this first step, and this is compounded by a lack of self-esteem.
What we lack is a certain stability of development. The best investment is an investment in education, more self-education, and inviting cooperative help to solve these problems. It takes courage and wisdom to ask for it.
Most busy managers lack the hours in the day to read all the books that cover the techniques needed to be successful and to enact these as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Our reaction to changes is important. So also is the speed of adapting to market needs. Creativity is essential. Our personal beliefs are of great importance in deciding our course of action.
Coping with stress
When we have all the requisite life skills, we are destined to succeed!
We have more focused energy to act, and, most importantly, we know how to manage challenges, demands, and the attendant stressors that go with these.
How do you think good self-esteem influences success?
It all starts with the head – emotions axis, our beliefs, and consequently our self-esteem and bodily health.
A healthy employee is a happy employee - this is also the motto for all my training programs.
After all, health is at its basic level, a physical and mental state of wellbeing.
“Every cell in our body is equipped with intelligence. The reason is not only from the neck upwards.” — Candace Pert
People in all cultures sense intuitively that mental phenomena, such as feelings and thoughts, have a significant impact on our physical health.
What do I think is the power of self-esteem?
The way you see yourself and others is most culturally and historically determined.
These messages can comfort us and provide strength, but they can also sometimes limit us.
Therefore, it is worth knowing what influences the assessment of ourselves and others in one way and not another.
Self-esteem is of great importance for functioning in the world. People with high self-esteem are livelier and derive greater satisfaction from their work and family life. In the end, this is the foundation of their mental health and well-being.
Our self-esteem greatly influences our feelings towards ourselves and the world around us.
We should strive by continuous effort to increase it. The assessment of our own advantages and disadvantages must be objective. We cannot expect ourselves to be perfect. Only then will our self-esteem be appropriate. We need to feel that we ourselves influence our world and the people present in it, just as they surely influence us.
The most important basis for a person's self-esteem is its beginnings - the basic elements of self-esteem are formed by the age of 4. Thus, it is primarily influenced by the family environment in which the child lives and the parents' attitude towards him. Adults are responsible for developing and nurturing a child's self-esteem.
Therefore, they should see the child as he is and not as (in their opinion) he should be.
We cannot blame ourselves and criticize ourselves for things that we have not had any influence on.
Our self-esteem is like a bank account. By undertaking charitable activities for ourselves and other people, our self-esteem is enriched with an additional deposit. When we throw ourselves exclusively and narrow-mindedly into a vortex of hard work, we neglect our basic needs, caring only for others instead of taking care of ourselves, and we rush forward in the madcap of life, running away from anger, sadness, loneliness. We are draining resources from our emotional savings account.
Our current life situation is also of great importance—our experienced ups and downs. Divorce, illness, death, problems; all worsen our well-being. However, being aware that these are normal human states, we begin to learn how to deal with them and understand that they need only be transitory problems.
We are not perfect, and we must accept it. Instead, we have the right to do and be our best through effort.
We should reward ourselves for the little things we've done successfully in our lives, for our little successes.
Considering that we should treat minds and bodies as the most beautiful temples, I recommend that we give ourselves a little pleasure as a reward once a week, at least on average one every two weeks, and a great pleasure whenever we can afford it.
How often do we forget about our own successes? Let's write down our achievements on a piece of paper once a week, so we don’t forget, this way we will see how much good we have done.
Let us reward ourselves even for small successes. Let's think, what would we say in congratulation to our friends, colleagues.
You gave us a lot of great advice on how to manage time, plan goals, and increase self-esteem. What are your passions?
I have many passions, and they develop me. I'm never bored.
I love writing books. I read several books every day.
I dance flamenco, and I have fencing and singing lessons.
I love traveling, during which I frequently visit natural wonders, museums, and art galleries.
I love art, especially art glass, paintings of all styles, and sculpture (preferably classical style and Greek).
I love ballet and opera.
Recently, I have also been fascinated by the culinary arts and the use of herbs and spices.
I cannot forget my garden, and work in it always inspires me to write better and take the balance.
Katarzyna Dorosz, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Katarzyna Dorosz is a leader in the field of brain performance, mental performance, and improving memory and quality of work.
She is a world-renowned expert for senior and mature individuals who also conducts research on longevity. She is also a lecturer and author of several books.
Katarzyna works with many prestigious American universities about attaining meaningful longevity in Life and how to maintain brain function.
She also supports women around the world through motivational lectures. Her attitude and stubborn pursuit of purpose show how important changes and progress in life are.
She is also the author of the TV Show "Te Power of Life".
During lectures, she uses the "Educational kinesiology and Emotional intelligence" and developed her own methods of exercises that provide excellent memory, concentration exercises as well as relaxation, and a set of physical exercises to improve the condition (adjusted to the age and flexibility of the body).
In business training, Katarzyna uses the popular Japanese Kaizen method, i.e. a philosophy based on changing lifestyle - an endless process of improving and improving the quality of the company.
