GrokTalk Blog

It’s hump day, you’re already feeling that midweek slump and you may have even succumbed to the allure of the sweets trolley that has been wheeled around your office (we can’t really blame you!). The temptation to give in and forget your fitness goals is everywhere and it can leave you feeling less than stellar. All of that being said, it’s important to remember that no one is perfect and that we should strive for marked progress rather than a perfect version of ourselves, as we all know, perfect simply doesn’t exist!

So, let’s forget those sugary indiscretions and get back on track using a process of goal setting, well known in business but lesser known in fitness, SMART goals. We’re going to help you finesse the ART of setting SMART goals to ensure that you’re armed with motivation and the feeling that anything is possible!

The benefits of meditation and mindfulness are numerous. Scientific studies have demonstrated many benefits of meditation from reduced stress, to increased productivity and focus, to overall happiness and health benefits. Many well known successful executives and entrepreneurs swear by their daily meditation habit.

You’re interested in starting a meditation habit, but not sure where or how to begin because something so straightforward, essentially sitting still and thinking, somehow feels so overwhelming. Here are 3 easy steps to help you build your own healthy meditation habit.

If you’re a parent, you have probably heard from your children’s teachers about the perils of the “summer slide”. The fear is that as a result of not being in the classroom for ~3 months, our children may “lose” a significant chunk of the skills they learned during the school year. This situation can lead many good moms and dads to purchase workbooks, explore academic camps and/or hire summer tutors as a way to stave off the dreaded slide. And all of these strategies are great for your child’s school career.

As a good parent, are you also thinking about your family’s fitness and overall wellness this summer? For many families, the start of summer means a significant change in routine. Kids of all ages may regularly stay up later and enjoy significantly more screen time. And, potentially, their summer activities may include just as much sitting time as a typical school day, but without recess or PE. And with family vacations and long days at the community pool planned, eating fast food over more healthy alternatives could be more common.

Don’t let your family fitness and wellness routines slide during the summer. Here are 4 ideas to avoid a fitness slide this summer.

Remember your New Year’s wellness resolution? If you do and you’re still working towards it, then this article isn’t meant for you. But if you’re one of the millions of people who has stopped making progress on it, then listen up. There’s still time for you to get back to it and achieve what you set out to achieve in 2015.

Spring is a great time to spring clean your wellness resolution and give it the burst of life it needs. And lucky for you, we have a few great tips for how to do just that.

Sticking to an exercise regimen can be nearly impossible when you’re balancing work, family, and friends. To help keep you on track and make working out seem less like work - we came up with five ways to stick to your exercise regimen.

1. Before the work week begins, map out your weekly workout plan on Sunday so you don’t have to decide which exercise activity to do on the spot. That way working out seems less spontaneous and more like a natural, everyday activity.

It would be ideal if each employee felt that wellness was valued so highly at their company that taking a 30 minute fitness or meditation break would be supported whole-heartedly. But until this ideal is a reality, employers may want to consider the full range of benefits of regular exercise.

Conscientious companies are getting in-tune with what Arianna Huffington calls the Third Metric of Success and are making workplace wellness a top priority. In reading Harvard Business Review’s Regular Exercise is Part of Your Job, there are simply too many benefits for the individual and employer to ignore.

We all have those days where we can’t get away at lunchtime for even a walk or maybe your boss values “face time” too much to ever let that happen.  Here are 4 tips I’ve found to help you fit in some exercise while stuck in the office.

Toning from your office chair. Verily magazine shows us that it’s possible to tone your tummy and glutes right from your office chair. With exercises called the “desk chair non-wall-sit” and the “I-need-to-adjust-my-monitor-air-squat” your colleagues may not even notice! There are even dozens of active desk chairs which will engage your core while you sit.

I had a good laugh when I saw the results of this UK study summarized in the Daily Mail that said to have “perfect” work/life balance one couldn’t spend more than 2.5 hours at your desk working each day.  Which, even if you had the most integrated life possible, would translate only to 17.5 hours/week!

I live and work here in the Bay Area, deep in Silicon Valley and some people here make the “humble brag” of how hard they work an actual sport. And while I pursue a more balanced, integrated life and Grokker values are around everyone maintaining effective work life balance, it still requires many more than 17 hours of work each week!