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The path to becoming Wagalicious

Got Big Plans for Halloween Tonight? #leadership #success #wellbeing agriculture costumes fun halloween petindustry team vetlife Oct 31, 2023

Full disclosure – today’s post is just for fun. OK, you’re right – fun is important for team cohesion, stress relief, and for mental wellbeing, so today’s newsletter might be useful, too.

And it’s mainly for fun, and yes, there’s a prize involved!

Do you love Halloween? I love Halloween – always h...

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Were You Bullied or Were You the Bully? #leadership #success #wellbeing bully bullying Oct 03, 2023

Quick – think back to your early school days – were you bullied or were you the bully? Yes, those are the only two choices I’m giving you.

“But wait,” you might be thinking, “I wasn’t the bully and I wasn’t bullied.” OK, I hear you. Did you know someone who was being bullied? Did you do anything ab...

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Do You Encourage Silliness Sometimes? Should You? #success #wellbeing communication inside joke leader national talk like a pirate day pirate Sep 19, 2023

What started as an inside joke has turned into a day of silliness that’s celebrated every year on September 19th. Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day – avast, ye mateys, and I’ll tell the tale of the scurvy lads who created this sorry excuse for revelry!

Two friends were playing racquetball on June 6, 199...

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Do You Follow or Do You Flaunt? #animalindustry #leadership #veterinary #wellbeing not one more vet rules Aug 29, 2023

Are you a rule-follower or a rule-flaunter? Most of us are firmly in the “it depends” category. Most rules we follow, some of them to the letter, and some we think don’t even apply to us or shouldn’t be rules at all.  So why are there rules and why do we follow them?

A pair of researchers, Sven Ste...

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Leaning on Your Girlfriends #success #wellbeing friendship Aug 01, 2023

There’s a holiday today that’s only for women. Sorry guys – you’re left out of this one, and the silver lining is that you don’t have to remember today, buy flowers, a card, or take your lady out to a fancy dinner. Today, National Girlfriends Day, is a day for women to celebrate their women-friends,...

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Cheer Up the Lonely - Maybe You, Too! #leadership #loneliness #selfcare #success #wellbeing Jul 11, 2023

Do you know a lonely person? Especially since the pandemic isolation has ended, you might be surprised to learn that there are more people who say they’re lonely now than before the pandemic.

Just what is loneliness, anyway? Noted researcher Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad has been studying loneliness fo...

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Are You Living Up to America's Dream? #animalindustry #independence #leadership #veterinary #wellbeing Jul 04, 2023

In the US, today is the day we celebrate the birth of our nation. It was 247 years ago that the Revolutionary War ended and the Declaration of Independence was signed. The ideals put forth were revolutionary at the time, especially the idea that people should be the architect of their own lives, fre...

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Does Resilience Really Matter? #animalindustry #leadership #veterinary #wellbeing resilience Jun 27, 2023

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Helen Keller, a woman whose life was a portrait of resilience. Even today, 143 years after her birth in a northern Alabama hamlet named after a Chickasaw tribal rainmaker, people share her ideas about happiness and leading a useful, productive life. Schoolchi...

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What do Dads and Great Leaders Have in Common? #leadership #veterinary #wellbeing animal industry communication self-development succcess Jun 13, 2023

This week let’s talk about leaders. Sunday is Father’s Day and it’s a good time to look back over your life and reflect on the first leadership style that influenced you. Whether your father was great, good, bad, abysmal, or absent, you learned lessons from him that can serve you now.

There’s an ol...

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Are You Afraid of Pride? #leadership #lgbtq+ #pride #wellbeing Jun 06, 2023

One word. Five letters. Many meanings. Some angst. Some anger. Some pride. Here are some definitions, according to Oxford Languages:

  • A feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or
  • ...
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Creatively Creating More Creativity #creativity #leadership #success #teamwork #wellbeing May 30, 2023

Quick…what does “creativity” mean to you? If you automatically conjure thoughts of crayons and paste, of sculptures and works by Old Masters, and of pottery wheels and hit songs, you’re right…partially right, anyway.

Oxford Online defines creativity as, “the use of the imagination or original ideas...

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Are You Guilty of Taking Mental Shortcuts? #assumptions #leadership #mental health #success #wellbeing May 23, 2023

This week let’s talk about some mental shortcuts many people take, and how harmful they can be to relationships of every kind.

  • Republicans think Democrats are soft in the head. Democrats think Republicans have no heart.
  • Minorities think authorities are out to get them. Authorities think minoriti
  • ...
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Are You a Use It or Lose It? #leadership #success #veterinary #wellbeing vacation May 16, 2023

Whether there are kids in your home or not, you’re probably thinking about doing something this summer. Because of the rhythm of years in childhood, most of us associate the summer months with vacation time. What are your vacation plans?

Don’t have any? You’re in good company – nearly a third of Am...

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Hero, Villain, or Something In Between? #leadership #success #wellbeing mental wellbeing mother's day neuroplasticity May 09, 2023

She is revered. She is vilified. She is someone that most of us took for granted, not realizing that she was a person with a life, hopes, and dreams before us, and plans for her own life that didn’t necessarily include us. She is Mother and this Sunday is her day.

Relationships are difficult at tim...

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Are You Strong Enough to be Quiet? #leadership #success #wellbeing leader meditation May 02, 2023

This week’s topic might make you roll your eyes. That’s OK. This week’s topic may make you think, “I’ve tried and it doesn’t work for me.” That’s OK, too. Keep reading for the why’s and how’s about adding … gasp! … meditation to your daily routine.

There are a lot of reasons people give for not med...

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Carving Out Caring Time for You #animalindustry #selfcare #success #veterinary #wellbeing Apr 25, 2023

If April showers bring May flowers, you know it’s time for peek-toes, flip-flops, and bare feet very soon! That’s probably why today is National Mani-Pedi day – gotta get those foot-tootsies summer-ready. Yes, even if you’re a dude, the benefits of carving an hour or so out of your day for pampering...

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Harnessing Your Inner Animal Control Officer to Lead Your Team #leadership #success #training #wellbeing behavior communication difficult personality Apr 11, 2023

Dogs are an important part of my life. Yours too? Growing up, my family always had a small dog and she (it was always a “she”) was a member of our family. The first was Bobbie, the one who sadly taught us the importance of not allowing puppies to dash out the door unrestrained. Next was Pixie, from ...

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Staying Afloat in a Sea of Uncertainty #wellbeing leader leadership mental wellbeing stress success uncertainty Apr 04, 2023

Countries are at war. Banks are failing. The stock market is teeter-tottering. Inflation is behaving like a spoiled brat, refusing efforts to control it. Politicians are taking dirty laundry and gleefully hanging it out for all to see. And all of this is coming in the wake of a worldwide pandemic, w...

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In Praise of Family Farmers #success #wellbeing agriculture appreciation family farm Mar 28, 2023

In the past week, did you eat anything? Did you drink anything besides plain water? Did you sweeten something with sugar or monk fruit or stevia or honey? Do you have fresh fruit in your kitchen, canned goods in your pantry, meat and veggies in your refrigerator and freezer? Then you are the end use...

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How Can You Be as Happy as This Cat? #leadership #wellbeing law of attraction leader mental wellbeing veterinarian veterinary Mar 21, 2023

Happy Act Happy Week! And if you’re not happy and you know it, it’s OK to not be able to give an Oscar-winning performance. In this week’s newsletter I’ll help you find your way back to happy with a few mental wellbeing tools you can use any time, in the privacy of your own head. Or you can just wat...

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How Comfortable are You Asking Questions? #curiosity #einstein #focus #goals #leadership #questions #wellbeing Mar 14, 2023

I have a question for you – how comfortable are you asking questions? Questions are a fundamental learning tool, and yet many people spend a large part of their lives being uncomfortable about asking questions. It could stem from a desire to be or seem perfect, it could be because they don’t want to...

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Beefing Up Your Leadership Skills #leadership #success #wellbeing communication goals leader purpose research Mar 07, 2023

Are you a team lead? The team can be a work team, a sports team or a family team – most people lead some sort of team, whether they know it or not. Some people enjoy the role of leader, helping people develop their full potential, while others are intimidated or uninterested in taking a leadership r...

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Training Dogs and People #focus #goals #leadership #success #training #wellbeing Feb 28, 2023

Even if you don’t have a dog, you just might learn something about leadership, your own self-development, and training humans from this newsletter, so please humor me on this one.

As a life-long dog person and someone who’s been deeply involved in dog sports all my adult life, you might guess that ...

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