Ask yourself these questions:

Handbrake Headspace Software
Handbrake Headspace App

When was the last time you really smiled at work?
When was the last time you came to work smiling?
When was the last time you were smiling when you left work for the day?
Are you smiling often as you should be?

I had an a-ha moment recently about the importance of remembering to smile.

I have been writing a book the last 12 months (out in all good book stores soon..) and despite best intentions, it has been a real struggle at times. As a rule, I find writing easy but I have found the book to be an intense process. There were times when I would find myself stuck, feeling far too much angst and with what felt like a big handbrake on my creative flow. It took a while but I realised the problem.

I forgot to smile.

My writing mentor has really pushed smile while you write but I had subconsciously moved away from that. I was so wrapped up in everything I had forgotten to make a conscious decision to enjoy myself. As my smile disappeared, I was enjoying writing less and less and the words were struggling to come together as I wanted.

The 100k RPCD are putting in close to 60 hours a week all year at top pay. You become too pay after 4 years. If you're putting in 60 a week, all year, you should be at around $145k. I easily break $100k while trying not to work. Someone working a light route, 8.5 hours a day and 5 days a week, should be making over. This can be likened to a car being revved with the handbrake on and can be experienced as feeling jittery or trembling. Things like using a mindfulness APP such as Headspace, practicing deep.

HandBrake-1.3.3-x8664-WinGUI.exe.sig (Hosted on GitHub) GPG Public Key: Public Key Information (Hosted on GitHub) File hashes are mirrored on GitHub. 24 and still need to learn cycling. I never ride a bicycle. I asked my mother why I wasn't taught and she said they tried a lot but I always used to jump from the seat and now I'm 24, have no clue how to ride a bicycle/bike. My leg muscles are weak. I lose my balance when I walk messing with my confidence. I will buy a bicycle in a few days.

Once I chose to consciously smile, I started to enjoy the process of writing and editing again. The problems I thought I had weren't really problems. My energy picked up, I quickly came out of my stuck state and had had real progress. My book started to have some humour in it again as well.

Choosing to smile whilst I was writing and seeing the improved results made me realise that I wasn't smiling as much as I should in other areas of my life. I realised I was being overly serious about work and a whole bunch of other things. It wasn't deliberate, it just snuck up. I certainly wasn't being a grump. I had just become a little too serious and wasn't smiling as much as I should.

I think it's become far too easy to not smile, both internally and externally. It's like a serious demeanour has become standard go-to vibe for all highly paid professionals. Despite the perceived pressures we have, there is no reason not to smile more often. I am sure no one lies on their death bed and whispers, 'I wish I had smiled less.'

A Huffington Post article by Aleena Hall highlighted 11 reasons why it's important to smile every day. These include:

Reducing stress
Making yourself more approachable
Boosting productivity
Improving creativity

If you find yourself not smiling as much as you should be or leaving work with something closer to a frown, what can you do to turn it upside down? Here are some simple things I have made an extra effort with to ensure I am smiling every day.

Have gratitude: Focus on the things that make you happy rather than those that don't. The Five Minute Journal is a great way to spend three minutes in the morning and two minutes at night to focus on the things you are grateful for. Despite best intentions, I only manage to do my happiness journal three to four times/week but that it is a lot more gratitude that none at all.
Practice mindfulness: I am not wanting to be all woo-woo but taking five to ten minutes each day to slow down and breathe is important. For me, this has made a BIG difference. It's chilled out my overly busy head and enabled me to step back and recognise those self made serious moments as something that can easily be changed. I use the guided mindfulness app Calm and a lot of friends use Headspace.
Exercise: Even a short burst sends endorphins and other feeling-fine chemicals around your body. I have made exercise and a regular surf my non-negotiables and make sure that my diary fits around these, rather than the other way around.
Check in regularly: How are you feeling? Do you have to be feeling so serious? If not, smile. If you struggle to remember to do this, set daily alarms on your phone to check in with your state.

Smiling and happiness is also contagious. If you wander into a room of happy people, you can't help but feel good. If people bump into you and you are smiling, they will catch a little of that as well.

Yoko Ono said, 'Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you'll start to see a big difference in your life.' Start smiling and see how it can improve your day. Who said life had to be so serious anyway?

And the book? 48,000 words are now with my editors and out later this year.

Simon Banks is a speaker, emcee, training facilitator and presenter who is professional and creative, and brings all the vim and vigour your audience expects to ensure brilliant corporate events. He's the Director of creative training company VisualFunk, known for running innovation hubs, conferences and training days to brew fresh thinking and develop market leading ideas. His first book, 1000 Little Lightbulbs, will be released in early 2017.

Contact details

P: 1300 227 215
E: letschat@simonbanks.com.au

A few months ago, Arav Gupta replied to an advertisement on our Facebook page – Sea Shepherd were looking for a Ships Medical Officer to support an offshore campaign against illegal and unreported fishing (IUU) in Gabon. He took some time out of his busy life onboard to tell us more about how he got involved, the lessons he’s taking from this incredible experience and how it’s changed his outlook on life…

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It was within touching distance. Four years since that first taste of expedition medicine on my elective and my FY3 was running as smoothly as I could ask for; I’d finished a fantastic ICU fellowship and in front of me stretched eighteen months to dive into expedition medicine before speciality training began. Countless emails had landed me four trips which had me beyond excited for all the adventures around the corner. Then, the Pandemic arrived. And just like that, a meticulously planned year was looking more unsure than Dominic Cummings’ eyesight. With my trips cancelled, it was back to the upsettingly empty drawing board.

I was on the verge of accepting a fellowship that in truth my heart wasn’t set on when in landed an email containing the most leftfield job offer I’d ever received: the chance to work as a Medical Officer (MO) with marine conservation charity Sea Shepherd Global. The mission? An offshore campaign against illegal and unreported fishing (IUU) in Gabon, an equator-straddling nation on the Atlantic coast of Africa. I’d applied in response to a Facebook post advertised through World Extreme Medicine (WEM), never considering I may actually get the gig. I had to do some reading…

Sea Shepherd has earned a reputation since their foundation in 1977 for their fearless and direct approach to defending marine wildlife from illegal whaling and fishing activity across the world, from the sweltering equatorial Atlantic to the unforgiving polar Southern Ocean. If you ever watched Whale Wars on Animal Planet you’ll be familiar with their historically confrontational methods. They’re not without controversy, but if recent societal issues are anything to go by, tangible progress is driven by radical change, and Sea Shepherd’s results are quite phenomenal: for example being the major player in the cessation of Japan’s whaling programme in the Southern Ocean. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

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