Every year I make sure I have an annual physical so I can stay in the best health possible.  When my body is healthy then my mind is healthy – and that’s when I can accomplish the most at work and in my personal life. 

But at my last physical I noticed my cholesterol level was going up.  Not a lot, but enough that I took notice and began researching the topic of how to lower my cholesterol level naturally.  I found six foods that were recommended and have changed my diet to incorporate them more often into what I eat.  Which six foods are they?

According to the article by Joy Bauer, the six foods that can help you lower your cholesterol are:

• Oranges:  Not only do oranges contain vitamin C, folate, and potassium, they’re a great source of fiber which helps trap cholesterol and get it out of your body.
• Oats:  “Oatmeal is a proven winner when it comes to lowering cholesterol.”  My sister taught me a great trick for making a bowl of plain oatmeal taste great…stir in a teaspoon or two of your favorite jam, such as blackberry or raspberry.  Yummy!
• Beans and Lentils:  What most of us probably don’t realize is that not only are these items a good source of fiber, “they’re also great replacements for animal protein, which is often full of saturated fat.”  My husband and I have incorporated these into our diets by having my Mexican themed meals.  Salud!
• Sardines:  These are rich in omega-3 fatty acids but most of us have to get past the overly ‘fishy’ taste they leave in the mouth.  If you can’t stomach eating sardines (like me), try other fish high in omega-3 or nutritional supplements of omega-3 oil.
• Pistachio Nuts:  This has always been my Dad’s favorite nut.  Who knew these “little powerhouses are a great source of phytosterols, natural plant compounds that block absorption of dietary cholesterol.”  In addition, they also contain monounsaturated fat, fiber, and antioxidants.
• Chocolate:  I’ll take any reason to eat more chocolate, especially dark chocolate!  To obtain the best benefit, Ms. Bauer recommends choosing “brands that contain 70% or more cocoa solids and avoid those that contain partially hydrogenated oil, palm-kernel oil, and other unhealthy additives.”

Several months after incorporating these items into my diet, I’m feeling better and my cholesterol level has gone back down to where it was.  Success!  Try Ms. Bauer’s suggestions and see if they help you too.

~ Lisa Quast

 Source:  Article, “Six Foods That Lower Cholesterol”, by Joy Bauer

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100246097

While you’re there, check out a few of our favorite career oriented books, including “People Styles at Work” by Bolton and Bolton and “Lincoln on Leadership” by Donald T. Phillips.

And don’t forget that “Your Career, Your Way!” makes a great gift for grads.     :-)

URL for “Your Career, Your Way!” book on Amazon.com:  http://www.amazon.com/Your-Career-Way-Lisa-Quast/dp/1595940421/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275418669&sr=1-1

Get in there and bid on the basket for yourself or give it as a gift to someone else.  All proceeds raised will go to the Moses Lake Food bank – help them make a difference!

Click here for the gift basket auction!

~ Lisa Quast

From pages 80-82 in the book, “Your Career, Your Way!” (ISBN 978-1-59594-042-1):

“A mentor is generally someone farther up the career ladder than you, someone you admire for their professionalism, for their knowledge and for their ability to succeed in difficult situations.  They are politically savvy in business and are admired for their fair treatment of others.

A mentor provides career guidance and can help with career opportunities because they are generally a senior-level manager from within the same company or industry.  They act as your advisor and provide suggestions and guidance on development opportunities, career paths, and leadership strategies.  A mentor relationship may be formal (arranged between the individuals or with the help of the HR department) or informal.  A critical element within a mentoring relationship is mutual respect.  A mentor is generally not paid for services.

A coach focuses specifically on your personal development and learning. Coaches observe your performance, analyze your skills, behavior and attitude and provide you with an unbiased, outside perspective to help you improve your efficiency and effectiveness.  A coach may be a manager or colleague within your company or industry; however, a coach is most commonly someone who is hired by you or hired through your human resources department for a contracted length of time (usually six months to three years) for a specific fee. The coach works with you during the contracted time period on such areas as knowledge transfer/training, behavior modification, behavior modeling, and image enhancement. They may help you develop or enhance a skill set and improve leadership capabilities.

A coach is hired to help you become the best you can be both personally and professionally; in essence, a tutor. Hiring a coach is usually a formal process where the coach and “coachee” agree upon specific coaching goals, discuss and agree on expectations of the relationship (such as confidentiality and safety), agree on how they will communicate and schedule meetings (over the telephone, in person, via email, etc.), agree on how they will measure success and the specific metrics that will be used, agree on the time commitment for the coaching sessions, etc. In a coaching relationship, it is critical for you to be open to having your coach observe your work and for you to be open to feedback. You must also respect your coach. Keep in mind the fact that mentors and coaches do not provide consultative services as licensed mental health professionals and are not intended to replace counseling, therapy or mental health care. 

Deciding if you need or want a mentor or a coach is really up to you. Mentors can be incredibly helpful because they can aid you in navigating the often-confusing maze of the business world in your company or industry. A coach will help you accelerate your efficiency and effectiveness; after all, there’s a reason why professional athletes use coaches.

Asking someone to be your mentor can be intimidating but is worth the effort. A formal mentoring relationship is usually the best approach, where the two of you agree on the scope of the relationship and the topics for discussion. In general, the mentor and person being mentored agree to a schedule of meetings on a periodic basis.  At the beginning of these meetings you agree on the topics to be discussed.  The mentor listens and provides guidance, helpful advice and suggestions. It has been my experience that formalized mentoring relationships usually work better because both parties take the relationship very seriously. That’s not to say you shouldn’t have friends or colleagues with whom you can obtain quick feedback and reality checks.

Your mentor is someone who takes your best interest to heart and is committed to helping you achieve your goals and aspirations. But remember, this is your plan.  You are accountable for your goals, initiatives, dreams and aspirations, not your mentor. You are accountable for implementing your plan.  You are responsible for your career, not your mentor.

Do not look to your mentor to provide solutions to your problems!  It is your job to look at situations and analyze them, determine your objectives, understand and seek alternatives and decide on the best choice or direction. Your mentor is there as an objective and experienced observer to help you explore all your options, help you make the most informed decisions, and help you understand obstacles and the ways around them. Your mentor is not there to hand you solutions on a silver platter!”

~ Lisa Quast

Click here to be taken to Amazon.com to read about and order the book, “Your Career, Your Way!”

According to ForeWord Magazine, the Book of the Year Awards program was designed to discover distinctive books across a number of genres.  Nearly 1,600 books were entered in 61 categories.  These were narrowed down to 658 finalists, from 350 publishers.

The winners will be determined by a panel of librarians and booksellers, selected from ForeWord Magazine readership.  Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners, as well as Editor’s Choice Prizes for Fiction and Nonfiction will be announced at a special program at BookExpo America at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles on May 29th.

Click here to check out the list of authors and books that made it into the final competition.  My book, “Your Career, Your Way!” is shown at the top of page 10 on their website.  I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed til May 29th!

Lisa Quast

One of the keys to keeping your sanity and health as you strive to do more is in knowing what is realistic and attainable when you’re setting goals.

If you (or other women you know) want some help learning how to set realistic goals, I recommend that you read my book Your Career, Your Way!  It walks you through a proven and easy-to-follow process for examining your desires and abilities, setting realistic goals, and creating a plan for attaining those goals that works for you!

In this final installment of my six-part “Secrets of Success” blog series, you’ll meet a top-notch female executive with some other great advice for how to keep your sanity and maintain your strength and health by learning to empower others.  Great advice that could help you create an army of elves to help you find more time and energy to commit to reaching your goals.

Part 6:  Colleen Barrett, President of Southwest Airlines

Colleen Barrett is the soon-to-retire President of Southwest Airlines.  She began working for the company in 1978 as a secretary of the corporation. She worked as vice president of administration from 1986 to 1990, executive vice president of customers from 1990 to 2001, and President from 2001 to the present.  She will retire just over six months from now in July 2008.  In this article I found in the Costco Connection, Barrett offers some great advice and proves to be a great role model for just about everyone in business.

After reading the article, I conclude that some of the reasons for her success follow:

1. You’ll almost never hear her use the work, “I”.  She is a team player and promotes a team atmosphere (every employee has a vested interest in Southwest’s success).  And she is always quick to give credit to others where credit is due.
2. She believes in empowering employees.  She has a passion for communication and believes communicating is of the utmost importance.  She says that she gives employees “the freedom to be themselves, the freedom of individuality.”  She goes on to state that, “Our folks really get that it’s OK to make decisions on their own.  They don’t have to go through 15 layers.”
3. She works to promote a community atmosphere.  She works hard to have the right people in place and is incredibly disciplined about mentoring and coaching employees.  She looks for people who truly care about others, for people who are more focused on others than on themselves.
4. She values humor.  She looks for people who will take the business seriously, but not themselves.  “A sense of humor is a must.”

Lisa Quast

Link:  http://www.costcoconnection.com/connection/200709/?pg=20

Discovering your wants, desires, and dreams or restructuring your life and schedule to create a balance that works for you takes work.  In my book, Your Career, Your Way! you’ll find help in an easy-to-follow process that allows you to look at yourself, your life, your obligations, talents and desires and put an action plan in place to help you obtain the contentment, the advancement, or the balance you crave!

In the fifth installment of my six-part blog series on the Secrets of Success, you’ll find quite a few other tips and secrets from accomplished women about how to give yourself the focus you need to succeed.  I hope you enjoy this last installment and take this new-found wisdom with you into the New Year! 

Part 5:  Secrets of Success for Women, from Women

What would accomplished women say if asked for one piece of advice about creating satisfying work that allows them to express who they are and allows for a life outside the office?  In this Secrets of Success article by Barbara Moses of the Wall Street Journal’s Executive Career Site, this question was aksed of more than 1,000 accomplished, university-educated women in their late 30s to mid-50s.

Some held senior positions in business, government and the not-for-profit and cultural sectors.  Some had left marquee jobs to pursue a passion – start a business, write, or follow other personal interests.  Take a look!  You’re sure to learn some wonderful secrets of success to add to your personal collection of wisdom from women who’ve worked to find balance in their own lives.

Lisa Quast

Link:  http://www.careerjournal.com/columnists/perspective/20061115-fmp.html

Although many people’s careers keep them moving from one organization to another, there are quite a few success stories like this one of “company gals” who stick with one employer for the long haul and continue to be challenged and rewarded as they grow their job descriptions.

One of the keys to keeping yourself challenged and excited about your career is setting personal business goals – no matter if that involves changing companies or staying with the same employer. To start off your new year with realistic and attainable goals for advancing your career, I encourage you to reference my book Your Career, Your Way!  It walks you through a proven and easy-to-follow process for examining your current standing, setting realistic goals, and creating a plan for attaining those goals that works for you!

Part 4: Abbe Raven, President and CEO of A&E Network

In the entertainment industry, actors, directors and producers aren’t the only ones who hop between projects and employers – executives tend to move frequently, too. But not Abbe Raven. She’s worked at A&E Television Networks since its 1984 launch – that’s 23 years with one employer!

As president and CEO since 2005, Raven is responsible for a company that brings six cable channels (including History and Biography) into more than 235 million homes. In an interview as part of the Kaplan – NEWSWEEK M.B.A. program, NEWSWEEK Editor-in-Chief Richard M. Smith spoke with Raven about building a career without changing employers.

I hope you enjoy this interview with Abbe Raven as much as I did – and that you find some inspiration and advice that you can carry forward with you as you strive to reach your personal career goals.

In addition to the written interview, I encourage you to watch the video entitled “Revitalizing A&E” where Raven discusses how stating where you’re headed (and a solid plan) helps teams reach their goals.  You can do the same thing! Consider purchasing yourself a gift of my latest book, Your Career, Your Way! to help you put a plan in place to get there.

Lisa Quast

Link:  http://www.newsweek.com/id/42012

If you’d like assistance in evaluating your plan (or help creating one for the new year), please check out my book, Your Career, Your Way! And if you’re ready to look to the New Year ahead to identify your potential and set your growth goals, you may find inspiration and a practical pathway to success through advice from women who have successfully reached their goals.

To this end, I introduce you to the third installment in my “Secrets of Success” blog series where you’ll meet some incredible women entrepreneurs with some great advice.  Happy reading!

Part 3:  Entrepreneurial Girl Power

I must say that I was surprised by what I learned in this article. I knew that the number of women-owned businesses has been growing at twice the rate of male-owned businesses for the past few decades. Yet appears that while women run a lot of businesses, few are growing them beyond the $1 million mark.

For the past few years, the Center for Women’s Business Research in Washington D.C. has been conducting interviews with thousands of women entrepreneurs who run million- and billion-dollar companies to help identify a practical pathway for growth through advice from women who have blazed their way to success.

In this article published recently in Inc.com, women entrepreneurs behind some of America’s fastest-growing private companies open up about what it takes to succeed in industries once dominated by men. You’ll find advice about: Playing hard ball; finding your managerial style; setting boundaries; and believing in yourself.

Please take a look to find pearls of wisdom in the online article entitled Entrepreneurial Girl Power.

Lisa Quast

Link:  http://www.inc.com/inc5000/articles/20071101/entrepreneurial-girl-power.html

To celebrate the success of Career Woman, Inc., I’d like to dedicate the remainder of this year’s blogs to some women leaders from whom I believe we can all learn.  Today marks the first of a six-part series focusing on some potential role models for career women everywhere.  Enjoy!

Part 1:  Eleven Women Who’ve Made It to the Top

Barbara Kantrowitz and Holly Peterson profiled 11 very interesting and very different women in their online Newsweek article, My Journey to the Top.

1. Arianna Huffington, Co-founder and editor-in-chief, The Huffington Post.  “So often, I think, we as women stop ourselves from trying because we don’t want to risk failing. We put such a premium on being approved of, we become reluctant to take risks.”
2. Julie Greenwald, President, Atlantic Records.  “Ignorance was bliss, and my out-of-the-box thinking was rewarded with a huge promotion.”
3. Andrea Wong, President and CEO, Lifetime Network and Entertainment Services.  “My parents always allowed me to fail when I was growing up, and I think that gave me a lot of strength going forward in my life.”  “I think diversity is important not because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s the right business thing to do.”
4. Rachel Roy, Designer.  “I was always the first one there and always the last one to leave. I learned so much, and loved every minute.”
5. Kyra Sedgwick, Actor.  “It took me a really long time to say, ‘You know what? I want this. I want to be successful in my field. I want to be able to make choices on my own and make my own choices based on success.’”
6. Lucy Jones, Chief Scientist, Multi-Hazards Demonstration Project.  “I think there are a lot of issues there.  A large part is how you balance work and home, and all of us are dealing with the problem, but mostly we try and pretend and don’t talk about it on the job.”
7. Shirley Franklin, Mayor of Atlanta.  “But I didn’t catch the leadership bug…I scrambled for the back seat. I wasn’t confident enough. Women need to help women understand that we were not all born with all of the skills…that are necessary. But with hard work and passion, you can be recognized as a leader.”
8. Lorena Ochoa, Golfer.  “I don’t waste any energy or time in complaining or thinking about bad things. I just move on. It’s just not worth it to waste time on the negative things.”
9. Rachel Ray, TV host and cookbook author.  “I want to help kids feel better about themselves. And I think one of the greatest things about getting any child of any age into the kitchen is that it really builds their self-esteem.”
10. Shonda Rhimes, Creator and executive producer, Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice.  “It’s such a joy when you get to do the thing that you would secretly do for free and get paid for it…I’m doing the thing I love to do. Not everybody gets to say that.”
11. Elaine Pagels, Professor of Religion.  “I was educated at a time when parents did not expect girls to do anything useful. I wasn’t being practical at all. I was following what I loved. I started to explore this material and only later discovered that one could actually make a living teaching it.”

 Lisa Quast