"Success comes to those who become success conscious.

Failure comes to those who allow
themselves to become failure conscious."

~Napoleon Hill

Corporate Wellness Managers:

It's probably not news to you if I tell you that the foundation of success in business is developing a solid success-oriented mindset. You probably understand this as well as your company's sales force does. Well, a success-oriented mindset is every bit as important for success in health and wellness as it is in business success.

And with that in mind, I have three crucial questions for you:

1. Does your company have a culture of wellness...or a culture of illness? (Read my discussion below. This one will probably be a BIG eye-opener for you...)

2. Do you know the most important aspect of a corporate wellness program? (Most wellness managers are neglecting this. Are you?)

3. How well do your employees comply with your wellness program?

Chances are, your answers to these three questions will identify two or three potential problems that most wellness managers have never even thought about - things that make you think:

"Hmmm...yeah...I can make this program even better..."

Now, before we go any further, let me make it clear that this page isn't about problems; it's about solutions!

In the spirit of Napoleon Hill's quote at the top of the page, I'm here to help you bring a clear and definite success consciousness into your employee wellness program.

Question 1: Does your company have a culture of wellness...or a culture of illness?

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“Nothing brings out the worst in another
faster than your focusing upon it.

Nothing brings out the best in another
faster than your focusing upon it.”

~Abraham Hicks

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When I read descriptions of different corporate wellness programs, I find two things that almost all of them have in common:

1. Companies believe they have a culture of wellness.
   
2. In reality, they have a culture of illness.

Many programs include health risk assessments (HRAs) as a central (or even the central) component of their corporate wellness program. To be more accurate, these should be called “disease risk assessments.” The purpose of HRA’s is to identify certain diseases (obesity, diabetes, heart disease, etc.) that employees have, or are on the road to developing.

My key point there is that HRAs and disease prevention programs focus on the illness rather than health and well-being. Remember the Abraham Hicks quote at the top of this section? HRA's are an example of focusing on the worst in your employees...

Going back to my earlier discussion, let's go a bit deeper into the business context. You and your corporate leadership understand that a success oriented mindset is absolutely essential for success in business. If a business only fosters a failure avoidance mindset, there is a much greater chance that that business will create failure as an outcome. Certainly, a successful business must be cognizant of the things that can lead to failure, and take steps to minimize those causes, but success consciousness must be the driver.

The same success-oriented mindset is just as important in wellness as it is in business.

A wellness mindset is success oriented. A disease prevention mindset is failure oriented.

I don’t mean to suggest that HRAs and prevention programs are bad. On the contrary, I agree that they can be a useful part of a corporate wellness program. Still, it’s crucial that you lead with the success mindset. 

Question 2: Do you know the most important - yet most neglected - aspect of a corporate wellness program?

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“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
~Stephen Covey

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There are two aspects to wellness – and therefore, to any wellness program: a wellness mindset and a wellness lifestyle.

"Mindset is the main thing...!"

If your corporate wellness program is like most, it focuses on lifestyle but pays little attention to the wellness mindset. Without the proper wellness mindset, your employees' lifestyle changes are simply not sustainable.

Here’s the wellness mindset that is the foundation of wellness:

“Turn your health inside out!”

And just how do we "turn health inside out, you ask...?"

Well, let's consult the expert:

Still today, of the many important experts we call upon for help, The Doctor Within plays the most central and crucial role in our health and well-being. In other words:

Healing, health and wellness come from within.

Some will argue that, in this era of modern medicine, life expectancy is higher today than in prehistoric times. True, but public health improvements such as modern plumbing, efficient waste disposal, safer living conditions and a more reliable food supply have been far more significant than medicine in helping us to enjoy longer, healthier lives.

As with any other doctor, we can work in synergy with our Doctor Within, or we can sabotage the good doctor’s work.  Many of our modern stressors such as processed foods, sedentary lifestyle, constant exposure to toxins (including medications), can get in the way of the Doctor Within. 

In prehistoric times, food was organic, people were physically active throughout their lives, and toxic man-made chemicals did not exist. The Doctor Within worked under optimum conditions.

How to turn your health inside out:
Allow the Doctor Within to take the lead.

Question 3: How well do your employees comply with your wellness program?

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“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
~Leonardo da Vinci

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If you’re like many employers, employee compliance with your wellness program is a struggle for you.

There are a couple of reasons for noncompliance.

One of the main reasons is that we have made health way too complicated.

For example, just look at the many competing and contradictory theories about nutrition. Most authorities today still recommend low fat diets, while evidence is beginning to emerge to support diets high in fat – even saturated fat. And both sides can cart out reams of scientific evidence to support their position. I’m not here to criticize or support either dietary perspective, just to point out that nutrition is complex and confusing.

And then there’s fitness. Without going into detail, I’ll simply point out that, as with nutrition, there are contradictory theories about fitness, each supported by numerous credible studies.

People are confused, and confusion makes them give up!
(POOF – noncompliance!)

A second reason for noncompliance is that making a change in behavior is one of the hardest things that anyone can do. When I say, “hard,” I’m not just talking about major life changes. Even small changes can be a challenge to sustain simply because they involve a shift in long standing habits. Even a simple, enjoyable changes can fall by the wayside as old, deeply ingrained patterns reemerge. Add to that, “no person is an island.” When one person makes a change, it affects those close to them; and those affected can be resistant - even hostile - toward the changes. For example, your employees go home enthusiastic about their new found approach to nutrition that will help them look and feel better. But many families complain about the green stuff they now find on their plates rather than the take-out pizza they are accustomed to eating four dinners per week. 

The solution… ·        

• when you can make wellness easier to understand; 
• when you can provide a simplified framework for making healthy changes — that are relevant to each individual, and
  
• when you can provide an ongoing support network,

…your employees are much more likely stick with their healthier lifestyle.

Now that you have pondered the three crucial questions, chances are, you have identified two or three problems you need to solve to make your corporate wellness program more successful. 

Wait...let's rephrase that...
Chances are that you have identified two or three areas where you can now focus on the best in your employees.

Three "problems;" one solution!

...er, that is...

Three new opportunities for growth and improvement;
one resource!

Oby’s Wisdom!
A Caveman’s Simple Guide to
Holistic Health and Wellness

“Finalist”
2013 Best Indie Book Awards

This book your most important
corporate wellness educational resource!

Contact me directly (see below) for a FREE copy of Oby’s Wisdom. I will be happy to provide it to you in print (personally autographed, of course), .pdf or .mobi (Kindle).

The first thing I want you to know about Oby’s Wisdom is that, if you’d like, I can work with you to custom tailor the book to meet your unique corporate wellness needs. Customization can include:

• Cover art and design
• Title
• Content
• Philanthropy (10% of the profits from the book are donated to charitable causes. For your company's custom edition, I will donate that 10% to the cause or causes of your choice.)

Oby’s Wisdom is an award winning and entertaining book that will teach your employees the two critical steps they must take to effectively employ their Doctor Within and begin improving their health:

1. How to create a wellness mindset
   
2. How to adopt a wellness lifestyle. 

Oby’s Wisdom has been endorsed by bestselling wellness author Bernie Siegel, M.D. and many other authorities in the field of health and wellness.

Here’s what sets Oby’s Wisdom apart as a corporate wellness resource:

• Volume purchases for corporate wellness programs are deeply discounted.
  
• The book costs just a tiny percentage of what you’re probably already spending per employee in your corporate wellness program, and in healthcare costs. 
• Part One of the book (the entire first half of the book) is devoted to helping your employees adopt that all important wellness mindset that is the very foundation of a true wellness lifestyle. As you learned from Question One above, where corporate wellness initiatives fall short is they fail to adequately address this most crucial and foundational concept.
• Part Two of the book provides simple, user friendly guidelines on nutrition, fitness, mental health, and children's wellness to help your employees design an enjoyable, sustainable wellness lifestyle for themselves and their families. Two examples:

                      1. The nutrition chapter (entitled, "Mother Nature Packed Us a Lunch") is based on "The Most Important Nutrient" as a simple framework that anyone can use to begin eating a healthier diet, regardless on which nutritional theory happens to predominate at any given time. The most important nutrient is: "Life!"

                       2. The fitness chapter (entitled, "Fun, Fitness and Life") teaches "The First Rule of Fitness" as the foundation of a personal or group fitness program. The world of fitness has grown way too complicated. The “First Rule of Fitness” makes fitness simple, fun and, most importantly, sustainable! The First Rule of Fitness is: "Play First!"

                             a. The book includes a Video Action Guide and a Reading Group Guide to help your employees form support and accountability groups (the action guide calls them “Oby Groups”) to guide them through the process of incorporating and sustaining the book’s lessons into their lives. The Video Action Guide covers a full year, and can be repeated over and over again.

                             b. In addition to being an excellent educational resource, Oby’s Wisdom makes an excellent incentive item for your corporate wellness program.

In sum, Oby’s Wisdom gives you a low cost, high payoff educational tool for helping to instill a culture of wellness among your employees, resulting in:

• Improved health and productivity
  
• Decreased healthcare costs.

Contact me directly (see below) for a FREE copy of Oby’s Wisdom. I will be happy to provide it to you in print (personally autographed, of course), .pdf or .mobi (Kindle).

Why you should listen to what I have to say:

Let’s start with the bottom line, right up front: I am a living testimonial to the lessons I teach. Because of my medical history, I could be costing my former employer (U.S. taxpayers) thousands of dollars per year in healthcare costs. Instead, I cost next to nothing.

You see, I know the grief and the crushing loss of self-worth that come with losing a rewarding career because of my struggles with failing health. I was medically discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps at the young age of 39. During my Marine Corps career and for years after, I fought crippling arthritis pain, along with the anger, fear and hopelessness that anyone who suffers from chronic disease knows all too well.

I also know the exhilaration of turning all that around. And it all started when I changed my mindset from fighting to thriving. Only then was I able to transform my health and become a triathlete and marathon runner. Today, I remain healthy, fit and active. I wrote Oby’s Wisdom to share the important lessons I learned on my amazing healing journey - lessons that will elevate your corporate wellness program to a new level.

After being forced out of the Marines on disability, I devoted myself to the healing arts. In 1998, I enrolled at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa; and in 2001, I graduated Magna Cum Laude. I also have a B.S. in psychology from the University of Idaho.

Today I am a holistic health doctor and have been in private practice in northern Idaho since 2001. I am an award winning author and speaker on the subject of wellness. I consider myself a thought leader in today's troubled healthcare arena, espousing the importance of simplicity in health and healing. I bring a unique and thought provoking perspective to my writing, speaking and consulting. Some of my thoughts:

• "The 'Doctor Within' is the most successful doctor in history.
• "We don't have a healthcare system. We have a disease industry."
• Healthcare today is not based on science.
• Most doctors don't understand wellness.
  
• Regardless of who 'wins' the healthcare debate, our healthcare system will continue to decline.
             

Get to know me better by viewing my TED Talk:
"Change Your Story, Change Your Health"
TEDx Spokane, March 16, 2013