Thousands of people became sedentary during 2020. With people engaged in 48% less physical activity, it can be worrisome that we are all on a slippery slope! Of course, if you are in a career where you are already moving around often, you are in the clear! Manual labor jobs, like skilled-trade positions, can use some of these to help manage stress though. But if you've been stuck working from home, exercise is key.

Inactivity = negative

The well-substantiated hazards of inactivity can lead to numerous serious physical health risks, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, osteoporosis, muscle wasting and falls. Increased ‘screen time’ even if it’s work related causes eyestrain, dry eyes, blurred vision, headache and neck, back and arm pain and strains.

What many have gone through, now that they are working from home, has required some adjustment. While many appreciate the advantages of working from home, they also need to cope with the disadvantages. One of the main disadvantages is that working from home provides minimal separation between one's work and personal life. Additionally, this can lead to your work feeling increasingly monotonous. If this is the case for you, there are steps you can take to try and break up that monotony.

We recently released a blog about the skills to focus on in 2021; there are also additional skills you can train to supplement and further improve your core skills. These additional skills are known as ‘Digital Literacy Skills’ and focus on being able to properly consume and understand information received from a digital medium. Digital literacy skills can be broken down into three specific skills. Let's go through them now!

Information Literacy

Information literacy as defined by the American Library Association, "is a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.” The first key takeaway from this and the first step in information literacy is that you must be able to recognize when you require more information than what you currently have. Second, once you have identified the need for more information you need to be able to obtain that information. This is something you can improve by learning good resources for obtaining information, and how to pick out good keywords to make effective online searches.

As time goes on, the world always continues to change, but as long as people exist, we'll be interacting with each other. Whether you are looking for a new career path or achieving a new year’s resolution, there are several core concepts that build the foundation of how we manage these interactions. These are the skills we use every day; from ordering pizza to attending an interview.

Self-improvement is a never-ending journey that everyone goes through. The choice is yours to grow and flourish or become stale.

These key skills are all connected to your continued deeper learning. The focus is on flexibility and adaptability. You will need to be able to focus on ways to get along with others through your understanding of skills such as the following:

1. Critical thinking

This skill involves analyzing facts to reach a conclusion. It is based on a rational, logical, objective evaluation of evidence.

“The future, the present, and the past walked into a bar. Things got a little tense.” 

We may not always be able to see a smile, but we can still hear laughter. Did you know that there is a National Let’s Laugh Day on March 19 each year? After all, as William James said: 

“We don’t laugh because we’re happy – we’re happy because we laugh.” 

Laughter, also known as “the best medicine,” helps boost the immune system and brings relaxation. That is in addition to being very contagious! According to the Mayo Clinic, there are both short- and long-term benefits from laughter: 

In short term, laughter releases tension in the body and stimulates organs. In long term, it improves the immune system and stabilizes mood.  

Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Alison Beard says that according to research from Wharton, MIT, and London Business School, “every chuckle or guffaw brings with it a host of business benefits. Laughter relieves stress and boredom, boosts engagement and well-being, and spurs not only creativity and collaboration but also analytic precision and productivity.”  

There is really no such thing as completely germ-free, but with flu season under way and all the news about Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), now is a good time to make sure your work-space is clean and free of as many contagions as possible. You already know that you should wash your hands, cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing, and not touch your eyes or nose. But even if you are being careful, others might not be as diligent and could spread germs through items that are routinely shared in an office or work setting.

First, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends knowing the difference between cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing:

Cleaning removes germs, dirt, and impurities from surfaces or objects. Cleaning works by using soap (or detergent) and water to physically remove germs from surfaces. This process does not necessarily kill germs, but by removing them, it lowers their numbers and the risk of spreading infection.

Disinfecting kills germs on surfaces or objects. Disinfecting works by using chemicals to kill germs on surfaces or objects. This process does not necessarily clean dirty surfaces or remove germs, but by killing germs on a surface after cleaning, it can further lower the risk of spreading infection.