Tips for a happier healthier you—in and out of the office
Sometimes, you need to make the choice to put your fork down and push away from the table.
By Michael Wayne
A new year has begun. “Auld Lang Syne” has been sung, the last drops of holiday eggnog and champagne are gone, and the first quarter of the 21st century is drawing to a close.
More than 8 billion human beings inhabit earth and, since the start of the third millennium, the Human Genome Project was completed; TheFacebook (now Facebook), Twitter (now X), and YouTube came into being; and the United States elected a president for a second non-consecutive term for the first time since the 19th century. I could go on listing major and minor events, advances, triumphs, and tragedies that have occurred.
It is sufficient to say a lot has happened since 2001. Frankly, the last four years alone are more than enough to unpack.
Our world is filled with much uncertainty, positivity, and negativity. I tend to roll my eyes when I hear someone utter, “in times like these.” The connotation is that the world is in a bleak and dark place.
In reality, the phrase could be used at just about any time to elicit a sense of dread. One incredible countermeasure to whatever times are being lived in is that every year many people make known what they are going to do to be better and to make the world better. These resolutions are meant to inspire.
While the majority of them may not be kept, they bring front and center the hope that springs eternal for a better tomorrow.
Here’s my take on the Top 5 most common New Year’s resolutions for 2025, and how they can be interpreted as the Top 5 New Year’s Insurance Resolutions.
Save more money
This resolution applies to brokers and clients alike. For clients, it may boil down to paying as little as possible for coverage. For brokers, the reality is that we want to find efficiencies to make serving a client as streamlined and cost-effective as possible and profitable. As you traverse the first quarter of the year, pay attention and start looking for ways to fix what’s broken and what’s about to break.
Even if you feel like all is well, reevaluate the processes that you have in place and make updates. While not mandatory in the immediacy, such changes can get you ahead of the curve and keep you from becoming stagnant.
Improve physical health
The office that I work in shares floors with other businesses. About a week prior to last Thanksgiving, I was taking an afternoon break outside and noticed that there were fire and rescue vehicles parked at our entrance. Thirty minutes later, they were still there. An hour passed, and they hadn’t moved.
Ultimately, we were alerted that three floors above us, a woman from one of the other businesses had passed away while eating lunch. To this day, that’s all I know. I have no idea what that woman’s health was like, but it certainly has influenced me to pay more attention to mine.
From an insurance perspective, ensure you are doing enough to know what your clients’ needs are, how they are evolving, and that you are making sure their coverage fits.
Exercise more
Bodies and brains need workouts to help stay in shape. Regardless of what role you play in the industry, changes seem to happen almost constantly. You need to keep up, and that means understanding that you need to take the time to stretch, see what’s going on, and know how to react.
Certainly, change can be hard, if not annoying, but change tends to be easier when you are on the leading edge of it and it feels voluntary. Waiting until the last minute to be compliant feels like a weight that someone else is pushing down on you.
Flex your muscles before someone, or something else, compels you to stretch them without you wanting to. That last bit is advice whether we’re talking about insurance or actual activity. Either way, don’t stay chained to where you are—your processes or desk—all the time.
Be happy
Can you just flip a switch and decide you’re going to be happy? For many, it may be a “fake it until you make it” proposition. I honestly don’t know if that is always a healthy approach. I definitely don’t believe it’s something that everyone can do, especially when it seems like the “make it” part will never arrive.
To me, “be happy” means I can experience the joy of completing some goal or task every day. Something as simple as making your bed in the morning to get your day started works. If nothing else, you can go through the day knowing that at the end of it, you will be able to pull the covers back, crawl into bed, and enjoy at least one tiny accomplishment.
“Be happy” does not mean the same thing as “be satisfied.” You can be happy and still recognize you have obstacles to overcome. As for “just be happy,” I’ve tended to equate that with settling. I don’t know anyone who has been happy settling.
Eat healthier
As the adage goes, “You are what you eat.” If you are on the frontline as a producer, you are the gatekeeper of what is coming into your agency and feeding everyone else in a supporting role. So, are you putting the equivalent of baked chicken, baked fish, and vegetables on the plate, or is it more like pizza, chips, and candy?
Legitimately, your client roster contributes to the fitness or toxicity of your agency. Are your clients constantly late when it comes to payment? Do they require way too much personal attention from loss control or another group and never seem to improve their risk profile? Simply stated, are they worth the energy being spent by you and your colleagues, or does everyone cringe when they see a call, email, or text from them?
Sometimes, you need to make the choice to put your fork down and push away from the table.
The author
Michael Wayne is an insurance freelance writer.
