Good Evening DaVita Village !!

Well another year of MTM draws to a close …. MTM X in fact.   Once again it has helped me experiment with new ways of leading a healthier life.  Once again I have enjoyed watching what many of you were doing.  Once again MTM helps some folks, like me, do more than they would have otherwise.   This is good, this is part of what it means to be a community first and a company second.  Encouraging one another, challenging one another, listening to one another.

MTM exposed how often I am getting less than 7 hours sleep.  A lot.  The 2 minute stretches have almost become a habit, although they are more like 1 minute – but I can still feel the difference.  I am also doing more quiet time moments, and more conscious of connectedness.  I was already pretty solid on the gratitude front, I have had my about every other day gratitude mantra for several years now.

I hope many of you did similarly well or better.   I wish good health to you and your families.  I wish for you a fulfilling year.  And I hope to see you again next year.

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

One for All & All for One

KT

Allison Farish “More time for daily reflection and mindfulness.”

Jenny Bajaj “I have been working on mindfulness based practices to manage my stress. If I notice myself on edge, I take a minute to practice a technique, and then get back to whatever I was doing.  I would like to spend less time with my inner critic and more time in gratitude.”

Good Morning DaVita !

It is Friday morning, a beautiful morning up here in the Rockies.   I had a wonderful town hall session with our global Quest (Compliance) team, and then gave myself the amazing treat of sitting and watching my Stanford Football team eke out a last minute victory.  I was uncharacteristically good in that I ordered a salad and then a salmon dinner with brussel sprouts.  Normally if I sit down to watch a football game while eating dinner it is steak or cheeseburger time.  But it was feeling like a bad calorie week, so I had to draw the line.

Speaking of the week, in continue my stretch of less than 7 hours of sleep.   I am looking forward to a long sleep tonight, as I will not set the alarm Saturday morning.  While I have a bunch of work to do this weekend, and perhaps 2 conference calls, I also will get great exercise both days, almost certainly to include at least one hot yoga class, which is so good for me.  As we near the end of MTM X, here is where I stand:

1. Continued my normal almost 100% exercise in the morning regimen
   1. Although I have made it consistently longer and more comprehensive, adding more flexibility and strength to my normal cardio
2. Have definitely improved in stretching during the day, little micro-sessions
3. Have definitely improved in ensuring quiet moments during the day
4. Have somewhat improved on connectedness and gratitude.  On the first one I think my normal approach was pretty strong, and I want to get a lot better on the gratitude, on top of the good progress I have made
5. Have been inconsistent on the sleep front, no progress overall.  2 above average weeks, then back to prior levels.  Yikes.

So over all I am better off, and more aware of where I want to maintain a positive trend, and where I want to create one.  Plus it was fun to get some notes from you guys, and to feel a part of a team of 2300 from across the world, working on improving our quality of life!

I hope you have a wonderful day, and I cherish the fact I get to share life’s journey with the DaVita Village and so many of you.  Just like healthcare service, Life is a team sport.

A French author, Colette, once said “I had a wonderful life!   I only wish I had realized it sooner.

One for All & All for On

KT

Good Morning DaVita !!!!!!!!

It is Thursday morning, I am up in the Rocky Mountains, at a DKC (DaVita Kidney Care) retreat.  It has been a great meeting, and I love being up here even though we are working all day and night.

If you take a look at my scores, the last week has had some serious gaps – namely I have rarely had 7 hours of sleep, and in the last few days I have done fewer of the 2 minute breakouts for stretches and movement.  Darn!

Yikes. I just realized I have to run to the meeting.  I will send more later today.  I hope you are all doing well, all 2300 of you !!

One for All

KT

Dave Hoerman- “Stir fry, with vegetables and not a lot of sodium and additives! :)”

Anne Bailey- “I have tons of roasted veggies and lean meat for dinner most nights.”

Mandy Hale- “Salad!  I love a hearty salad with my favorite healthy toppings.  Fish and hardboiled eggs are two of my favorite toppings.  If I am craving something sweet I may go with berries and almonds.”

Patrick McKinnon– “I enjoy my crossfit gyms in Denver and in Dallas.  After initial trepidation, I have grown to value working out in groups, which pushes me far more than I would push myself.  In fact, my regular workout groups have become a second family for me and get me into a good mindset for the day.”

Mandy Hale– “Do I have to pick just one? I love competing in triathlons, so I am going to pick swimming, biking and running! ”

Elise Duke– “With four kids and a full time job, I have found it difficult to stay active on a daily basis. After turning 40, I decided it was time to shape up and get moving. I make it a priority to fit in 30 mins of activity – whether it be yoga through an app on my phone or the exercise bike I have at home.”

Traciee Huff– “Dancing”

Allan Cullop– “Hiking”

Dave Hoerman-“Love hiking, walks with my family and our dog Banjo, and especially love going for bike rides, both road and mountain. I also enjoy skiing, snowshoeing, and staying really active in the winter.”

Jonathan Lujan– “Train in mixed martial arts.”

Anne Bailey– “I get 15K steps a day, on average, and do strength training 2-3x a week.”

Yo DaVitans !

A couple more factoids from the Tour DaVita, and the 585 riders !

1. 48% female
2. 54% first time Tour Riders
3. 59 riders over 60 years old !
4. Leading states
   1. Colorado                         105
   2. California                        85
   3. Washington                    55
   4. Texas                                48
   5. Tennessee                       27
   6. Pennsylvania                  25
   7. Florida                             23
   8. Indiana                            21

Next year, consider joining in!

KT

“Depends on the curve ball; reflecting & surrounding with love and people that care for you.  Regrounding in all things that are going on.” Javier Rodriguez

“Exercise, breathe, meditate, play with my children.” Jonathan Lujan

“I struggle sometimes with this.  It’s hard.  I have to vent it out sometimes at home, or on my own… and exercise helps me a lot.  When I’m stressed, I schedule time for a hard run or bike ride to help release that energy, wear down my body, and purge the bad thoughts, stress, or negativity.” Dave Hoerman

“Time outdoors does it the best for me.  Also, interacting with my family—those I love and who love me.” Yoda

“Take accountability, learn and review what I can change or have done better .” Allan Cullop

“I pause and understand the global impact.  Many things that have seemed terrible at the time are very small compared to the overall scheme of things.  Also, I try to remember to remind myself of two positive events for every one negative event.  In most cases, life is pretty well balanced.  We just need to remind ourselves of that occasionally!” Mandy Hale

“Remember what’s really important and be thankful.” Barbara Atkins

“Remind myself of everything I have to be thankful for.” Deborah Burt

How do you “bounce back” when life throws you curve balls? Reply below.

Good Morning DaVita !!

It is Thursday am.   Yesterday I started in Denver, with a few meetings after my workout.  Then I flew to Chicago for a couple presentations at the Northwestern Kellogg School of Business.  I wish more of you could be with me at these, it is so cool that these MBA professors and students want to learn more about how our community first/company second/DaVita Village concept and dreams work.  Or how we try to make them work!

I finished that stuff about 9 pm, and headed to a hotel for some email and phone calls.  I stopped working at midnight but was too wound up and so pulled out my Grapes of Wrath book by John Steinbeck, and read until 1:15.  It is an amazing book about the great dust bowl era, and the stunning hardships so many American farmers faced.  Humbling.

I got up at 6:15 and had a below-average workout.   I felt lucky, however, because when I went down to the fitness center every bit of equipment was being used except one.   If there had been no equipment available I would  have lost the workout, and my body is so accustomed to a morning workout that I feel very our of sorts when I do not get to do one.   25 minutes on the bike and some stretching and push-ups, then I felt pressure to get to the airport.   I had one long call and am now on a plane to Washington DC.  When I land I will do 2 hours of phone calls and then about 6 hours of meetings on federal policy issues.  Then I will fly to New York for my Friday meetings.

I am getting much better at the stretch breaks during the day.  Both during conference calls and live meetings.  It really does always make me feel looser, more relaxed, and better.  Good idea by the MTM administrators!  Now I need to work more on deep breaths at regular intervals, and during stretching – it also is quite powerful.

I was happy with myself in another way – I had been given a lot of bad news thru the course of the day, and in that case I will often treat myself to unhealthy food for dinner.  Last night I stayed healthy with chicken and spinach.  Good boy.   Having said that, I did have a couple glasses of wine …. Oh well.

How are you all doing?  I love picturing a couple thousand good teammates out on a single field, all exercising and stretching together.  That image gives me energy and encouragement. 

Tis better to light a small candle than to curse the darkness.   (Confucius) 

And it is amazing how much light a single candle brings into a dark room.

One for All & All for One.  Thanks for taking great care of our patients!  And each other!  And be sure to take great care of yourself!!

KT, Your Mayor

Yo DaVitans!

It is Monday morning, time for a quick download.  Plus I have to try to update my daily scores.  Yikes.

We are up to 44 MTM participants from outside the US !  The clear leader is Brazil with 21, Germany in second with 9.  Go Brazil !!  We also have 135 family and friends, which is great when they partner up and join in. 

I had a glorious weekend.  I did Hot Yoga both days, 75 minute classes.  I really need to get back into that, I pretty much stopped when we moved to Denver 8 years ago (wow, time flies).  My body is very inflexible, and yoga is a great gift.  I also did stretching outside of class, in part defensively because the Tour DaVita  (both the ride and the 4 hours at the finish line jumping around and dancing) re-aggravated my Achilles tendon issue. 

I had some very nice quiet time, taking some beautiful walks and looking at the fall colors, two alone, one with a friend having troubles, and one with my spouse. I also did some quiet sitting outside, just 10 minutes but very soothing.

I had one 90 minute conference call on a hot issue for the Village, and one 30 minute review call with an executive.   Plus an hour or two  of email (needed to do more!), and 90 minutes of scheduling with my assistant.

Got to Run!

All the best, KT