One of the huge challenges in any wellness program is addressing the mindset that wellness is a punishment. Many people view health and wellness as something they need to suffer through. But that’s just not true. Wellness is not a punishment. In fact, it’s the ultimate reward for your body.

A big contributing factor to this punishment mindset is all of the restrictions we associate with a healthy lifestyle.

Everyone loves summer, right?! It’s a time to get outside, relax and spend time taking part in all sorts of adventures.

The summer season can even come with some awesome health benefits. Largely due to the weather, people are much more active in the summer than they are in the colder months of the year. People are walking, biking, running and even doing more leisurely activities like gardening.

So how can there be health hazards associated with this usually-healthy season? The truth is every season comes with unique challenges. The best way to avoid the health hazards of any given season is to be aware that they exist.

A wellness portal is an online tool you can use to implement, manage and track your wellness program. Your portal can be what you make of it, depending on the details of your program.

A wellness portal might include incentive tracking, challenges and check-ins, educational material and employee health records. Housing these types of wellness program features in an online portal can be a great option for you and your program.

You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again, when it comes to your health journey, don’t be afraid to start small! Even the tiniest of first steps towards a healthy lifestyle is a great first step to take.

But why is that the common trend when it comes to health and wellness?

We’ll give you a hint. Small steps aren’t recommended because you have short legs. It’s not because you can’t do big things. And it’s not because you can’t handle big challenges.

Every year, we perform a lot of biometric screenings at companies across the country. We work with all types of companies to screen employees in all walks of business. In 2015, we performed over 85,000 biometric screenings. That means we screened over 85,000 American employees!

If you’re at all familiar with our biometric screening process—or any biometric screening process—you know that after a screening event, the company receives an aggregate report. This report is a snapshot of the health status of their employees. It provides group data about the overall health of the workforce.

As a wellness coordinator, your attitude can not only make or break employee participation, but can actually impact how well an employee does throughout the wellness program. Taking a positive, proactive approach to your wellness program can make it both more popular and more effective.

Being a proactive wellness coordinator means taking action when it comes to your wellness program. It means reaching out to your employees, encouraging them, and empowering them to make healthy changes in their lives.

One of the worst things you can do for your wellness program is to get stuck in a one-track-mind way of thinking. Many wellness coordinators do things one ways just because, “that’s how we’ve always done it.” That can be an easy way to get stuck in a wellness rut.

The best way to refresh your wellness program is to refresh your mindset—think outside the box a little bit. Even if you’re not super innovative when it comes to wellness activities, you can benefit from some outside-the-box thinking.

And it all starts with three big perspective shifts…

Corporate wellness can be hard—on multiple levels. Maybe you’ve planned a wellness event you thought was great. The details were in order, communication sent out, but it was a flop with very little participation and engagement.

That’s what we call a slipup. Something in your wellness program that just doesn’t go your way. Maybe mistakes were made, or challenges weren’t foreseen. Slipups happen.

The same type of slipups can happen in your employees’ health journeys. It can be easy to stray from even the best laid health plans. Maybe a night planned for the gym turned into happy hour with co-workers, or lunch plans fizzled into fast food or takeout.

Program-level and personal-level slipups incite the same feelings. And they’re not good feelings. Slipups can be frustrating! But if you have one flop wellness event, you shouldn’t scrap your entire program. Same goes for your employees. One unhealthy decision doesn’t mean the entire journey is a bust.

Positivity is the secret ingredient to a healthy lifestyle. Focusing on positivity in your wellness program helps you tap into your employees’ intrinsic motivation—the motivation inherently tied to their personal beliefs and desires. Utilizing intrinsic motivation for wellness leads to long-term change.

Many of the benefits of a positive outlook come from the fact that positive people are more resilient. They’re not only able to more readily bounce back in tough times, but they thrive through those tough times. When the going gets tough, positive, resilient people are the tough that get going.

One simple way to shift towards a positive culture of wellness in your company is to start with positive messaging. This type of messaging strategy involves a focus on the words and communication styles you’re using with your employees.

If you can infuse positivity into those words and communication styles, you’ll be able to foster positive emotions from your employees in regard to wellness. Positive messaging provides the groundwork for a positive outlook on any health journey.

With the global nature of the workplace today, you can’t get out of a little business-focused travel. Whether it’s you or your employees, odds are somebody is hitting the road every now and then.

Corporate wellness doesn’t just encompass wellness in your physical office space. It’s important to stretch your wellness program to include and apply to employees who aren’t always in the office.

That’s especially true for employees who travel frequently because traveling can wreak havoc on a person’s health. The sedentary transportation, high-calorie takeout and mental exhaustion can really damage employee health.

With a little bit of focus, though, you and your employees can stay healthy when you’re on the road for work. It’s all about eating right, staying active and preparing well.