BKS Insights
Our philosophy is “Insight beyond insurance.”
BKS believes the best way to serve our clients is through insight. So before we look at insurance products, we take a comprehensive look at the lifestyles, passions, professions and business ventures they’ll need to protect. Often, we find that the best way to cover a client’s assets isn’t insurance at all. That’s why we’ll keep you on top of emerging trends and help you consider alternatives to traditional insurance protection.
In many cases, prevention can offer the same or greater protection at a fraction of the cost. Whether it’s wellness education for your employees to reduce the expense of healthcare coverage, regular property maintenance to prevent water damage, or indemnification language to protect your business from lawsuits, we’ll help you explore every option for the greatest protection at the most comfortable cost.
BKS Supplements
“Me” time helps to reduce stress and anxiety, and increases positivity and creativity. Read this month’s Supplement to learn how a little “me” time can help improve the status quo.
What is the difference between creating a good habit or breaking a bad one? Friction.
Maintaining a stress-resilient internal state requires intentional vigilance to some very basic and too often overlooked behaviors such as breathing, moving, eating and sleeping. Read this month’s Supplement to learn more
The Kentucky Derby is an American tradition with customs and food ways that have stood the test of time. As with Thanksgiving and the 4th of July, it is important to approach these traditional festivities with gusto. When you are celebrating, celebrate.
No one had trouble with work/life balance before advances in technology made it possible to communicate 24/7. Take a break and read this month’s Supplement to learn how you can get off of cruise control.
Our fascination with advertisements is fulfilling one of three basic human needs: autonomy, competence, or interpersonal connectedness.
While volunteering significantly benefits those who are being helped, many people don’t realize that volunteering has tremendous benefits for the helper too. Learn how seeking our volunteer opportunities can benefit you.
Approximately 60% of us admit to making new year’s resolutions while only eight percent are successful in achieving them. What sets apart those of us who are successful from those of us who aren’t? In large part the answer is in how we view mistakes.
Back by popular demand, Dr. Pat’s take on Thanksgiving by Delegation. And you thought the election rhetoric was over. Think again. The next topic of national significance is the great Thanksgiving dressing/stuffing controversy. Read this month’s Supplement to learn which delegation you fit into.
Flow experiences occur when our skills meet the challenge — and both are high. Read this month’s Supplement to learn how to find your flow.
The contagion of everything from happiness to obesity spreads not only to our friends, but to our friends’ friends, and beyond to our friends’ friends’ friends. Read this month’s Supplement to learn how valuable the role you and your friends play in each other’s lives .
No one had trouble with work/life balance before advances in technology made it possible to communicate 24/7. Read this month’s Supplement to learn how counting down from five to one can put you on the path to sustainable behavior change.
I didn’t realize the value in making my bed until a few months ago when I read Admiral William McRaven’s Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life… And Maybe The World.
Ultimately, what a parent hopes is to better the world and to leave a legacy. This act fulfills the powerful adult need of generativity. Generativity is the persistent pursuit of an enduring achievement—a body of work, a difference, or most often a family. It can appear at any adult age but becomes a deeper calling as one approaches midlife.
Earlier this month, we unexpectedly lost the only “sitting” member of our wellness committee, Dutch Baldwin, a 10 year old English Cocker Spaniel. Our canine comrades, like Dutch, can play significant roles in our wellbeing. They provide structure to our days and increase physical activity. Read this month’s Supplement to learn more about the health benefits of owning a pet.
Traditional wisdom equates financial wellbeing with having mountains of money. And having mountains of money can increase short-term happiness by letting you do what you want, when you want. Read this month’s Supplement for tips on how to have a successful financial future.
Matching you daily tasks to the appropriate time of day can do wonders for your productivity, creativity and stress levels. To learn more, read this month’s Supplement about the science of perfect timing.
While we ordinary individuals may not experience the same peaks and valleys as the Olympic athletes, we are predisposed to the same effects of stress and challenge on our performance, health and happiness. Read this month’s Supplement to learn how you can recover like an Olympian.
There is something galvanizing about a new year. Couple the prospect of a clean slate with the backdrop of a solid six weeks of behavioral chaos and resolutions are especially appealing. How SMART is your resolution? Read this month’s Supplement to see how you can achieve the best outcomes with your resolutions in 2018.
In the throes of the holiday season, it is easy to resign oneself to falling off of the wellness wagon. This month’s Supplement revisits and reflects upon the past year’s topics, and reminds you to cherish time with loved ones, take time to rest and recover and enjoy the festive celebrations.
This month’s Supplement challenges you to express more gratitude in your everyday life. Not only can you help someone else, but you can also increase your overall health.
According to Marc David, nutritional psychologist, there are three general types of food cravings: supportive, dispersive and associative. Read this month’s supplement to learn which category most describes your cravings.
In the midst of preparation for hurricane survival, how many of us packed that other first aid kit – the one that provides boosts of energy, focus, and drive in the moment? Read this month’s supplement to learn more about building a micro-resilience first aid kit.
Any lifestyle change is difficult. The first step in considering a change is having a compelling enough reason to do it. Read this month’s supplement to learn how research can help you on your journey – even eating more kale!
Summer, with all of its outdoor activities and travels, provides ample opportunity for slips, trips and falls and the resultant injuries. Read this month’s Supplement to discover how the quantity and quality of exercise can make the difference in recovery time.
Are you experiencing workweek jet lag? Colleagues who are just joining the workforce are. And you may be too if your weekend differs radically from you workweek. Find out what it is and how to avoid it by reading this month’s Supplement.
Of the many roles that women fulfill today, one of the most controversial is being a working mother. Read this month’s supplement to explore some of the most important factors women consider when choosing a place to work.
Bunny Day – Bonne Idée. The Paris of today is not the Paris of years ago. It is more Americanized in many ways, but fortunately, it has retained the French art of dining.
Here in the US, we are in perpetual pursuit of more. More time, more money, more happiness. Read this month’s supplement to explore hygge and the art of intentionally creating intimacy or coziness.
In Punxsutawney, PA where winters are cold and long, as many as 40,000 people gather to celebrate Groundhog Day. In the movie version of Groundhog Day, Bill Murray portrays a meteorologist who is condemned to reliving the same day over and over again. Read this month’s Supplement to explore the powerful lessons in the movie version of Groundhog Day.
Veisalgia sounds terrible doesn’t it? Before you start your internet search, if you welcomed the New Year in a traditional manner, it is likely you have contracted at least a mild strain of it. Read this month’s Supplement to learn more.
With all of the seasonal celebration and travel, it is tempting to loosen the reigns and abandon our wellness rituals entirely. In looking back at 2016, there is no new message or challenge here. We have been challenging ourselves all year long, December just happens to be particularly intense. Read this month’s Supplement to review our 2016..
And you thought all of the debates were over. Think again. The next topic of national significance is the stuffing/dressing controversy. Read this month’s Supplement to learn the landscape of this traditional Thanksgiving side dish.
Living in Florida, it is difficult to tell when the seasons change, particularly in the fall. Fortunately, we have Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte to let us know Autumn is here. Read this month’s Supplement to learn about the health benefits of pumpkin pie spice.
Preparing for life’s adversities begins with momentary, daily practices that create capacity for those unexpected setbacks. Read this month’s Supplement and find something that is just right for you.
While we may not experience the same peaks and valleys as Olympic athletes, we are predisposed to the same effects of stress and challenge on our performance, health and happiness.
Small changes practiced consistently will lead to serious health and fitness gains.
Vacations don’t have to be long and expensive to reap the health and productivity benefits. The real magic is in improved sleep and more autonomy.
Six years after losing hundreds of pounds on the popular TV show “The Biggest Loser”, 14 of the 16 season 8 contestants have regained the weight. Learn about the Leptin Loop and how you can better manage your weight gain and weight loss in this month’s supplement.
The Southwest Florida Blue Zones Project is championing a community-wide wellbeing initiative to make healthy choices easier for everyone in the area. Employers who are actively encouraging a healthy lifestyle are becoming Blue Zone Approved, including some BSK clients.
Consider implementing some “intentional lifestyle choices” into your daily routine to escape the feeling of being crazy busy.
Whatever event you are celebrating, please enjoy the best possible version of your special food and drink. Take care. Be present. Savor. Share it with people you love. Celebration is an essential part of wellbeing regardless of your belief system. Its power rests not in the food and the drink, but in the sharing.
Thinking about a detox or juice cleanse? Think again. And read this month’s Supplement to evaluate the top 2016 trends in the fitness and diet industries.
Risk Management Tip: ‘Tis the season… to give yourself a break. Read this month’s Supplement to find out a few simple ways to recharge during this hectic time of year.
Zeitgeber. Did setting the clocks back affect your body clock? Whether or not you were aware of it, setting the clock back nudged you to go to sleep and wake earlier. This nudge is called a zeitgeber, the German word for “time giver”. Zeitgebers are environmental cues that synchronize our daily biorhythms with Earth’s 24-hour light/dark cycle. They are all around us. Read this month’s Supplement to see what other zeitgebers may be helping or hindering your sleep.
Not only is your body shape determined by heredity, but so are your energy patterns, food preferences and reactions to stress.
Road runner living began when we allowed the clock to govern our physical wellbeing. We use the clock to verify that our present experience is appropriate given the time of day and have become programmed to eat, sleep and move based on the hour rather than a physical cue. By implementing new habits we slow down the “need for speed”.
Mountains of science support the wellness benefits of de-cluttering. It brings us closer to our purpose, and enhances the other modifiable realms of wellbeing including financial, physical, social, and community. Keep only what brings you joy – discard the rest!
Our bodies are designed for periods of rest every 90 – 120 minutes, every day with 6+ hours of sleep, and for longer periods for recreation. Savvy employers honor all of the body’s needs for renewal by encouraging breaks, play, social gatherings, paid holidays and taking vacations.
Look back over your personal exercise history. What types of exercise have you enjoyed? What have you sustained? According to Michelle Segar, PhD, we are playing the long game here. If the goal is to maintain activity over a lifetime and reap the benefits that that brings, try to refocus and start choosing to move in ways that feel good to you. It all counts.
Of the many roles that women fulfill today, one of the most talked about is the role of working mother.
TV dinners were the beginning of America’s love affair with convenience foods. Fortunately, there are fresh, healthy, and easy-to-prepare options that are economical and increasingly widely available.
Once you have captured where you stand financially today, you can make a plan for where you would like to be at the end of the year. With a budget in hand, you can begin to make small changes to improve your personal financial narrative for the coming year and work toward a new financial picture at year end.
The sweet spot is the place where our skills meet the challenge. The two roads to get there are by building strength through repetition and finding peace of mind through outsourcing.
Microresolutions, unlike typical New Year’s resolutions, are small actions that when repeated eventually require no conscious thought. They simply become the way we do something – our personal autopilot, a habit.
BKS Newsletters
If your organization received an audit letter from the Department of Labor today, would you be ready?
There is a great untapped opportunity in creating and fueling a proactive corporate culture, a program we call BKS Vitality™
Increasingly popular in the wake of Health Reform.
What you need to know about today’s options and tomorrow’s opportunities.
By approaching your risk management from a convergent perspective, you can ensure that your assets are sufficiently protected.
To keep up your commitment to wellness, pay attention to the percentage of your population at low risk, the level of participation in your wellness program, and your expectations for return on investment.
What you must do to minimize the impact of changes in your 2013 MOD rating.