1. People don’t pay attention to things that are free. If we made it free, you would probably go online, read a few skills, think it was neat, then go back to doing what you were doing. By paying (even a little bit) you’ll prioritize it and make progress. In other words, things works better if you pay for them (this has been scientifically proven).
2. We don’t want to put ads on our site. We are trying to get our users to focus on making progress, one skill at a time. If we put ads up, focus is lost (and our site looks cluttered). We want you to be able to log on, read what you need and then go back to your life.
3. We worked really hard on this. It may look simple (that’s the point) but there is a ton of thought and research behind each of the programs. We want to be able to continue to develop new programs for you - the payment helps us do that.

Can I sell Vitality Skills?
Yes. We have an affiliate program. Basically, we give you $2 for every paid person you send our way and we give the people you send us a 15% discount. You get an unique link and code to make it all happen. Read more about our affiliate program.

Who are you anyway?
Dr. Mark Stibich heads up Vitality Skills. He received his PhD in Health Behavior Change from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He has spent years studying how to get people to make changes and develop habits. He oversees all the writing and development of programs at Vitality Skills. We do not outsource our programs to "health writers." Every word was written by a PhD expert on behavior.

What is this "one week. one change." business?
That’s our tag line: one week. one change. no failure. It’s all you need to know about our approach to health and vitality. Try one change for a week. It’s an experiment. We make the change reasonable so you won’t fail and you give it your best shot for a week. You’ll make progress.

Why do I have to give a credit card for the free trial?
Your credit card will not be charged until the trial period expires, but if we left the trial open to everyone, we would get some real troublemakers in our forum. Collecting credit card information screens out the people who just want to be disruptive, leaving Vitality Skills a better place for the rest of us.

Isn’t this available for free on the Internet?
No. What you’ll find on the Internet are "tips" and "top ten" articles designed to bring you to the page and display ads. These are typically written by people who have no training in behavior change. They actually set you up for failure by making things seem "too easy." Vitality Skills is unique. We take simple changes and help you to focus on them for one week. We support your change, take it seriously and help you make progress.

Can I do more than one skill at a time?
No. When we were tested Vitality Skills, we let some people do more than one thing each week. They failed - even just trying two skills at a time. The people who focused on one skill were able to complete it and make progress. Change is hard. Focusing on one skill per week is plenty.

Why can’t I see all the skills?
You can only see the skill you are working on and any skills you have completed. In our testing, when people could see all the skills, they would go online, browse and read the skills for hours and then do nothing. Success comes from doing, not in reading. We want you to focus on your skill for the week and do that well. If you read all the skills, you’ll do none of them. Trust us on this.
Check out a video on using Vitality Skills.

Get started with Vitality Skills:

1. Browse Programs: Click on this button in the top bar to see everything Vitality Skills has to offer. Click on a phrase and the programs in that category appear. Click on a program name to learn more.
2. Program Start: Once you choose a program, we’ll ask you a couple of questions to help you track your progress. You’ll see bars that come up and ask you to rate you stress, sleep, energy level and other factors. You’ll also be asked to create a reward for yourself when you finish the program - we’ll remind you later.
3. Skill Pages: Each skill page has five tabs. The "overview" tab gives some background to the skill, why it works and what results to expect. The "steps" tab gives step-by-step instructions for doing the skill. The "tips" tag helps you support and strategize the change you are trying to make. The "more" tab gives you some extra things to do in case you have already mastered the skill or want to take on a little more. Finally, the "downloads" tab has links to a summary of the skill, reminder cards and any forms that you need. Print these documents to give you support. You’ll also see a counter on the right that tells you what skill you are working on and what day of that skill you are on.
4. Commitment: Each "steps" tab ends with a commitment statement. This is a one-sentence summary of the skill and everything you need to remember for the week.
5. E-mail Reminders: You’ll get an e-mail reminder every day about the skill you are working on, with some additional tips and advice. Use them to remind you of your commitment or turn them off if you want (under the "info and settings" tab).
6. Closing a Skill: After seven days, a skill will close. You’ll receive an e-mail prompting you to go to the site. There you will be asked a question: "Do you wish to repeat the skill, continue to the next skill or place the skill in your ‘maintenance’ list?" Answering this question "closes" the skill, allowing you to move on to the next one (or repeat the skill).

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT:

My Plan: This page helps you see what you have done and plan your next programs. Here you can see your current reward, plan up to six months of programs, keep track of programs that you have completed and keep a list of skills that you want to maintain.

Graphs: This is a display of the information we collect at the beginning of each program.

Forum: Share your questions, comments, suggestions and thoughts here. This is the best place to get a quick answer to a question or to find more information and support. Our staff closely monitors the forum and will help answer your questions.

Journal: Vitality Skills users are given a simple online journal to keep track of thoughts, ideas and musings. This is completely private - only you can see it.

Settings and Info: Here is where you can make some changes. You can edit your information, manage billing and change your e-mail reminder settings.
Vitality Skills has a complete worksite wellness component. You can use Vitality Skills to improve the health of your employees. The result? Lower health care costs, less absenteeism and presenteeism (sick people showing up to work), better morale, increased productivity, reduced stress and much more.

The No P.I.T.A. Rule: We have designed Vitality Skills so that nothing about using it in the workplace will be a P.I.T.A. (Pain In The A#$). Vitality Skills is easy to set up and administer. Your employees only need to spend a few minutes each week on the website. You can have some fun arranging groups, contests and other events (if you want) and you can see all the participation and outcome data in real time. We’ll even help you design other wellness campaigns.

Price: Please e-mail us for pricing. We are sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Participation: The key to successful wellness programs is participation. Vitality Skills does not burden participants with long surveys, daily tracking or other time consuming activities. Instead, we ask users to log on once a week and spend about five minutes reading. They can then print out summaries and reminders (and not have to go back to the website for a week). We want the focus to be on making healthy changes, not using our website. We help you increase participation through tracking systems for incentive programs and providing a well-designed welcome packet to motivate that first (and most important) login.

What You Get: It is our goal to help you help your employees. With that in mind, Vitality Skills is designed to be a stand-alone wellness program or enhance an existing program. You will get:

• Welcome Packets: Each participant will receive a welcome packet. The welcome packet is designed to make an impression on your employees. This packet contains a "wrapper" that motivates your employees to use Vitality Skills and a stack of printed "sticky notes" to help remind users about the changes they are working on and to track their progress.
• Branded Login Page: Your company will have its own branded login page with your logo and colors on it.
• Admin Page: As an administrator, you’ll be able to access the admin page for your company. This page includes the features below. Everything is gathered in one place for you so you don’t have to search or remember where things are.
  • Incentive Tracking: Employees can opt into any incentive program that you have. You’ll be able to track the number of skills that each employee completed.
  • Monthlies, Booklets and Posters: We have created materials that you can adapt for your workplace. We have 12 monthly themes based on Vitality Skills. Each theme comes with editable posters and e-mail announcements as well as a list of suggestions of workplace changes you can make. In addition, we have created manuals for managers, HR personnel and wellness coordinators with suggestions for incentive programs, healthy cafes, creating peer "skill groups" and much more.
  • Outcome Tracking: We ask users to rate factors relating to health and vitality like stress, energy, sleep, eating habits, overall health, and productivity. In the admin interface, you’ll be able to see the aggregate results of these ratings. In fact, you’ll be able to see how they change over time. For an additional fee (see below) you can also conduct an SF-12 survey. This two-minute survey gives a scientifically valid assessment of current functional health (the SF-12 has been used in clinical trials and other studies, appearing in over 1000 scientific publications). The SF-12 also will return predicted medical expenditures, which you’ll be able to see in aggregate.

Add-Ons: In addition to the core services of Vitality Skills, we also provide some add-ons to meet your specific needs:

• Wellness for Smart People: Our series of presentations and wellness programs are designed for intelligent, interested participants. The style is positive, interactive and energetic. See our list of topics to learn more.
  1. Presentations: Each of the talks draws from the latest scientific research and provides participants with practical changes they can make to improve their health and vitality. Topics include stress, mindful eating, mental health, and more. Talks can also be customized for the client’s needs.
  2. Wellness Training Programs: These four-session training programs take participants on an in-depth study of a particular topic (like stress, healthy eating or mental health). Each session lasts an hour and finishes with a practical, doable skill for participants to try over the coming week. All talks are conducted by Dr. Mark Stibich. Training programs can be customized to the client’s needs.
• Wellness Assessments: We have made arrangements with the WellFit Group to conduct wellness assessments for your worksite. These assessments including ergonomics, occupational health issues, as well as general wellness issues. Each assessment concludes with a report with detailed recommendations for optimizing the worksite for employee wellness and morale. Cost varies based on size and type of worksite.
• Group Telecoaching: We have also made arrangements with Dr. Dave Krueger (former Baylor Professor of Psychiatry) to participate in his "7 Steps to a New Life Story" telecoaching program. The program consists of five one-hour calls (weekly) complemented by a workbook. This program is especially geared toward people going through life transitions such as divorce, grief or other major change. The cost per participant is $127 for the entire workshop.

More Information: Please contact us for more information about our worksite wellness programs. Just call 713-874-1237 or e-mail info@vitallityskills.com.
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AFFILIATE PROGRAM

Here’s the Deal: We don’t want to spend a lot on advertising, so we’re asking our users to be our ad campaign. We’ll even split the savings with you and your friends and family. Bottom line: you get 2 dollars for every paid subscription you bring in, and anyone whom you steer to Vitality Skills gets a 15% discount.

You Make Some Money: We would like you to help us spread the word about Vitality Skills - we’ll even pay you to do it. For every person you get to open a paid subscription - you get 2 dollars. If you have a blog, a lot of friends or a big family, that can add up to some nice cash for you. We want it to be easy for you, so we’ll give you all the tools you need. Keep reading for more info.

Your People Get a Discount: We don’t want to put you in the awkward position of trying to make your readers, friends or family buy something so you can make money, so we going to let you give them a discount. They’ll get 15% off Vitality Skills. You get to bring them a great deal, as well as potentially help them change their lives and get healthier.

We Don’t Have to Pay for Ads: Ads are getting expensive and they don’t work as well as word of mouth. We would much rather pay you, our loyal users, than an Internet ad company. So basically, we’re offering to split the difference - we give you some cash, we give your friends and family a discount and we give the Internet ad company less money. Sound good? It’s a win-win-win for you, your friends/family/readers and us.

How It Works: Contact us to sign up. We'll send you an e-mail with everything you need to become an affiliate. We want this to be easy and fun for you, so here's what you get:

• A coupon code. This code will give anyone using it 15% off Vitality Skills. This code is unique - only you have it. It lets us track how many people you have helped sign up for Vitality Skills.
• A unique link to post on your website or blog that will track people who sign up and give them a discount.
• A sample e-mail to send to potential users (you can edit it to fit your own style).
• A sample blog post (please make changes to fit your voice).
• A coupon template - you fill in your code and print.

Become a Vitality Skills Affiliate

The Fine Print: There’s not much in the fine print - only that you will only get paid for people who have actually paid for Vitality Skills themselves (people who cancel during the trial period don’t count). We pay by calendar month, and try really hard to get you a check by the 15th of the following month. For example, if you sign up 10 people in January, you should have a check for those people by the 15th of February.

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Back to Worksite Wellness

Wellness for Smart People

Wellness is fascinating. It is the intersection of medicine, behavior, psychology and research. Wellness should never be boring. We were frustrated that employees often roll their eyes at the mention of wellness, so we created a series of talks and trainings that we call “Wellness for Smart People.” We use research and hard science, combined with actionable direction to help participants make practical, meaningful improvements in their lives.

FORMATS
We have two formats: one-hour presentations and in-depth trainings (four one-hour sessions).

Our one-hour presentations are interactive and energetic. We encourage questions and feedback during the presentation to ensure that participants have their questions answered. The purpose of the presentation is to motivate participants to taking concrete action toward greater health. Each participant will leave with a handout outlining steps to be taken.

Our in-depth trainings are tailored to meet your needs. Beginning with one of the topics below, we will create a training to fit the demographics of your employees and address specific situations. As the presentations progress, they adapted to the ongoing feedback and progress of the participants. Participants will receive training material that will help them begin and maintain new habits and approaches to wellness.

TOPICS
Sleep Training: Dolphins (and ducks) can sleep with one eye open – it’s called unihemispheric sleep, which means they can continue to swim (or fly) and watch for predators while sleeping. Because people have both eyes (and sides of the brain) asleep at the same time, our whole brain stays on the alert when we feel stress, worsening our sleep quality. Learn how to use this fact (and others) about sleep physiology to fall asleep faster, sleep deeper and get more energy from a good night’s sleep.

Relaxation Training: Estimates say that up to 80% of doctor visits are due to stress. We, as a nation, need to relearn how we deal with stress and create relaxation in our lives. By understanding the mechanisms behind stress, we can work to keep stress from impacting our health. From cognitive techniques to simple relaxation breathing, this training will increase relaxation and reduce stress.

Stress and Change: Between 20 and 25 percent of people who experience a major change in their life will develop depression. Clearly, there is something about change (good and bad) that impacts our health. Learn methods to stabilize yourself during change and convert the experience into a positive and healthy one.

Optimal Lifestyle Training: When did being healthy become so hard? We don’t think it needs to be. Learn simple and straightforward guidelines for eating, exercise, stress reduction, sleep and more. Leave the confusion behind and hear what you really need to focus on to be healthy and well.

Living With Chronic Illness: The chance that you or someone you love has a chronic illness is nearly 100%. Based on techniques used to help people adapt to illness, this workshop can help you understand and advance your relationship with your illness (or a loved one’s illness). Learn to expand your definition of health, gain control over information, communicate about illness and more.

Numbers and Warning Signs: If everyone knew the signs of a stroke or heart attack, we could save lives. If everyone knew and understood their blood pressure, cholesterol and other basic health numbers, we could prevent countless illnesses. Learn to monitor your health and catch trends before they become serious.

Critical Health Info: Your health information is one of the most important factors in making good medical decisions. Spend time creating a family medical history, developing a system to track your own medical events, learning to look for clues to illnesses in your symptoms and being prepared in case of an emergency.

Be Happier: Instead of talking about stress and illness, how about spending some time talking about happiness? Using worksheets and cognitive exercises, you can increase your happiness and stay on top of mood changes and depression. Refocus your curiosity and reconnect with your happiness.

Understanding the Health System: The health system is confusing. Understanding patient rights, health care worker designations, billing practices, issues around prescription drugs and medical procedures (and more) is critical to getting excellent health care. This topic focuses on preventative and wellness services like screenings while addressing questions about the health care system from participants (collected before the talk). Participants will also develop skills for effective doctor-patient communication. This topic can be tailored to your specific health care carrier.

Survive Life: What do crossword puzzles, salmon and good breathing habits have in common? They can all help you to live a long, illness-free life. There are even research findings that show a positive attitude toward aging can extend life by 7.5 years. Learn the changes you can make to increase your chances of a long, healthy life.

Mindful Eating: The average meal lasts less than 11 minutes. We eat too fast, we don’t taste our foods and we eat (far) too much. Mindful eating can change all that. Instead of focusing on what you eat, mindful eating focuses on how you eat it. Learn to appreciate food again, eat more slowly and be satisfied with less. You may even lose weight naturally – without dieting.

Tailored Talks: If you have a specific need that isn’t here or would like to mix and match topics – just let us know. We are happy to develop new talks and trainings for your situation.

Back to Worksite Wellness