School Nutrition Education Program
Working Remotely and Having a Positive Attitude
USDA Professional Standards Code 4140/4150
Guest
Bart Christian
Mr. Bart Christian, who is a nationally recognized speaker and the school nutrition industry.
What’s a piece of advice you can suggest to people in the food service industry to stay motivated?
• The most important thing that we need to do is to protect is our mind.
• Don’t inundate yourself with negative news.
• Watching the news can be overwhelming, and it’s important to keep your mind healthy as
possible. I suggest not watching the news for 48 hours, and I promise you by that time, 48 hours
later, things are not going to change much.
• Stay up to be a good resource for your customers and be a positive resource for the people around
you.
• Having a positive outlook in life will help you accomplish tasks in a home setting.
What kind of skills do you think would help individuals who are working from home to be prepared
when switching back to office setting?
Spend as much time working on yourself. You’re only as strong as the construction that you create in
yourself in your job. I believe people who work hard on their job tend to be moderately successful, but
people who are hard on themselves and then translate that into working hard on their job, tend to be
supremely successful.
Here are the three top things we need to ponder:
• Delivering communication
• Handling Change
• Dealing with difficult situations
What virtual tools have you been using on a regular basis?
Zoom – I use zoom because it’s simple and convenient to use. I have a friend from New York who has 30
family members scattered across the country. They’ve been doing routine Thursday evening and for me,
it’s a great way to communicate and reach out to people during this pandemic.
Here are the advantages and disadvantages of having zoom meeting:
Advantages
• Touch base with people and see them face to face
• As long as you have a good internet connection, you’re good!
Disadvantages
• You can’t talk at the same time
• People don’t know how to mute their mics
I also recommend using Join.me, a free service virtual tool that allows you to do a once on one call, you
can do screen sharing and things in nature.
What tips can you give to people on how to adjust in a new learning environment?
• When you are not comfortable, I think it’s very important for people to understand that it doesn’t
necessarily mean you have to sit there, listen or study facing a computer whole day.
• The reality is, you just have to let it play. If I’m wanting to learn something, I’ll put something on
my computer and just let it play while I’m working, doing something else.
• You don’t have to be formal to learn. You can learn in any environment, as long as you absorb
information and take advantage of them.
• Replace that negative input with positive learning input.
• Revisit powerful information that made an impact in your life – re-read a book, re-listen to your
favorite music, re-study the course you liked
• Going back and hearing something twice, reading something twice for three or four times,
sometimes you might find yourself coming over with a completely different understanding.
How do you maintain a healthy relationship with your family while working from home?
• Respecting space – It’s very important that your spouse respect your space if you’re working from
home. If you’re both working along, I suggest you take shifts in taking care of your children
• Allocating time – During off-work, allocate a time for leisure. Block out a time for a specific task.
Make sure that you both enjoy the quality time and stay on the lighter side of things. Quality time
is important and keeping your attitude right.
• Increase sensitivity – Be sure that you’re being sensitive because stress is inevitable – when we
are frustrated, make sure we don’t translate that frustration to somebody else. It’s about
listening, understanding and give people the space that they need