You know how it’s said that ensuring you’re physically fit, all vitamin-ed up and eating those healthy greens — and now a vaccine — might help you if you contract covid-19? What’s the vaccine-greens-fitness equivalent for business or, more importantly, for employees?Let’s face it, people are fatigued, stressed and so desperately waiting for the pandemic’s other shoe to drop so it can bugger off faster. We’re all a little meh and being distant and, honestly, distance probably isn’t helping matters. Surely there are other more productive or constructive things to be done to “get through it,” or “ride that ’rona wave”?It’s about time we get proactive in supporting our mental and emotional bandwidth, not simply the physical, and it’s high time organisations collaborate, too, to help drive a positive culture in this regard.Mental pliability might well be the way. Think about it: we can train our bodies to adapt and withstand; we can teach our minds or ‘rewire’ them for greater gratitude and happiness. So why not build mental muscle for great emotional and mental strength?.According to Rich Fernandez in Harvard Business Review, over 50 years of research show that “resilience is built by attitudes, behaviors and social supports that can be adopted and cultivated by anyone.” The tools to assist with this are all around us, so why not work to help our teams do so now? A playbook or step-by-step guide would be nice but, until that arrives, we can just co-create our own little game plan.How we hardwire greater resilience internally depends on such factors, Fernandez notes, as “optimism; the ability to stay balanced and manage strong or difficult emotions; a sense of safety and a strong social support system”..#1. Reframe negative thoughts and centre them on real goalsFor example, rather than “this is way too ambitious; it is not possible”, replace your negative thinking with “if I work hard and focus on this — maybe change my approach a little — I’ll improve my chances of success.” Ensure a more positive mindset and culture internally for this across the board..#2. Challenge yourself to do at least one difficult thing each dayAnalyse your boundaries and get to know the limits of what is and isn’t possible for now, and be bold enough to pick something slightly beyond this, slightly outside your comfort zone. Then, make sure to take one small step every day towards it, rewarding yourself when you’ve achieved it. Keep setting new boundaries, and pushing further and further. Tolerate discomfort for a greater purpose, and steer away from the temptation to find shortcuts or quick fixes (get uncomfortable and do the hard work). Setting up a culture of challenging tasks across the team can help embed this further, training our minds to think and act in a different way..#3. Use the 10-minute ruleMental strength can help you be productive, even when you might not feel like it. Focus on doing 10 more minutes of any given task before you “call it a day” or take a break. Just 10 more minutes pushes you further, might lead you closer to your goals, and lets your mind fight your body’s urge to quit or rest just a little longer.It takes time to grow stronger and become better mentally, just as it would take to ensure greater physical prowess but you can learn or train yourself to be more resilient and thus flex the mental equivalent of bulging biceps. This has a potentially greater long-term payoff: healthy, happy, content people who’re a bit better at coping with life stresses during and post corona.Imagine if we encouraged and facilitated the above in the workplace, built into each person’s daily role delivery? Even just that 10-minute rule could be a gamechanger in helping ensure we’re all just a little more mentally resilient, now and well into the future. It’s good business and just good sense.First published on marklives.com
You know how it’s said that ensuring you’re physically fit, all vitamin-ed up and eating those healthy greens — and now a vaccine — might help you if you contract covid-19? What’s the vaccine-greens-fitness equivalent for business or, more importantly, for employees?Let’s face it, people are fatigued, stressed and so desperately waiting for the pandemic’s other shoe to drop so it can bugger off faster. We’re all a little meh and being distant and, honestly, distance probably isn’t helping matters. Surely there are other more productive or constructive things to be done to “get through it,” or “ride that ’rona wave”?It’s about time we get proactive in supporting our mental and emotional bandwidth, not simply the physical, and it’s high time organisations collaborate, too, to help drive a positive culture in this regard.Mental pliability might well be the way. Think about it: we can train our bodies to adapt and withstand; we can teach our minds or ‘rewire’ them for greater gratitude and happiness. So why not build mental muscle for great emotional and mental strength?.According to Rich Fernandez in Harvard Business Review, over 50 years of research show that “resilience is built by attitudes, behaviors and social supports that can be adopted and cultivated by anyone.” The tools to assist with this are all around us, so why not work to help our teams do so now? A playbook or step-by-step guide would be nice but, until that arrives, we can just co-create our own little game plan.How we hardwire greater resilience internally depends on such factors, Fernandez notes, as “optimism; the ability to stay balanced and manage strong or difficult emotions; a sense of safety and a strong social support system”..#1. Reframe negative thoughts and centre them on real goalsFor example, rather than “this is way too ambitious; it is not possible”, replace your negative thinking with “if I work hard and focus on this — maybe change my approach a little — I’ll improve my chances of success.” Ensure a more positive mindset and culture internally for this across the board..#2. Challenge yourself to do at least one difficult thing each dayAnalyse your boundaries and get to know the limits of what is and isn’t possible for now, and be bold enough to pick something slightly beyond this, slightly outside your comfort zone. Then, make sure to take one small step every day towards it, rewarding yourself when you’ve achieved it. Keep setting new boundaries, and pushing further and further. Tolerate discomfort for a greater purpose, and steer away from the temptation to find shortcuts or quick fixes (get uncomfortable and do the hard work). Setting up a culture of challenging tasks across the team can help embed this further, training our minds to think and act in a different way..#3. Use the 10-minute ruleMental strength can help you be productive, even when you might not feel like it. Focus on doing 10 more minutes of any given task before you “call it a day” or take a break. Just 10 more minutes pushes you further, might lead you closer to your goals, and lets your mind fight your body’s urge to quit or rest just a little longer.It takes time to grow stronger and become better mentally, just as it would take to ensure greater physical prowess but you can learn or train yourself to be more resilient and thus flex the mental equivalent of bulging biceps. This has a potentially greater long-term payoff: healthy, happy, content people who’re a bit better at coping with life stresses during and post corona.Imagine if we encouraged and facilitated the above in the workplace, built into each person’s daily role delivery? Even just that 10-minute rule could be a gamechanger in helping ensure we’re all just a little more mentally resilient, now and well into the future. It’s good business and just good sense.First published on marklives.com
