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So many of us say we’d like to enjoy better balance in our life and work. But the WFH revolution has meant the line between your home life and your job is increasingly blurry. The current cost-of-living crisis only adds to the stress. Yet, it really pays to think through your priorities. In the long run, it’s hard to do your job well if you don’t look after yourself first. So, here are 8 simple steps to help create a happier, healthier, more successful you.
So many of us say we’d like to enjoy better balance in our life and work. But, adding to the stress of a global pandemic, WFH and home schooling has probably made the line between your home life and your job even more blurry. Yet, it really pays to think through your priorities. In the long run, it’s hard to do your job well if you don’t look after yourself first. So, here are 8 simple steps to help create a happier, healthier, more successful you.
These days, work can bleed into every part of your life. Especially if you’re WFH.
So, down tools on time. You owe it to yourself and your family.
Partly, it’s like the old saying: keep your nose to the grindstone and all you’ll get is a flat nose. You’re just not as good at your job when you’re working late.
But, more fundamentally, business success depends on being clear on your priorities: what’s genuinely important to you. And, because your family is waaaaay more important than your job, you need to organise your family commitments first. Simple.
To find out how to do put this principle into practice, listen to the Manager Tools ‘Yellow M&M’ podcast on work/life balance. (If you’re a manager, or just want to be one, we recommend their entire universe.)
These days, work can bleed into every part of your life. Especially if you’re WFH.
So, down tools on time. You owe it to yourself and your family.
Partly, it’s like the old saying: keep your nose to the grindstone and all you’ll get is a flat nose. You’re just not as good at your job when you’re working late.
But, more fundamentally, business success depends on being clear on your priorities: what’s genuinely important to you. And, because your family is waaaaay more important than your job, you need to organise your family commitments first. Simple.
To find out how to do put this principle into practice, listen to the Manager Tools ‘Yellow M&M’ podcast on work/life balance. (If you’re a manager, or just want to be one, we recommend their entire universe.)
A good night’s rest literally mends your mind. Sleep clears out toxins in the brain. Overnight, flights of angels help you file away your feelings, so that the next day dawns bright and clear.
Yet, some people think that sleep, like lunch, is for wimps. Well-known short sleepers include Donald Trump, and we all know how that turned out. Famously, Arianna Huffington collapsed at work and is now an advocate for sensible sleeping.
Again, if you’re tired, you’re just not as good at your job. But the health impacts of poor sleep can be dramatic – from depression and obesity to immune dysfunction and even death.
So, let your mind and body unwind before bed and aim for around 7.5 hours. If you want more tips on how to sleep better, check out the advice from brilliant sleep scientist Dr Lizzie Hill.
A good night’s rest literally mends your mind. Sleep clears out toxins in the brain. Overnight, flights of angels help you file away your feelings, so that the next day dawns bright and clear.
Yet, some people think that sleep, like lunch, is for wimps. Well-known short sleepers include Donald Trump, and we all know how that turned out. Famously, Arianna Huffington collapsed at work and is now an advocate for sensible sleeping.
Again, if you’re tired, you’re just not as good at your job. But the health impacts of poor sleep can be dramatic – from depression and obesity to immune dysfunction and even death.
So, let your mind and body unwind before bed and aim for around 7.5 hours. If you want more tips on how to sleep better, check out the advice from brilliant sleep scientist Dr Lizzie Hill.
There are things you can control. There are things you can influence.
There are also things you’re concerned about – but don’t control and can’t influence.
Make the first your focus. Devote your energies to things you can control. It’s more satisfying in that you ‘get things done’. But it also beats the negative stress loop that comes from bellyaching.
So, be upbeat, especially about things you can influence. Positive solutions are far more welcome than merely pointing out the problems.
In the era of constant ‘doom-scrolling’, it’s hard not to obsess about the big issues. And it’s your democratic right, if not your duty, to have an informed view. But prioritising your own sh1t is a great way to reduce your stress levels and stay frosty.
There are things you can control. There are things you can influence.
There are also things you’re concerned about – but don’t control and can’t influence.
Make the first your focus. Devote your energies to things you can control. It’s more satisfying in that you ‘get things done’. But it also beats the negative stress loop that comes from bellyaching.
So, be upbeat, especially about things you can influence. Positive solutions are far more welcome than merely pointing out the problems.
In the era of constant ‘doom-scrolling’, it’s hard not to obsess about the big issues. And it’s your democratic right, if not your duty, to have an informed view. But prioritising your own sh1t is a great way to reduce your stress levels and stay frosty.
Reading for just 6 minutes can reduce stress by 68%.
But that’s not why great leaders tend to be wide readers. (The average CEO reads 4 or 5 books a month.)
Good books – fiction and non-fiction – are also the fastest way to:
• learn and build experience
• gain human insight and develop empathy
• remain a rounded human being.
Unlike watching TV, reading rewires your brain by giving you more time to think, feel and absorb the information. It can improve your vocabulary and your own writing – and even slow down the effects of ageing on the brain.
Too busy to read? Take a look at Barack Obama’s reading list. He read at a rate of knots while holding down the biggest job on the planet.
Reading for just 6 minutes can reduce stress by 68%.
But that’s not why great leaders tend to be wide readers. (The average CEO reads 4 or 5 books a month.)
Good books – fiction and non-fiction – are also the fastest way to:
• learn and build experience
• gain human insight and develop empathy
• remain a rounded human being.
Unlike watching TV, reading rewires your brain by giving you more time to think, feel and absorb the information. It can improve your vocabulary and your own writing – and even slow down the effects of ageing on the brain.
Too busy to read? Take a look at Barack Obama’s reading list. He read at a rate of knots while holding down the biggest job on the planet.
Feeling tired, stressed, fed up? Who isn’t these days?
When we’re hungry or ‘hangry’, we crave sweet treats and fast food. But this kind of quick fix puts your blood glucose on a roller coaster. Your energy, attention and moods go screaming up and down.
According to Dr David Reilly of the WEL programme, the answer is to ‘eat food’.
He defines food as:
‘anything you can eat for nutrition which is, or has recently been, alive’.
So, an orange is food; a chocolate orange probably isn’t.
Trouble is we live in a world where calorie-dense foods are cheap, widely available and yummy. So, we do need to put a bit of thought into a healthier diet. Over time, you’ll feel so much better.
Feeling tired, stressed, fed up? Who isn’t these days?
When we’re hungry or ‘hangry’, we crave sweet treats and fast food. But this kind of quick fix puts your blood glucose on a roller coaster. Your energy, attention and moods go screaming up and down.
According to Dr David Reilly of the WEL programme, the answer is to ‘eat food’.
He defines food as:
‘anything you can eat for nutrition which is, or has recently been, alive’.
So, an orange is food; a chocolate orange probably isn’t.
Trouble is we live in a world where calorie-dense foods are cheap, widely available and yummy. So, we do need to put a bit of thought into a healthier diet. Over time, you’ll feel so much better.
Exercise is the one thing proven to reduce an astonishingly wide range of risks to your health and wellbeing.
But do you need to bust it daily down the gym?
Nope. You get all the benefits just by walking for 10 minutes, three times a day.
But if you want to step up your exercise habit, the trick is to find something you enjoy. (Hint: if you don’t like it, you won’t do it.)
There are so many free online classes to try that you’re sure to find something that suits you. Maybe you’re one of the few people in the UK who didn’t try one of Joe Wicks’ 20-minute workouts? Or if you want to be a bit more zen, YouTube yoga superstar Adrienne is a good place to start. But if cheering up is what you need, this ‘ceilidh dance workout’ from KeltaFit with music from the Red Hot Chilli Pipers should work wonders.
Exercise is the one thing proven to reduce an astonishingly wide range of risks to your health and wellbeing.
But do you need to bust it daily down the gym?
Nope. You get all the benefits just by walking for 10 minutes, three times a day.
But if you want to step up your exercise habit, the trick is to find something you enjoy. (Hint: if you don’t like it, you won’t do it.)
There are so many free online classes to try that you’re sure to find something that suits you. Maybe you’re one of the few people in the UK who didn’t try one of Joe Wicks’ 20-minute workouts? Or if you want to be a bit more zen, YouTube yoga superstar Adrienne is a good place to start. But if cheering up is what you need, this ‘ceilidh dance workout’ from KeltaFit with music from the Red Hot Chilli Pipers should work wonders.
Lockdown, eh?
While stuck at home, we promised ourselves we’d learn a language or write a novel.
And what did we do?
We ate chocolate and sofa-surfed through the entire Netflix catalogue. How about you?
And yet, flexing our own creative muscles is better for us than a box set binge.
Write. Draw. Cook. Sing. Knit. Doodle.
It doesn’t matter what you do. Do something creative, anything you enjoy.
In our grown-up lives, we don’t flex the muscles of imagination enough. So, a little dash of creative activity helps your mind stay calm, strong and flexible. If you’re wondering how to get going, this classic booklet A Technique for Producing Ideas is wonderful and can be read in about 20 minutes.
Neuroscience reckons that we talk to ourselves at an average rate of 4,000 words a minute.
So, make sure that the voice in your head talks to you kindly.
Cheering yourself on is great, but so is self- compassion. Life can be hard, luck runs out, and you can’t win ‘em all.
Use ‘you’ instead of ‘I’ in self-talk and let your inner voice take the longer, wiser, kinder view.
Why does it matter? Well, merde materialises, even in the luckiest, best-managed lives. And when we are stressed and suffering, it’s easy to see the world through grey-tinted spectacles. But you know what? Give yourself a break. The person who never made a mistake never made anything.
Like Paul McCartney sang, ‘Let it Be’. Broken hearts can mend, and the sun will shine again.
Neuroscience reckons that we talk to ourselves at an average rate of 4,000 words a minute.
So, make sure that the voice in your head talks to you kindly.
Cheering yourself on is great, but so is self- compassion. Life can be hard, luck runs out, and you can’t win ‘em all.
Use ‘you’ instead of ‘I’ in self-talk and let your inner voice take the longer, wiser, kinder view.
Why does it matter? Well, merde materialises, even in the luckiest, best-managed lives. And when we are stressed and suffering, it’s easy to see the world through grey-tinted spectacles. But you know what? Give yourself a break. The person who never made a mistake never made anything.
Like Paul McCartney sang, ‘Let it Be’. Broken hearts can mend, and the sun will shine again.
If you care about progressive ideas that drive sustainable profitable business, see how the world’s leading firms are changing their thinking in our ‘Dare to Care’ case studies.
If you care about progressive ideas that drive sustainable profitable business, see how
the world’s leading firms are changing their thinking in our ‘Dare to Care’ case studies.
