Inpulse’s recent survey results found that nearly two-thirds of employees said their most common feelings amidst the coronavirus pandemic are anxiety, stress or distraction.
Operating in a world we barely recognise, with the hum of constant anxiety reverberating through and around us, has suddenly become our #newnorm. Navigating this journey, and staying strong and resilient, are key if we’re to stay grounded and on top of our game. Never has it been so important for leaders to put their oxygen masks on first and intentionally set themselves up to be at their best.
Last week’s #newnorm article looked at how the brain responds in times of uncertainty, the importance of managing our mental state and creating a vision of how you want to lead during this time of great ambiguity.
This week, we’re focusing on #newnorm control and daily rituals.
We’re currently not in control of much but there are many things we can master. That’s where our focus should be if we are to avoid overwhelm, elevated anxiety and a dip in our energy levels.
Let’s talk control first. We have a choice about how we react to everything that comes our way. We have a choice on what to focus and expend our energy. Viktor Emil Frankl, the Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist and survivor of four concentration camps, summed this up beautifully after his experience during the war “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
The bottom line is we only have a finite amount of energy so prioritising what we can control, influence and change, enables us to be at our most effective and energised.
The Sphere of Control/Influence is a great model to use to help you identify and take responsibility for your feelings and choices, in order to move into a position of power. It helps to identify the areas of which you have total, part and no control. You can even use it to consider the overlap of what you can control and what really matters. Pondering the answers to this, in line with your ‘Best Self’ work last week, will help you identify your ‘sweet spot’ areas and enable you to focus your energy on what matters and what you can influence.
Moving onto your daily ritual, I love the saying “How you start your day, is how your day will go!” With this in mind, how we start our day is key to managing ourselves through Covid-19’s lockdown. This has been a game changer for me and can be for you too.
Firstly, our brains have limited capacity and cannot work at their best continuously throughout the day. Shorter bursts of intense, focused work help to make us most effective. Bear this in mind as you start to plot out your day, asking yourself:
· When am I at my most productive?
· When do my energy levels tend to dip?
· What tasks tire my mind?
Armed with this knowledge, you can plot the times of the day during which you’ll carry out your more intense, focused work. For me the best times are the morning and early to mid-afternoon, as I know I’m an early bird rather than a nocturnal owl.
Next, identify the standard daily actions you have to carry out that come relatively easy to you and insert those into your calendar. These might be answering emails and carrying out your admin.
It’s important to keep energy levels up and remain in a positive mindset. Therefore, you should intermingle your focused bursts of work, with elements that boost your mental energy - helping you de-stress and move from a negative to positive state.
Think about:
· What keeps me focused?
· What energises me?
· What inspires me?
· What changes my negative mood swing to a positive?
Some of my answers to these questions included dog walks, yoga, 7-minute intense workout and TedTalks. Others clients have included, creating and playing their ‘winning’ music compilation, reading blogs or listening to inspiring podcasts Whatever your preference, don’t forget to pop them into your daily/weekly planner around the times you estimate your energy levels will dip.
The last thing to mention when it comes to your ritual of planning your day is to remain realistic. The reward network in our brain gets triggered, which leads us feeling good and encouraging us to continue to perform well. As you get to the end of your day/week, you want to be able to pat yourself on the back and reward yourself for a job well done. What you don’t want is to feel that you’ve failed for only completing 20% of your tasks, potentially leading to negativity. It’s therefore important you insert approximately 10-20% contingency time into your planner to take into account the unexpected calls, emails and urgent actions that may emerge throughout your day.
Let me know how you get on if you’d like, and you can also download my Capitaliser Weekly Worksheet from the website which may help with your daily and weekly planning.
I’d like to end on highlighting that emotions are contagious, just like Covid-19. We’re in control of our emotions, we can stem our negativity and make our positive emotions more infectious. I touched on the importance of being intentional and about controlling the areas of our lives that we can and that matter during this time. Keeping in control and influencing your emotions positively is in your gift. If you do this, the impact will be for the greater good and you’ll be able to stem the negative, fear-filled emotions that can go viral. Remember as a leader you’re an important role-model, you can inspire and influence and it’s up to you to lead the way.
Next week, we will consider how to create the right team culture in the #newnorm.
If you’re a leader and would like to find out more about the #newnorm - leading through change and uncertainty programme, click here.
(Inpulse survey results HRWeek article can be found here.)