Due to the pandemic, many people have had to deal with even more intense work routines, often for not knowing how to organize the work that was brought home, in addition to lack of ability to schedule breaks.
Flexible work should not mean constant work.
I’ve been addressing the topic of how breaks are important for a healthy work routine, you can check out some past articles about it here.
Companies can play an important role in promoting mental well-being among their employees, nevertheless, no one else will do it better and as genuinely as you do.
Therefore, consider taking responsibility for your own health, after all, it is the fundamental prerequisite for you to continue your professional activities, today and for many more upcoming years, in the current company you work for, or for any other one, or even for your own!
See some simple yet effective tips below to protect your mental. And the best thing: they only depend exclusively on you.
- Get rid of distractions. The more information you expose your brain to, the more energy it takes to process them, and so the more tired it becomes to work on what really matters. So, keep distractions away, otherwise they will take you away from focus and then will decrease your productivity. Show who’s boss in your choices.
- Turn off your cell phone notifications. So that, you don’t get trapped into the urge to check often your phone. A heads-up here:
Scrolling is not actually bringing you a peace of mind during a spare time, as the information you are downloading means that you are actually uploading it to your mind, it contributes to your brain overload.
- Identify interruptions. For an obvious reason: they interrupt the flow we are in when executing an activity. But what’s not so obvious is the time it takes to get back to where we left off: 23 minutes, according to a University of California study. Now imagine the overload your brain is subjected to each time you are forced to take that time to refocus on a task.
- Control interruptions. Mainly during home-office if sharing the space with other family members, or at the office, due to eventual questions from colleagues. Establish some agreements, and involve them in the solution to spark empathy. Interruptions visibly impact your productivity, but their impact is invisible on your mental health, and their lasting effect is brain exhaustion.
- Avoid multitasking. Performing more than one task at the same time forces mental task switching and the thinking networks in our brain cannot really do lots of things at the same time. So multitasking halts what you are doing and forces you to swicth to doing something else. The lack of focus leads faster the mind to exhaustion.
- Protect your time. More than managing time, you need to manage your energy. Time is our most valuable asset, so use it according to what you feel brings you energy. Then, you are able to convert it to recharge your own body and mental battery, to continue making good use of your time.
- Practice Mindfulness. Be present at the right moment you are engaged with any activity or when communicating to someone. Meditation, among other things, increases our ability to focus and attention, and thus helps to better organize our ideas. I explained more about it in this text. If you have difficulties starting mindfulness on your own, there are several apps that help with this, for example, with guided meditation and they are super simple.
In addition, developing emotional intelligence is essential for learning to deal with stressful situations and developing resilience. Especially for leaders and entrepreneurs, as using empathy in the workplace helps build healthier relationships, which is also critical for a mental well-being.
In case you are wondering how to do this, or where to find practical tools for it, I invite you to schedule a virtual coffee, WhatsApp me!
It will be a pleasure to get to know you better and to be able to help you lead a lighter yet productive life.
What do you do to protect your mental health? Write in the comments and hit the Like 😉
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About me: I’m a High-Performance Coach who uses a Neuroscience-based method to support you in Achieve More with Mental Well-Being.
