When it comes to improving wellbeing, small things make a big difference if you practice them consistently.
Employee wellbeing is an organisational issue not just an individual one. Many factors impact and influence wellbeing, including workload and flexibility, your manager and the organisational culture.
However, while you might not be able to influence these organisational factors, in this Harvard Business Review article, Nataly Kogan provides six simple, science-backed things you can do to improve your wellbeing.
1. Check in with yourself daily.
Asking yourself how you are feeling (without a requirement to ‘fix’ yourself), enables you to become more emotionally aware and research shows that even the act of naming the emotion we are experiencing can have a positive impact on wellbeing.
2. Take a few, short, quality breaks during the day.
A quality break allows you to disconnect, refuel and recharge. Scrolling social media or reading the news doesn’t fit this bill. A good example of a quality break is taking a walk outside. Don’t let the fact that you might only have 10 minutes pose a barrier to taking a quality break.
3. Practice acceptance to focus on what you can control.
Ruminating on stressful situations is a huge drain on our energy. By acknowledging the situation with clarity and focusing on the facts you know to be true, followed by identifying one step you could take to move forward, will help you to focus on what you can control and reduce time spent ruminating on what you can’t.
4. Prioritise micro-moments of connection with colleagues.
How often do you make time at the start of a virtual meeting to check in with your colleagues? By taking time to foster those personal connections, we all feel better for it.
5. Practice gratitude to counter your brain’s negativity bias.
By practicing gratitude, such as writing down three things you are grateful for each day, helps to foster a gratitude mindset which primes us to focus on what is going well in life rather than what isn’t.
6. Practice active rest outside of work.
If we are able to spend time doing things we love outside of work, we are better able to disconnect from work and this feeds other parts of us such as our creativity or physicality. Whether it is reading, gardening, painting, exercise or something else, ensure you prioritise active rest over simply zoning out in front of the TV.
At Inclusive Leadership Company, we highlight the link between inclusion and wellbeing. When our wellbeing is low, we are more likely to operate on autopilot which can inhibit our ability to behave inclusively. Prioritising our wellbeing provides a solid foundation from which we can practice inclusive leadership.
You can access the original article here.
