The news about the emotional and mental well-being of today’s workforce isn’t great.
Adapting to a post-pandemic world, technological change, concern about job security in a world where AI can write up a meeting agenda in 3 seconds, employees are feeling stress. In 2023, a survey of American workers by JobSage showed that 67% were stressed and 54% were anxious due to their jobs. A recent Mercer Future of Work Global Talent Trends report found that employee exhaustion is seen as one of the biggest obstacles to HR transformation in 2023.
Being able to perform at your potential and navigate stress is a balance you try to walk on a daily basis. Many of the executives I coach are trying to ensure their internal tanks are replenished while they meet the demands and pressures of their roles, so they can provide leadership and be a role model to their teams of how to do your best in a challenging environment.
Seeing the emerging spring flowers starting to pop up in my neighbourhood as the spring approaches got me thinking about how crucial it is to attend to our own personal needs. As the flowers emerge after a long cold winter, there’s a lot of preparation that’s happening below the ground that we don’t see or even appreciate. Growing, stretching and realizing your highest potential isn’t something that happens overnight, because you attended the right workshop, or had a great coaching conversation, or you read an inspiring book.
I’ve shared about my relatively recent foray into cold dipping, which I began in the middle of a cold Canadian winter and involved me immersing myself in Lake Ontario for 4-5 minutes. What started as a “Sure, I’ll try this once!” choice has evolved into a new daily ritual I never would have thought would be for me. Its impact on my mental clarity, sustained energy and reduced inflammation in my body were just some of the reasons this has become such an important way for me to start my date. I had to unlearn a mindset I had about this experience and discover how readily my body and mindset could adapt, and discover something wonderful in the process.
One positive choice often leads to others. I’ve decided to shift to a whole food plant-based diet. “Give up cheese and eggs? I could never do that!” was my starting point. But my curiosity and desire to find other ways to support my physical and emotional well-being led me to try it out. I’m loving it and learning all kinds of new delicious foods to make. In light of the recently released Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report from the UN, it also seems like a small way I can try to reduce my demand for food sources that are contributing to the problem. This has been another choice to unlearn some of what I had thought was necessary in terms of the food pyramid and be resilient and resourceful as I seek out how to create food from the sources I desire now.
My love of music and performance has been a baseline habit for me for about 8 years and it continues to grow. My weekly rehearsals with my rock-and-roll choir fuels my spirit and brings me joy. When I’m feeling lit up inside, I bring a sense of possibility and stretching outside my comfort zone to my clients in my work as a coach and facilitator.
Making personal choices that fuel your spirit has positive spillover effects on your professional choices and interactions with others. Making a proactive decision to put you at the top of your priority list helps to buoy your energy and mitigate burnout.
Taking on new choices helps you develop the ability to be mentally flexible, to unlearn old ways of thinking so you can identify the new, and to develop the grit to carry on making your new choice a solid habit. These are all core ingredients that strengthen your adaptive capacity.
What kind of choices can you make to build your adaptability and fill your cup at the same time?
