Corporate Training Facilitation Speaking Coaching
We’re starting to hear conversations about ‘getting back to normal’ and ‘returning to the old ways’. This is a normal response to change. Our brains want the certainty of returning to what we know, but we need to reset our expectations. Some things will be different, some will stay the same. One thing that we can guarantee is that we will all be adjusting to the new ‘normal’ and this itself will keep evolving.
Every day we are influenced by the media and risk losing perspective. How we view situations and our ability to change our views impacts our results. Without wanting in any way to minimise the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, we want to explore how a consistent daily negative feed of news can impact our thoughts, our actions (or behaviours) and our outcomes.
Are you noticing yourself getting more distracted? Working from home, you might be aware that you are making more trips to the fridge, spending more time on social media or staring aimlessly out of the window. You are not alone! Our brains are distraction finding machines and that’s one of the reasons why sitting for hours in a zoom call can be so hard – we are trying to focus our attention and even more importantly maybe, appear as if we are focusing intently. It also means we are working against our biology as our brains are designed to wander (the mind wandering part of our brain is called the default network).
It has been very moving to see people beginning to go back to some parts of the lives they once knew and sharing their excitement with us via our screens. One little boy in Italy after weeks of lockdown couldn’t contain his happiness at going back to the park to feed the ducks. Simple pleasures we took for granted are now being savoured as we show gratitude for the return of what we had lost.
Were the writers of the song ‘Smile’ right when they invited us to ‘smile though your heart is aching’? From a science-based perspective the jury is still debating whether faking a smile when you’re feeling down actually changes your mood, but what science is agreed upon is that, according to the poem below, smiling IS infectious, which is rather appropriate for these times! And we have our brains to thank for that.
Our need for connection is being challenged more than ever before – it is critical for us human beings to stay connected with and belong to, our tribe.
When we see a social media post starting with ‘Good morning inmates’ we know that we are not alone in our sense of frustration with the way our daily lives have changed so dramatically in a few short weeks. Rationally we accept that the changes are needed to stop the spread of this virus, but emotionally we are being triggered by a lack of certainty (‘the rules keep changing, when will the restrictions end?’) and a growing sense of loss of control and autonomy.
Our willpower is being tested to the hilt whilst we’re in ‘lockdown’ resulting in the temptation to raid the fridge and wine cellar (if you have one!) a little too often. Learn how to change habits and eat for resilience in this blog.
One of the critical skills of resilience lies between our ears, learning how to calm our instinctual emotional reactions and turn them into considered responses.
As Australia does what it needs to do to contain this pandemic, we are being told to self-isolate. A friend posted yesterday that self-isolating does NOT mean self-isolation and she couldn’t have said a truer word.
An understanding as to how our brains are behaving when we rush to the supermarket to buy toilet rolls when the virus we are fighting doesn’t give you diarrhoea!
As we move towards the end of another busy year with all the excitement and challenges of ‘the silly season’, it’s a good time to look to how we can manage our thinking and emotions to show up at work and home as the best version of ourselves. Being able to take a Growth rather […]
Welcome to the final part of our series on self-care. If you missed part 1 on Quality Sleep, click here and if you missed part 2 on Brain-friendly Nutrition, click here. Self-care forms an intrinsic part of self-leadership, resilience and ultimately, high performance. Just like the oxygen mask analogy on a plane, we can’t look after others until we look […]
Welcome to part 2 of 3 in our series on self-care. If you missed part 1 on quality sleep, it’s just below this blog. This blog focuses on brain-friendly nutrition and eating habits. Self-care forms an intrinsic part of self-leadership, resilience and ultimately, high performance. Just like the oxygen mask analogy on a plane, we can’t […]
We’re all aware of the need for regular exercise and good nutrition to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but possibly the most important leg of this three-legged stool is quality sleep, and sadly, it’s the one most often neglected. In this first of a three-part series on self-care, we want to share with you some of the […]
“From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere.” Dr. Seuss We know that Christmas can be a chaotic and sometimes stressful time of year and one of nature’s best antidotes to bring us back to balance is the ability to look for and find laughter, humour and joy. 1 Fact – Laughter […]
Being a resilient leader starts with applying the oxygen mask analogy that before we can help others we need to look after ourselves. Resilient people tend to be more positive, have flexibility in thinking, are able to get their emotions under control quickly and have developed the mental agility to naturally focus on the benefits of a change.
The typical manager spends 30-50% of his or her time dealing with workplace conflict (IML Australia). This equates to around 20 hours a week (and we don’t know if it’s being handled well or not), so if conflict is inevitable, what can we do to understand it better and make it as productive as possible? […]
Our brain is like Velcro for bad news and Teflon for good. From evolution, we are programmed to default to the negative and we need to be mindful of this tendency and choose to balance the mix. We can do so by consciously savouring positive experiences and seeking out feelgood stories and films which help us to produce dopamine and serotonin, our happy hormones.
From a work perspective, a ‘psychologically safe’ workplace is defined as ‘a climate of interpersonal trust and mutual respect in which people feel comfortable being themselves to make mistakes or take risks in their work’. These are essential conditions for creativity and innovation to thrive, for people to learn and grow (develop a Growth Mindset) and to feel comfortable working fully to their strengths.
