Nudging Wellness
A quick google search for “wellness” returns 1.52 billion searches in 0.59 seconds. Wellness and its close cousin “self-care” are trending these days, and it’s not just en vogue, but wise, and healthy, to take care of yourself. We are overworked, always jumping from one project to the next. We place blame everywhere: our boss, our board, ourselves. The list goes on.
What if we let our foot off the gas a bit? What if we raised 10% less revenue because we gave ourselves 10% more attention? Would our funders, our board, our boss, understand? We need to work smarter, yes, not harder. But we can also work less.
Not until I became a parent did I realize taking care of myself was not selfish. Sports athletes spend hundreds of thousands of dollars taking care of their bodies. Why shouldn’t we spend a fraction of that? What is our recharge? What is our sanctuary? Through recent coaching engagements and leadership training, I’ve learned to write a list of the places, or activities, that give me a re-charge. Knowing what your sanctuary is, and taking time to spend time there, is important.
I have been at all levels of the org chart, and no matter where I have been I have always felt the constant pressure to work more. Now that I am my own boss, with no employees and a few select, trusted clients, I have more control over my schedule, and can put more attention to self-care and wellness. While I am always striving for greater clarity and mindfulness, I am trying a few things that I believe are helping.
Changing the culture of American work is a monumental adaptive challenge, yet small nudges can help. Managers can suggest these for their direct reports. Those with supervisors might offer these ideas for themselves and their peers. We can all take 20 minutes a day for one (or more) of these self-care activities:
Take a nap. Research shows how taking short rests during the day increases productivity and health. The Times article notes, “there is growing evidence that restorative naps are making a comeback. Recognizing that most of their employees are chronically sleep-deprived, some companies have set up nap rooms with reclining chairs, blankets and alarm clocks… Workers who take advantage of the opportunity to sleep for 20 minutes or so during the workday report that they can then go back to work with renewed enthusiasm and energy.” The American Psychological Association concludes, “Even in well-rested people, naps can improve performance in areas such as reaction time, logical reasoning and symbol recognition.” In my experience, they boost confidence, motivation, and alertness. Just the restfulness that comes from laying prone for a few minutes, closing my eyes, being still, just breathing (or meditating), away from a screen, day dreaming, ideas appear in different ways. Regardless of sleep, the horizontal resting, blood flowing differently, brain processing differently, I think of new things, and I am giving my senses a break.
Go on a walk. I used to take walk and talks with my colleagues all the time. Not only is it a healthy mode of transportation, it helped our mental conversations, made them more generative, open, and honest. We inhaled fresh air while we processed difficult discussions, we were able to use our body language more freely, and breathe more deeply while thinking more expansively. Didn’t matter whether I was teaching, running my business, or working in a foundation, I always find walking a healthy alternative to sitting at my desk, especially sitting across from someone during a 1-1 meeting. Walking gets me out of my box, out of my work environment, gives me fresh air, a fresh outlook, puts me in a creative mood and brings me new oxygen. Take in the great outdoors — whether you can stroll through the redwoods of Golden Gate Park, the skyscrapers of Manhattan, or the beach of Venice — the outside world gives plenty to nourish the soul while you’re at work.
Have a talk. Talk to a therapist. Coach. Friend. Colleague. Why is seeing an executive coach or leadership guru usually paid for by employer benefits, but seeing a psychologist or therapist usually not? We are our best selves when we can talk about what is going on, what we are struggling with, what is making us “stuck.” As Tom Hanks recently remarked in A Beautiful Day in the Neighbhorhood, “What is mentionable, is manageable.” Sometimes that talk is best with a licensed coach, sometimes it’s a colleague at work, sometimes it’s a family member. What would it look like to reserve 20 minutes a day for a talk with someone trusted to work through your stuff? Jennifer Bailey and Lennon Flowers say in their On Being Podcast: “We have forgotten that we can be each other's medicine.” Do some self-reflection, and share your learning with someone else.
Nap. Walk. Talk. As we recover from 2019 and settle into our 2020 routines, think about ways we can all take better care of ourselves. Our colleagues, managers, friends and family will all thank us for it.
