Earlier in October was Mental Health Awareness week. As business leaders it is our responsibility to maintain good mental health, both in ourselves and our teams.
Ten good mental health tips include:
- Care for your body – eat good food, drink plenty of water, exercise regularly and get enough sleep.
- Set realistic goals – your business plan details your business goals, but also set personal goals and challenges. While it is important to aim high, avoid overwhelm. Your goals should be achievable.
- Social connections – we all need to surround ourselves with good people. Talk to your team, your customers and suppliers. Stay in touch with friends and family. Open up and share.
- Deal with stress – develop coping mechanisms such a proactive planning and exercise. Laugh, stretch, take a walk, listen to music, play with your kids or your pet, have fun.
- Relax – it’s important to “switch off” and rejuvenate yourself. If meditation, yoga or mindfulness are not your thing, then develop enjoyable hobbies, interests, or projects.
- Break up monotony – even the best routines can become tedious after a while, and a little change can perk us up. Try a different run/bike route, change what you have for lunch/dinner, go to work earlier and/or come home earlier than usual, plan a road trip, shake things up a bit.
- Give – volunteer your energy to someone/a cause you believe in, practice random acts of kindness. Giving makes us feel good.
- Be kind – to yourself and others. Avoid being overly critical and negative self-talk.
- Say “No” to cop outs – alcohol, drugs, over-eating, mindless TV, regular Netflix binges etc.
- Be aware – of behaviours and patterns. Get help if you or someone you know needs it.
Feel free to share these tips with your team – we all need a reminder from time to time.