When overwhelmed with work, the risk of burnout looms, marked by early signs such as fatigue and a lack of engagement. Despite the importance of the work, recognising a dip in performance signals a need for rest. This blog advocates for courage in expressing personal needs, offering a five-step process to communicate effectively with leaders.
In the dynamic landscape of the modern world, our stress activation and restoration patterns are undergoing a shift. Factors like escalating work and life demands, heightened uncertainties, and blurred lines between professional and personal spheres contribute to this evolving scenario. In this latest article, we delve into the intricacies of our 'activation zones' and decipher the optimal time needed in the restoration zones to effectively counterbalance stress.
Guilt, a complex emotion, serves as both a moral compass and a motivator for personal growth. While it can nudge us to reflect and strive for improvement, there's a darker side to this emotion – false guilt. The relentless negative emotions stemming from false guilt can lead to compromised mental health, overwhelming workloads, and the looming threat of burnout. However, understanding and addressing false guilt can pave the way for a path to greater mental wellbeing and resilience.
Discover the power of Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) as a stress-relief technique to complete the stress response cycle and activate your body's relaxation mode. Learn the benefits, guidelines, and tips for using PMR effectively in our comprehensive guide.
Amidst life's chaos, stress can be overwhelming. Dr Alia Crum's Stanford research highlights the transformative influence of mindset on stress. When we perceive stress negatively, we often struggle. But recognising its hidden potential unlocks its superpowers. Stress isn't an adversary; it's your body preparing for challenges, with remarkable resilience. By framing it as a 'challenge,' not a 'threat,' you harness its energy to succeed.
While it may seem counterintuitive, stress isn't the enemy of peak performance and wellbeing. Although studies link stress to negative impacts on performance, productivity, health, and relationships, traditional "stress management" falls short in addressing the expanding stress crisis. We need more than mere management; we must aim to master stress for our health, performance, and relationships.
Our negatively biased self-talk can mean our life is narrated with much drama, danger and disappointment. It can cloud our day and mean we miss or overlook and miss the opportunity to capitalise on the good stuff. It can undermine our ability to engage with and demonstrate our best performances on tasks. It can lead to poorer experiences in relationships. I could go on about the negativity bias and challenges of negative self-talk, but I'm sure your self-talk is chiming in with commentary that is in agreement with these introductory points. So, I'll move onto a useful metaphor and some simple steps we can take to strike more balance.
I think a lot. I contemplate how I live. I look at the different tasks I engage in and consider what they require of me versus what I demonstrate. I think about my relationships and interactions. I think about my habits, routines, and tendencies. I reflect on what I believe I can do better in different parts of my life - i.e. the personal, professional, and social domains. Taking all this into account, I try to estimate the percentage of my day my behaviour fits in each of the quadrants. It's a rough assessment, but It shows me where I will benefit from mindfulness practice and mindful action. It allows me to monitor times of progress towards mastery, and times that I slip. I hope you find it useful.
Most of us are coming out of what has hopefully been a restful and replenishing holiday season. But now it’s back to work and the resumption of the ‘norm’ where our modern lives and workplaces are busier than ever.
Before we know it demanding workloads and numerous responsibilities will be filling our calendars and to-do lists to the brink of bursting. The constant flow of information, email, and media competing for our attention at all hours of the day resumes. It’s not hard to see that we can become so busy being busy that we lose sight of what is most important to us, or even lose our sense of self and connection with others.
Our brains are hungry. From one moment to the next, our appetite for thinking can be insatiable. It seems as if our mind is always on the lookout for something to consume and chew on. But we can’t so much blame our mind. After all, our past has primed us to scan our environment for relevant cues and information we can use to get ahead and survive. But that was at times when our environment was far simpler than it is today. These days, there is an abundance of stimulus all around us or available to use on-demand, in any moment of the day or night.
A portrait exhibited in the Archibald exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW recently inspired me. The work is titled ‘The inner stillness of Eileen Kramer’ by Andrew Lloyd Greensmith.
Eileen Kramer is 102 years old and as the description of the painting pointed out, “she personifies the key to longevity and a full, rich life.” She is currently the worlds oldest working dancer/choreographer as well as a poet, artist and costume designer. She has been travelling the world living in places such as India, Paris, London and New York and recently returned to Australia, aged 99.
