December 2020 - The KeepWell Mark Wellness Roundup
Light At The End Of The Tunnel
“The pessimist sees only the tunnel; the optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel; the realist sees the tunnel and the light – and the next tunnel.” – Sydney J. Harris (1917-1986), American journalist for the Chicago Daily News and Sun Times.
Vaccines typically take years of robust and stringent clinical trials and iterations before one is deemed safe, reliable, and effective to treat an illness. The world has combined financial, scientific and personnel power and resources to find an answer to the COVID-19 vaccine question – and it seems the Pfizer/BioNTech team are the first to answer our call. There appears to be light at the end of the tunnel for us in Ireland to what has been a challenging 2020.
Whilst there is no doubt that the vaccine will change our society, there has never been a more compelling time to invest in wellbeing for the workforce at home, in the office or on site. Hybrid working, remote working and flexi hours are with us to stay as we recalibrate to a new normalcy, a term that is now very much part of our vernacular. Mental health and overall wellbeing challenges have been well published in online media, newspapers, and other high-quality journals, such as the Harvard Business Review.
We have not figured out the best way to work at home yet. Striking the balance between looking after our own wellbeing and being efficient whilst working remotely is now a more mainstream on-going process, with constant iterations. Understanding how to optimise productivity and performance whilst working in different settings, such as at home - while avoiding burnout, frustration and the noise of distraction and procrastination - will be a big hurdle to overcome in 2021.
Here is where lessons from sport have something real to offer the business world. All elite sports teams that I have worked with have multidisciplinary support teams aimed at obtaining high sport team performance, often in difficult and, at times, even hostile environments (e.g., away soccer games). The ideal outcome is that the sport team can achieve a performance where many things seem to go “just right…things click…everyone’s in the zone”; when asked afterwards how this happened, the players simply say that “at the time what I/we did just seemed right, easy…it just flowed”.
So , what is “flow”? A pioneer in the study of happiness, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, refers to these moments of optimum efficiency as peak experiences – also known as the concept of flow. This is a state of mind; “it is the signature of optimal performance and can only show up when all your attention is focused in the right here, in the right now, in the present moment…when you feel your best in anything, and do your best in anything”, as the author and founder of the Flow Research Collective, Steven Kotler says.
‘The flow channel’ – image courtesy of evolutionaryathletics.com
This is where harnessing flow, identifying your personal triggers for flow, the flow channel and cycle can become a competitive advantage for you and your company. What we need to understand is how to unlock this state more readily and easily and how it can be a part of our daily routine - a habit that becomes locked-in and hardwired. This channeled focus will help down-regulate that noise we need to avoid, and up-regulate the states where we can be productive, effective, efficient – what employers want from employees, what employees really want as their own intrinsic motivation, what clients and customers deserve.
The flow cycle is essential to understand. Think about writing a letter - writers’ block as an example: a struggle phase starts the process and it is essential. Do not shirk it. Persevere with something even if it is hard; having a growth mindset is a keystone at this point. A short detachment from the work ensues (release phase); take a mental break, a short walk, a different activity – play the piano to take a pause from the writing. This opens the gates to the optimum state of performance – flow - when the words pour out easily. You have put in the work and challenged your ability – let the optimum state happen. This is where we want to be more and more, when we are working at home, in the office or on site. This leads to the final part of the cycle: the recovery phase. Flow is a high-energy transient state. Recovery is crucial to handle the struggle again. This can take the form of meditation, a podcast, a mindfulness or mobility practice, or perhaps even a brief visualisation. 4 distinct phases. And remember – flow follows focus.
A wellbeing programme of 2021 must be multi-focused and evenly balanced to address the new work environments and situations that the pandemic has created; all elements of one’s wellbeing need to be targeted and accounted for. Topics such as habit building, breathwork, nutrition and hydration, active and passive recovery strategies, and sleep have come to the forefront of wellbeing programmes now. Flow should be included too!
There is light at the end of the tunnel for us in Ireland. To thrive, gain a competitive advantage, strengthen our resilience, and improve our productivity and performance at work…wherever geographically that is, in whatever setting – find your flow.
Happy Christmas, and wishing you and your families a safe and healthy New Year.
“Wellbeing is realised by small steps, but is truly no small thing” – Xeno, the founder of Stoicism
Hauora is a company that provides bespoke, interactive online and onsite workshops, and longer-term programmes - to improve whole person wellbeing, in 4 pillars: physical, mental, social, and occupational. Find out more at www.hauoralife.com.