Take positive action to move forward.
By Declan Noone
Avoid the New Year’s rush. In spite of what 2020 has brought us, now is not the time to run (in your mind) as fast as you can towards 2021 without preparing the ground work for the next 6 – 12 months, which will very likely bring you continued challenges while you or your team flail around rudderless.
If you want to take a positive step forward into 2021 you need to acknowledge and assess the reality as it stands today. Positivity after all is not the blind pursuit of all things positive and avoidance of anything negative. Positivity is the realistic assessment of the current situation and identifying the positive actions required to move forward.
In its basic form there are 3 psychological phases[1] we experience during a crisis:
- Emergency: you or your team is focused, with clear goals, people are energised and pull together. Productivity individually and collectively increases. Decisions are arrived at rapidly and everyone is in a ‘can do, will do’ mindset.
- Regression: the situation starts to take a toll. You begin to realise that the future is uncertain. Your energy levels drop, you get tired and you begin to lack focus. Small things irritate you, and you snap at people. While at the same time your eating and drinking habits get worse, so you don’t look after yourself properly. In essence you lack purpose, so you are less productive and tend to self-isolate more.
- Recovery: this is where we begin to reset ourselves and look to the future. We revisit our goals and expectations and look to take the positive actions needed to move forward.
After experiencing 2 lockdowns the vast majority of us find ourselves to a greater or lesser extent in the Regression phase. We are weary, frustrated and irritable and much more. However, with the latest news on vaccines and their potential to significantly alter 2021 now is the time for each of us, as individuals, to recharge, renew and reset so that we can transition from the regression phase to the next psychological stage of recovery.
So how do you recharge while still in the middle of a lockdown and the continued impact of this pandemic? Well, first of all you need to take stock of how you are today. Critically but compassionately self-assess your day to day behaviours. Look at:
- Food and Alcohol consumption
- Mobile phone daily/weekly usage rates
- Online shopping habits
- Frequency of Doomsday scrolling
- Frequency of human interaction (outside of work)
- Sleep patterns
- Is your day structured or ad hoc?
- Physical exercise
Once completed, review what you have found and reflect on how you are caring for your mind, body and soul. In order to recharge, you will need to consciously decide to take some positive actions to improve how you look after yourself. You need to restock your personal energy store in order to be able to fully commit yourself to moving forward. So some examples you may consider during this recharge step:
- MIND
- limit time with technology beyond work/study.
- acknowledge your negative emotions & thoughts.
- create more positive emotions, inject some fun into your day. Do something that brings you joy during the day.
- Develop a meditative practice or create a period of time each day where you can disconnect and just be. This may be a spiritual practice or playing music. Whatever works for you.
- BODY
- Nutrition; sleep; exercise. There is so much information out there on each of these. The key is not to jump into the deep end with all 3 straight away. Take a measured and deliberate approach. This is not a New Years Eve resolution, this is about developing a healthy lifestyle habit that meets your needs and is sustainable.
- SOUL
- Practice some self-compassion[2]. We are our own harshest critics and in the current situation doing so has no benefits especially when so much is beyond your control.
- Volunteer with a charity or other form of community group – the act of kindness is very powerful and can help reduce stress and anxiety while also giving a boost to your relationships and happiness levels.
- Experience nature. Even with lockdown limitations most countries allow you to get out for a specified period of time. So escape the confines our your house every day, even for a short period, and go for a walk in nature. As humans, it is our natural setting and so engaging with nature does wonders for our mental health and wellbeing.
So your next step, once you have your recharge up and running is to renew. This is a period of self-reflection, where you take the time to look at what interests you, what are your passions, what opportunity do your skills give you and what are your character strengths (https://www.viacharacter.org ). This can take some time. There is a lot to think about and lessons to be learned from the last 12 months that can help your personal and professional growth. Having a mentor, coach or trusted advisor to help guide you through this stage is recommended. An independent voice can help put thoughts in perspective and keep you focused on the goal in hand. Too much self-reflection can lead to excessive self-critique which can result in decision and action paralyses. This is why a mentor, coach or trusted advisor is so critical. They can help anchor you and stop you being sucked down into that vortex.
So as a result of the first two steps of recharge and renew you have now:
- taken a conscious decision to self-care (mind, body and soul), and
- ensured you understand who you are, what you bring to the table and what you want for the future.
This is where the final step of reset comes into its own. This is where from you embed yourself in the psychological recovery stage. This is a relatively easy step because of the work you have done earlier.
First of all finish the following sentence:
“ I will be most proud of myself at the end of 2021 when ……………………………………”
This can be however long you wish and can focus on personal and professional goals. The important thing to consider is that whatever you choose must make you PROUD if you achieve them. Pride is an important positive emotion and is a key driver of our motivation.
Then with this statement of intent take advantage of this opportunity map to mind map out the key relationships, and the formal elements of your life that you need to talk to and arrange in order to achieve your desired goal for the end of 2021.
Finally, create your plan of action and just do it!!Moving from the psychological stages of regression to recovery is not easy task. It takes time. But rather than making grandiose commitments on New Year’s Eve this time take a deliberate approach. Accept that you need to recharge by caring for yourself and your health. Spend time understanding what you want, what you have to offer, and who you are. In other words renew your connection with your own self. Finally, from a health place and with renewed self-confidence, reset your targets for the future. Write it down, identify those that can help you, make a plan and get on with it. Start this process now to help you achieve a sustainable way of caring for yourself and taking the positive actions required to move forward.
[1] https://hbr.org/2020/05/if-you-feel-like-youre-regressing-youre-not-alone
[2] You will find some help here: https://self-compassion.org/category/exercises/#guided-meditations
