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Oh Yeah Tool Kit
Whatever stage your work projects and planning are at, it’s vital to give yourself permission to ease yourself gently into this season. This may feel impossible at first, perhaps because you’re not used to it. What doesn’t help is the surrounding calls of ‘new year, new you!’ everywhere you turn. Or workplace cultures that represent the very opposite of human wintering, where your very first meeting opens with the fear-inducing ‘I hope you all had a restful break, ready to hit the ground running?!’
The natural response is, ‘Absolutely not. And you are bloody mad’.
While there’s a number of things we can’t control, we can put practices in place to protect our own mind and body. The first step is to attempt to be far gentler in our approach to our daily tasks, which in turn, can create a more temperate state throughout the day.
Don’t race to do your morning commute.
Do enjoy the winter morning sun, which is arguably the most beautiful, life-affirming light ever.
Do part of your commute with your phone away, looking up and around you with your own soundtrack on.
Don’t pack your weekly schedule. There will be non-time-sensitive meetings that can be pushed to another date. And if it’s at all possible, don’t schedule meetings first thing in the morning. Set them after 10am and before 4pm - more often than not, your colleagues and stakeholders will thank you.
Do carve out pockets of quietness whenever you can. If you need space during the working day, that’s OK, identify spaces within your office (or home-working space) that offer a change of scenery and maybe a view of nature. Looking out of the window for even 5 minutes can make all the difference, as well as going for a solo walk away from the chatter.
Quick tip, put headphones on at your work desk, it often makes colleagues feel less inclined to talk to you. Sometimes I close lift doors manually, before anyone else joins me, if only for a moment of silence. Handy if you work in tall buildings.
Use your evening and weekends, where possible, to rest, eat nourishing foods; to potter and ponder. To nap, read and be still.
But most of all, don’t fall into rushing, striving, pleasing, ‘being productive’ or forcing yourself to do stuff especially if you utter the words ‘I should…’
Should you? Is it really critical? Is someone’s life going to be saved?
Hit ‘decline’.
If you lead a team, then do them a favour: give permission to ease their selves back into the new season, wherever they have the opportunity to do so. Don’t be scheduling meetings at awkward times if you’re expecting full brain power at 100% . You simply won’t get it in week 1 or 2. So just be honest, and they will thank you for being a human. And as a team, you’ll all feel mentally better because YOU have given everyone permission to be flexible and to go at a gentler pace. This results in everyone being on a level playing field, a slower, kinder landscape where flexibility becomes the key to useful progression, versus churning through volume of hours. I don’t know any human who responds well to that.
There’s proof to why flexibility is key, with a global Future Forum survey of more than 10,000 desk workers, which looked at the state of the workplace during winter. Amid spiking burnout, it showed that offering employees flexibility in their schedule fuelled company culture and productivity in a good way.
Trusting teams with this intentional flexibility also creates space to enjoy those small wins in pockets of time. Like treating yourself to a warming cup of coffee on your commute to work, walking in the winter morning sun. Or buying lunch near the office, relieved for no washing up involved. So if a grab and go from Pret or taking a slower walk to your local cafe is your source of joy, appreciate those moments choosing exactly what you want to eat…and not a family fussy eater in sight.
Of course, the gear-change back to work and its rapid pace will inevitably happen. But for now, my biggest tip is to just recognise that everyone is feeling exactly the same because we are humans, not machines. Tap into the wise, human part of you, where you know that secretly, even your most competitive colleagues wish they were on the sofa watching Netflix in their all-day joggers, choice snacks at hand. Just smile kindly, and with compassion as you too, will soon be joining the joyride of work once you’ve eased yourself in. But right now, don’t define your worth by output; you’ll feel better for balancing the demands of work with lovely moments of quiet, rest and stillness.
For more exploration on how to weave simple rest rituals into your busy life, check out my conversation with Anna Taylor, Senior Yoga teacher, therapist, mindfulness and compassion instructor. 25 years ago, Anna was working in Events Management in London where the pressures and demands of the job were leaving her stressed, depleted and emotionally out of balance. Cultivating her yoga practice and teachings since 2008 alongside her own lived experiences has led Anna to give support, care and brilliant advice in how to find a sense of balance - mentally, physically and emotionally, knowing that we all deserve this and desire. Within our culture, our worth is so often framed in the context of our productivity:
“It's no wonder that we unconsciously (or consciously) slip into feelings of 'falling behind' or 'not good enough' when we don't feel we are working optimally. But we are not machines. And even machines work differently depending on whether it is hot, cold or humid. Some days the sun will shine. Sometimes the skies will be grey. Some days our minds will feel clear, sometimes they will feel foggy or stormy.”
In one soothing newsletter I read in the new year, Anna shared some simple prompts when wanting change whilst living in a demanding environment, dealing with family, commitments or in the midst of a difficult time in life where the heart already knows that the year ahead will be tough.
Anna’s sage advice:
“It can be worth remembering that change doesn't need to be restricted to one day or month of the year and that often, for change to be sustainable it's found in small, consistent steps rather than in seismic shifts. So you might ask yourself:
So think more about leaning closer towards yourself, what lights you up, rather being hard or critical on yourself. It’s taking the gentler approach in this season so that you can reconnect with what truly matters.
You can find more of Anna’s practical tips here which guides you further on pausing, reconnecting and filling your cup. I’d especially recommend her 14 minute seated meditation ‘Compassion for Self & Others which provides space to offer kindness towards yourself and others.
