Take Mindful 60 second breaks every 90 mins: Don’t just hang up the washing during your break but make sure you do something that helps relieve stress instead! (unless hanging up washing is a stress reliever for you!)
How to actually take your breaks: Set an alarm every 90 mins (like a gentle bird song) or leave 5 mins in between your next meeting
Top tip: avoid eye fatigue by doing a 60 second blinking exercise (slow blinking approx 40-50 times)
Top tip: 60 second breathing exercise – Take several deep belly breaths saying Breath in ‘Let’ Breathe out ‘go’
Top tip: Do this 60 second foot flex stretch: (includes a good wriggle of toes!)
Top tip: 60 second Shaky shaky (shake the body for 60 seconds making funny faces – my daughter does this and I copied it from her (GDPR approved!)
Re-set expectations for your team now. Don’t forget the HUMAN Factor. Managers need to lead by example. How you feel profoundly influences those you lead. Create a psychologically safe environment for your team and be open clear and calm. ask yourself the question ‘what can i influence and what can I let go of’? Helplessness is an intolerable emotion. Invest your energy in what you have the power to influence. Be absolutely clear & flexible on deadlines. Set clearer time frames than ever. Be HUMAN. Be open about your own issues, create a safe space for your team members to talk about their mental health and UNITE people in their efforts and goals as valued members of a cohesive team. Start to proactively prevent mental health issues now.
Team connectivity. We’re in it for longer so let’s get stronger!It’s time to be more creative than ever before. And keep a fun element to it! Start a team meeting with a visualisation exercise where you would like to see yourselves in 3-6 months time….on a sandy beach, having a night out with friends? Ask each team member to tell their story. . Or all the team wears the same colour on a day? Or tell a story about the shoes you are wearing (or slippers!) And getting one of the team to choose a song you can all dance to? yeah team houseparty!
Loneliness – it can contribute to burnout so here is how to combat it but while also setting boundaries with technology. First things first: you are not alone! So many people are feeling lonely now. Companies can ‘buddy’ up remote workers – a chance to get to know someone new and for each person to share about themselves. Make sure you actually TALK to a friend or family every day. Texting does not cut it. Hearing a real voice, the inflection the laugh does not come across in emoji. Put an alarm at a time in your day for you to reach out to someone. Get your team to take the 16 personalities test.
Tech boundaries: stay connected mindfully! Take a break from coronavirus!! Set the boundaries with your tech while staying connected. We don’t have to be on our phones all the time. we actually need to take a break from anything coronavirus related! It’s not giving our minds a break and causing more stress. Nature is bringing us very close to tech so we can actually pull away from it.
Top tips to set boundaries with your smart phones: put your smartphone in a drawer for 1 hour at the end of the working day and –
- go and do something else (exercise, cooking, dancing) anything!
- switch your smart phone to grey scaling – wow this actually stops me picking up the phone
- detox from social media for a day (and night!)
Cara de Lange
Burnout Expert, Speaker, Founder & Author of Softer Success
Cara de Lange is an international burnout expert, speaker, founder and author of Softer Success, empowering some of the world’s leading organisations and their employees to proactively prevent burnout. Cara’s powerful techniques and tips, based on her studies, research and experimentation, are transforming the lives of thousands of people. Her unique programme ‘Prevent Burnout, Find Balance’ enables individual clients and corporate teams to create a more harmonious, peaceful and productive life.
With over 20 years’ experience in fast-paced multi-national companies such as Google, Reckitt Benckiser, Saatchi & Saatchi, and having experienced burnout herself, Cara now shares her simple tools and tips on how to slow down, increase energy and become more resilient.
Cara is a sought-after keynote speaker on the subject of burnout and has been invited to speak at organisations such as Google, Box and European Women in Tech. Her book Softer Success: Prevent Burnout, Find Balance and Re-Define Your Success, published in 2019 is available via Amazon, Waterstones and Barnes & Noble.
