It’s been a heck of a year, amiright? I’ve even forgotten all proper usage of the English language - but hey, we’ve made it… 2021 is so close we can almost touch it!
But that doesn’t mean you, your staff, and your business, is ‘out of the woods’ yet. We’ve dealt with a lot during 2020, as business owners, under-pressure middle managers, and hard-working staff ‘at the coalface’ up and down the country.
And that’s just from the perspective of furlough, intense workload, reduced workload, redundancy risk… we’ve also dealt with a lot that comes with the natural worries and concerns regarding personal finances, managing family life, financial burdens and stress.
We all deserve a break, and yet if any business is going to build up enough momentum to rank up performance to tackle the deficit that many have seen in 2020, the only thing we can do is push harder, work more, be better.
So, depending on how you look at it, you’re not going to get the rest you might feel you’ve earned after a stressful 2020, but in 2021 it’s important to address any mental imbalances that reside because, well, you deserve it.
Spend time with your team building up a positive culture, and if you’ve been working from home for 2020, it may be worth investing time and if you have it, extra money, into your company culture and team-building.
But first things first, start with your employees’ mental health, and address the safety of the workplace and any anxiety that they now have about the workplace as a result of the impact of Covid.
With that in mind, here are three TED talks we will be sharing with the Thrive team as we start to go back to the office in 2021…
Wendy Suzuki: Move your body and boost mental health
What's the most transformative thing that you can do for your brain today? Exercise! says neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki. Get inspired to go to the gym as Suzuki discusses the science of how working out boosts your mood and memory -- and protects your brain against neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's.
Sangu Delle: Addressing shame and stigma
When stress got to be too much for TED Fellow Sangu Delle, he had to confront his own deep prejudice: that men shouldn't take care of their mental health. In a personal talk, Delle shares how he learned to handle anxiety in a society that's uncomfortable with emotions. As he says: "Being honest about how we feel doesn't make us weak — it makes us human."
Guy Winch: Emotional first aid
We'll go to the doctor when we feel flu-ish or a nagging pain. So why don’t we see a health professional when we feel emotional pain: guilt, loss, loneliness? Too many of us deal with common psychological-health issues on our own, says Guy Winch. But we don’t have to. He makes a compelling case to practice emotional hygiene — taking care of our emotions, our minds, with the same diligence we take care of our bodies.
