It’s Time to Strategize Self-Care. Your Leadership depends on it.

We are living in an era where stress is the norm. At PFD, we recognize that there are numerous stressors in our own lives, including but not limited to political, social, and cultural upheaval, the continued economic hardship, as well as our own individual challenges. At PFD, we are also deeply saddened by the terrible acts of violence that have happened across the country, as well as in our own community in Boulder, Colorado. To add extra pressure, we know business leaders feel continual and immense pressure to lead well in order to be able take care of the people they employ, as well as the broader community. These stressors accumulate fast – in the past couple of months, 84% of adults said they experienced at least one emotion tied to prolonged stress – like anxiety (at 47%) sadness  (at 44%) and anger (at 39%). Further, 67% of people in the United States said that the challenges they face are overwhelming. There’s no way around it – we are facing an inordinate number of stressors that affect our ability to lead and live stable, healthy lives.

 As leaders, we are also prone to sacrificing our mental and emotional well-being to try to serve those around us. We do this because we know what’s at stake – we put in the extra hours and take the personal sacrifice to protect our team. While this quality is admirable, we are at risk for depleting our time and energy at unsustainable rates. We know that we cannot to pour from an empty cup, without taking time and refill it. In the past year, we have gone through so much, collectively and individually. This being said, there are definitive ways that we can refill and rejuvenate ourselves to be able to bring our best selves to our leadership positions.

Plan on sleeping

A third of your day should be dedicated to resting. It may sound simple, but we often neglect our sleep in favor of other activities; however, sleep is extraordinarily important. Consider these facts:

• Good sleep can improve concentration and productivity

• Sleep is important to regulating mental wellness. Mental health issues, like depression are strongly linked to poor sleep quality and sleeping disorders.

• Sleep is important to regulating health. Poor sleep is linked to increased inflammation (like Chron’s disease), a greater risk of heart disease and stroke, and even a greater risk for type 2 diabetes.

• Sleep is important to your emotional and social interactions –poor sleep can reduce your social skills and ability to recognize emotional expressions in others.

Try these strategies for setting yourself up to sleep well:    

• Go to sleep and get up at the same time every day – this will help set your body’s circadian rhythm.

• Control your technology and light exposure. Using bright screens within 1-2 hours of your bedtime, can negatively impact your ability to fall asleep

• Exercise during the day – even light exercise can improve sleep quality

• Be mindful about what you eat and drink – caffeine, nicotine and alcohol, sugary foods, as well as eating big meals before bedtime can all disrupt sleep

• Wind down at night. Creating a nighttime routine can help you calm down at night more effectively.

Create mindfulness around media consumption 

We as people tend to have a desire to be informed. When we turn to the news or our social media feeds, we are tuning into the lives of the people we care about or admire, or the major events in our community and the world at large. This is not inherently a bad thing, but it doesn’t take an expert to understand that an excess of media is detrimental. For several years now, we have been coming to understand the adverse impacts of social media, in that it is deliberately designed to be addictive, with features like the ‘like’ button, consistent alerts, and the ‘infinite scroll’, and heavy social media use is linked to increased stress, anxiety, depression, isolation, and feelings of loneliness. Similarly, constant access to negative and alarmist news media can take a similar toll. When our bodies sense a threat, our brain activates our flight or fight response – even if the threat is being relayed to us through our televisions and news applications.  Consuming news can cause our brains to release stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline, and prolonged exposure can lead to an increase in fatigue, anxiety, depression, and sleep loss.

            Because we should be informed, but overconsumption can cause harm, we should employ strategies to moderate our exposure to media. These strategies could be:

• Limit your time on news each day. Rather than having the news be background noise, take no more than 30 minutes each day to catch up with what has been happening in the media and on social media.

• Create list of “purposes” around your different media outlets. When you define a purpose for each piece of media, limit your consumption of that media to that purpose. If your main goal for using Facebook is to catch up with close friends and family, edit your notification settings to just to see when they post, rather than aimlessly scrolling around the site. If your main goal for going to a news site is to get business-related news and economic forecasts, but you find yourself mindlessly frequenting the celebrity gossip columns, create the intention to change your consumption habits.

• Acknowledge your emotions when consuming media. If you are feeling particularly pessimistic or angry one day, it might be a better strategy to avoid the news that day.

• Subscribe to a reputable newsletter or podcast. Rather than flipping through different news channels and sites, a newsletter or podcast that summarizes the large news stories for that day inherently limits your time and contact.

• Do something healthy after you watch the news. Because the news can be a stressor, following your news consumption with healthy action can reduce your stress and the adverse impacts of the news. These activities could be exercising, taking a walk, talking to a friend, or working on a hobby.

Schedule your routines

            At PFD, we are proponents of routine. As leaders, we often face unpredictable situations that require creative action and solutions. Because these situations can be energy-depleting, we encourage you to create structure in your day to replenish your energy and mental wellness. Routines have been linked to better stress levels, sleep, health, and self-esteem.

Try these strategies to improve routine in your life:

• Write out the specific steps in your routine and schedule those routines in your day. By writing down the steps, you are taking the first steps to making these routines an actionable part of your day.

• Begin your day with an intentional routine. For more information on an effective routine that sets the tone of your day, check out this blog.

• Make sure you include getting outside and exercise into your routines. These activities have been linked to decreased stress and overall improved health, and are therefore crucial to maintaining resiliency in our lives.

• Cultivate mindfulness as a part of your routine. Taking time out of your day to meditate or engage in another mindfulness activity can help relieve stress and improve focus and productivity.

In a world of continued stress, it is crucial we continue to engage in self-care activities so we have the bandwidth to lead our teams and communities well.

How We Can Use Covid-19 as an Opportunity to Create a New, Better Normal

At this point, we have heard repeatedly that Covid-19 has created a ‘new normal’. Implicit in this concept of this ‘new normal’ is fear – fear that we will not recover from this crisis, fear that we will not make it out of this crisis alive, and fear that we will not be able to adapt to and take on the challenges that this crisis-induced ‘new normal’ poses.

But what if we used Covid-19 as an opportunity to create not only a new normal, but a new, better normal?  

We seem to have this collective nostalgia for the old normal, before this giant mess occurred. But in the midst of this unprecedented mess, we also have the unprecedented opportunity to reflect and ask ourselves – was what we were doing really working? Not only do we have the opportunity to ask these important questions, but we can also take this time to rethink how we are running our businesses to create new and better experiences for our employees and community overall.

One major theme of this new normal is isolation. In response to this virus, we have created measures where we isolate ourselves away from our friends and workspaces to prevent the spread of the virus. Importantly, I am not advocating for rash and unwise decisions to be made when we regard isolation as we move through this post Covid-19 world; rather, I would like to discuss isolation in an honest way that brings to light just how much isolation impacts us, so we can include it in the conversation going forward.

When we think of isolation, we don’t give it the credit it deserves in how it impacts us. We often regard experiences of isolation as “painful”, but we tend to consider this sort of pain as more abstract or metaphorical, separating it from other types of pain (i.e. physical pain) that we experience. Sure, we acknowledge that isolation isn’t ideal, but when we feel the impacts of isolation and loneliness, we don’t tend to name isolation as the problem – we internalize the blame, and we think that there is something wrong with us for feeling the way that we do. We might think that we should be able to handle the inconvenience of isolation without much of an issue, but our brains disagree. They simply don’t work that way.

Ample evidence exists to show just how detrimental isolation can be. The pain arising from isolation is a legitimate type of pain, and it is more similar to physical pain than we once might have thought. Modern neuroscience backs this up: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) tests show that the pain associated with social exclusion and isolation closely resembles physical pain, as the same neural pathways are activated. This means that our brains have a hard time telling the difference between physical pain and social pain because it is registered in the same place. Further, isolation and loneliness has been shown to have long-term mental and physical health effects. When we say that isolation is painful, we are not talking about some abstract pain that we should be able to ignore. We are talking about real, concrete pain that we have been able to see in our brains. This world of isolation that we have created is incredibly painful to live in.

But is this painful isolation just a consequence of this post Covid-19 ‘new normal’?

No, it isn’t. We were isolated long before Covid-19, we just tended to ignore it and not take it seriously. In fact, one study from NPR shows that loneliness was on the rise in the United States long before the virus hit our shores – as more than three in five Americans reported feeling lonely in 2019 – one report even showing a 13% rise in loneliness from 2018. Isolation was already trending upwards, but we are now forced to look at it in a more brutal and honest way.

What is also important to note about the modern science about loneliness and isolation is that it does not prize just any connection over no connection. In fact, parallel to the studies on isolation are studies on exclusion, which show that if we feel excluded from the people around us, we experience the same neurological response of pain in our brains. Intuitively, we know this to be true as well. We’ve all been in these super toxic environments, and even if we are surrounded by people, the lack of meaningful connection in these situations is also isolating and painful. In fact, the same NPR study mentioned earlier cites modern workplace culture as a potential contributing factor to our increased loneliness. What we really need is positive connections where we can empower others and be empowered, and foster growth for ourselves.

This photo was taken from our May 2019 Workshop with Shannon Susko, before the pandemic hit and social distancing measures were put in place

So how do we create a new, better normal out of this isolated one?

We can use our businesses as a force to make real, positive changes in the lives of our employees by fostering a culture in which positive relationships can be formed. The average American works about 90,000 hours in their lifetime – so if you and your employees are having to deal with a painful, isolated, and toxic work environment, it is very unlikely that you can live a positive, fulfilled life. What we need to do is create work environments that foster meaningful connection – both inside our companies and out.

We can do this by:

• Focusing on the foundational elements of our business – our core purpose and core values – so we can intentionally create a culture that is meaningful to us.

• Intentionally hiring and training people to create a positive and empowering culture that people love to come to every day.

• Giving back to the community especially in times of need, so we can create meaningful connections between our business and the broader community.

• Taking care of yourself and your employees by creating intentional peer relationships with other forward-thinking CEO’s that you can trust. At PFD, we offer both Comprehensive Coaching Services as well as a CEO Growth Forum to build a community and support around you to tackle isolation to help you thrive

Covid-19 has given us a brutally honest lesson in isolation, which, frankly, is a problem that we have been ignoring with for a long time. However, with this unprecedented virus comes an unprecedented opportunity to rethink how we are doing business, so we can create a new, better normal together.  

If you are interested in learning more about our comprehensive coaching engagement that will give you support as you navigate Covid-19 and scale your business, click here to schedule a call:

If you are interested in learning more about our new CEO Growth Forum, that will build a trusted peer community of CEOs around you, click here:

Our Finest Hour

We live in a time that is undoubtedly marked by fear.

There have been several events in recent memory that have instilled a culture of fear in our society – the most recent of which is, as we all know, the emergence of Covid-19 as a global pandemic. Further, in America, we have seen the second economic recession in twelve years, contributing to thirty million unemployment claims filed since mid-March. The fear we feel might well be justified, but it is also disempowering to everyone.

We also all know by now that Covid-19 will be in the history textbooks. While we might want to dwell on the magnitude of the situation, we should also remember that history not only remembers the large, defining events but also the leaders that stepped up to face those challenges and empower others to do the same. We remember the terrible Civil War, but we also remember Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Tubman. We remember segregation, but we also remember Martin Luther King Jr. Despite the hardships and difficulties of their times, we remember incredible leaders like Mohandas Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Nelson Mandela for their bravery and service to others.

Source: The International Churchill Society

One particular leader that inspired us during this time is Winston Churchill. When we talk about an era that is marked by fear and anxiety, a quintessential example is Great Britain during WWII. To the left, you will see the ending of one of Churchill’s most famous speeches – “This Was Their Finest Hour”. Preceding this speech, France was overtaken, and the United States had not joined the War effort yet, essentially leaving Great Britain to fight the Nazi empire alone. As the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Churchill had to stiffen his resolve, to fight, and to inspire his nation to do the same. Eighty years later, this is still widely regarded to be one of the best and most important speeches ever given. Even though we face different circumstances, we decided there was great wisdom to be gleaned from Winston Churchill.

In this era of Covid-19, we asked ourselves, “What can we do, so that someone, one thousand years from now, could say that this was our finest hour?” In our community, we have seen many examples of how people have made this ‘their finest hour’. We see how our healthcare heroes and our frontline essential workers show us every day how to make a difference. We greatly enjoy seeing John Krasinski’s weekly installment of Some Good News, and the positivity that is spread through that. We are inspired by the parades of cars throughout the neighborhoods celebrating our local high school graduates. We know that there is incredible power within communities where people support one other. We wanted to be a part of that movement.

At PFD, we decided to gamify our positive impact. We know the power of Quarterly Themes and how they can strengthen morale, so we decided that our theme this quarter is “Our Finest Hour”. We set a goal for ourselves, even in this time of self-isolation, to positively impact 1,000 lives. We made the visual you see to the right, modeled after WWII propaganda posters to pay homage to our inspiration and to track our progress.

To meet our goal and to make this “Our Finest Hour” we decided:

• We can coach our clients so they can navigate the uncertainty and make the best possible impact on their employees. We are so blessed to work with a wide range of CEOs that truly care about their teams and their community.

• We can rally entrepreneurs in our area to buy meals for our healthcare heroes – both supporting a local business and our healthcare workers

• We can support our own team by investing in tools that allow them to work safely from home and encouraging them to practice self-care. The person who is writing this blog post, Emmalee, has asthma, so she is especially grateful for this one.

• We can keep our commitments to our summer interns, so that they don’t have their work cancelled like so many other college students.

• We can launch a CEO Growth Forum using proven strategy and execution frameworks to create confidence and clarity for entrepreneurs that are navigating an especially challenging portion of history.

• We can work intently and creatively to figure out how to hit our revenue targets for this year, so we have the resources to also hit our corporate giving targets to support non-profits that were hit especially hard by the recession.

• We can be a voice of positivity and empowerment. This is not to diminish the hardships of our time, but to offer a way forward through this crisis and to support and recognize the ingenuity and spirit of humanity.

Our Quarterly theme printed, so our progress can be tracked & shared

We might facing difficult circumstances that will alter the course of history, but history will also remember the great leaders of our time that rose to the challenges. We want to be among the leaders that step up to face the challenges of Covid-19 and empower others to continue to do well by their community. We know that business can be an incredible platform with which we can transform lives, and we want to be just one company that intentionally creates that impact. We are so incredibly humbled and inspired by the tenacity and altruism of our clients and community, and we are very excited to continue to serve them, no matter what lies ahead.