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.

Get Outside: How to Cultivate Resilience in Your Life by Simply Spending Time in the Great Outdoors

With winter approaching and the days getting colder, we have the tendency to want to stay inside – cozy up against the fireplace and hunker down. At PFD, we ask that you fight the urge to remain indoors, as time spent outside can have astronomical effects on our health and well-being. This can be especially helpful in this time in which stress is especially pervasive.

It should be known that we are not suggesting that we should forgo precautions against the Coronavirus pandemic, but, we know that there are ways we can safely engage in activities outside. In fact, since the Covid-19 virus is spread through respiratory droplets released into the air, studies show that you are more likely to catch this disease when you are indoors, because you are inhaling shared air. When you’re outside, fresh air is moving and dispersing these droplets, making you less likely to catch the virus. With the proper precautions (i.e. social distancing, going to non-crowded areas, practicing good hand hygiene), spending time outside can be a low-risk way of rejuvenating to be able to bring your best self to your work and your life.

THE HISTORY

There is a rich history of peoples’ connection to the land, whether it be illustrated through indigenous ceremonial practices, the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, or otherwise. I would like to highlight a specific movement, however, beginning just decades ago that aimed to study in an interdisciplinary way the connection between nature and our well-being. This study is called Shinrin-Yoku, otherwise known as Forest Bathing, and it originated in Japan. While Shinrin-Yoku can be a meditative, intentional practice with specific steps, you can experience it in its most basic form: giving yourself time to meander through the outdoors – seeing, smelling, touching, and listening to what it has to offer. Simply put: Go outside and be present to your experience there.

According to a 2001 EPA study, the average American spends 87% of their time inside a building, and 6% of their time inside a vehicle. While numbers have likely shifted over the years, they still paint a telling picture: we have created a culture in which we spend time indoors, and we have thus lost a lot of amazing benefits that the outdoors can provide us.

PFD Group Team Activities - socially distanced paddleboarding

EFFECTS OF BEING OUTSIDE

While we often feel refreshed after spending some time outside, we often underestimate the true benefits that this time can give us. We put off our time outside – making second priority to our work and the other priorities in our lives. While this is understandable, spending time outside can cause physical reactions in our bodies that can make us more present and therefore more effective in our home and work lives.

Some of the greatest benefits of being present outside (Shinrin-Yoku) are:

1. Stress reduction: Stress is linked to the production of the hormone cortisol. While this hormone is helpful to create energy and focus in short bursts, prolonged periods of cortisol-dependence can deplete our ability to be resilient. Prolonged stress can lead to an increased risk of heart disease, sleep problems, weight gain, etc. It can cause us to feel exhausted and more distracted. During this pandemic, economic crisis, and continued uncertainty, and it is critical we take the necessary steps to improve our levels of stress.

2. Reduced depression & anxiety: Studies have shown that as little as 30 minutes practicing Shinrin-Yoku can reduce depression. Spending this critical time outdoors can also reduce our anxiety and tension, which is critical during this time.

3. Boosted Immune system: Trees produce phytoncides, which studies have linked with strengthening our immune system. Being in proximity to phytoncides causes your body to release white blood cells – our bodies’ natural ‘killer’ cells –  by up to 50%, which can boost our ability to fight viral pathogens as well as cancer.

In my own personal life, spending time outdoors has been paramount to how I have adjusted to this “New Normal” during this pandemic. Anyone who knows me knows that in pre-pandemic circumstances, I love to travel, and you would frequently catch me on an airplane. However, with this pandemic and travel restricted, I have had to find a new past time to get me out of the house. With this, I have found that camping with my family has been transformational to maintaining my health and well-being. Instead of wishing I could still be a globetrotter, I leaned into the blessings that I did have. Without travel, I had much more time to spend with my wife and sons in the beautiful mountains of Colorado. This shifted my mindset – from one mourning the loss of travel to one where I have so much gratitude for the time that I spend with my family.

 In an era of heightened stress, unprecedented mental health crises, and a pandemic, we need to rethink how we spend our time to fight against these challenges. Spending time outside can be critical to reducing our stress, overcoming mental challenges, and boosting our immune system. While this time spent outside is not an end-all solution, it can give us a fighting chance against these challenges.

ACTIONABLE STEPS YOU CAN TAKE

1. Do your research - figure out the risk levels of your favorite outdoor activities, and plan to engage in the activities that have lower levels of risk

2. Take breaks from work in the outdoors and green space. Go for a walk outside, or sit in your backyard to spend some time in nature

3. Decorate your indoor space with plants and pictures / paintings of nature – even if you can’t make it outside, incorporating greenery into your workspace can give you increased benefits as well.

4. Encourage your team to go outside. By giving your team tools to reduce their stress, you can better your workplace culture.

5. Schedule time to escape to the outdoors. We know that it is difficult to make it outside during this time, but at PFD, have created a tool that will help you schedule in and protect much needed time to recharge.