Companies and brands all around the industry recognised World Mental Health Day on Monday in their own way, but Digitas’ chief operations officer, Kara Bombell, argues that mental health shouldn't be overlooked on the other 364 days of the year.
This week, we celebrated World Mental Health Day – a day that aims to destigmatise mental health issues, reduce the factors that cause it and take steps to help us thrive.
And it couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.
According to the latest McKinsey data, 61% of full-time Australian workers are ‘somewhat’ burnt out or worse. You can only imagine how that figure would fare if you factored in part-time workers with consideration of care duties.
Fortunately, we’re seeing collective strides being taken by businesses to preserve the mental health of their people in a post-Covid world. At Publicis Groupe, World Mental Health Day has become sanctioned time to prioritise our well-being and take an opportunity for self-care and reflection. And while I took advantage of an extra day to rest and recalibrate, I also know mental health can’t be achieved with a single hike or visit to the masseuse. So, this year, I thought of how I can prioritise my mental health the other 364 days of the year – and how you can advocate for your own well-being too.
Give ‘busy’ the boot
Language is important. What you say and think reinforces your reality – and the reality of those around you. Wearing ‘busy’ as a badge of honour has become a default response in hustle culture and it’s time to take it out of our vocabulary.
‘How are you today?’ - ‘ohhh... crazy busy.’
The repeated mental reinforcement of frenetic pressure is unhelpful. It increases the physical effects of stress (adrenaline and cortisol) and only generates more anxiety. Once you make this mental note, you’ll realise how pervasive it is in social interactions, particularly at work.
For those that have their personal value tied to their ability to produce, this mindset shift can be a challenge to change. A great friend and colleague of mine reframed this issue, and it hit me like a tonne of bricks – “If you are always so busy, it tells me you are unable to effectively prioritise and delegate what’s important”. I had engrained my personal value in my ability to get shit done, but I was rarely considering if I was doing the right things, identifying if the effort was worth it or reflecting on how it might impact my health.
As journalist and author Oliver Burkeman writes, “There will always be too much to do – and this realisation is liberating… The only viable solution is to make a shift: from a life spent trying not to neglect anything, to one spent proactively and consciously choosing what to neglect, in favour of what matters most.”
Make time
Going on holidays used to be my reset moment. Phases of intense work followed by pure sloth.
How times have changed! After 2 years of grounded planes and no international travel, that long-anticipated reset never came. And without intervention, the work never stops. To complicate things, my life circumstances have changed too. With two toddlers in tow, my holidays are typically anything but restful.
I don’t want a life that I need ‘escape’ from. Holidays are amazing, but I also want to have joy and space in my day-to-day. To do that, I need to actively make time. This can mean a variety of things, from taking more long weekends throughout the year and taking a day off when the kids are in care to finding moments throughout the day to process and manage the mental load.
It can be easy to slide into a day of back-to-back meetings – a Tetris-ed calendar can even seem oddly satisfying – but by 11am, it’s entirely overwhelming. According to Microsoft, 57% of workers said their meeting load had increased. All those meetings don’t equate to more productivity or increased satisfaction, but they are a major contributor to burnout. Plus, the negative impact of staring at yourself for hours hasn’t gone unnoticed amongst mental health specialists.
We need to prune meetings back and make time. Once validating a meeting is necessary, I try to make bookings in 15- or 20-minute increments rather than the default 30 minutes or an hour. Outlook may not like it, but it means that I typically have little islands of time. It gives me an opportunity to process what was discussed, understand impacts and strategise next steps – and to reset and mentally prepare for my next engagement. To grab a glass of water. To go to the bathroom. Or just to breathe. And it makes me better at my job.
Likewise, I also make time for deep work. This is the fulfilling stuff – the work that gives me a sense of mastery and purpose. I take note of times that best suit my flow and shape my day around it. If you have repeatable tasks, take the time to learn processes of automation. Tools like Automator and Power Automate are great for setting up repeatable ways of working. And while there may be some initial investment in upskilling, you’ll reap rewards in the long term by giving yourself time for higher-tier thinking.
Assume positive intent
I first heard the ‘API: Assume Positive Intent’ mantra from successful tech entrepreneur and founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg. Its premise is simple and universal, but it’s more relevant than ever.
With the onset of hybrid ways of working, we have a higher dependence on the written word. While a tap on the shoulder or a chat in the hallway used to give us the non-verbal cues of communication, working in an increasingly digital landscape means we’re often left to fill the gap with communication mentally.
“There’s usually two ways you can read almost anything. One which is mean-spirited, or makes you feel bad or seems petty or passive-aggressive, and another, which assumes that the person meant the message positively and probably doesn’t want to make you feel bad which is, by the way, true 99.9% of the time, but we might unintentionally do that by being overly brief in our messages."
Assuming positive intent not only reduces friction where it needn’t be, it enhances your likelihood of being receptive, increasing collaboration and stemming any energy spent ruminating on ‘what ifs’ – something that’s good for the mental health of everyone involved.
In a post-Covid world, mental health isn’t a nice to have, it’s a necessity. Whether its World Mental Health Day, RUOK Day, or progressive Wellness Leave policies, the tyranny of unending, transactional work is finally on its way out. More than ever, we expect strong leadership that fosters a sustainable and fulfilling work-life balance. At the same time, it’s our duty as individuals to accept our role to play in cementing the change toward a happier, healthier workforce – and drive it forward.
I, for one, am happy to play my part. For my own sanity.