Setting Yourself Up for a Year of Success – Advice from an Organisational Psychologist

Author: Amy Bands

The urge to take advantage of this time of year to come up with new goals, identify your purpose, set resolutions and start fresh with the clean slate of a new year is real. However, the reality is that just because the calendar has ticked over into a new year does not automatically mean we will feel refreshed and rejuvenated. In fact, you may even feel disappointed that this refreshed feeling does not automatically happen. 

More than that, we often dive into unhealthy ways of behaving and acting over the December period and overnight wish to change our habits in favour of strict and healthy alternatives come January 1st. We have high hopes that we will be our best selves in the new year – often referred to as “new year, new you”. However, it’s important to remember we are coming out of an end of year slump, a challenging 2022 characterised by readjusting after a pandemic, unemployment, economic woes, load shedding and readjustment to the office after working from home. In December we are making our money stretch further as we spend on gifts, feasts, holidays and sales. We renege on our boundaries as we spend time with family and friends, feel pressure and some may even feel lonely or disconnected.

What has the era of Covid-19 taught us?

One thing we have learned from the pandemic we faced and are still coming out of is that life is more uncertain than we ever thought it could be. For some of us the new year period could coincide with some misfortune, grief, hardship and despondency. We may have a rule of thumb that the new year is a time to refresh, reset and build for a year ahead. And so when the reality of our lives does not mirror that expectation, we can feel bad, disappointed or confused. Having self-compassion in these moments will assist us in managing and coping with the disconnect we may be feeling. Speak to yourself like you would to a friend or loved one to combat these feelings.

Rejuvenating for 2023, like most things in life, is not a quick fix. It is worthwhile to prioritise rejuvenation as a form of well-being that will set you up for success in 2023, and through intentional practices of rejuvenation, it will be possible to cope better with the challenges you inevitably will face. 

Success-focused habits to take with you into 2023 and beyond

1. Reflect often

We can engage in this activity where we look inward to learn about ourselves and build our self-awareness. It is important to look back at the year that was and see what worked (and what didn’t) so that we can take these learnings with us into the new year.

2. Examine your strengths

Wisdom from positive psychology encourages us to focus on and build on our strengths as opposed to agonising on and rectifying our weaknesses. Where do your strengths and talents lie and how can you enhance them?

3. Journal more

When we put pen to paper real transformation happens. We can look back on our writing and get a deeper sense of ourselves, our struggles and our hopes for the future. These writings act as a catharsis – where we can let go of what has been on our minds or as a record where we find messages from ourselves, written to ourselves.

4.   Clarify your values

Shining the light on our values regularly assists us in streamlining and sharply defining what matters to us and provides a clear compass with which we can make our decisions. Take time to zoom in on 3 to 5 values that will guide your actions, decisions and plans for the year ahead.

5. Consider a theme for the year 

Maybe it’s growth, to be a role model, or adventure. Consider how this theme will guide you in multiple aspects of your life – relationships, work, hobbies and health as some examples.

6. Create a vision board 

Making your purpose, vision and goals visual to consistently remind you of what you are setting your intention towards will provide you with regular reminders of why you are putting in effort and what you are striving towards. Choose a visual, a song, a passage, a poem, a photograph or a quote to capture the entirety of your vision that you can constantly hang onto – even when your energy wanes.

7. Take breaks 

Be intentional with scheduling your breaks, whether these will be during your work day where you regularly get up from your desk or requesting leave. Look at your calendar to ensure you are intentional with your time this year and look at the public holidays that you can take advantage of to schedule your time off – this way you will have more time without using as many leave days.

8. Dive into something today that your future self will thank you for 

Plan something that is just for you, that scares you or that meets your deepest desires. When we do something today that our future self will thank us for we are sure to shape our lives in ways that wow us! Write a journal entry imagining you are reflecting in January 2024 – what is that thing you did in 2023 that you are grateful for – add this to your intention for 2023. The year will pass by regardless of whether you have the experience, enrol in the course or make a move or not. If you choose to engage you will be left with more than just another year crossed off on a calendar.

 How can you apply this in the workplace?

Now, more than ever employees are prioritizing their mental well-being and considering what they want to do with their lives. Organisations need to prioritise the holistic well-being of their employees if they wish to remain competitive and relevant in the war for talent. Organisations can ensure ongoing rejuvenation and mental health for the employees by:

1.   Empowering employees with mental health tools – training, practice and investing in these tools are crucial. P.S. Contact info@wellbecompany.com to see how Wellbe and our mental health team can support you and your organisation.
2.   Take action towards improving the work-life balance of their employees – many organisations are experimenting with the 4-day work week and we could take the lead from European countries who are legislated against contacting employees outside of strict working hours.
3.   Carefully consider hybrid working policies – consulting employees is crucial as employees no longer see the relevance of working in the office meaning that organisations need to lead the charge in redefining what it means to work in-office.
4.   Employers would do well to recognize that it is no longer hours worked and input into work  that needs to be monitored, rewarded, and micro-managed but rather the impact and output of work that needs to be recognised and encouraged.

 Partner with Wellbe today to empower you and to shape a healthy organisation.

How to beat cognitive fatigue to re-energise.

Author: Amy Bands

What is it about this time of the year that makes us feel so tired? Everyone you speak to, shocked that the year is nearing a close! Where did the year go? Time flies… when you’re having fun? We have not been having such a fun time as a nation or as a globe. Emerging from a more than two year unprecedented pandemic has fundamentally changed us as people. We are not the same people who left 2019 for the upheaval of 2020 and beyond. Many of us are struggling to recall when we last saw each other. Thinking back to ‘last year’ only to realise that was two years ago. The lockdown years are a blur. All melding into one. 

Organisations are failing to notice that their people are fundamentally different. Re-looking at their lives, their work, their organisations, their priorities and their boundaries. Many organisations are doing a forced return to the office without consultation on what their people really want and need. The rationale behind the return to office is feeling weak for many. Organisations are finding tremendous push-back on their carrot and stick methods of ‘collaboration’.

Returning to the office has been a major shift for organisations and their people. Organisations are failing to notice the fundamental change in priorities and expectations of their people. This failing could cost organisations in the war for talent, where even South Africans are participating in the Great Resignation. Returning to the office comes with its peripheral challenges. Traffic, loadshedding battles making it worse where we are consulting multiple timetables of stages of loadshedding throughout the day, multiple areas on differing schedules along our routes and ever more agitated drivers on the road. The other planning that needs to take place is also reinstating childcare, transport for kids, and giving up the hours we have come to use productively, instead, for time spent in traffic. Not to mention how all of this hits our pockets, including the fuel and transport costs, temptation to buy food in the office, and the expenses to again manage our home lives while we are not there. 

Locally and globally we are dealing with the fallout of the pandemic, economic woes, political upheaval, warring nations, radically different social norms, loss, grief, fear and worry over when it could all happen again. The loss we faced in Covid-19 violated our social ways of losing loved ones. Hospitals barred from visitors, funerals conducted online and guilt for those who survived. Some of us also faced our own mortality in contracting the virus and continue to experience health effects related to Covid-19. 

Outlining all of this is important to highlight that we are carrying a lot at the moment. For us to realise the cognitive load we are dealing with. To pause and notice that we are in cognitive overload. 

What is cognitive load and how have we been pushed into cognitive overload?

Cognitive load is the capacity we have for holding short-term and long-term information in our minds. The brain has a designated capacity to take in stimuli. There is only so much we can think about and focus on. We begin to feel a cognitive overload when we are over stimulated, That is more stimuli and information coming into our awareness and thinking than we can manage. Our cognition – as in our ability to take knowledge in and understand it, no longer functions optimally when we are in cognitive overload. Prolonged experience of this can lead us into cognitive fatigue. This is a constant and prolonged strain on our cognitive processing. All the stress and strain we are facing and trying to juggle mentally is causing us cognitive overload, putting us at risk of cognitive fatigue. 

What cognitive fatigue can look like:

1. Difficulty concentrating
2. Forgetfulness
3. Irritability
4. Simple tasks becoming a struggle
5. Feeling overwhelmed
6. Difficulty sleeping
7. Physical symptoms of stress such as headaches, tension, and a racing heart
8. Feeling disconnected from the world in a dreamlike or foggy state
9. Experiencing a mental block – where you can’t engage in thinking

How do we regain our energy?

There are ways to tackle the cognitive overload and fatigue we are facing. Considering what is in and outside of our control will assist us in taking action where we can, and putting boundaries in place to help us say yes to more of what we enjoy and feel energised by and saying no to more cognitive load. This also allows us to use our energy productively on that which we can control. Letting go of unnecessary thoughts of what is outside our control. 

Some further ways to re-energise include:

1. Reduce the task load you are taking on – give yourself permission to tackle less while you are overloaded mentally
2. Give yourself more time than usual to do the same tasks
3. Let go of perfectionistic standards in favour of completing the task and receiving feedback to improve, that way you keep the flow of work moving
4. Planning and scheduling tasks – compiling these plans and managing our schedule puts the load into our control
5. Delegate tasks where possible
6. Put boundaries in place and stick to them – saying no to more if we cannot realistically take more on
7. Taking on enjoyable tasks will not increase your cognitive load
8. Take responsibility for your wellbeing – eat well, put good sleep habits in place, ask for help when you need it
9. Organisations can also put shorter work days in place, introduce flexi-time and encourage their people to take regular breaks.

Moving into the final stretch of a year where we are adjusting to life where hybrid work is taking shape, socialising is coming back, and where we are dealing with a lot mentally, we can start to re-energise by giving ourselves a break. It’s time to gear down for the end of the year in the ways that we can. Putting less pressure on ourselves to perform at a high level will give us a chance to take a breather before the festive season, allowing us to have the energy to tackle the change of pace coming our way. Gaining energy is not always about digging deep but also balancing our ‘doing’ with resting. If we do not make time for our wellness we will be forced to make time for our illness.  

Allow me to leave you with this final thought: