Author Archives: kate

Dec14

How To Come Back From A Holiday Break Feeling More Productive

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How To Come Back From A Holiday Break Feeling More Productive

A few days more and it’s Christmas. It’s been an odd year but people still haven’t lost the festive holiday spirit. Just now, I saw some holiday decor up at my favorite coffee shop. Everything looks normal, right?

A Healthline survey in 2015 reports that 44% of people say that they are stressed during the holidays, with approximately 18% of those respondents reporting that they’re “very stressed.” While the holidays should be a time of joy, it can also be a time of stress. Respondents of that survey cite finances as the main reason for being stressed followed by being overscheduled. 

If you are working up until the last minute, the holidays can be even more stressful. Employees have a hard time staying productive in mid-December, because they have the holidays at the back of their mind. Working professionals tend to fall into one of these categories:

  • They completely disengage after finishing the last work-related task and start engaging in not very meaningful activities like binge-watching.
  • They keep working straight through the holidays and use work to get out of personal commitments.
  • They do the opposite and cram as many holiday activities as they can into their schedules.

The problem here is obvious. None of these categories have a healthy work-life balance in them. To be more productive, you need to have a healthy balance of work and personal time.

How To Spend Your Holidays Intentionally

  1. Set healthy holiday goals – set goals around what is important to you like how much sleep you want to get, how much exercise you want to do, etc. Stick to these goals. Remember that you’re trying to keep a healthy balance so don’t set a holiday goal to “do more work”. Instead, a healthy goal would be setting how much time will you allow yourself to work over the holidays.
  2. Create and uphold holiday traditions – Family dinner on Christmas is a good tradition to uphold. Social distancing might prevent you from organizing a sit-down dinner with the whole family, but you can do it via video conferencing apps. Exchanging Christmas gifts is another tradition to uphold that almost everyone can look forward to.
  3. Set goals for next year – take advantage of the holidays by setting goals for the year ahead. Making sure you have something to look forward to and something to work on will ensure that you keep a healthy, balanced, and productive mindset.
  4. Prioritize downtime – find a quiet place to reflect. You can also write in a journal or have a meaningful conversation about how your year went with a loved one. This helps you take stock of the year that was and helps you process everything that happened. It’s like clearing your mental inbox so that you are ready for new experiences.

What are your tips on how to come back from the holidays feeling more productive? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Dec7

Practical Ways To Really Beat The Burnout Blues

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Practical Ways To Really Beat The Burnout Blues

The past few months have been a struggle for everyone. Together, we have faced many adversities. With the holidays coming up, everyone is looking forward to taking a breather. We are all telling ourselves a version of: “if I can just get a holiday, I can shed off this burden of stress and escape burnout.” If only it were that simple.

Unusual Circumstances

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit globally, all forms of social gatherings were staunchly banned and nations were sent on lockdown. Getting together with family and friends was discouraged. So was travelling. That meant that taking vacations was off of our list of things to do while the world was on lockdown.

Hope Against Hope

Travel bans were in place internationally and even domestically. There goes our hope of taking that much-awaited vacation in the hopes escaping burnout and stress. However, hinging your strategy on a getaway in order to solve your burnout problems isn’t such a sound plan after all. Burnout is defined as “a reaction to prolonged or chronic job stress and is characterized by three main dimensions: exhaustion, cynicism (less identification with the job), and feelings of reduced professional ability.[1]” While we are all hopeful that a break might chase those burnout blues away. The only real solution is change. Two in particular: a change in environment and a change in behaviour.

How Are You Feeling

Here are some common signs of burnout:

  • Feelings of alienation and exhaustion – sure physical distancing is the IN thing nowadays. But if you are experiencing emotional distance and growing cynical about your outlook in life, you might be experiencing burnout. If you feel way beyond tired, and feel emotionally exhausted, numb, and drained, you might be experiencing burnout.
  • Physical symptoms – headaches, stomachaches, and gastrointestinal issues are common symptoms of stress and burnout.
  • Performance dip – having negative feelings about tasks and responsibilities that you once enjoyed doing are surefire signs of burnout. Dips in productivity and creativity, as well as lack of concentration, are signs as well.

Change In Environment

While a vacation or some time off can and will offer you some temporary relief from stress and burnout, it won’t be a permanent solution to your problem. Take regular scheduled breaks from work along with a change of pace or routine. In rare cases, a change in position or a new job altogether might be necessary for severe burnout.

Change In Behaviour

Developing a clear action plan involves making changes in behaviour as well. Prioritizing self-care is one of the surefire ways to reduce stress and burnout. Eat a healthy diet, exercise, and monitor your sleep habits so you can make changes for the better will contribute a lot to reducing stress and burnout.

If you have exhausted all these options and feel that they are not working, try to seek the help of a mental health professional to discover what you need to create a personalized action plan. What are your tips to combat burnout? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

[1] Burnout Symptoms and Treatment

Nov30

To Make a Difference, Always Choose To Be Kind

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To Make a Difference, Always Choose To Be Kind

The past thanksgiving has made us realize that we have a lot to be grateful for. It also made us realize that the world needs a lot more kindness going on: kindness not only to others, but also to ourselves. More than ever, practicing self-kindness is to be necessary in order for us to be able to help other people. Big or small acts of kindness help create ripples of happiness that people can take with them and pay forward. One simple act goes a long way.

We all have different ways to show kindness. Some show it by lending a helping hand, others by lending an ear. Others show it by doing volunteer work, while others show it by helping out in the house. Practice kindness triggers a chain reaction: make someone else’s day better, and they in turn feel good about themselves and try to make someone else’s day better. Here are some ways you can practice kindness.

  1. Be generous – it doesn’t have to be a grand gesture of generosity. Making the family’s favorite dinner. It can also be giving a bit of your time to a neighbor or a friend to help out where you can.
  2. Compliment someone – pick a trait that you admire in someone and tell them what you admire about them. Watch them glow in appreciation.
  3. Practice gratitude – we take for granted the words “thank you” and we don’t say it enough. Always say thank you whenever you can and show others how grateful you are for their presence in your life. Also practice gratitude for simple things, such as good food, great friends, and good health.
  4. Lend a helping hand – don’t think twice, offer to help. Helping others has a twofold effect. It benefits the recipient and also makes us release feel-good hormones, so we actually do feel good about helping. If you’re feeling a little blue, try lending a helping hand.
  5. Be a good listener – these are trying times for everybody. If you feel that you are just one person who can’t make a difference, start with being a good listener to someone who is struggling. You might not know it, but it makes a huge difference and that person will appreciate you for it.
  6. Tell a joke – lighten the mood whenever you can. It won’t hurt to crack a joke or two, nobody needs to be serious and talk about gloom and doom all the time. We get it, there’s a pandemic. But a little laughter would go a long way. We’re all stressed enough.
  7. Rally behind a good cause – pick a cause, organization, or movement that you really believe in and get behind it.
  8. Show appreciation – when someone does something good for you, don’t forget to tell them that you appreciate it.

We need more kindness in the world, don’t you think so? Have you seen extraordinary acts of kindness going around? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Nov23

3 Things To Do To Get Over Quarantine Fatigue

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3 Things To Do To Get Over Quarantine Fatigue

It’s almost the end of the year, and we have yet to see the end in sight of this pandemic crisis. A lot of people are experiencing ‘quarantine fatigue’. Quarantine fatigue is different for everyone but it is generally the feeling of “exhaustion associated with a confining lifestyle due to locally imposed pandemic restrictions. Yes, quarantine fatigue is a real thing. It is the fatigue felt by people who experience the complex challenge of extreme physical and social distancing. This feeling, coupled with economic hardships can cause psychological damage, especially to people who already have depression and anxiety even before the crisis started. 

Reverting to the old version of ‘normal’ is now out of the question since vaccines aren’t readily available yet and probably won’t be available for quite a while. Public health and safety campaigns from governments all over the world are discouraging social gatherings and for good reason. New cases continue to rise and the only way to manage this alarming increase is by social distancing. 

So what should people do to alleviate the feeling of ‘quarantine fatigue’? 

  1. Do something you have to do – this includes doing the things that are expected of you like familial responsibilities and daily work. Quite a few of us are experiencing debilitating and crippling anxiety that it is an overwhelming task to even get out of bed in the morning. If it gets too hard, you are entitled to take a break for your mental health. Once you are strong enough to get back into the rhythm of things, you must try to find the motivation to face the tasks of tackling your responsibilities. You need to go back to work in order to pay the bills and put food on the table. Take care of the basics.
  2. Do something you want to do – this is what will get you through hard times. Always remember to take care of yourself first. You cannot pour from an empty cup. So, do what you must in order to take care of yourself. Self-care activities aren’t just limited to massages, scented candles, or face masks. Self-care can also be about continuous learning, crafting, catch-ups with friends or family, or even scheduling time in your diary to watch your favorite binge-worthy series. 
  3. Do something for others – it is easy for people to retreat into themselves in times of crisis in the hopes that everything will blow over once they come out of their safe place. However, one way to overcome adversity is to understand that we are not facing these challenges alone. By helping other people, you will understand that it doesn’t matter if this thing is bigger than you, you can still make a difference. Studies show that giving is good for your health. Generous behavior is closely associated with reduced risk of illness and mortality and lower rates of depression. So if you are battling anxiety and depression. It is a good idea to donate to charity or volunteer your time.

How are you coping with quarantine fatigue? Do you have tips to combat quarantine induced anxiety? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Nov16

Empathy Is A Skill That Can Be Learned And Strengthened

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Empathy Is A Skill That Can Be Learned And Strengthened

Empathy is defined as “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.[1]” Given the present global situation, the world needs more empathy right now. Not everyone has the same coping mechanism. Some people have it worse than others, so empathy skills might come in handy.

3 Types of Empathy

Yes, you heard that right. Empathy is actually a life skill, and a skill that can be honed. There are 3 types of empathy. They are as follows:

  • Cognitive empathy – basically this is about being able to see things from someone else’s perspective.
  • Emotional empathy – this type of empathy is otherwise known as ‘emotional contagion’ or being able to feel the other person’s emotions alongside them.
  • Compassionate empathy – this type of empathy is all about understanding someone else’s pain AND taking action to help.

Finding The Right Balance

Finding the right balance is what empathy skills boil down to. Cognitive empathy is more of ‘empathy by thought’ while emotional empathy is more of ‘empathy by feeling’. Compassionate empathy is the right balance between logic and emotion and is a very good life skill to have. And just like all skills, this can be improved upon. Strengthen your empathy skills with these 7 tips.

  1. Open up about yourself – being able to share your thoughts with others is the first step to building genuine relationships. The more you open up, the more other people can find relatable experiences to build connections with.
  2. Listen without interruption – being a good listener is another good skill to have and is important in improving your empathy skills. Giving the other person your undivided attention gives you a chance to hear the little things that matter the most.
  3. Ask for an opinion – asking someone for advice encourages others to share their opinion and might help you make better decisions, too.
  4. Be calm – when another person tells you their worries and fears, it is not the time to panic along with them. That isn’t empathy, that’s helping create more anxiety and paranoia. You should be calm and collected so that both of you can see the bigger picture.
  5. Put yourself in their shoes – this is what empathy is all about, being able to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. If you can imagine what they feel, you will have a better understanding of their situation. It also helps to ask relevant questions.
  6. Know your body language – avoid crossing your arms or giving off an aloof vibe (avoiding eye contact, hunching, turning your body away from the speaker, etc.)
  7. Give out praises when needed – a nice word or compliment here and there can do wonders for the other person’s self-esteem, and surprisingly, yours too!

Do you have any tips on how to improve your empathy? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empathy