You’re not working from home, you’re at your home during a crisis trying to work.

Read that again. Slowly. And read it again.

We work with a variety of clients who work in a variety of industries who have all had to adapt to these changing, unknown times. The one common denominator for them all is that for a period of time they have had to work from home. Some have loved it, others not so much. We saw a post (actually we’ve seen lots of posts) on the subject. This one in particular struck a chord with us.

I think everyone would agree that these are great principles to live and work by in these crazy times. But I bet most of us are still overworking, comparing ourselves against colleagues and putting our physical, mental and emotional needs last. The lack of physical boundaries between home and work, uncertainties around changing alert levels, as well as the blurry economic outlook have triggered increased anxiety, causing a deterioration in our overall physical and mental wellbeing, that, as already reported by many health systems and mental health charities across the world could become an unintended second pandemic. 

To coincide with mental health awareness programmes and in response to the detrimental effects this crisis is having on mental health, many organisations are revitalising their employee support programmes. Wellbeing Support Series help us better manage constant change and increased anxiety and they focus on managing mental energy, improving sleep and understanding the physiology and psychology of stress.

But it’s important to view this time as an opportunity for growth too. This is the strange but positive side to adapting to the current times. Sitting with uncertainty is one of the most difficult tasks for any human being to do. Learning how to manage it is one of the best skills you can develop to contribute to mental wellness. Leaders and colleagues have a duty to look out for our own mental wellness and support others to ensure they can survive this crisis and then indeed thrive from all the lessons learnt throughout it. We need to commit to doing it not just during Mental Health Awareness Weeks in the midst of a global crisis, but also today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.

We’re lucky at Lemonface Design. We can work anywhere at anytime. We have aligned ourselves with like-minded clients and we produce work on their behalf with pride and passion. One of our clients is Sally Duxfield. Above all else Sally  is an Experiential Architect, which is a term that is still sometimes met with a slightly blank stare, so if you read just a little further down this page, we’ll tell you exactly what that means.

Sally’s 30+ years’ experience - including studying neuroscience, leading high performance teams, and owning/directing Makahika Outdoor Pursuits Centre - speak to these favourite things impeccably. In other words, she lives and breathes the things she loves the most. The way life ought to be lived.

Experiential Architecture can be most succinctly described as the art of connecting theory and strategy with human emotion. Traditionally we have black and white leadership models on one side, and personality assessments on the other. By combining the two, it reinforces our learning, it prompts us to change our habits, and we experience the learning rather than simply reading it. Learning becomes lived, leadership is long-lasting.

Sally has a mantra ‘I'm passionate about people having a sense of control, joy and satisfaction embedded into their work and life routines. The science is transparently clear. When we get our 'daily rhythm' sorted, we can create our best life.’

We’ve just helped produce a planning book for Sally ‘Dream, Plan, Do, Be’ which is the first volume in 4 or 5, where she draws down her learnings from the last 30 years and put them in a short succinct usable form with the hope that you'll be able to apply part of her learnings into your busy life and gain 20% more control of your world. If you choose to:

• You'll be able to articulate the way you want to feel each day and use these as the 'why' to implement these systems into your daily world
• You'll have an understanding of the neuroscience of daily planning and rhythm
• You'll have a plan to start the journey towards a more controlled day
• You will feel that you've gained at least 20% more control of your day, thus accomplishing more and reducing your stress.

Order her book now and get sorted.

There are heaps of people out there especially in the coaching arena that can help people during this time. Also check out another of our clients Lisa O’Neill. She’s Feisty, funny and fabulous, has written 6 books and she has that rare ability to deliver powerful messages through side-splitting humour.

Check out one of her Living in Lockdown Series – you won’t regret it.

Webinars, planning books, going for a walk, meeting friends, talking,  are all tactics to use at this time. But above all else, whatever you do, be kind to yourself.

We have another client who sent the following email to their team the other day. And It’s gold.

"Hey Team, Please Remember...

It’s OK to……

• Have dodgy wifi
• Stand, sit or lie down for meetings
• Switch off your camera to have a stretch or eat an apple
• Have your pets, partner, housemates or kids gatecrash your video meeting
• Turn (another) video conference into a walk and a phone call instead
• Not check your emails out of hours
• Add some gaps and pauses to your day to think and rest
• Put your family before work
• Not know everything
• Be confused
• Say ‘I don’t know’
• Ask for help
• Have a cry
• Talk about it
• Not talk about it
• Challenge things you’re not comfortable with
• Feel like these are crazy times, because they are crazy times
• Have a crappy da
• Have a great day
• Share things that have helped you
• Smile
• Say you’re OK

Wise words. Kind words. Take care out there.