We are all familiar with the oxygen mask analogy, that in order to help others we first need to care for ourselves. This is vital for those working in caring roles or are leaders in organisations. We need to ensure we are working at our optimal level to be able to best care for others and work positively in caring and/or leadership roles.
In caring for ourselves first we need to establish wellbeing habits and practices that will support us in having capacity to work at our best. Changing old habits or establishing new habits requires us to change our brain. This is easiest when we are children but can still be done as an adult it requires more effort and consistency. We have all experienced this when trying to create new healthy habits, e.g. more meditation e.g. Removing unhealthy choices from our diet. This can be difficult if we don’t consider carefully how we can build the change into our day to create new habits.
Consider what small changes that can have the greatest impact on your wellbeing. Just because these steps are small doesn’t mean they will be easy, but small steps forward are moving us in the right direction and are certainly better than no steps at all.
To make any change we first need to recognise the need to change and commit to this. We then need to establish a structure to support these changes. BJ Fogg founder of the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University recommends a tiny habit recipe. The recipe comprises of an anchor moment or cue, that will remind us to do the habit we are trying to create. Then a small behaviour, by making it small it feels more achievable, we are more likely to complete the small behaviour and move towards habit formation. The final step is celebrating, this reinforces the neural pathway in the brain to embed the behaviour as a habit.
Anchor moment | Tiny behaviour | Celebration |
When I … am about to finish my lunch break | ​I will then… Close my eyes and take 5 slow breaths | ​Then I will… Congratulating myself for taking the time to refocus and calm before going back into my workspace |
As part of our self-care we might decide we want to make changes to build positive relationships in our workplace setting, as this is a useful support for our self-care.
This could look like
Anchor moment | Tiny Behaviour | ​Celebration |
When I … I arrive at work… | I will then… greet my colleagues warmly with a smile and ask how their day has been so far… | Then I will… congratulate myself on setting a positive tone for the day. |
Am getting ready to finish work | ​Go to one colleague and let them know one thing that I appreciated about them for the day | Savour the exchange and the good feelings that this evokes for me and them |
Start our team meeting | Ask how everyone’s tiny habits are progressing | Congratulate everyone for their efforts (we may also add a celebratory cheese platter to share) |
Use this template to create your own small steps to wellbeing to enable you to care for yourself and others.
#smallsteps #positivechange #positiverelationships #behaviourchange #tinyhabits #tinyhabitrecipe #selfcare #selfcarehabits
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