Creating Healthy Workplace Habits
Healthy habit hacks were all over the internet last month, and no doubt the new year’s resolutions have lost their momentum. Bad habits are really hard to break and high-performance habits are difficult to develop without determination and consistency.
January and February might be tough months to try to start new habits, but it’s important to make the effort. Why should healthy habits become part of your organization’s culture?
Creating healthy workplace habits can reduce stress and churn. In Canada, the annual cost to society of work-related stress and stress-related illness was estimated to be CA$2.75 billion and is much higher in the U.S.
If there is so much written about habits that help with success, why isn’t everyone able to develop these proven methods to help realize career goals and have a fulfilling life? Because change is tough. Believe me, I have had an up and down relationship with healthy habits as well.
I’ve reviewed some of the research out there, the multitude of blogs and read some great books on habits, including Brendon Burchard’s High-Performance Habits and coaching program. It takes a long time to unravel unhealthy or unproductive habits. It takes time and effort to stay the course and create healthy habits in the workplace.
“Seek clarity. Generate energy. Raise necessity. Increase productivity. Develop Influence. Demonstrate Courage. ”
When I speak about healthy workplace habits, I look at it more broadly. It's not just the physical health routines, but the mental mindset and productivity practices that help leaders and teams enjoy successful outcomes and bring them closer toward achieving their goals and dreams.
My Top 6 Healthy Workplace Habits
I’ve compiled my recommended Top 6 list of high-performance and healthy workplace habit categories.
1. Plan and action
We reviewed this last month. You have to plan, and that means in addition to the yearly strategy, quarterly plans and goals, you need to break it down further into your weekly and daily targets.
I review my week’s plans on Sunday night (and yes I have the time blocked in my calendar). Sometimes I might get side-tracked like during the Super Bowl or the Oscars, but I review what’s coming up at the same time every week.
I talked about getting side-tracked in January and it’s easy to do this if you don’t plan your week and days. Without planning what your day will look like, you wake up not knowing what you want to do or accomplish. High-performers spend a little time the night before reviewing and giving themselves clear priorities/goals for the next day.
They also include tasks and rituals (morning routines such as mediation, journalling or exercise). When they wake up, they review their list and then get to it.
The Full Focus Planner is a great example of this. No, I’m not getting paid to promote and I’m newer to this system, but felt I needed to get back to my traditional written calendar as well as using technology. I’ll report back on how this is going after this quarter.
Remember you can’t do it all, so incremental steps will get you to the exponential growth personally, professionally and financially. If you don’t stay on track, you will be in the chaos and spin mode all day long.
All leaders, people managers and individual contributors need to adopt solid planning practices. High-performers do.
2. Read and learn
You don’t have time to read, you say? Well I’m calling you out on that.
All leaders and high-performers find time to read. And this can become a habit or practice, and cultivated daily. Maybe it’s before bed, or it’s first thing in the morning after your coffee or meditation or journalling.
Reading is an essential element in success — creating a growth mindset is ongoing development and continuous learning. Knowledge is power. Knowledge builds confidence. Knowledge contributes to high-performance.
This reading time also slows us down and gets us away from social media or technology and to a more peaceful place. The benefits of reading daily as a habit are well-known and can improve memory and empathy, and can reduce stress.
3. Health – mind, body and soul
What you eat and how much you exercise affects every area of your life. Highly motivated people use their exercise routine as a time to reset and plan. And they make smart food choices that will give them the energy they need to accomplish everything on their daily to-do list.
So, what’s for dinner? Is the gym on your to-do list? Choose wisely.
Physical, mental and spiritual health are all important and daily rituals that will lead to long-term results. You can’t have high energy without it. I know. I’ve let this part of my routine go many times. I have learned that I always feel more fulfilled in my professional and personal life and relationships with healthier habits.
Working on mental health and spiritual health is equally and perhaps arguably more important than healthy eating habits and physical exercise. Check out the stats on mental illness in the workplace and you know that creating healthy habits and taking care of your mental health is critical.
These habits relate to self-care and awareness, and I love what Gabrielle Bernstein talks about when looking at modern personal development.
“Self-care is equated with a new meditation app or a trendy book. It can be used as an escape from the true, deep work of identifying our core issues, and working through them.”
We need to get into deeper mindfulness and habits that address root causes, and this moves into spiritual health (however you define that). Bernstein says, “A lot of people out there are doing meditation, manifesting, trying to attract things into their life or are reading the books, but they’re not really nurturing the feelings that may be the underlying root cause that blocks them from whatever it is that they desire in their lives. It’s the bravery and the willingness to go to those places that scare us the most that allow us to step into the light of who we are.”
Bringing a holistic view to health is now more important than ever, and the workplace is made up of individuals who will impact the overall health of the organization. So encourage these healthy workplace habits as part of health and wellness programs.
4. Internal focus and space
High-performers create time and space daily, and make a habit of self-reflection throughout their day. The leaders and employees that start their day thinking about their work and taking time to be creative and reflect inward, get more accomplished.
Leaders who do not get distracted by what other people are doing, stay true to their company’s vision. On a daily basis they implement check-ins and this helps them get more accomplished.
As individuals and organizations, it’s important to pay attention to what’s happening inside rather than paying attention to competitors and other people’s journeys.
Stay focused on the internal “Why” and don’t get caught in comparison. Create this daily ritual of internal focus for better results.
5. Heart-centred moments
An important daily habit that is often overlooked is creating heart-centred moments. This can be as simple as showing gratitude or small acts of kindness. Make it a habit when you plan your day to include one thoughtful note in an email or one kind comment about someone’s work.
Incorporating these meaningful moments with authenticity as part of your routine, can lead to increased happiness and better health. They are all linked and need to become part of the daily actions and habits that create healthier workplaces.
The research shows that gratitude can play a big part in mental and physical health. For more on health related to gratitude, check this blog out from Berkeley.
6. Live fully and positively
Make it a habit to embrace the day. Carpe diem. Bring it. However you want to refer to it, high performers are thankful to wake up and make the most of the day they have. I participated in a leadership course years ago, and one saying I took away was “It’s a great day to be alive!”
If you have a positive attitude and make it a habit to show up with that as part of your DNA, you will get more done! We waste so much time complaining and on things we can’t control.
I adopted an effective tip that I gained from a coaching program using Brendon Burchard’s habits. I set a reminder in my phone on how I want to show up so that I can check in on myself. At 12:30 p.m. every day, my reminder goes off and these three words appear - Energetic, Inspirational and Committed. If I’m not showing up that way, I can start again. Hey, it hasn’t always been easy.
Life is hectic, it’s chaotic, and sometimes you tend to focus on the future. We all do it, worry about what’s next. While planning is important, so is living — being fully present and being thankful for what we have.
Life is short, and there’s no guarantee as to when it will end. I’ve lost many people and know many others who left this earth too young. People who had a wake-up call moment that changed their lives (Arianna Huffington, Brendon Burchard and many others), live their lives fully and positively.
This attitude habit is one that highly motivated people follow each day, and they embrace all that they do as if it were their last day. They make the most out of each moment.
Implementing some or all of these daily habits or rituals are good steps towards achieving those long-term goals or dreams.