No matter what the working environment the story is always the same...There is an expectation to do "More With Less" and to somehow achieve major outcomes and hit targets whatever the cost might be to the worker.
Time and again we see news articles around "short-staffing" "strike action" "carer fatigue" "adrenal fatigue" (Actually there are heaps of "fatigue" titles...) "job dis-satisfaction" etc.etc.etc.
So I have given some real thought to this and have been doing my own personal experiments...How can we maintain our health, wellbeing and sanity when we are surrounded by these difficulties within the working enviornment?
This has been going on for decades, this is not some new drama that is now plaguing people in 2019...So what does a person do when they arrive at work to find that their role now includes 5 new tasks since yesterday? How does the team respond when three people retire and the business decides not to replace them? What happens when you are asked to stay an hour late beyond your contract knowing you won't be paid for your work?
*I am sure the answers will be different for each person depending on your own personal values, however, I would suggest that there could be some ideas worthy of your time to consider here.
These are my top three:
1. Practice self care - This is my number one because personally I believe that until your own cup is filled you will have nothing to pour into the lives of others. (Experiment with what things work for you, but start making a list of things to do daily that allow you the care and love that you need to feel energized for the work you do. I have talked about this extensively elsewhere in my blog, so I won't go into detail here, but some of my favorites are long walks/hot bath/yoga/meditation/watching a movie)
Falling under this category is - "Don't work sick" If you are unwell, stay home and take care of yourself. Your job will still be there tomorrow!!
*Remember that whoever your employer is, they are looking after their business. (of course they want you to work extra hours and not call in sick and never take annual leave!!) It is your responsibility to look after yourself so that you can do your job well. Don't ever feel bad about caring for yourself. In caring for yourself you ARE caring for their organization too.
2. Set your own personal boundaries. Decided in advance what exceptions you can and cannot make. (for example, if you have a commitment to your family to be home for dinner by 6pm...hold strong to that and let nothing get in the way.) Make that clear to your boss that you are not able to be flexible with this. Be willing to offer flexibility in another area - but not your end time. Personally for me my "home time" is a boundary. When I get an email asking to meet with me after my shift is done; I ask for the meeting to be re-scheduled. You might like overtime and this is not where your boundary lies, so for you it might be that your boundary is that you only feel safe having a patient ratio of 4:1 (if you are a nurse) so maybe that is the boundary you aren't willing to compromise on, but you are okay with working overtime...See what I mean? Find what boundaries work for you and what you need to do your job well.
Setting these boundaries in ADVANCE prevents you from over-committing or being a "yes" man. If you already know that you will not be taking on extra work past 5pm then when someone comes to you at 4:45pm and asks you to do a job, you will feel a bit stronger in saying "I'm sorry, I can't help you with that today, but I'm happy to talk with you about it tomorrow". (Be clear and upfront with your team about your boundaries so that everyone understands your reasons and there are no hurt feelings when you decline to help.)
3. Compromise - Be willing to compromise with your team members. If you are feeling pressure about some upcoming tasks which you feel you simply cannot complete - be honest about it and say clearly that "I feel that I cannot complete all the tasks required of me by Tuesday, I know I could manage three of them, so do you have an order of priority for which three tasks you would like me to do?" and then further that discussion to see how the team could cooperate with the remaining things needing to be done. Looking more from a team effort than feeling like the pressure falls solely on your shoulders.
Hopefully this post has got you thinking about what things you could implement in your own work-week that would make your experience more enjoyable and fulfilling. We spend a lot of time in our work environments and it's important that we feel good about that!
So, I'm off to have a hot bath, breathe in some beautiful incense, do some yoga and meditation and think about how I can make my work day tomorrow a great day! 😉
"When you say 'yes' to others, make sure you are not saying 'no' to yourself" ~ Paulo Coelho
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