While other leaders are constantly being told to put the needs of others before their own — The trap for Jugglers is that they naturally think about others first, which means Jugglers tend to defer their own needs while waiting for things to get “back to normal." Before the COVID19 pandemic hit, Jugglers already had many balls up in the air…In fact, there were already so many balls in the act, many jugglers pretty much figured…what’s one more? 

Strategies that work:
1. Insert Pauses — bookend your day just as the First Responder must.

2. Re-establish helpful boundaries so you can hear yourself think, identify your own needs, and problem solve

Action Steps

1. If you haven’t had any time to yourself lately, get out today and go for a 45 minute walk. Enjoy the sun and solitude.

2. If you’ve had too much time to yourself, invite a friend to walk and talk on the phone this week.

3. Begin to create your backstage. Do that by Identifying one problem you need help solving. Then Call one person you trust. Tell them you’d like their help coming up with a solution. If it goes well, get a regular phone date onto the weekly or monthly schedule.

Action Steps Courtesy of Sanchia Patrick

1. Set your goals and revisit them often. Remind yourself of your why. It’s hard to take care of yourself when you don’t really know what you want. We are multidimensional. There should be a goal within each of those dimensions.

2.Establish or Re-establish a very specific morning routine. Put your own mask on first. Protect yourself first thing in the morning.

3. Come up with a mantra. If you don’t have your own — Use the mantra “I can do hard things.” Every woman needs that voice that quiets the inner critic. 

Books mentioned: Sacred Commerce - Business as a Path of Awakening by Matthew Engelhart and Terces Englehart.

How can you sustain your personal energy and stamina when you’re under fire? Dr. Mohan talks with Dr. Kirsten Bendeck - a HelloHealth Clinic Member, mother of two, and emergency room physician fighting for patient’s lives during the COVID19 pandemic. Dr. Bendeck discusses how she adapts the HelloHealth tripod tent for self care to fit her fast paced life full of high stakes decision-making both at work and at home.

Action Steps courtesy of Dr. Bendeck

1. Yes you can! You CAN take a 30 minute every day to exercise.

2. No it is NOT more important to do xyz than it is to sleep.

3. Forget and reset. Just start over.

We do have control over how we adapt to this new normal. In fact, the only thing we have control over is our personal response to the current situation. When we look back, we want to be proud of the way we showed up in the world to help. So today’s action steps are about each of us taking some time to decide what our personal performance metrics will be.

1. Make a list of people you want to see come through this crisis as a better version of themselves. 
2. Decide how you want to make those people better. For example, Do you want to help them feel stronger? more capable? More connected?

3. Take one step today to help one of these people. Reach out and offer three specific ways you can solve a problem.

When you take the focus off of yourself, you will start problem solving and this will create a positive feedback loop that will gain speed. You will feel so much better, more in control, and you will start to see that there’s bright future waiting for us on the other side, wherever it is we land.

The foundation for stress management for all leaders and the HelloHealth Prescription for anyone who’s a First Responder is a tripod self care plan with three action steps. The HelloHealth Self Care Prescription for Leaders is a sequential set of steps to take as your time, energy level, and sense of calm improve. So we all start in the same place.

These steps are:
1. Breathe Oxygen - Do one thing for yourself first thing in the morning.
2. Shift your Mindset - Write down in longhand at least one win for the day.
3. Invest in Sleep - Give yourself an 8 hour sleep opportunity even if it has to happen in two or three chunks.

If you’re interested in bringing our virtual mini-workshop called “Self Care for Leaders Under the Fire” to your team, please give us a call at 404-500-6254. The workshop is being offered free of charge through June. Contact us online at www.hellohealthtoday.com.

Stress management has always been a vital component to any leadership strategy. Whether you had ways of coping with stress or not - the post-COVID era has likely disrupted systems and supports.

Recovering good self care has 4 parts:

1. Name the causes of stress - Each of us has our own set but generally stress has two categories right now. First, grief and what we’re grieving for. Second, fear being caused by uncertainty and high stakes.
2. Assess where you are in terms of your resiliency. Is your battery charged? Ask yourself how you’re doing in terms of having a sense of personal energy. If you are operating from a low internal reserve of personal energy you should think of yourself as a “first responder.” For example, if you’ve had to decide how much of your workforce you to furlough or layoff — you count as a first responder. And you’re also a first responder when the sheer number of decisions you need to make has created a new sense of fatigue. 
3. Build your tent. The tent is the place where the leader has a reprieve from the stress of making decisions that affect people’s lives or the life of the organization. Mohan and Davies describe an additive stress management plan that aligns with your level of personal energy.
4. Use your resources. There are unique kinds of stress leaders endure and there’s help. Find out more: www.hellohealthclinic.com.

Question: What is the best measure I can take to prevent my family and me from getting COVID-19?
ANSWER:

- If it’s financially feasible for you, stay home.

- Make droplet precautions a way of life. If you have them, teach your children how to wash their hands well, to cough into their sleeves, and blow their noses into tissue that they dispose of correctly. Establish rules for hand washing that have everyone wash almost every hour on the hour.

- Wipe down all high traffic touch points in your home at least once daily preferably twice. These include tables, counters, armrests, door knobs, light switches, computers, tablets, phones. Remember to wipe down your car.

- STOP touching your face. Wash your hands if you do touch your face.

- Make sure you are living in a healthy way. Feed your family fresh fruits and vegetables, get in a walk every day (even though you’ll have to keep your distance from people who don’t live with you), 

— Meditate every day. Meditation will help you manage these stressful times.

As long as you have questions for us and information to share, we’re going to continue our bonus content for Season 2. Our next episode will be about how to protect your mental well-being while enduring this extended time working and socializing from a distance.

Do you have a question or something to share? Email Dr. Mohan directly: [email protected]. 
Let us know if you’d like to be identified by name, company, your title or position and location. 

Long distance runner and HelloHealth Clinic member, Maria Yu speaks with Dr. Mohan about her personal journey to better health during the year of 2019.  Maria is a Software Executive with SAP — one of the leading global (ERP) software vendors in the world. She leads a global Go to Market Team for one of SAP's largest Cloud Business Units. Maria is a graduate of Florida State University, majoring in Public Relations, and holds a masters degree from Northwestern University in Managerial Communication. She has over 20 years experience in management consulting with Accenture and SAP including international projects in Brazil, where she lived, worked and learned to speak Portuguese. She is an avid runner and a busy mother of 3 girls, ages 7, 5 and almost 3. 

In 2019, Ms. Yu faced an injury that nearly ended her running career. The path to healing took several turns and taught lifelong lessons -- how to forgive yourself, slow down, and cope with uncertainty.

There’s so much power in the plan. It’s deceptively simple — kinda like taking a big breath before rushing into a high pressure situation. Having a plan means you stop trading restorative energy for urgency at work. 

Here are the suggested action steps for the day:

1. Decide now that you’re ready to make and keep commitments to yourself that help your body help your mind.

2. This week, put an hour time block onto your schedule on 4 days. Walk for 30 to 45 minutes during this time. 

3. When the time you committed to doesn’t work out, practice moving the time block instead of skipping completely.  There are no more regular days. It’s a guarantee that the plan won’t work as originally scheduled. Be flexible but stay committed and find the time later in the week.

Here are some steps you can take if you’re ready to adopt the stance of the code leader.

1. Don’t let the twin thieves of time gang up on you. Understand that Urgency and Distraction are the thieves of time. These twin sisters work together to waste away your time and effort. Investing in high quality sleep will create a natural buffer between you and these thieves making you a much harder target.

2. If you don’t have one already, begin a regular meditation practice. Meditate for a minimum of 5 minutes every day. When you feel urgency taking over your life, meditation is even more important but Urgency will tell you that you just don’t have the time. Trust me, you have 5 minutes. You always have 5 minutes. Those 5 minutes are the difference between you making decisions based out of fear and distraction or making decisions that uniquely contribute. 

3. When you’re facing urgency at work, stare it in the face. Take a big breath or even three or ten… As many as you need to activate your parasympathetic nervous system. Doing this uses your body to help your mind create the necessary pause between the stimulus and your reaction. This is how you defibrillate yourself first.

4.Once you are feeling calm and purposeful, address your team. You must have your team pause if you want them to start working together to address the issue at hand. Tell them “Everybody take a big breath.” Insist upon it. When you see the collective big breath - you can literally see everbody calming down. Let the pause happen. The power is in the pause. — One Mississippi Two Mississippi Three Mississippi. The pause allows us to choose a response. Then, Let professional training and experience take over from there.