CoronaVirus SUPPORT

Helping you through these uncharted waters: motivating and guiding

5 TOP TIPS TO SUPPORT YOUR MINDSET

My expertise lies in change management and mindset mastery so although I’m normally applying these concepts to career decision making, they are highly applicable to what we’re all going through now so I want to help and support as much as I can.

Here are my top 5 strategies that I’m currently using to find some calm in the stormy waters. The full details are in my blog post ‘Hope’ found here.

 

I hope these tools help – just give me a shout if you’d like more!

 

BE MINDFUL of HOW YOU START YOUR DAY 

When you wake up in the morning are you grabbing your phone and immediately diving into the news?  Or are you taking a few minutes to do something mindful and intentionally set the tone for your day?

Rather than diving straight into the news, I’ve been grabbing my iPhone and listening to a healing, fear-releasing or confidence-boosting guided meditation.  Or writing a gratitude list or doing 15mins of yoga stretches and setting some intentions for how I plan to show up and support myself, my family and my community.

 

PROTECT YOUR STATE OF MIND BY CHOOSING YOUR INPUT SOURCES 

What we watch, read, listen to and talk about very much impacts our mindset.  It’s worth deciding how you’d like your mindset and emotional state to be ideally and then carefully choosing inputs that support this.

That may mean taking a social media break or being very discerning over which threads and groups, you spend time in.   We do not problem-solve and cope well from a state of fear, blame, hopelessness or powerlessness.

Other than that I’m looking for supportive, uplifting and humorous groups and chats as at a time like this we need laughter, song and dance more than ever before, when it feels appropriate obviously.

This one’s for any of my fellow ex-clubbers out there, one enterprising chap making his own fun as a Kitchen DJ….   😉 

HAVE A BANK OF TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR MANAGING THE WOBBLES 

As this situation evolves, we are having to deal with new information every day and concerns that may pop up about our livelihoods, our relatives, how to work with kids at home, our own health etc.

It’s natural that some days we’re on top and stable and other days it all feels a bit overwhelming.

For the three top tools I’m using daily at the moment read the full version of my blog here.

BE YOUR OWN MANAGING DIRECTOR AND STRATEGICALLY PLAN 

This one combines the first three really with deciding on what emotional state you’d like to experience if possible as we go through this (e.g. calm, resilient, strong, hopeful), gathering the facts and then working out what’s in your control and making an action plan.

As this situation is evolving so rapidly, what Kyle and I have been doing every 3 days or so is having a strategy planning session together. Planning ahead is hard as we don’t have much visibility yet on what and when things will happen.   However we can be reviewing regularly (we’re doing 2 to 4 week horizons currently) in the following areas where we DO have some control, and looking to see what needs to be done or any actions for us both to take on handling it:

  • Finances – income generation and paying the mortgage/bills
  • Logistics – food/petrol/pets
  • Health – what steps can we be taking to get and stay as healthy as possible?
  • Childcare/home-schooling
  • Caring for relatives/community

It’s also a time to stay positive and creative with solutions and also to reach out for help if needed.

Remember the bigger picture and see beyond current events

We are going to get through this.   Together.    We are a strong community in the veterinary profession and as colleagues, friends, families and fellow humans I know we are going to work together to come out the other side of this.

Whenever there is a threat, there is ALWAYS an opportunity and I think this will be the case for us both on a global level, and personally as well.   This unprecedented period is calling us to look at everything that is not currently working well and it will ask us to rise up and decide what is important.

I know it’s all-consuming right now, however life will go on once we get through this, even as we adjust and heal, so don’t lose sight of that.   Don’t let go of your dreams or plans and stay connected to the bigger, longer-term picture.

Free Q&A 

In the last few weeks, the live Q&A sessions of my group coaching course have been working brilliantly, as if one person has a question, it’s likely to apply to many others too.  If you are feeling worried during this present time and have a question you’d like to ask, feel free to email me direct at jenny@vetharmony.co.uk and I’ll take each question and do a short daily live on FB in response and let you know when it’s ready to view.  Examples would be things like, “How do I deal with feeling guilty for worrying about my situation when others have it much worse” or “I’m struggling to think clearly and forward plan at the moment, any tips on how to step back and take a bigger picture view.” I will do this while we’re in this change period and as frequently as I am able given childcare challenges, etc.

One-to-One Strategy Sessions 

For anyone who’d like to go a bit deeper, I have opened up some slots for bespoke one-to-one coaching sessions, which I don’t normally offer, however right now I can see a need and a benefit for these.

I would get you to fill in a questionnaire beforehand to give me an idea of your current challenge or query, then we would have an hour’s session focusing on understanding the problem, working out a strategy for how you can approach it and then looking at any mindset tweaks needed to keep you feeling motivated. 

Charged at a third of normal price,  £97 for the session.  I have created 10 slots for these initially and will try and open up more if demand is high.  Click here to order and book one of these sessions.