There is often such a push to meet the demands of a 'busy' life and the challenges of a job or workplace that people neglect to invest sufficiently and consistently in their wellbeing.
Although people can know the importance of wellbeing, this knowledge just isn't enough. Their action drops. They form 'bad' habits. Routines that once built and sustained wellbeing get replaced as every spare moment is used to squeeze out some more performance or tick off more 'to do list' items.
Although someone may feel like they're doing everything they can to cope with the difficulties they face, some of their coping strategies can be counterproductive (and others even downright risky or unhealthy). Replacing important moments to disconnect from work to rest in favour of sending more emails and ticking off more tasks is just one example. As is missing the opportunities for exercise or a healthy lunch break as you push to unrealistic goals or deadlines. Perhaps this sounds a little familiar?
When this sort of spiral continues and people stay tunnel visioned on the 'perform at all cost' focus, it can be some time (even years) before a person realises how far off track they've gone, and how unwell they have become.
This is all sounding a little 'doom and gloom', however, so it's important to point out that there are ways to break the cycle. People can bring back their awareness of important wellbeing building routines in life and work. When they do, and they make time to invest in their wellbeing, the spiral reverses. It heads upwards towards greater wellbeing. Over time as wellbeing is restored, and a new perspective on performance is realised. The person remembers that they fundamentally need wellbeing in order to be able to perform at their best and sustain this over time.
In this podcast we explore the 'Live Well, Have Impact' intention that sits at the heart of the above challenge. It drives us at Benny Button - like a mantra we use every day. When working with people and organisations this key message reveals how vital it is to be in sync when it comes to focusing on performance as well as wellbeing, and that work and life domains must also be in sync in order for everyone to realise their potential.
