Tips For CEOs: How to Keep on Rising During Trying Times

In the past few months, we have been absorbed by constant change.  There is a pervasive uncertainty that’s affecting mental health and life-work balance.  Here are 6 Ways to remain true to yourself, and nurture your mental awareness. While it seems impossible, the famous quote, “this too shall pass,” is perhaps a reminder we all need.

There are ways to remain a solid leader and give reminders that you care:

It is important to keep employee satisfaction, assurance, courage, endurance, desire and even the potential of going nowhere in mind. Help your employees to nurture their self-worth using the following tools:

1. Satisfaction
   Satisfaction is nurtured when we are thankful for the things we take for granted. It has become increasingly difficult to feel satisfied at work and in home life as all our roles collide and blur.  Maintain separate spaces between work and personal life obligations so that you can see the micro-accomplishments on a daily basis.Your desk might symbolize work and that should be the only activity you conduct in your desk space.  Personal time and attention to life-fulfillment is pleasurable without distractions.  The time you spend during family interaction are valuable, so be sure to focus on quality, not quantity.
2. Assurance
   It is difficult to feel safe while adjusting to the new “normal. “We must consistently communicate and reassure ourselves, our children and loved ones that everyone is doing their best, and it is good enough.  This is paramount to mental health.  Be an example of self-assurance so that negative feelings are not shared.  Instead, acknowledge the feelings, let them go and direct your energies to what is positive in your immediate surroundings.  Appreciation for the present and promise of an activity that brings joy to your family, assures them that better days are ahead.
3. Courage
   By now, having transcended the drastic changes beyond our control in the first part of 2020, know that you are brave and strong.  You need to nurture your mental and physical health to build resilience.  Your courage is in direct proportion to your strength and inner sense of well-being.  Nurture your soul by finding time to practice self-care.The extent to which you prioritize your needs is the measure for how effective you will be at overcoming challenges and supporting others in your life.  Remind yourself, that when you feel your best, you can give your best to others. Often, this takes courage because we place others’ needs before our own.  Ultimately, when we ignore our needs, we sacrifice our emotional health, and that means that we are giving less of ourselves to our loved ones.  Don’t they deserve better?
4. Endurance
   Patience and self-belief is the only way to build endurance.  Your daily actions move you closer to your ultimate goal, but endurance is not about moving ahead, it is about taking two steps forward and maybe three steps back in the face of challenges.  The path to your destination is never a long steady walk, it is filled with roadblocks.Know that transcending obstacles is how you build strength and keep the pursuit of your achievement alive. Persevere by believing that you are capable, and regardless of any person, or thing, you shall endure, and your self-respect will get your there.
5. Nowhere
   Today, in the heat of competition, we are all looking to get somewhere. Understand that taking time out and going nowhere but being present, is more important than constantly seeking to be somewhere.In our attempts for forging ahead, we lose sight of our intention and our present reality.  Minute life moments and the recognition of our breath become concealed in constant action.  Time spent being still and silent and connecting with yourself can ultimately take you much further. Tranquil “you” time is the chance to catch up with unrealized thoughts hidden behind action. By going nowhere, you realize that action is merely an apparent display of the deeper meaning we are all searching for.
6. Desire
   We are all living in the face of desire.  Motivation guides your assurance to achieve a vision. The thought of “wanting something so badly,” creates new pathways for approaching life and work.Set yourself apart. Feed your innovation and question the mundane, this nurtures your power and desire to believe in yourself, a power that can change the world.  Have confidence and faith that what you envision and are longing for, comes from a place of the real you, because ultimately, the real you, is the best you, for it is only in you that the greatest things have ever been achieved.

Written by Dr. Renu Persaud.