Video transcript: Learn how to look after yourself mentally

[Visual: Blue screen intro with white text saying: “Brave in business e-learning series headspace”]

[Audio / Visual: As the screen opens, quiet music plays in the background. The music plays throughout the video. The screen opens displaying the title “Looking after yourself mentally”. Beneath the title is sub-title text: a by-line “Good business looking after you” and the Spark BusinessLab and business.govt.nz logos.]

[Visual: Screen changes to show the presenter in the centre of screen. On the bottom left of the screen, in white text on a blue background, is the speaker’s name: John Eatwell. On the bottom right of the screen in white text is the by-line “Good business looking after you”, the Spark BusinessLab logo and business.govt.nz logo. The by-line and logos remain in place for the entire video.]

[The presenter, John Eatwell speaks]

When people think about health, they often think about physical things like sleep and exercise. But looking after yourself mentally is just as important. When you’re well physically and mentally, you’re happier, you fall sick less, you perform better and you’re more effective. 

In this video, we discuss three things to work on to improve your mental health: taking breaks, being grateful, and using your strengths. If you don’t want to work on all three areas at once, pick one for now and do the others later. The main thing is getting started.

[Visual/audio: Text appears on screen that says, “Take a break” in white bold text, music becomes slightly louder]

[Visual: Screen returns to just show the speaker]

Let’s talk about breaks. Our brains need regular breaks to continue to work hard and work well. Take a break every two hours, or even every hour if you’re concentrating very hard. Take at least half an hour for lunch. 

Whether you notice it or not, your productivity and creativity drop off if you don’t take breaks. 

[speaker makes a downward-sloping gesture with his arm and hand]

That means you do less work in the same amount of time, and aren’t as good at solving problems. If you stop for lunch, your productivity in the afternoon more than makes up for your break. 

Also, your brain quietly works on problems when you’re not actually concentrating on them. 

But we don’t just need breaks during work hours. We also need to make sure we don’t work too many hours. Research shows that working 36 hours a week is ideal. That’s about 7 hours a day. Working longer reduces productivity.

[Visual/audio: Text appears on screen, saying “practise gratitude” with music slightly louder]

[Visual: screen returns to just showing speaker and background]

The second area for good mental health is gratitude. 

People tend to think negative thoughts. Studies show that about 80 per cent of our thoughts each day are negative, and 88 per cent of these thoughts worry about things that don’t happen. 

Fortunately, people can change how their brains work. One way is by doing a gratitude exercise to help you think more realistically. Over time, you’ll be able to better manage your thought processes.

Before you go to bed, think about three things that happened that day that you’re grateful for, and what caused them. Here’s how to do the exercise.

• Be specific. What happened? Who was involved? Say “I’m grateful that Chris helped me solve the problem that was driving me up the wall”, instead of “I’m grateful for supportive colleagues”.
• Go into more detail about one thing instead of listing many things in passing.
• Focus on people you’re grateful for, as well as on things.
• Appreciate what you have. If you can’t think of anything, try imagining life without someone or something.
• Appreciate surprises: the good things that you weren’t expecting.
• Appreciate what didn’t happen, like near misses.

Do the exercise every night for two weeks to help you notice what’s going right. After two weeks, just do the exercise when you find yourself thinking particularly negative thoughts. For example, do it when you think you’ve had a bad day, to put things into perspective. You don’t have to write your thoughts down after the two weeks. Just stop and think about what has gone right.

[Visual/audio: screen changes to show text coming on the screen, saying “Celebrate your strengths” in white bold text, also the music becomes louder for a short period]

[Visual: Screen returns back to show the speaker]

The last area we’ll discuss today is using strengths. When people want to improve, they tend to work on their weaknesses. But people who focus on their strengths improve twice as much as those who focus on their weaknesses. 

If you work on your weaknesses, you’re doing things you’re not naturally good at. Your brain has to work harder, you feel less happy after three months, and you’re likely to be sicker and less productive. And often, the weaknesses we focus on are not critical for making us more effective.

So look at your strengths instead. If you don’t know what they are, try answering these questions. 

• What do you do well? When are you most productive? What skills and traits do you use when you do those things?
• What have you done that you’re proud of? What skills and traits did you use?
• What good feedback have you received? 

Perhaps you’re really good at motivating people, or really good at anticipating customer needs. That could mean you’re good at organising things, or at finding ways to keep everyone happy. 

Don’t be afraid to ask others what they think you do well. Your friends, family, colleagues, and people in your network will have an idea. Ask them, “What do you think I do really well?”

Once you’ve identified four to five strengths, make it a point to use a different one each day. Do this every day for five days, either at work or at home.

Using your skills in a new way is also important. Give yourself time to think about how you can do this. For example, can you use one of your strengths to solve a problem? Notice what happens when you do. 

Doing this for a week makes you more aware of your strengths. You can then use them deliberately when you face difficult situations or tasks. “I'll use my strengths of X and Y to tackle this.”You’ll see significant health benefits after three to six months when you do this exercise. You’ll feel happier, be less stressed, and have greater self-esteem. 

And those are the main areas we suggest you work on to improve your mental health:

• take breaks
• do a gratitude exercise, and
• use your strengths in new ways.

What will you do today to improve in one or more of those areas? Download our “Looking after you mentally” file on this page to record your grateful thoughts and ways you’re using your strengths. 

To check on your progress, you could set yourself a weekly reminder. You could also find an accountability partner: someone that you talk to about your progress.

Do the check-in on this page too, to see what you know about looking after yourself and to get more tips.

[Visual/audio Display changes to closing screen, displaying the Spark BusinessLab logo and business.govt.nz logo in the centre of the screen, the same music plays in the background]

[Video ends]