How to beat the negativity bias

As humans, we're hard-wired to think negatively 🙅🏻

This natural inbuilt mechanism is what helped our ancestors from being killed by environmental threats thousands of years ago - threats that we no longer need to worry about.

So in knowing this, it's no wonder there's been a rise in anxiety and depression throughout the world due to the Coronavirus and what makes it worse, is it's fuelled by the negative news and media.

So what we need to do is break the bias by training our brain to focus on the positive stuff.

Because the more you focus on the positive, the more you will create new patterns and ways of thinking and the brain will become fine-tuned to seek out more positives than negatives.

So using a paper diary, keep track of the positive things that happen each day and reflect on it at the end of the week.

👉🏻 When you wake up, write down 3-5 things you're grateful for
👉🏻 Before you go to bed, write down 3-5 things that went well that day on the Sunday page
👉🏻 On Sunday, take 5 minutes to read and reflect on the things that you were grateful for and the things that went well and focus on these positive feelings

How to manage stress

Are you feeling STRESSED?

In this volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment, there's no doubt stress is impacting each and every one of us in one way or another.

It's EASY to let our surroundings dictate the way we feel and surrender to a spiral of negative thoughts.

It's HARDER to fight it because of our innate bias to negativity.

But what you've got to ask yourself is, is it a USEFUL BELIEF? Is this feeling of stress going to benefit you in any way?

And the answer is NO!

So it's time to STOP letting stress control you and START being proactive in training your brain to think more positively so you can feel happier.

Here are some ways you can take back control and overcome stress:

👉🏻 Allow yourself a dedicated 10 seconds to feel stressed and then get on with the rest of your day

👉🏻 Become curious and educate yourself on the issue you're stressed about to become more proactive in dealing with the issue

👉🏻 Reach out to someone and talk it out, don't hold it in

Recognising the signs of poor mental health in the workplace

This week, on Monday, 10th October marked World Mental Health Day; a day that aims to educate and raise awareness of mental health issues around the globe. With one in five people suffering from mental illnesses each year in Australia alone, it’s a major issue we’re all faced with, both at home and in the workplace. It’s important for individuals to recognise how to improve their own personal wellbeing, but it’s equally, if not more vital for organisations to understand how to detect mental illnesses in their employees and be able to support them through these challenging times.

Mental illness can come in many forms, but it generally affects the way you think, feel and behave. It distorts your normal perceptions of the world around you and decreases your ability to cope with, and bounce back from life’s many challenges.

The science of happiness

Renowned psychologist, Martin Seligman, theorised a scientific model of happiness, known as the PERMA model. It’s made up of five core elements that contribute to an individual’s overall wellbeing and positive mental state. These elements include:

• Positive emotions – experiencing good thoughts and feelings of happiness, optimism and positivity.

• Engagement – completely immersing yourself in an activity that allows you to feel present and in the moment, without realising the concept of time.

• Relationships – having positive connections with people who lift your mood rather than deplete you of energy.

• Meaning – feeling like you have purpose; like you’re part of something.

• Accomplishment – achieving objectives and feeling a sense of forward progression.

When all of these elements are aligned and at their peak, an individual is known to be ‘flourishing’ which enables them to have a heightened resilience when faced with bumps in the road. From an organisational perspective, these factors are a good indicator of an individual or team’s overall happiness. If you don’t think they’re at an optimal level, these are the factors that need to be addressed to improve their wellbeing.

Identifying changes in character

It’s likely that you know someone in your organisation who has a mental illness or has suffered from one in the past, however, it generally goes unnoticed because of two factors. Firstly, it’s difficult to detect someone who has a mental issue, because it manifests differently in each person. And the second reason is that people with mental illnesses usually suffer in silence due to feelings of shame, pride and most of all, fear of judgement.

Mental issues are most commonly observed by changes in character. In a work setting, these signs are usually evident in a sudden dip in performance and/or productivity, fluctuations in personality and temperament, obvious physiological changes and frequent bouts of sickness or absenteeism.

Communication and support

There’s no quick solution to combating mental health disorders, however as an employer, it’s your role to simply be understanding and supportive of your employees throughout this difficult time. At EPS, we encourage regular communication within teams to enable a supportive environment for issues of this nature in the workplace.

Sometimes it can be as simple as reaching out and offering a listening ear to begin the road to recovery. So next time you notice someone you know is a bit out of sorts, you may like to ask them if they’re OK, and you might help them more than you think.

EPS – Let’s work better together.

EPS provides corporate counsel and professional advice to senior executives and their respective teams to set them up for real success. Get in touch today to see how we can help you. 

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