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Challenge 02 - Purpose

What is your Ikigai?

What is your Ikigai?

Having a sense of purpose in life is associated with both enhanced wellbeing and overall quality of life. A recent study on life purpose found it is not just a powerful motivator but could help you live longer. A meta-analysis involving more than 136,000 participants possessing a high sense of purpose in life is associated with a reduced risk for all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events.1

 

So, what is purpose? A purposeful life can be defined as "a self-organizing life aim that stimulates goals, promotes healthy behaviours, and gives meaning to life" 2. The Japanese call it "Ikigai' and translates to "a motivating force; something or someone that gives a person a sense of purpose or a reason for living."

 

During the recent pandemic, purpose has not only served to protect during stressful times, but it can also be an enhanced experience. This is supported by research showing that despite spikes in acute stress, depression, and anxiety among front-line healthcare workers, an astonishing 61% of them said they had found increased meaning and purpose in life3.

 

As uncertainty and volatility continue to increase in our world, finding purpose can help us buffer and build our mental health reserves. My career purpose is to 'use wellbeing science to help people be the best version of themselves,' and this has definitely guided me through the challenges of the past twelve months.

 

What activities help you or other create purpose? survey

 

Reference

1.      Purpose in life and its relationship to all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events: a meta-analysis. 2016. Cohen R, Bavishi C, Rozanski A. 

2.      Origins of Purpose in Life: Refining our Understanding of a Life Well Lived. 2009. Kashdan and McKnight.

3.      Positive psychology in a pandemic: buffering, bolstering, and building mental health. 2021. Prof L. Waters (ref Shechter et al., 2020).

 

Further reading

 

** Disclaimer – Part of the Fresh Start Effect / Build Your Ideal Day Program by Duncan Young. All content and media on the Build Your Ideal Day Website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.

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Challenge 03 - Coping with Stress

To be stressed is to be human!

"You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." Marcus Aurelius

To be stressed is to be human!

Stress is a natural response to stimuli. Most of us experience stress at some point in our lives, and the COVID-19 pandemic has increased my levels of stress and anxiety, and some of you may have experienced the same. We know that not all stress is bad, but long-term can lead to a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress known as burnout.

There is no one size fits all but research into positive psychology provides insights into some positive psychology interventions1 that can help with stress, such as noticing positive events, savouring, gratitude, mindful awareness, positive reappraisal, personal strengths, acts of kindness, and self-compassion.2

Another thing I have found useful during the last twelve months is to focus on the things we can change and to accept or ignore of the things we cannot change, based on the “Circle of Concern, Circle of Influence” model, which looks at where we spend our time and energy.3 From a personal perspective, it has been easy to absorb excessive negative news through either doom scrolling or radio news cycles lately, and I have found the concern, influence, and control model helpful in moderating some of this. Below is a simple example:

1.    Concern – Be ‘news’ aware but don’t obsess about the COVID-19 numbers around the globe.

2.    Influence – Don’t worry about other people's choices around vaccine take up or otherwise.

3.    Control – Practice a positive mindset and activities that promote wellbeing and protection again COVID-19.

 

What activities help you deal with or think differently about stress? Click here survey

 

Reference

1.      Positive psychology intervention. Cheung et al., 2018; J. Moskowitz et al., 2014; Verstaen et al., 2018

2.      “Faced with uncertainty, it is common for people to seek positive solutions”. 2020. L.Waters, J.Dutton, R.Emmons, B. Fredrickson & E.Heaphy.

3.      The Seven habits of highly effective people. Circle of Control and Influence. 1989. S. Covey

 

Further reading

  • Read: Seven habits of highly effective people. Circle of Control and Influence.1989. S.Covey

  • Watch: How to make stress your friend. Kelly McGonigal www.ted.com

  • Listen: Can we reframe how we think about stress www.npr.org

 

** Disclaimer – Part of the Fresh Start Effect / Build Your Ideal Day Program by Duncan Young. All content and media on the Build Your Ideal Day Website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.

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Challenge 04 - Walk with Me

Today’s challenge is to simply walk somewhere.

“Walking is man’s best medicine.” Hippocrates

 

Today’s challenge is to simply walk somewhere.

 

With so many wellbeing choices these days, simple things are often overlooked. Imagine if we designed a drug that enhanced physical health, lifted our mood, helped us sleep, made us more creative, increased our happiness and reduced our risks for anxiety, depression as well as other mental ills. ‘If walking was a pill, it would be a called a wonder drug! Did I mention it was virtually free and needed only basic equipment? 

 

Okay I am sure you are now convinced, so here are some ideas to get you moving:

 

  • Morning walking. It occurs when willpower is high and more likely to happen

  • Purposeful walking. Paced so you can hear your breath but still hold a conversation, ideal for cardio-vascular fitness.

  • Opportunistic walking. Substitute all or part of car trip, step off the train one stop earlier or park your car at the furthest end of the car parki in order to increase incidental steps.

  • Work walking. Walk between meeting locations, organise a daily walking meeting or walk on a virtual call.

  • Social walking – walk locally to promote social interactions in your neighbourhood or office. Or walk rhythmically together with a friend and strengthen bonds with a shared purpose.

  • Creative walking. Take your problems outside walking and create up to 60% more divergent thinking outcomes.

  • Neurogenesis walking. Walk anywhere to connect and support the growth of white-brain cells.

  • Awe walking. Walk to pay attention to detail and look at everything with fresh, childlike eyes to improve mood and amplify awe.

 

Whether you want to improve your mood, physical health, or simply take a break, consider walking somewhere.

 

So, where might you walk today?  (survey)

 

Reference

1.     White matter plasticity in healthy older adults: The effects of aerobic exercise.  Colmenaress. 2021

2.     Big smile, small self: Awe walks promote prosocial positive emotions in older adults. V. Strem. 2020

3.     In Praise of Walking: The new science of how we walk and why it’s good for us. S.O'Mara. 2019

 

Further reading

 

 

 

** Disclaimer – Part of the Fresh Start Effect / Build Your Ideal Day Program by Duncan Young. All content and media on the Build Your Ideal Day Website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.

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Challenge 05 - Grit

Could grit enhance your wellbeing?

Could grit enhance your wellbeing?

 

Today's challenge is to understand how grit might enhance your wellbeing.

 

So what is grit? Grit is the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long-term goals in the face of challenges and failures1. You may know already that grit predicts greater success in Ivy League undergraduates, West Point cadets, and US National spelling bee winners, but it turns out that grit is good for your wellbeing also.

 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, grit was shown to buffer against psychological distress during Pandemics with research examining grit and gratitude before the pandemic found that grit predicted significantly greater pandemic resilience2. A cross-cultural study of grit in college students labeled three distinct characteristics of grit: perseverance of effort, adaptability to situations, and consistency of interest. Of the three domains, perseverance and adaptability positively predicted flourishing and reported a strong negative association between grit and mental health issues, including depression and anxiety.

 

So grit & interest consistency are capable of buffering psychological distress; therefore, gritty individuals are predicted to better adapt to the pandemic3.

 

So how can we build more grit? Five areas to consider:

 

  • Foster your curiosity. Find the things that fascinates you the most.

  • Keep turning up, even if things get tricky.

  • Align your passion to a greater purpose or rolled-up goal.

  • Cultivate hope and self-belief that you can learn new things.

  • Shape your environment and surround yourself with gritty peers.

 

Have you ever wondered how gritty you are? Take the grit scale test grit-scale

 

Question - Can you think of ways to develop your grit today?

 

Reference

1.     Grit. Duckworth et al., 2007.

2.     Stress and wellbeing in college students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Can grit and gratitude help? 2020. Bono, G., Reil, K., & Hescox, J. (2020).

3.     Interest Consistency Can Buffer the Effect of COVID-19 Fear on Psychological Distress. 2021. A.Masuyama, T. Kubo, D.Sugawara & Y.Chishima )

 

Further reading

 

** Disclaimer – Part of the Fresh Start Effect / Build Your Ideal Day Program by Duncan Young. All content and media on the Build Your Ideal Day Website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.

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