Learning and Development Archives - Page 10 of 36

Have You Bought Yourself Flowers?

In my previous post (you can read it here), I shared ways to get started with self-care. Creating habits and adding activities to your calendar help increase your chances of sticking with your new routine. Another way to keep things interesting is to treat yourself to things you’ve always wanted to do. Adding new and novel experiences to your self-care routine is like giving yourself a little gift every day. It’s a great way to stay motivated to do things to care for yourself.

Pamper Yourself

Taking physical care of yourself in a pampering way makes us feel good. Pampering is a go-to for many people when it comes to their self-care routine. Think of something you’ve never done before. It doesn’t have to be expensive.

A small act of indulgence can have the same effect as an extravagant one. Maybe consider scheduling a manicure if you’ve never had one. A bubble bath with candles can be soothing if this is something you don’t do very often. If your budget will allow, a spa day with a friend could rejuvenate your body and spirit.

Start and End Your Day with A Little Self Care

Like any new habit, adding self-care into your life can seem kind of tricky. You probably wonder how you will be able to find time to do anything extra for yourself, let alone how you are going to remember to do these things. One of the best ways to get started is to build your activities into predictable parts of your day. In order to make something a habit, it needs to happen regularly. So let’s take a look at some ways of making self-care a routine part of your life.

Make It Personal

The first thing that will help you in creating your self-care rituals is to choose activities that are meaningful to you and that you enjoy. This is your practice, so you want to be sure it’s customized in order to get the most out of it. Consider making a list of things that help you to feel relaxed, peaceful, excited or happy. These activities should be able to be done in a short amount of time and easily fit into your life without special equipment or tools. At least as you begin your practice, the things you choose to do should be as simple as possible.

Fit It In

You should add your self-care rituals to the most convenient parts of your day. Choose times that are already somewhat flexible so that incorporating something new into that space will be less stressful. Many people go with morning or evening routines, right when they wake up and before going to sleep each night.

Getting up fifteen minutes earlier than usual and setting aside a window during the usual night-time schedule are usually things most folks can do. However, maybe designating your daily lunch break as your self-care time might work better for you.

Consider activities like writing a gratitude journal entry before bed, listening to music while having your morning coffee or going for a short walk over your lunch hour. Trial and error may be required, but find a moment to call your own every day.

Be Flexible

It’s best to come up with a routine that works for you and stick to it. Committing to a particular schedule will help you to create a habit and ensures that you get the self-care you need. However, try to cut yourself some slack. Some days are more hectic than others. You may not be able to fit in your anticipated self-care activity, and that’s okay. Tomorrow is a new day, and you can try again. Soon, you’ll find yourself wanting to take part in these rituals and getting back on track will be easy.

Getting into the practice of regular self-care doesn’t have to be difficult. Making a few adjustments to your existing schedule can free up some space in your day. Choose things that will refresh you and that are simple in nature will make getting started a breeze.

Why Self-Care Matters

You may have heard the term “self-care” used a lot lately. It’s become a popular buzzword in the media and in personal development circles. However, you still may be unclear on what it means. While the concept does involve taking care of yourself, it actually goes much deeper.

About Self-Care

Self-care covers a lot of areas with regard to caring for yourself. It involves nurturing your body, mind and spirit. It focuses on building yourself up so that your internal resources don’t become depleted. Essentially, self-care is being as good to yourself as you would be to someone you care about.

It requires you to show yourself some compassion and encourages you to be vulnerable with others, asking for help you when you need it. What doesn’t fall under the umbrella of self-care are self-destructive coping mechanisms such as using drugs, drinking, gambling or retail therapy. These things only make you feel good in the short-term.

The Benefits of Self-Care

There are lots of benefits to practicing self-care. Embracing this concept can be difficult for those who’ve always placed emphasis on the welfare of others. However, giving all your energy to those around you without filling your own back up leaves you depleted and empty. That’s no way to live.

Instead, spending time and effort on yourself rejuvenates and energizes you. Taking time to indulge in your own interests demonstrates your worth, leading to improved self-esteem and a more positive outlook on the world. It teaches you a lot about yourself and provides you with insight into what you need to be the best version of yourself. Self-care helps you better cope with stress and to prioritise what’s important to you. You’ll be better able to take care of others when you also take time to meet your own needs.

Examples of Self-Care

There are countless ways to add self-care into your routine. The key is to choose activities that are most enjoyable to you and provide you with the most benefits. Going for a walk in nature is great for those who enjoy the outdoors. Other forms of exercise like yoga, running or going to the gym work well, too.

Spending time with friends can be rejuvenating, but so can saying no. Allowing yourself to decline invitations or favours when you’re feeling run-down is a big part of caring for yourself. Treating yourself to a favourite, affordable indulgence like a movie, manicure or ice cream cone are all good examples. As is taking a bath or meditating. These are just a few of the ways you can easily incorporate self-care into your life.

Now you know what self-care is and what it’s important. You’ve also got some ideas of how to get started, so you’re well on your way to adding this useful practice to your life.

Being Mindful You Are Always Learning

We have all heard that experience is a great teacher. Each day of our lives is packed with numerous experiences. Many of these experiences are everyday occurrences such as walking the dog or doing the washing up after dinner. Others are less common. Occasionally, some are so unique that they are literally life changing. However, whether the experience is mundane or out of this world, it offers us a learning moment.

Most of us will, hopefully, come away from a unique experience with a fresh perspective. Yet, few of us grasp the learning opportunity that is present in the day-today activities that, by necessity, take up the majority of our time. Buddhists call this awareness of the learning potential in the commonplace “mindfulness.”

When you begin to be mindful, you see that everything that you do has merit. You start to realise that no matter what you are doing, you can do it better. In our working lives and in our personal interactions, this means that we begin to pay closer attention to every task. You understand that each task fits into others and together they comprise the whole of your activity. If you take a shortcut or cut corners on the smallest of things it only serves to undermine the largest and seemingly most important things.

Likewise, when you attempt to do the most basic of jobs to the very best of your ability this mindful mindset carries over into other areas and brings a new awareness and sense of achievement.

So, use every experience, every day, as a moment to learn. Be mindful of bad or lazy behaviours and work to change them into more positive and productive actions. If you recognise that you are always learning then you will find real benefit from being aware of what you are learning and using that learning.

It’s Common Courtesy

We often read as Job Seekers attending an interview that we should write and thank the organisation/interviewers for their time and confirm that we are still interested in the role.

How about it also working the other way round?

This week having attended an interview I received an email later the same day which thanked me for attending, confirmed the details we had discussed in terms of when the outcome would be communicated and wished me a pleasant evening/weekend.

That was a first in my experience but has left me with an incredibly positive impression of the organisation and interviewers.

Whether I secure the role or not they have won a fan (and probably a customer) for a great Candidate Experience!

I was impressed! What about you?