Safety Leadership 

 

Neil Pasricha, the NY Times bestselling author and TED speaker spoke to Safety 2020 attendees about positive psychology and how someone can build resilience during difficult times.

Right now, we are recovering from a challenging period, this time is ideal to implement a different approach handling uncertainty. As team leaders, we are going to project how we feel, so it’s important to prioritize our mental health especially after a crisis.

The issue, Pasricha determined, is that many people have not developed tools to handle failure, but there is an urgent need to learn them. One way this can happen is to switch to a positive frame of mind.

“More than anything else, we probably know this intuitively on a gut level but when we can do that when we can change our brain into one of positivity and guess what? Our productivity is up 31%. Our sales go up 37%. Our creativity triples and that’s on top of a whole host of other benefits that we get from being positive,” he said. “Right now it is so hard to be positive.”

Safety 2020 attendees then heard Pasricha’s three ways to ground and centre themselves during a time when positivity and resilience are crucial for surviving everyday life.

  • Two-Minute Mornings 

Most of us check our phone before going to sleep and as soon as we wake up. The solution is to modify our morning routine prioritizing our mind.

Surprisingly, it could be beneficial to leave a pen and paper beside your bed to put down the following:

I will let go…

Being conscious of what is battering us, it can make a big difference. Externalizing our concerns will reduce the level of anxiety and it brings contentment.

I’m grateful for …

Research shows that people who write down gratuities are not just happier, but physically healthier. The key is to keep it simple and meaningful. If we push our brain to focus on neural pathways on the positive, then you will be able to keep the same approach during your day.

I will focus on…

Decision fatigue is real, writing a specific target will keep your mind on track avoiding the could-dos and should-dos.

  • Explore your Weird Hobby

Your learning rate is the steepest when you know the least. 

Stop doing the same thing over and over again, it is a mental trap. It’s why it is so important to challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone. 

  • Unplugged your Mind

Your brain needs a break, from the news, pings and WhatsApp groups, text messages and work outside of the office.

It is healthy to put aside your phone and leave it in airplane mode for a while. Scheduling “being offline” can help you come back to recharge the next day. 

Pasricha mentioned that “if we can do some of these mind-strengthening activities, we can increase our mental resilience. We reduce our mental fragility.”

Valentic, S., 2020. How To Have A Resilient, Positive Mindset. [online] EHS Today. Available at: <https://www.ehstoday.com/safety-leadership/article/21134922/how-to-have-a-resilient-positive-mindset> [Accessed 7 July 2020].