If you lead a team, you already have experience navigating through uncertainty. But right now, there is so much more out of our control, leading to increased uncertainty. With increased uncertainty comes a greater potential for overwhelm. And when we are overwhelmed, we lose our ability to make sound decisions – which is key to keeping ourselves and our teams afloat.
So what is one to do?
Studies have shown that gratitude and mindfulness are some of the best ways to navigate stressful situations. With COVID-19, our minds are being pulled to future thoughts – How long will this last? Will everyone I know stay healthy? What will happen to the economy? What will my job & those of my colleagues look like when this is over? While it is essential to think about the future so that we can create a vision to work towards & put contingency plans in place, it is just as important, if not more important, to reign our minds back in to focus on the present moment.
If you spend too much time in the future, you will get lost in the present.
To tune myself to the present, I like to take a few moments each day to go outside. When I am outside, I choose to focus on the sound of birds singing, or the wind blowing, or the creek flowing, and practice gratitude for what I have IN THAT MOMENT, which is tangible and true – unlike the unknown future.
It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you choose an action and then focus on one of the physical senses tied to it – the sound of music, the feeling of breathing, the warmth of the sun, the smell of some good food – and then say to yourself what you are grateful for in that moment.
If you find a way to carve a few mindful moments of gratitude into your day, it will make a difference.