Month: March 2020

Had to pinch yourself to see if this is reality? Same. I have no doubt in my mind filmmakers are most likely utilising their time in self-quarantine to write a movie about this worldwide pandemic. In a country which prides itself on democracy, we have gone from a freedom of movement to a life of restricted movement, remote working and a lot of free time on our hands.

Like myself, for those who are working from home you’re probably grateful that you have a distraction from 9am-5pm 7 days a week, however for those who have permanently or temporarily been made redundant this unchartered territory is overwhelming. I’m sure we’re all hoping that Boris Johnson would give us the specific date and time when we can freely walk into a restaurant or bar so you can set a countdown on our phone. But in the meantime we need to adapt. The first step to coping with self-isolation is realising that you are human and that everyone will have a wobble at some point, you can’t be a perfectionist at something that you’ve never experienced before.

Is this the worst case scenario?
Compare COVID-19 to your grandparents, great grandparents or great great grandparents in world war 2. This lasted for around 6 years and they couldn’t even switch the lights on in their own home because that would be putting themselves at risk of being bombed. All we’ve been asked to do is stay at home, most of us can still leave our house once a day to exercise and walk to the shops. Whether you’re playing with Instagram filters, making Tik Toks, writing blogs, playing scrabble or even becoming the next Anne Frank of this era and writing a diary of your quarantine thoughts – there is always access to some form of entertainment.

Do whatever feels right for you
How do you cope with normal life whilst there is an invisible killer looming over our heads? There in not one simple coping mechanism which can be generalised to every human being. For Gen Z the video making app Tik Tok has been working as a way of keeping minds occupied and showing a sense of community from people all over the globe, as video’s on the app using the hashtag corona virus have up to 5.5 bn views and counting.
There is a lot of talk which is centred around what you can achieve during your newfound free time, but the reality is if you get fixated on this you put far too much pressure on yourself. There’s a lot of content circulating around on social media at the moment on setting yourself goals to keep yourself sane, which for people like myself is crucial as distractions will improve my mental well-being – however not everyone is like this! For those who haven’t taken up a new hobby or focused their energy on getting the ‘summer bod’ you’re not lazy, you’re not wasting an opportunity, you’re just doing you and other people are doing them – just like we would if we weren’t in self-quarantine.

Taking positives from a negative situation
In this unprecedented time, it can be easy to invest all your time on the negative aspects of the situation. In the words of Monty Python ‘Always look on the bright side of life’. For example, because all Chinese residents were ordered under the dictatorship to stay in their homes for three months the Co2 emissions reduced by the same amount the UK produces in a whole year – mother nature is thanking us right now. If you find yourself struggling mentally throughout the pandemic, it has been proven that gratitude can be used as a tool to improve happiness. Why not focus your thoughts on what you’re grateful for, by making a gratitude list. By switching your focus on to the positives, you will come out of this pandemic feeling more appreciative of things that you probably took for granted before and will have a new found outlook on the wonderful world we live in.

We’re all in this together
Communication, communication and more communication. Self-isolation can be very lonely, but something they didn’t have in the war was the technology that we have today. We have the power to virtually communicate face to face with our friends and family for as long as we want and whenever we want. The photo above was taken is from our daily morning Microsoft teams meeting we have at Logical UK to boost our team morale.

Utilising your time at home

The concept of self-isolation can be somewhat daunting for many people, especially those
who rely on routine for their wellbeing. We all had errands around the house that we
couldn’t get to prior to Covid-19 because ‘we didn’t have enough time’ – but, well, now we
do! You will be spending a large majority of your time at home for the foreseeable future, so
keeping it clean and tidy, staying on top of laundry and washing yourself are all good ways
to not only keep yourself occupied. Make yourself a
‘to do’ list in the morning; this way it will create a sense of productivity and achievement to
your day. Try to set limits on screen time because scrolling through your phone all day will
probably make you go stir crazy and if you are struggling with anxieties over the current
pandemic – try to distance yourself from social media and the news. Over-indulging will only
add to your fear.

Don’t put yourself under too much pressure
There’s no right or wrong way to exist in this period of time, do whatever feels right and is good for you. It will be tough few months but as a nation we will come out of this with more resilience and gratitude and remember to constantly remind yourself – there will be an end to this madness!

 

Written by Sophia Ghahramani

As humans, we can be our own worst enemy. We have the tendency to talk ourselves out of not just career moves but opportunities that could benefit us in general life. Why? Because “Oh, I’ll never get it anyway”. When I applied for my current role, I almost didn’t apply for the job because it said ‘Marketing Executive’ and I thought they wouldn’t take a graduate on who doesn’t have years of experience in a marketing job, but I took the plunge and here I am writing this article – oh how the world works in mysterious ways!

Educational barriers
For a lot of people that didn’t choose to go onto further education, they limit themselves because they think they’re valued less than those with a degree. If you do have this mindset you may be surprised to hear that 20% of those that pay for university courses are actually worse off because they’re not ‘value for money’. Careers advisers at sixth form colleges drill it into our heads that University is the priority, as oppose to going into apprenticeships or work – but is education always the best option?

Starting University can be exciting but also challenging, back in 1945 a small 2% of the population went to University, now a whopping 43% of prosperous teens in the UK decide to go to University. With the number of people going to University increasing year on year, so is the drop-out rates – which have increased year on year for the past three years. Higher Education Statistics Agency found an astonishing 26,000 students dropped out of university by the end of their first year in 2015. Just from witnessing it myself, first year students drop like flies – the main reason being the recommended ‘60% studying 40% social’ is more like ‘1% studying 99% partying’.

If you’re wanting to do medicine or human geography, attaining your undergraduate and masters are mandatory, but for many industries having drive, a good work ethic and a strong passion for something is enough to make you equip for a bright future.

Go with your heart not your head
Whether it’s choosing to go to University or considering a new job opportunity, playing it safe is boring and quite frankly shows that you lack drive. I’m not encouraging dropping out of University or quitting your job, but if it isn’t for you then why waste time on something that doesn’t inspire you? Having this mentality when taking leaps in your career will help you not make regrettable decisions that will haunt you in later life. Just like going into Zara, seeing a top you like, not buying it and then regretting it when you leave (well this won’t affect your career). Do what will benefit you in the long run by having a plan for example, before leaving your current job be actively applying for jobs before handing your notice in.

There’s never a perfect time
I said this to one of my colleagues in the office yesterday as she told me she wanted to quit smoking but ‘wasn’t in the right head space for it yet’ – but the reality there is no perfect time. If you don’t take opportunities as they come this prolongs the transition stage between jobs, the ‘I need to do that at some point’ mentality is simply avoiding doing something because you are scared of what the outcome will be – which is completely normal!

Pay attention to your emotional state
If you’re stressed out or in a bad mindset, you won’t be in the right headspace to make a decision that could alter your career path. Referring to my most recent article ‘How to become resilient in the workplace’. We can all be resilient, you just need to take a step back and think back to a time where you didn’t think you could achieve something but then did- you probably take a lot of pride in this which is a self-reminder that you can achieve great things. Be patient with yourself and wait until you’ve got a clear head to make life changing decisions.

 

Written by Sophia Ghahramani

Stress, anxiety and depression are three very common mental illnesses as a result of work getting on top of us. According to HSE annual statistics in 2019, 602,000 workers in the UK suffered from work related stress, depression and anxiety and as a result of this 12.8 million working days were lost.

What’s provoking these mental struggles? The main reasons for mental issues related to work were workload, lack of support and violence, threats or  bullying. Getting professional help should be the first port of call, however sometimes after getting help it can be easy to slip back into a dark place and relapse. Therefore, finding ways to become resilient acts a survival technique and becomes an habitual coping mechanism.
The dictionary definition of resilience is “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness”, learning how to do this will mean you not only growing in your career but also evolving even further as a human.
I am by no means a professional when it comes to mental health in the workplace, however from personal experiences and from what friends and family have encountered- there are ways to train yourself to adopt a strong mind set (however I am aware the following steps may not work for everyone.)

1. Seek understanding for your set- backs
Stress at work can be a result of getting criticised by your superior, this can be unexpected and disheartening to your efforts that you may have felt you did to the best of your ability. Feeling frustrated and succumbing to despair is a completely normal initial reaction which can be irrational. However, you need to overcome from this by processing your emotions whether it’s sadness, anger, confusion or all of the above. This is called having mental agility, which is instead of reacting to stress it’s responding to stress. Responding to stress to show your superior you’ve digested the feedback and taken it onboard into your work will mean show you’re hard working and want to achieve the best.

All successful people have set- backs, we’re all familiar with the second richest man in the world- Bill Gates? The Microsoft co-founder who reportedly earns $114.16 every second he is alive so realistically if he dropped a $100 – would he pick it up? A famous quote from him states “It’s fine to celebrate success but it’s more important to heed the lessons of failure” Bill Gates was a Harvard University dropout and co-owner of a failed business called Traf-O-Data, Bill Gates devoted 6 years of his time to a business which he made an overall loss on to then pull the plug . He then went on to make the company every tech geek wants to work for – Microsoft.

2. Build a strong support network
In every situation that occurs in life getting a outside perspective or detached observation on something helps your reaction to stress become more rational. If I’ve had a tough day at work going home to my house mates to talk about my day who I don’t work with gives me a form of release and vice versa. Obviously, we aren’t all lucky to have a strong support network at your beck and call, even if it is one person who you feel you’re closest to speaking about it helps more than you think. There is always someone to talk to whether it’s in your network or outside help, there is always someone willing to listen.

3. Establishing a work-life balance
This term is a term that may have been drilled into you at college or University , I was told it should be 60% work 40% life when studying (do society socials every Wednesday count as work?). When entering work, the more involved you get into your projects the harder it is to establish a healthy balance. You’ve most probably heard the term which is commonly used on Love Island “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”, if you’re purpose in life is ties to one thing then when problems occur to do with that purpose you’ll be worse off. Find hobbies outside of work that take your mind off your day to day business, whether it’s knitting your worries away or taking it out on a football, it will make you resilient because it sheds light on the fact there’s more to life.

4. Health is wealth
Sitting at a desk staring at a screen can make you burnout at work. In my first two months of this job I started experiencing back pain, headaches and constant tiredness regardless of how much coffee I drank. I overcame this by joining the gym and going to the gym on my lunch breaks, or a half an hour walk by the River Aire. So instead of having a break and having a KitKat- have 20 minutes on the running machine instead!

5. Create a responsive comeback plan
If Britney can come back after her 2007 meltdown – so can you! Brainstorm your responses and the potential outcomes to make a narrative of your career and show your superiors what you’re worth, if you spiral into feeling defeated this will only create more problems for your progression.

 

6. Time will tell
Unfortunately, you can’t flick a switch and develop resilience overnight, it’s a mindset that you will train yourself over time – it’s a journey not a leap. Be kind to yourself when you react as you won’t feel anger, sadness or frustration forever and you will move forward from this tough period in your life. Focus on your likes, interests and the positive aspects of your life and you will start seeing light at the end of the tunnel in no time.

 

Written by Sophia Ghahramani