It’s that time of the year again, goal setting time! My news feed on Facebook and LinkedIn have been chock-a-block with people telling me and the rest of the world about the goals and aspirations they have for themselves and business in 2019. Don’t get me wrong, goal setting is essential in my opinion. My Fiancé and I have set goals for ourselves this year and Dan and I have set goals around TradeMutt and our direction including KPI’s for 2019. What is interesting though is most goals people set for themselves involve just a few things. Save for a holiday (Hawaii please and thankyou), save for the deposit on that house (no more smashed avo on toast you upstart millennial) and lose those love handles (you know who you are chubby). Funny that 90% of the goals I have seen set by people fit in just 2 categories, financial and physical/dietary health. I have not seen many goals like, spend more time with the partner and kids, less phone/social media at home or start meditating twice a week. Unfortunately, we are not seeing a lot of people putting their mental health at the top of the to do list for 2019! Why not? We are all human, and we all have emotion. We go through tough times and we go through good times as well, but it is imperative we start to take our mental health seriously. And guess what, it’s a lot cheaper than that gym membership you’re not using. So below are our four tips to put your mental health at the top of your goal setting for 2019.
Sleep.
Start getting enough of it. Its been proven that your mental health and sleeping pattern are directly linked. Meaning the more quality sack time you are getting in, the more productive, creative and alert you are. People who are working late and are bouncing out of bed early and not getting adequate sleep, just so they can get more work done are ironically counterproductive. Not enough sleep is directly linked to a weaker immune system, increased risk of heart disease and depression! So, get off your phone, switch off Netflix and hit the pillow a little bit earlier. Your mind and body will love you for it.
Get outside
Lucky for most tradies, you spend most of your time outside under the sun soaking up the rays. But for some of our readers and both Dan and I now, we are inside an office for majority of the day and are not being outside any where near enough. Getting out and about in nature is great for your mental health. It helps lower your anxiety and stress and aids in stimulating creativity and working memory. Who bloody knew a bush walk or a trip to Morton was so good for your mental wellbeing?
Start giving yourself a pat on the back
2019 is a perfect time for you to start appreciating what you do have rather than what you don’t have. With this insanely commercialised, digital world we are living in, it can become extremely easy to get caught up in the logic of ‘I want to live a life like Dan Bilzerian’, or ‘I want that 79 series cruiser with the full decked out canopy because Brian has one and he is killing it!’. Now its fine to want those things but you don’t want to be unhappy getting there and find out it doesn’t make you any happier at all! Just sit back and reflect on what you have achieved thus far and how much hard work you have put in to get to this point. Setting high expectations for yourself is great, but make sure you are happy in the present rather than thinking you WILL be happy in the future.
Meditate
Now meditation doesn’t have to be Jim Carry at the beginning of Ace Ventura ‘When nature calls’. It can be any number of things. Taking a stroll down the beach with your dog, tinkering in the shed to clear your mind or starting a new hobby that gets you away from the daily routine. It is important to find something that is your time, for you, that allows you to clear your mind for a period and bring you back to earth. Remember meditation is amazingly beneficial, it can help in staving off stress, sharpen focus and aid in improving mood.
So, whatever your goals are for 2019, don’t write them down and stick them in the draw. Put them up in the bedroom, office and reminders in your phone. Make 2019 a year you make your mental health a top priority.
