Reframe How You Think About Self-Care

The majority of this week’s reading and listening is clustered around 3 themes: 1) diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in our workplaces, including how to facilitate more of it, the ongoing debate and current clash of perspectives emanating from Silicon Valley and a perspective on the state of DEI and the significant work that still remains; 2) resilience, including what constitutes resilience, the traits of resilient individuals and organizations and how, collectively, we can effectively persevere through adversity; and 3) self-care, including several pieces that focus on the importance of and significant role sleeps plays, perspectives on burn-out prevention and anxiety management, as well as a great visual called “the spectrum of empathy.”

I am also plugging David Attenborough’s most recent Netflix documentary, A Life On Our Planet. He defines this as his “witness statement” as to the state of the planet, his future vision and ideas to make that vision a reality. Visually stunning, exceptionally well-narrated and immensely consumable, his work encapsulates the rapid arc of evolutionary and environmental degradation, as seen through Attenborough’s lifetime of extensive research, documentary filmmaking and advocacy.

Articles

How Businesses Can Recruit and Develop More Young People of Color. “As we engage in conversations about recovery and reopening during the pandemic, many higher education institutions and employers are being forced to rethink long-standing practices that have resulted in Covid-19 having a disproportionate impact on youth of color…Now is the time for us to interrogate the pathways that ultimately distinguish a “Sprinter” from a “Wanderer” and to build equitable systems that meet the needs of all young people.”

Silicon Valley is famously liberal. Then, investors and employees started clashing over race. “In the left-leaning tech industry, ‘Don’t talk politics’ is the diplomatic way to say Don’t be liberal.'”

A pioneer of corporate diversity remains unimpressed. “Bernard Kinsey helped make Xerox a more inclusive place in the 1970s and 1980s. He sees the same problems plaguing society and companies today.”

Designed for Success. “Resilience is in human nature. Persevering through adversity is not a bug in our software but a feature of the hardware.”

What Really Makes Us Resilient? “Our research suggests that the same applies to you and me. It’s the unknown that scares us. Show us the truth about our threats, and we will reveal the true reserves of our power.”

An Innovative Organization Is A Resilient One. “Wonder how resilient leaders build innovative organizations that are exponentially more profitable than other organizations? During the COVID-19 pandemic, BetterUp, a mobile-based coaching platform serving Fortune 500 companies, compiled internal data from its platform and data from 17,000 global professionals to understand how resilience works in organizations.”

Reframe How You Think About Self-Care. “When you invest in proper sleep, nutrition, exercise, and play, you’ll have the self-control to manage your reactions, the energy to be fully present, the patience to listen and empathize, the wherewithal to reject your defaults and make good decisions, and the stamina to keep it all up for weeks or months…Investing in your resilience isn’t indulgent; it’s mission-critical.”

A Unique Approach To Overcoming Burnout. “It is difficult for burned out professionals to recognize that more time devoted to the right kind of energizing non-work actually yields greater productivity… Recognizing that personal renewal is essential for sustained productivity opens the door to doubling down on caring about ourselves as a way of handling redoubled work loads. Each of us in a workplace is a manager: a self-manager. Cultivating our self-management skills enables us to perform at our best by being at our best.”

Can Three Words Turn Anxiety Into Success? “A simple technique called ‘anxious reappraisal’ might help people channel nervous jitters into improved performance.”

TED Talks/Podcasts

TED Talks Daily: Why sleep matters now more than ever. “…Sharing wisdom and debunking myths, sleep scientist Matt Walker discusses the impact of sleep on mind and body — from unleashing your creative powers to boosting your memory and immune health — and details practices you can start (and stop) doing tonight to get some rest.”

TED: How We Experience Time and Memory Through Art. “Artist Sarah Sze takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey through her work: immersive installations as tall as buildings, splashed across walls, orbiting through galleries — blurring the lines between time, memory and space. Explore how we give meaning to objects in this beautiful tour of Sze’s experiential, multimedia art.”

Blog Posts

James Clear: Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds. “The word ‘kind’ originated from the word ‘kin.’ When you are kind to someone it means you are treating them like family. This, I think, is a good method for actually changing someone’s mind. Develop a friendship. Share a meal. Gift a book. Be kind first, be right later.”

Dr. Noemie Le Pertel: Spectrum of Empathy. “Expanding our circle of concern expands our potential for inspired action, making compassion a powerful practice.”

Arts, Music & Culture Corner

Real Men Don’t Sleep: Research Finds This Masculine Stereotype Hurts Men. “Guys want to be one of the guys, and that might mean sleeping less than they need. It’s not fair to them, and…it may not be great for society either.”

Stripe Is Offering $20,000 Bonus To Employees Who Relocate To Less Expensive Cities, But It Comes With A Pay Reduction.” Stripe joins other technology companies that have said they’ll cut the pay of employees who move to less expensive cities, including the social media companies Facebook and Twitter and enterprise software companies VMware and ServiceNow.”

David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet. “A broadcaster recounts his life, and the evolutionary history of life on Earth, to grieve the loss of wild places and offer a vision for the future.”