Maintaining a healthy mindset post holidays

February 19th 2021 | Categories: Financial Planning |

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New research indicates that the mental health benefits of a holiday, unfortunately, fade quicker than a tan. The study found that it takes us just three days to get back into our normal level of stress.ⁱFortunately, there are ways you can hold onto that holiday feeling all year round.

Incorporate holiday habits

Morning sleep-ins, days spent outdoors in the sun, having long chats with family and friends, enjoying delicious food and drink, not being tethered to your phone – no wonder we feel more relaxed on holiday than we do in our day-to-day lives!

While most of us don’t have the luxury of sleeping in and turning up to work when we feel like it, you can incorporate some of your holiday habits into your regular working week. This can be as simple as taking regular breaks and scheduling some outdoors time, whether it’s finding a park near the office, or going on a bushwalk on the weekend. You might also like to opt for a screen-free day and instead pick up a book or have a board game night.

Take smaller breaks

Your leave allowance and financial situation may only permit you to take a small time away from work, but rather than just focusing on long holidays, try to also take regular breaks.

This could be weekends away or even just a day spent in a different town close to where you live, acting as a tourist and exploring the area. Just a day of adventuring will add some novelty to your schedule and allow you to unwind without needing to take an extensive period of leave or to travel far.

If you would like to discuss your options and how you might manage it from a financial perspective, please get in touch.

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Rethink your workday

Rethinking your workday can improve your productivity. If you have the flexibility to do so, you may find changing your hours can have a positive effect on your productivity and motivation. For example, if you’re someone who struggles to get going before mid-morning, starting work later can have you feeling fresher and more alert.

It can also help to split your day into 90-minute windows to allow you to focus on a set number of tasks.ⁱⁱ Doing so can improve your efficiency and give you more free time as a result.

Reduce stress

We all know that excess stress is bad for us, but it can be near impossible to remain relaxed and care-free. Being on holiday and away from our regular lives can provide insight into what we are stressed about.

If the constant beep of notifications on your phone grates on you, having phone-free time can help. Maybe you feel under pressure at work or have an unmanageable workload – can you discuss these concerns with a colleague, boss or HR? A cause of stress can even be not having enough to do and being unsure of your purpose, in which case it could be helpful to reach out to a mentor or life coach for guidance. Whatever it may be, identifying your stressors will help you work towards reducing them.

Finances are one of the leading causes of stress in Australia, understanding your finances and having a clear plan on how to get on top of your finances can help eliminate this stress and give you some control back.

You may find the following articles beneficial:

Develop a positive mindset

Hand-in-hand with being more relaxed is having a positive mindset. Our holidays give us much to feel grateful for, such as the freedom of movement and access to beautiful locations, which we may have taken for granted pre-COVID-19.

In our everyday lives, rather than pining for that next holiday, think about what you are grateful for. This focus on gratitude and positivity makes it much easier to enjoy the day-to-day and may lead you to adjust your priorities to reduce stress and improve your overall happiness.

Incorporate health and wellbeing into your workplace

At Invest Blue we put the spotlight on health and wellbeing in the workplace, to do this we incorporated various activities and initiatives across the business. We also gave our people the opportunity to take a health and wellbeing day to spend how they choose. We had some great feedback and results across the business including reduced stress and higher efficiency.

Some of the business activities include:

Partnering with the Black Dog Institute
A 10-week health and wellbeing challenge
Take break packages including puzzles for each office
Additional education on mental health
A health and wellbeing day
Wellbeing surveys and discussions

You can read more feedback and results from our activities here.

If you’re ready to take the next step towards reaching your dreams and goal or need advice on how to improve your financial position we are here to help.

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What you need to know

This information is provided by Invest Blue Pty Ltd (ABN 91 100 874 744). The information contained in this article is of general nature only and does not take into account the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular person. Therefore, before making any decision, you should consider the appropriateness of the advice with regards to those matters and seek personal financial, tax and/or legal advice prior to acting on this information. Read our Financial Services Guide for information about our services, including the fees and other benefits that AMP companies and their representatives may receive in relations to products and services provided to you.

i https://www.businessthink.unsw.edu.au/Pages/Rest-and-rejuvenate-why-your-summer-holiday-may-not-have-done-the-trick.aspx

ii https://lifehacker.com/why-we-should-rethink-the-eight-hour-workday-515742249