5 Tips to Focus on Your Wellbeing

This year, on January 28^th, will be the 12^th iteration of Bell Let’s Talk Day, promoting mental health self-care and wellbeing.

It’s something that millions of people participate in, sharing stories and offering support to those who need to reach out if they are struggling.

I have always enjoyed the campaign since it began. After my dad passed away by suicide and I went through the Post Olympic Crash, it’s always been a top of mind subject for me.

When we speak up about our mental health challenges, we open the door to seek and receive help. At the same time, I always encourage each of us to consider how we can practice The Hero Mindset and accept personal responsibility for our wellbeing.

On January 28^th, please continue the conversation around the importance of speaking up for mental health self-care.

While you’re at it, here are five tips to help you focus on your wellbeing so your mental health stays in check.

Prioritize Self-Care

Often when things get busy and you start to feel overwhelmed, one of the first areas you begin to neglect is self-care.

You stop taking time for a good meal. You stop exercising. You start staying up late. You stop seeing your friends.

You stop making time for yourself, basically.

In order to focus on your wellbeing, you have to make self-care a priority in your life just as you do anything else that is important. It’s basically practicing a form of self-love.

Even if it is just 15 minutes in the morning or throughout the day, you need to find a time and a place where you can just be with you.

Perhaps that is going for a walk, reading in bed, making breakfast with headphones on listening to a podcast.

What does self-care look like for you, and how can you prioritize self-care throughout your day?

What does self-care look like for you, and how can you prioritize self-care throughout your day? Click To Tweet

(Note: If you are looking for a keynote speaker or workshop to help drive home your wellness initiatives, contact Kevin here!)

Set Boundaries

Now, I have written about this topic several times and it will forever be a staple in helping you focus on your wellbeing.

Unless we learn how to say “No” and create boundaries, we will continue to struggle to turn off work and end up burning out.

One strategy is to practice the “3 P’s: Prepare, Pause, and Practice”. This will help you know what to say in advance when your boundaries are set and give you confidence to stand your ground.

Another strategy is to build in exercise snacks throughout your day. 15 to 20 minute intervals between meetings are boundaries that give you space to move around, get some water, and disconnect while working from home.

In my workshop, Boundaries & Burnout: How to Take Control, I dive deeper into this, but simply put, unless you set boundaries to focus on your wellbeing, there won’t be any wellbeing.

Unless you set boundaries to focus on your wellbeing, there won’t be any wellbeing.

Unless you set boundaries to focus on your wellbeing, there won’t be any wellbeing. Click To Tweet

Create a Routine

Just a few weeks ago, everyone was trying to get back on track after the holidays. Trying to get out of a funk can be hard, and one of the first places to begin is create a new routine.

Routine sets you free.

How?

When you create a routine it frees up space in your mind to focus on something else.

For example, perhaps you want to stop hitting the snooze button in the morning. Developing a morning and evening routine of small things you do before bed or after you wake up help put you on autopilot and save your mental energy for other things, like your wellbeing.

If you have a morning and evening routine (that is healthy!), you free mental energy for things like self-care.

Additionally, as I mentioned above, maybe a 15 minute exercise snack once per day is one routine that helps you throughout the week.

Ask yourself, “What routine do I need to help improve my wellbeing today?”.

Write that down and get started today.

(Note: If you are looking for a keynote speaker or workshop to help drive home your wellness initiatives, contact Kevin here!)

Get Outside

This winter, I am back doing the #75HardChallenge!

Why?

Not because of the fitness gains. I want the routine.

I want the routine of getting outside at least once per day to do a 45-minute workout outside because it helps me focus on my wellbeing and improves my mental health.

During the pandemic, loneliness has been one of the biggest challenges even the healthiest people face, and I have found that not only has the challenge got me outside, but it has given me a reason to invite other people to join me, call a friend while I am out, and disconnect from my device and instead enjoy the world outside.

Getting outside will boost your physical and mental health, especially in the cold winter months.

You can even pick a theme for 2022 which could be “Get outside more”. It always makes me think of a quote I heard years ago which says “You never regret when you do, but you always regret when you don’t.”

Get outside today. You won’t regret it!

Get outside today. You won’t regret it! Click To Tweet

Take Things “.1” Step at a Time

If you haven’t heard me speak of it before, when I had to learn how to walk again, it was done by taking things one step at a time.

In the case of focusing on your wellbeing, you can break things down even further to take things .1 step at a time.

When you think about the ‘.1’, what does this mean for you?

For example:

A “.1” might mean drink 8 glasses of water.
A “.1” might mean eat three meals today.
A “.1” might mean go for a 10-minute walk in the morning.
A “.1” might mean read 10 pages of a book you love.
A “.1” might mean take a hot bath before bed this evening.

Each example above is a form of self-care to help you focus on your wellbeing.

If we get off track with our wellness, it doesn’t need to be an overhaul to get back on track.

Ask yourself, “What .1 can I focus on today?”.

Start there.

In Conclusion

Focusing on your wellbeing takes time and effort, and if you are trying to recover from burnout, it can be very difficult when it feels like you don’t have the time or space to do so.

However, that’s why we need to keep looking for the small windows where we can focus on ourselves and prioritize self-care to help continue to perform at our best.

Think about which of these five areas you may be needing to focus on the most, and then decide to take action on one item today.

When you create space to focus on your wellbeing, even just for a small window every day, everything else becomes just a little bit easier, and that’s how you become a hero in your own movie.

—

Enjoyed this article? Here are three more to help you succeed:

How to Manage Change Effectively

How to be Patient Managing Change

How to Stay Positive During The Winter

—

Whenever you are ready here are the 3 best ways I can help you:

Get a FREE copy of my autobiography (click here)
Looking for a speaker for your next event? (Contact Kevin)

Learn more about The Resilience Toolbox Workshop (click here)

Transforming Presentation Pitfalls into Leadership Strengths

Recently, I presented at the Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE) conference, a key event for connecting with decision makers.

Unlike my usual speaking engagements where I'm invited, here I had to pitch my session idea. I chose “Bridging the Generational Gap: 3 Shifts to Ensure Association Success” – a departure from my usual talk on “The Hero Mindset”.

Unfortunately, my session was not as impactful as I'd hoped. So, I reflected on my experience and chose to demonstrate how I practice resilience in the moment to help others like yourself transform presentation challenges into leadership strengths.

5 Ways You Make Managing Change Worse

As I was speaking with a manager at a private club, he was describing how the change in season brings a change in talent.

Summer employees leave to go back to school for many reasons. They may dislike working in the winter. They get tired of the industry being so demanding, or perhaps can’t find flexible enough arrangements that suit their needs.

There are many reasons why talent within a club or an organization shifts, but that doesn’t mean you have to buy into the negativity or challenges behind it.

You can choose to think differently to help you drive results and embrace change.

Reflecting upon my conversation with this manager, it showed that he was heading down the wrong path in his mind about the situation and only making things worse.

With that, here are five ways you make managing change worse, and how to avoid them.

My Top Mental Health Lessons

Today, October 10th, is World Mental Health Day.

I have spent years sharing my story of overcoming depression, at times feeling suicidal, and overcoming the loss of my father by suicide.

I wrote my autobiography, 'Still Standing: When You Have Every Reason to Give Up, Keep Going', as another means of providing people with hope and direction to pull themselves out of dark times.

Today, I would like to recap these lessons and share them with you in one place to help you get the help you need if you are struggling.

Insurance: Protect Yourself Before It’s Too Late

Insurance.

You rarely feel happy when you have to purchase it, but if something ever goes wrong you are always glad you did.

When I was in my 20’s, I had started a business to put on extreme sport stunt shows and pursue my dream as a freestyle motocross rider.

After I performed my first show on Canada Day weekend, two weeks later, I crashed, and wished I had made a different decision just months earlier that could have literally supported me with several thousand dollars down the road.

If you’re in business, you too, might one day experience this with insurance…

3 Mindset Shifts to Ease Uncertainty Around AI

New Year’s Eve, 1999.

There was panic setting in around what was going to when there were rumours that computers were not programmed properly to “tick past 1999, into 2000”, and as a result there was going to be chaos with businesses shut down, bank accounts frozen, and months before the problem could ever be rectified.

When the clock stuck midnight, everything worked. Computer clocks turned over to the year 2000.

Why am I sharing this with you?

Silly thoughts often consume our minds when something new is introduced, and with that I’d like to share with you three mindset shifts to help ease your uncertainty around Artificial Intelligence (AI)...

How to Pull Yourself Out of a Dark Place

When you are in a dark place, it can feel like there is no way out.

It may feel like it’s impossible and that you don’t know where to start.

At best, you may make progress and then suddenly slip backward right back to where you started.

As I was reflecting upon this challenge with a friend of mine, it reminded me of what my thought process was when I was suicidal after my father took his own life in ‘07.

I remember being in that dark place and thinking that it felt like I was in a war (which, metaphorically, you are in a war – with your mind), hiding down low in a bunker...

How to Deal With FOMO in Your Life

As summer is upon us, it can bring on some feelings of despair for people as they begin to experience what many refer to as FOMO: The fear of missing out.

According to Wikipedia, it is defined as, “The feeling of apprehension that one is either not in the know about or missing out on information, events, experiences, or life decisions that could make one's life better.”

I can recall times where I felt like I was missing out.

When friends went away to their cottages.

When I see highlight reels of people enjoying concerts on social media.

When someone had the long weekend off, and I had to work.

There are countless examples of when you might experience FOMO.

What I’d like to do is share with you a few mindset shifts to help you reframe your mind if you find yourself stuck worrying about other people’s highlight reel.

How to See Clearly in a Fog of Thoughts

“None of this makes sense.”

Have you ever been there before?

You know, when you are stuck in a vicious cycle trying to understand what is happening in your life?

It can be incredibly difficult to make sense of things when chaos seems to be running rampant in all areas.

Or perhaps when you are engaging with someone else who is seeking control over you in the form of manipulation, gaslighting, guilt or shame tactics.

It can be scary.

What I’d like to share with you are a few thoughts on how to see clearly when you feel like your mind is stuck inside a tornado of thoughts...

The Biggest Myth About Mindset

How long will you wait to make a change?

Do you need months?

Do you need to go see a therapist, first?

Do you need to change your environment? Your relationship? Your job?

What is getting in your way?

Today I want you to take a moment and consider one of the biggest myths about adopting a new mindset.

It may not be anything new to you, but here’s the truth…

Your Mind Is Like A Magnet

Your mind is like a magnet.

According to the National Science Foundation, an average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those, 80% are negative and 95% are repetitive thoughts.

Knowing that we are facing an uphill battle, it is upon us to deliberately work to counteract and eliminate those negative thought patters by creating our own belief system...

3 Quick Tips for Managing Chronic Pain

The past few weeks since returning home from travelling have been both really great and really challenging at the same time.

I came home ready to throw down with my foot on the gas and pick some momentum back up since working in a time zone 16 hours away was a fair bit difficult.

In a matter of six weeks, I feel like I have gotten back on a great rhythm and am pretty happy with where I am at, but at the same time, physically my body is still having several challenges.

Chronic pain, muscle spasms, and muscle weakness are still challenging me since I was off my routine for five months. I am now playing catch up.

In lieu of this, I thought I would share with you 3 quick tips to help manage chronic pain if you may be struggling with something similar...

Ask The Right Questions To Get The Right Answers

I got this direct message through Instagram the other day, it said; “Kevin, I’m depressed. I can’t figure it out. Do you have any advice?”.

I get these messages all the time from people trying to figure things out.

“Kev, how do I get out of depression?”

Have you ever felt that way before? When you just don’t know what to do?

What will often surface is that we feel like we don’t know why we’re depressed and we don’t know what to do. It’s very common.

Feeling sad for no reason is not always something that you can easily solve. However, sometimes it just requires searching deeper for the right answers...

Understanding Trauma Using the Five Stages of Grief

“It’s often easiest when you are in the thick of it.”

Those are the words I recently heard Sir John Kirwan say, one of New Zealand’s former rugby players and mental health advocates said during a Westpac bank webinar.

It reminded me of what it was like when I experienced trauma in my life and it triggered my brain to begin piecing together a model to help represent what mindset and emotions you may be going through as you process trauma...

The Hoffman Process: Seven Days To Change A Lifetime

It was July of 2022 when I was attending a VIP coaching day with Steph Tuss and David Neagle of Life Is Now Inc. I was giving them the backstory of my life, trying to help uncover “the thing” that has been plaguing me for years of my life.

I found the answer I was looking for here, at The Hoffman Process...

The Line Leadership Cannot Cross To Maintain Performance

I was on a call with a VP the other day who was stuck in a bad headspace.

She has been burning the candle at both ends to make sure the company and her team keeps moving forward, while ignoring her own wellbeing.

During our call, we began discussing why she had let things get so bad and more importantly I asked her “How long will you wait?”.

And she replied, “Wait for what?”.

I said, “Until you hit the intolerable red line”...

What Hidden Disabilities Can Teach Us About Empathy

Recently, I visited a spinal cord injury facility here in New Zealand and saw a flyer on the wall for what's called the "Disability Iceberg".

It's quite amazing as it provides a visual representation of the varying ways we may typically "see" people with disabilities.

In this case it's referencing a Quadriplegic, Paraplegic, and Walking SCI Person (as I am) and I thought this model is quite the example as we consider how we can be more empathetic towards others with what hidden challenges people may be dealing with...

Medical Assistance In Dying: My Lived Experience

Today, there is a lot of discussion happening in Canada surrounding the topic of M.A.I.D – Medical Assistance in Dying.

There is controversy around how this is a dangerous, slippery slope in the realm of people who struggle with mental health issues.

There is controversy around who this is for, how this is being presented, what the moral considerations are, how this affects different cultural and religious beliefs, and much more.

Many serious conversations are to be had for some very practical reasons.

Personally, I have experienced suicide within my family from three very different perspectives.

My father committed suicide in 2007. I was suicidal in 2008 and 2015, but am still here, and my grandmother, “GG”, just passed away in October 2022 by M.A.I.D.

Each scenario came by its own unique situation with individual factors to consider. Given the depth of my experience, I hope that by sharing my story I can help bring another perspective to help people understand what a mental health journey can look like, as well as when, in my opinion, ending one’s life may seem appropriate...

How to Let Go of Control While Managing Change

Change is constant.

Especially in the world we live in today, there seems to be little certainty in what tomorrow will look like, let alone next week.

Fear creeps in, and before we know it, we feel like we have lost control, find ourselves stuck and unable to move forward...

Happy Holidays From New Zealand

For the first time in my life, I am experiencing the holidays with no snow.

It feels unusual, that’s for sure. Even just a few short weeks ago while I was in the Dominican Republic, I saw a few Christmas lights near palm trees, and it makes your head turn a little sideways when you think about it.

Today, I am in New Zealand. Mom and I are spending three months here visiting my sister, and I am continuing my journey travelling and working abroad.

The transition hasn’t been an easy one. I have alluded to some of the decisions I have made in recent blogs such as choosing what makes you happy and knowing when to walk away. All awhile, as usual, I kept up many articles on mental health, resilience, and change management.

Behind the scenes I struggled with my physical health...

The ONE THING You Need to Enjoy Your Holiday Season

As the holidays are now just a few days away from officially beginning, I have seen several posts online from people reflecting and sharing some of their lessons from the past year.

Without question, there have continued to be many challenges that made 2022 just as difficult as the year prior, but in different ways.

In 2020/2021, my biggest challenges were financial. In 2022, it has been my physical health.

Recently, I posted a few articles including how to make the most of and how to be mindful over the holidays.

Today, instead of giving you something else to possibly help you push harder, I am recommending you give yourself one thing to send you in the opposite direction...