The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdowns initiated one of the most significant changes to the workplace in recent history, causing many companies to shift from working in their office spaces to a remote work-from-home (WFH) model.
While 77% of employees say that working from home has increased their productivity, citing improved work-life balance as one of the primary benefits to WFH, some workers also report decreased mental health as a result of this new arrangement.
The entrepreneur’s working experience is already significantly different than that of their employees, and with the shift to WFH, the importance of creating intentional structures to protect mental health is more prominent than ever. Furthermore, with 80% of workers stating that they would quit their jobs in favor of a company that prioritized mental health in their WFH expectations and structure, having a leader who prioritizes mental health will likely have a chain reaction of positive effects on workflow and the company’s culture and wellbeing overall.
We might specialize in entrepreneurship, but we’re far from mental health professionals, so to give us insight into how entrepreneurs can prioritize mental health in a WFH world, we employed the help and expertise of Executive Transformation Coach Becky Henderson.
Henderson is a Licensed Professional Counselor and business coach who has been in the mental health field for nearly two decades. She holds a BA in Psychology, a Master’s in Counseling, and a wide range of experience working with people from different backgrounds, mindsets, and cultures. She started out her career helping others heal from trauma, and now works on the other side of that healing by coaching business leaders, entrepreneurs, and their teams to accelerate their growth and optimize their performance.
And on top of all of those experiences, Becky is an entrepreneur herself – so she is qualified on all sides of the issue of mental health as it pertains to the unique work and lifestyle of the innovator. Becky has been working from home for years, long before COVID, so she is well-acquainted with the challenges and perks of WFH.
Becky points out that the benefits of working from home are many: on top of increased productivity and safety in the times of pandemic, WFH further empowers entrepreneurs with autonomy and flexibility to organize their own schedules. It also saves everyone time by skipping out on lengthy commutes and in-office distractions or disruptions.
But the challenges that many people began to experience mid-way through 2020 are real, and based in psychology.
One challenge that is uniquely complex for the entrepreneur who is working from home is the need to “turn off” their working, business brain at some point in the day. Henderson explains that this is already difficult for the entrepreneur, who loves their work and makes sacrifices to be an entrepreneur because their work is their passion. But working constantly can cause a lot of mental health issues down the line.
“Even in a situation where they’re not working from home, turning off business can be hard [for the entrepreneur]. So now when [entrepreneurs are] working from home, it’s even more so.Their whole environment is continually focused on work, unless they are intentionally creating different spaces and make distinction between work time and home and or family or social time,” Henderson explains. If the entrepreneur works 24/7, they will suffer burnout that will negatively affect their personal life and their business as a result, so working constantly is actually a bad thing, even if that might sound counterintuitive.
Becky explains that our bodies and minds require one full day off of work, no exceptions. This is the most important thing that an entrepreneur can do for their mental health.
“You must take a day off. It is critical, it is not a luxury,” Henderson explains, saying that our bodies and minds are biologically programmed for rest every seven days, just like we have a circadian rhythm for daily sleep. When we don’t take at least one day off in this cycle, we are gradually wearing and tearing ourselves down, and our health will start to decline mentally and physically. There is no medication or therapy or anything else that can replace taking a full day of rest, relaxation, and restoration every 7 days.
Henderson explains that taking this day off is the key to working at a high level sustainably, which is evident in high-level performance athletes, CEOs, and people in every industry. “There’s a cycle of performance that requires a recovery and without that recovery period, you actually go back to perform and you’re a little less sharp, and a little less effective.”
It’s also important to incorporate at least one hour of personal time each day – either all at once, or in 15-20 minute increments – to help hedge against burnout. Physical exercise is one great way to relieve stress and take care of yourself at the same time.
Taking one day off each week and carving out a sliver of time for yourself each day where you are able to step away from work and focus your attention completely somewhere else will enable your brain to regenerate and be more creative, energized, and just happier in general, which will all have a positive effect on your business.
Agreements at Work
Planning a day off that has nothing to do with your business is great, but the important part is holding that reservation. The only way to make sure that you’re able to comfortably and confidently step away from your work for a full day is by communicating your availability clearly with your coworkers and clients. Becky calls this kind of communication “making agreements,” and is not kidding around about the role they play in preserving mental health.
“Agreements will save your ass,” Becky says in all seriousness. “Agreements” are important because they establish and protect boundaries for the entrepreneur. By letting your employees and clients know when you are and are not available, communicating clearly what they can expect from you, you enable yourself to be fully present when you are working and fully “off the clock” when you’re not working.
It also helps firm up the line between home and work, which can easily become blurred in a work-from-home situation.
Agreements at Home
In addition to letting your employees know when you’re available to them, the WFH entrepreneur must let their family members and other cohabitants know when they are available for personal matters. It used to be that when someone was home, they would always be available to their partner or children, but in the era of WFH, this is no longer true.
Henderson explains that setting up your life – personal and professional – in terms of agreements will prevent conflicts and protect you from burnout and frustration. Setting up agreements means having conversations with your family ahead of time about your availability each day, and establishing specific and clear boundaries with the people that you live with about when you’re going to be working and when you might be free for a conversation about something else. One of the keys of successful agreements is first that the other party acknowledges that they understand and will participate with your boundaries, and secondly that you follow through with the parameters that you set.
“You’ll have a conversation to make that agreement, but it will be incumbent upon you to hold the agreement to enforce the agreement, especially in the beginning, because if people get used to walking into your office space or getting your attention while you’re on the phone with someone, then most likely they’re going to keep doing it just out of habit,” Henderson explains. Agreements only work if there is consistency and integrity to the discussions that take place.
“You might have to get creative,” Henderson laughs, explaining that it can be hard for WFH entrepreneurs to find the space and privacy that they need from their families, but that it is crucial for their productivity and the health of their personal relationships at home.
Create a Distinct Space
Creating distinct spaces for work is another important boundary that the WFH entrepreneur should set for themselves. Henderson explains that when we work where we also sleep, play, or eat, our brain will subconsciously associate those spaces with work even when we are no longer using them to work. By establishing a space as your “work space,” you will avoid this subconscious confusion and it will be easier to find rest and restoration in your home even though you also work there. If you aren’t able to have an entirely separate office space, there are other ways to separate work from play in your home, such as by covering your computer with a sheet when you’re done for the day.
“Even just looking at your computer is going to trigger your subconscious brain to think about work and everything associated with work: schedules, and deadlines,” Henderson explains. “The more that you can set your bedroom up as a place of rest and relaxation and make sure that it has nothing to do with work whatsoever, the more benefit it will have on your recovery period for your brain during non-work hours.” And as we’ve learned, recovery is essential to the entrepreneur’s mental health and overall performance.
Intentionally Prioritize Mental Health
Taking a day off, making agreements with your colleagues and cohabitants, and delineating the spaces in your home for work and personal life are all great starting points for protecting and preserving the WFH entrepreneur’s mental health. But Henderson acknowledges that everyone’s needs will be different, and the important thing for entrepreneurs to understand about mental health is that they are clear about what they need and are intentional about building their habits to reflect those needs.
Understanding what will optimize your mental health in your schedule and space first, and getting clear on that with yourself is the first step. Communicating that to the people in your life and making agreements is the second step, and following through on those agreements is the third step. But continually reflecting, assessing, and adjusting these boundaries and agreements is also important.
“Anything that is missing in your day-to-day life is because you have not intentionally created it,” Becky explains. “We are beings of habit which is great as long as those habits move us in the direction we want to go. So to be intentional is to bring something new into the situation – into your life, into your relationships, your business, your home, your health – bring something new into the situation that would not have just happened anyway and will move you toward your goals.”
Warning Signs
Sometimes it can be hard to gauge our own mental health. As entrepreneurs reflect on their daily habits, Henderson offers some “warning signs” that mental health might be slipping.
Sleep disruption is one of the most common symptoms of declining mental health. Having a hard time falling asleep usually indicates heightened anxiety, and having a hard time staying asleep is typically a symptom of depression. Henderson also warns against self-medicating with drugs, alcohol, or other behaviors. This usually indicates that your current habits are not optimized for you and your goals.
Another sign of difficulties in mental health might be that reactions are disproportionate to the event that you’ve experienced. If an internal or external reaction is too big or too small for what is happening in reality, then things may be slipping. Suffering relationships can also point to the need to make some adjustments in our daily habits and place mental health at the top of our priority list.
Don’t Wait For an Emergency
While it is great to reflect on our habits when we are in a time of crisis, Henderson advises that we don’t have to wait for an emergency to prioritize our mental health.
“It is a fundamental shift to move out of a disease or problem focus in life and into an optimization and growth focus of life. These are two very, very different paradigms,” she explains. Rather than waiting for things to fall apart and make changes after a mental breakdown, we can ask better questions than “how can I fix this issue?” or “how can I feel less anxious and depressed?”
A growth focus would trigger empowered questions, such as: how can I organize my life so that I am always growing, advancing and increasing, and so that I’m always loving life?
“That is a much more interesting question, in my opinion,” Becky says, smiling. She encourages entrepreneurs working from home or in an office setting to seek professional guidance in the form of a therapist, a personal trainer, or a coach, so that they are always engaged in this growth mindset, explaining that this fundamental shift in perspective can bring your game to a higher level overall.
Written by Catherine Casem
Find Becky Henderson on LinkedIn and listen to her podcast Leveraging Life.
