Arianna Huffington, the creator of Thrive Global, has some straightforward advice for company owners and executives who don’t have time to look after themselves: Spend 60 seconds to three minutes each day on a “Microstep,” a little self-care action that will make you healthier, happier, more calm, or more aware. Then stay with it for 32 days, which should be simple due to the modest time investment.
In a conversation with Fast Company editor in chief Stephanie Mehta at a virtual Collision Conference, Huffington offered this advise. Successful firms are now catching the word about self-care and health in these days of Covid-19, when most people are dealing with stress and many fear returning to work, according to Huffington. “It’s obvious that if firms don’t get employee health and well-being right, it’ll have a big impact on the business,” she added.
According to Huffington, there were already two health crises forming before Covid-19: a mental-health crisis and rapidly growing rates of chronic illnesses including heart disease, high blood pressure, and Type 2 diabetes. All of these conditions are linked to overwork and stress. “Companies are increasingly recognizing that mental health and emotional resilience are equally as important as physical health,” she added. “As a result, we’re collaborating with a number of major corporations, including Walmart, Salesforce, Accenture, and Bank of America.”
She delivers the same advise to big-company CEOs that she does to startup entrepreneurs. “We need to change our thinking and stop believing the illusion that in order to be successful, you have to be constantly on and ready 24/7, that you have to deprioritize yourself,” she added.
She went on to say that all scientific evidence supports altering that perspective. “We’re observing how rising stress levels make it difficult to concentrate. Maybe it has something to do with all those sleep-deprived founders if most new businesses fail. We all know that when you don’t get enough sleep, the first thing to go is your creativity “she stated If you take care of yourself, on the other hand, “your firm will definitely do better.”
Embed from Getty ImagesWhy should you use Microsteps?
Don’t be concerned if you’re too busy to make these adjustments. According to Huffington, “This isn’t about making major New Year’s commitments like going to the gym for an hour every day. It’s about pausing for 60 seconds before reaching for your phone to conduct some deep breathing or think about what you’re grateful for. Everything is broken down into Microsteps that can’t fail.”
Huffington proposes performing the same Microstep every day for 32 days to perhaps form a new habit, building on the work of small change advocates BJ Fogg and James Clear. Here’s a list of her top ten Microsteps. These are a few of my personal favorites that she and other Thrive Global employees have tried.
- As you wash your hands, think about how grateful you are.
“My favorite Microstep revolves around thankfulness since gratitude has been shown to be the most effective antidote to stress and anxiety, and these are difficult and anxious times,” Huffington explained. “As a result, while I’m doing things that don’t demand my attention, like washing my hands, brushing my teeth, or doing the dishes, I try to recall what I’m grateful for.” She describes the outcomes as “wonderful.” “This exercise, according to research, creates new brain connections. And we need it since the brain’s default stance at moments like this is negative bias and worry.” - Keep a daily journal for a few minutes.
Summer Mattice, Thrive Global’s director of client experience, chose this Microstep to slow down her frenetic life “to the pace of handwriting,” as well as to preserve the minor moments she would otherwise miss. She adds that writing in her notebook always made her feel better and provided her a feeling of achievement, even when she wasn’t particularly eager to do it.
Her journaling had two purposes. Rather than simply writing down her own thoughts and experiences, she used her diary to write short letters to her boyfriend, “recording minor moments in our relationship that we may have otherwise forgotten.” Mattice was motivated to keep writing because she knew she was making a nice gift for her boyfriend.
- Exercise for three minutes.
It’s a more condensed version of the seven-minute workout. Gregory Beyer, Thrive Global’s director of content strategy, undertook a 32-day exercise consisting of 50 jumping jacks and 50 pushups most mornings. He chose them because his doctor advised them as short, efficient workouts that he could perform at home without needing any extra equipment or traveling to the gym.
Beyer claims that his Microstep experiment was a success, and that he intends to continue with it. “Every morning, I made excuses for not doing my Microstep: I was late, I had more important things to do, this wasn’t the day. But, because my workout only took three minutes, there was never a good reason not to perform it “He is a writer.
“It’s the smallness that helps you go over all the excuses you make for yourself,” he explains, and that is, of course, the idea.