How to deal with Election Stress at work (No matter who you voted for!)

Hey, difference makers. So let's talk about something that is absolutely everywhere and that none of us really want to see any more of and that is causing a ton and ton and ton of stress and loss of productivity and possibly driving you insane. The election chances are when you popped onto this YouTube channel, one of the first things you saw was an election ad. Am I right? So election stress is a real thing. Take it from your business therapist. It is a diagnosable. Election stress disorder is now actually being recognized in the psychological community. And why is that? It causes a lot of feelings of anxiety. It causes a lot of feelings of depression. And this is before the election even happens. And then there's the actual day of the election where you're watching scores and reports come in and you're feeling anxious and your candidate is either winning or losing. And you're also having these heated debates because not everybody agrees. And so it can cause a lot of friction. And actually what we see is that recent Studies show that 50% of individuals have reported that they have not been productive at work because of election stress. That means half of us, half of us are not getting our jobs done because of election stress. And if you ask me, I think that that's actually underreported and the stress just grows the closer that we get to the election. But there's some good news. There are a couple things that I want to share with you that will help not only with election stress coming up to the election during the election, but also help you recover after the election. And let's also talk about in the workplace, if that's an appropriate place for you to be talking about the election. And if you choose to have those conversations, how to create a safe space within your workplace in order to have those conversations. So you have the upcoming election on top of a global pandemic, virtual schooling for most parents, remote working for most individuals, and everything else going on. It is probably one of the most significant psychological impacts that we're going to see as far as election stress. So here's what I want you to imagine is I want you to imagine that your anxiety level goes from 0 to 10. And so on a normal election year, you may experience your anxiety level going to a six, maybe even a seven, depending on how much emotional investment you have within the outcome of the election, the candidate, what's being voted on, etc. Well, what you see right now is that you had an entire population go through multiple stressors. So many of us were already at 7, 8, 9 out of 10. And then you add an election on top of that, and that's where it's feeling like it's pushing us over the top. It's not necessarily, although it can feel, and I am honoring that validity if it feels this way for you that this election is any more stressful than any prior elections. But if you break it down to the actual science of it, then you can understand how many more individuals are reporting higher feelings of stress, anxiety, depression and and other significant impacts on their overall well being and that impacting their ability to get their work done and to be productive and present at work and with their families. So this is causing conflict everywhere. And conflict not in a way that is necessarily battles in between people, but conflict within oneself. Because your body is trying to say, take care of yourself, you're extremely stressed, and your mind saying, I've got work to do, I've got to get this stuff done. So let's resolve at least a couple of those battles. So first off, acknowledge that there is a human within that worker bee. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a solopreneur, a leader of a team, a part of a team, a parent, a caregiver, wherever space you hold in this world, just honor that there is an actual human that occupies that space with mental, emotional, spiritual and physical needs. And let's start there and just acknowledge that that human is experiencing all of these things, from environmental, from social, from mental, from spiritual, from physical, from emotional. And you're taking in all of this input from social media sites, from the radio, from the tv, from family members. Everybody has an opinion and your human brain is trying to take all this information and then say, how do I feel? So once you acknowledge that there is a human, then ask that question, how do I feel? And just label it. So label that feeling. And that sounds so simple, but that can actually reduce the stress that you're feeling just by being able to have a label of I feel X today or this hour or this minute. And when you walk into a room and you have that feeling and you label it, don't see it as positive or negative, just label it. We are all familiar with the saying of don't cry over spilt milk. Spilt milk is neither positive nor negative. I can't imagine a situation in which spilt milk would be a positive thing. But let's just for the sake of this argument, say that spilt milk is just spilt milk. It's not positive or negative, it's our perception of it that actually makes it positive or negative. And so when we apply this with our perception and our perspective, if we're going into the workplace and we feel like there is a negative culture or that the workplace has this certain feeling about it, notice what it is about that particular day. Is it a conversation that you're walking in on? And be aware as you're having these conversations with individuals, how your feelings are changing and how you are feeling throughout the day. And notice how you feel after lunch. Do you check your social media during lunch and maybe you're feeling less productive in the afternoons or less energetic? And what are you eating? It sounds so silly and simple to equate what you're eating to actual combating of election stress. And yet, at the core of it all, we're humans. And so we need positive energy in order to thrive. And so with all of these election campaigns that we're seeing, most of them are slanted towards the negative. So making sure that you're bringing more positive into your space and into your life and into your mindset and your perspective in order to combat all of those opinions. Depending on your workplace culture, having political conversations at work may or may not be appropriate. It helps to be able to have a forward and transparent policy for your team on political discussions within the workplace and make that extremely clear, extremely transparent, and then follow that with supportive actions and reiterate that policy. And that brings me to making sure that you return to a values based conversation within your company and a vision based conversation within your company. And it would be inappropriate to make a political conversation decision that was not in line with your company's vision or values, but be able to create a policy and explain how it's built on the foundations of the company's values. And that decision drives the company, the culture, the clients, further towards the vision of that company and accomplishing what it is that these people are showing up at work every day to be a part of. That's a really powerful thing. And it can be very impactful on an individual's mental health when they feel like they're a part of something bigger. They know very clearly and transparently what the policies are and are not, what the values are that the company is making decisions with and around. And the vision that everybody is going towards the same direction and with the same values, that is creating a box. And humans like to live in some kind of structure. It's like children thrive when they have consistency. And now since we're talking about living within boxes and consistency, another thing that I want to address is biases. And one of the best books that I know of is by Dr. Tiffany Janna. I'll put the link in the description for this video video of subtle acts of exclusion and they also have Overcoming biases. I would invite you to check out their entire line of books because specifically in the workplace we're bringing our biases both conscious and unconscious. And so remember that right feels just as strong in the person that you're talking to as it does in you. Let me say that again because. Because that came from my friend Mo Fattelbaum and I just have to slow it down and give that statement justice. Right feels just as strongly in the person that you are arguing with or having this heated discussion with as it does in you. So if we walk outside and I say the sky is purple with such conviction and such belief and you say, bunny, the sky is blue, imagine that I feel just as strongly that the sky is purple as you feel that the sky is blue. When we get to election, this is where we can have this conversation and it can be frustrating because you can clearly look up at the sky and say, bunny, it's blue. How come you can't see it's blue? And I can look up at the sky and say it's purple. How come you can't see it's purple? So the beautiful thing is that there are opportunities for us to recognize that we are different humans and to have those conversations, but have those conversations within the understanding of respect and acknowledging that we're all bringing in our unconscious and conscious biases to these conversations. The last two tips that I have is one Turn the TV off. It's a really simple one. In the workplace, the last thing that you need is more stimuli. Individuals, for the most part, especially if you're working remotely, have access to media all day long through their computers. And so making it where if you have a brick and mortar workspace and have any control over it, turning that media off so that individuals can feel free to focus on the task at hand and feel free to be productive and not have that stimuli, even if it's outside a time of an election. That constant ticker at the bottom of the tv, if you're watching something on the stocks or even the ever flowing stream of news can add more and more and more unnecessary stress to a workplace. And right now what we need the most is to add more sanity, more space, decrease anxiety, slow it down, reduce the amount of stimuli and create more opportunities to be able to actually fulfill our work and feel productive and feel like we're contributing to something larger and feel like we're living within our own values through the work we do for our company. And my very last point is, if at all possible, have a mental health professional available for your team throughout this process, whether you're organizing forums that are just open conversations about feelings. Not about politics, not about the election, but just about feelings. So we're not talking about candidates, we're talking about feelings. We're not talking about parties. We're talking about stress. We're talking about how we're showing up and fears that we have about our lack of productivity or distractions or how it's impacting our family life. And remember that there are professionals out there to help us navigate not only stress, but also a change process. And there are a ton of resources that are available to your team, and one of them I'll include a link in the description below. This video is a free resource of a book called called how to Stay Sane during Insane Times. There's also consulting firms that specialize in change, like the Change Decision, and I'll include that link right below this video. And if there's any other resources that you need, start a conversation by just leaving me a comment. Whether it's after the election or before another election. Let me know in the comments how I can help your organization, your team, and yourself through election stress. Thank you for making the world a better place.