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Tactics for maintaining Mental Fitness during the COVID-19
Pandemic:
Insulating for Irritability
Dr. Bill Howatt
President, Howatt HR
Chief Research Workforce Productivity,
Conference Board of Canada
Jesse Adams, MSc
Chief Learning Officer, Howatt HR
Agenda
1 Refresher: Charging our Battery
2 Micro-skill of the Day: Irritability
3 Actions for today
2
1 Refresher: Charging our Battery
2 Micro-skill of the Day: Feeling overwhelmed with the new norm
3 Actions for today
3
Recall, we are like batteries and each day we may start
at a different level of charge
4
Charged
Charging
Half-full
Drained
Empty
=
Resilience is built through joint responsibility
5
Feel safe
Trust in direct manager
Sense of pride in work
Feelings of appreciation
Positive peer interactions
Positive customerinteractions
Absent of workplace conflict
Clear role
Understand priorities
Managingworkload
Employee ActionsEmployer Actions +
Job satisfaction
Mental fitness
Physical activity
Nutrition
Passion
Sleep
Social connections
Relaxation
Lifestyle choices
Work-life blending
Maintaining Mental Fitness: Micro-skills
• Micro-skills are small behaviours or
cognitive skills you can add to your life to
support mental fitness
• They are skills that can be applied to all
areas of your life:
– Physical
– Mental health
– Personal life
– Work experience
Understanding
Stress
Social Connection
Coping with
Grief and Loss
Supporting
others
Feeling overwhelmed
with the new norm
Irritability
Contagion vs.
Inciting
Insulating
for Anxiety
6
Your Mental Fitness Plan
7
Mental Fitness Physical Health Social Connection
Daily
When
needed
Foundation: Environment
How would you rank on a scale of 1-10 each of the following factors?
• Psychological safety
• Physical safety
• Food security
• Job security
• Financial security
• Housing security
• Breath
• Gratitude
• Smart Watch (sleep)
• Run
• Bike
• Water
• Contact with old friends
• Talk about Food
• Honest talk with spouse
• Laugh
• Work on “balance”
• Walk more / Eat less!
• Review Smart watch trends
• Family Zoom
• Get together with neighbours
• Ancestry Zoom
1 Refresher: Charging our Battery
2 Micro-skill of the Day: Irritability
3 Actions for today
8
Irritability is a common emotion
• Many factors can cause or contribute to a
persons irritability.
• Some of the factors causing irritability are
influenced by our physiology,
environment and level of stress.
• This can create an inability to “shrug-off”
the little things
9
Financial
challenges
Blood sugar
levels
Lack of
sleep
Emotional
strain
Hormonal
changes
Life
Demands
Change
10
Irritability is usually described as a mood,
but there is no particular person or event.
Anger is an emotion that is usually triggered
by a specific person or event
Anger vs. irritability
An increase in irritability can put strain on our
community and workplaces
11
• With irritability comes a decrease in compassion, empathy and social awareness.
• Often people will feel on edge, grumpy, cranky and sour.
• This can result in being more aggressive than usual, or short with people around
us.
Signs we may becoming irritable
Trembling
headaches
Feeling dizzy or
lightheadedFeeling like nothing
in life is working
More frequent
outbursts
Excessive sweating
Dependency
Fast
heartbeat
12
If the Frequency, Duration, and Intensity begin to increase, it may
be a sign of an underlying mental health issue.
1 Refresher: Charging our Battery
2 Micro-skill of the Day: Irritability
3 Actions for today
13
14
4 micro-skills for preventing and moving through
irritability
Compassion Acknowledgethe source
Reduce caffeine
and alcoholBurn
Nervous energy
Reflection for today
• What's your default behaviour when
you become irritable?
• How do you catch yourself?
• Share your reflection on social
media using the hashtag:
– #MYMF
– #MYMFPLAN
– #MFSTRONG
15
Next Weeks Webinar
• When: Tuesday June 9, 2020
• What time: 12 pm est
• How to find it: www.maintainingmentalfitness.com
• Micro-skill: Engaging with your environment
16
