Frustrated by Disruptions or Distractions (COVID or Otherwise)?

How to Keep Yourself Upbeat When Your Goals are Thwarted

Since COVID-19 struck, I’ve been working with a lot of intact teams (i.e. teams that are still fully employed, albeit under constrained conditions), to help them replace their previous routines with new ones. I’ve been particularly working with sales teams in the pharmaceutical sector. 

These are people who are highly motivated, effective and are used to lots of face-to-face interactions every day, from which they got a great deal of energy. Suddenly, all that was gone.

At first, I was simply trying to keep my clients energised, focused and productive during lockdown. That succeeded. But as time went on, they seem to go even further – they now seem to be functioning better than they did before. The secret is in the strategies outlined below.

Can't Work How You Normally Would?

Since the outbreak started, many teams - especially those that are in business development, sales or customer facing - have been experiencing these issues:

(1) No-one will meet them

Customers have been way too busy and distracted. For my pharmaceutical sales team, the clinicians and nurses they would normally see were way too busy treating COVID-19 patients to give my clients the time of day. They got that.  They also didn’t just want to sell, they wanted to help but that didn’t matter. That feeling of helplessness was tough.

(2) They've lost all face-to-face interaction

They do this job because they love it. They believe in the product - and they are "people" people. They get a charge out of interacting. When they can no longer do that, it’s highly de-energising.

(3) They have to stay at home and continue to be productive

It’s a complete change from how they would usually work. If you work for yourself (if you are an introvert) you would have some practice in this. These people don’t.

(4) They can't achieve any of their usual goals

They usually get measured on things like calls, in-service lunches and meetings. They can’t do any of these. How do they measure progress? How do they know they’ve done a good day’s work?  

It's Harder for "People" People (Move Over Introverts)

For professionals who are used to meeting face-to-face, physically moving around or visiting different locations - losing face-to-face contact, being stuck in one spot, and not travelling around is particularly hard. This has been a time much more favourable for introverts than extroverts. What can you do?

Four Quick Tips for Staying Energised, Focused and Productive in Your Every Day

The questions I get asked are:

How do I keep myself motivated when I can’t do any of the things I normally do?

How do I keep myself motivated when I can’t meet any of my usual goals?

It’s a good question, not just for performance, but also for staying mentally healthy. Here are the four suggestions that also worked out with my clients:

(1) Focus on your circle of influence and not your circle of concern.

Keep your attention on what you can do – not what is out of your reach - even if it concerns you.  Peak hour traffic might concern you – but it’s out of your control. Starting at a different time, taking a different route, being patient or listening to an audio book is in your control. Focus on what you can control – not what you can’t. This is a hallmark of resilience.

(2) Build your sense of mastery.

Do something you are competent at each day. We know from self-determination theory that people need: autonomy, mastery, and connection.

Do something you are good at, and that is within your control. Go out to your garden, write a blog, cook a good dinner, make a list of actions - whatever you are good at - do some of that every day because research shows that at least 20% of your day should be allocated for activities you are competent at.

(3) End on a high.

Each day complete the sentence:

“Three things that went well today and how I helped make them happen are….“

This helps overcome our negativity bias and the thinking that nothing is happening. 

(4) Be kind to yourself.

This is probably the most important - practice self-kindness and self-compassion. Again, the research shows that self-compassion and self-kindness are much more effective than berating yourself. There is zero evidence that giving yourself a hard time is effective for change. Absolutely zero.

There is plenty, and growing evidence, of self-compassion as a powerful vehicle for change and success.

Start being as kind to yourself as you would be to your child, your partner, or your closest friend. The skill can be learned – check the comments below for a free 15-minute coaching session.

So, if you want to know how to keep your morale up, try these four strategies:

In summary:

1. Focus on what you can control and not what you can't.
2. Do some work that you are good at each day to build your sense of competence.
3. End your day on a high, noting what went well (writing it down seems to be important).
4. Practice self-compassion.

Leave me a comment or email me with how you go.