A Simple Strategy For Taking Care of Yourself

No.157:?Mon 7?August?2023

Hi, it’s David here.

This week’s newsletter Is written by Heather LeFevre, a Community Member and strategist who believes the way we are working needs some work.

BeenThereDoneThat is built on a community of over 400 Chief Strategic and Chief Creative Officers who have had over 25 years of experience.

They left the industry because the traditional ways of working weren’t working for them.

We regularly invite members of this community to share their experience not only with our clients but with each other.

Heather believes that “our body is the most expensive and valuable piece of equipment we have” and points out that yes we have been there, done that, but we need to stop and think for ourselves about where next?

As always, curious to hear what you think

David Alberts?(Co-Founder and Chief Vision Officer?at BeenThereDoneThat)

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Hi, it’s Heather here.

As I’ve aged into the been there / done that demographic, I’m constantly asking myself if it’s even possible to age robustly as creative talent.

I ask other professionals: What is the most expensive equipment you use in your work??

I hear computers, cars, or cameras.?

I reply, “I?invite you to consider it’s your body.”?

Most experience a lightbulb moment.

I try to create these lightbulb moments for others because they have been transformative for me. I experienced another health lightbulb moment while in massage school. We were asked to consider the various elders we might work with in the future. Elders may be very robust or very frail or somewhere in between, we learned.

I realized I had never considered that every choice I make that is within my control is either marching me toward frail or robust.

So I started asking peers about their expectations as they age. Turns out, most have avoided thinking that far ahead beyond an amount of money and some healthy lifestyle changes.?

But, they are firm in their wish not to become a burden to anyone.

Which again makes me wonder, what is the plan if you do become frail? It becomes a grim outlook.

The opportunity, as I see it, is to reframe our outlook from ‘a frail life is not worth living’, to ‘a robust life is worth planning for’.

The brutal truths I’ve discovered as I researched and experimented on my own health:

• Healthy-ish is not the same as healthy
• Most of us do not understand our mystical meat sacks well enough to own one
• What is healthy for your unique body is out there to learn, but the learning can be overwhelming, expensive, and counter the cultural norm
• Our relationships are the source of motivation for healthy change. They are the juice that makes life worth the squeeze
• Learning and adopting healthy behaviors is a part-time job
• Healing from a chronic condition is a full-time job
• Behavior change is difficult, but it becomes easier when camaraderie and fun are considered in the healthy equation

My assertion, dear peers, is that we may be data-driven at work, but we have a blindspot for ourselves. We see the value of research, data, and experiments for businesses, but we don’t think to apply those same values back on ourselves.

Your body is the most expensive equipment you use in your work.

I think most creative talent is not conscious of the health depleting conditions we both create and accept for ourselves. Here are the top four things I’d invite you to consider:

First, adding more movement into the day. It’s not sitting vs. standing; it’s limited movement that’s killing us. Look at orca whales, for example, some have ‘jobs’ and swim near the surface in captivity, typically in one direction where gravity is more intense. They are way more likely to develop droopy fins. Slowly over time, the way we work shapes our necks and shoulders into a forward, hunched shape. If you’d like to counteract the shapes you make while working, consider both Pilates and Gyrotonic exercise systems.

Second, it is?normal?to need daylight. Both first thing in the morning for 10-30 minutes and during the day to support our circadian rhythm and vitamin D production. A job that doesn’t remind people to go outside but offers “health insurance” does not compute to me. If you’re your own boss, are you planning this daily ritual or simply making sure there is tea and coffee?

Finally, I invite you to look at the week in terms of 168 hours, with each week as an experiment to shift one behaviour. Health is not all or nothing. We are ever-changing systems and always have the opportunity to shift things in our lives. That’s why I write a weekly missive to subscribers through Project 100. As your personal well-being strategist, I highlight one aspect of health per week, making behaviour change toward a robust future doable and fun.

Heather LeFevre (Community Member at BeenThereDoneThat, Creative and Well-Being Strategist)

Supporting Articles

1. Killer Whale Dorsal Fin Collapse

2.?Life-sized model shows what office workers might look like in 20 years

3. Daylight first thing in the morning for 10-30 minutes and during the day to support our circadian rhythm and vitamin D production.

4.?Project 100. Join Heather’s Substack and her weekly, thought-provoking journey.

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