023. What things do you want to include in your working wellbeing plan?
Every issue of Moment comes with a question designed to gently nudge you towards working well: making your mental health part of your self-employed business plan.
023. What things do you want to include in your working wellbeing plan?
The work we do at Leapers has helped us identify five foundations of working well when self-employed - they’re common needs and support structures which anyone who is working for themselves, needs to consider, address and invest in to create a sustainable and supportive business:
+ Financial Resilience - getting clear about your money today and tomorrow
+ Healthy Behaviours - boundaries, habits, motivations, emotions and environments
+ Support Networks - building your team for help and growth
+ Professional Relationships - working and communication with others
+ Learning and Development - growth in your career over time
The most effective working wellbeing plans include commitments you make to yourself, against a number of topics from each of the pillars, for instance: a policy on how much time you’re going to take off each year in the Healthy Behaviours chapter; a listing of the people you can turn to for advice and support when things are bad in the Support Networks section.
Each week, we’ll be sending a suggestion of something you can include in your working wellbeing plan - and we’ll be building more tools and resources to create a tangible document which you can create, refer to and build over time.
But it’s not for me to tell you what to include - our suggestions are based upon conversations with thousands of freelancers in our community, and research based evidence of effective approaches to working well, but each individual also needs to take responsibility for designing their own working wellbeing plan - to include the things which are most important to consider.
In this week’s Moment, consider: what things are absolutely essential to include in your working wellbeing plan? What statements and content would you need it to have for the hard times (so you can refer to it) and the good times (so you can invest in you)?
Comments are open on this post - feel free to share your own suggestions, so that others can find the ideas useful too.
WORKING WELLBEING PLAN: TASK
Look at the list of freelance foundations, and for each one, consider one or more statements you’d consider including.
Are there any of the freelance foundations you’re less concerned about - for instance, is Learning and Development something you already invest in, or do any of the foundations make you think you need to spend more time, like building a Support Network?
You don’t need to write the content of any of the areas this week, just list the things you think you might want to start tackling together with us.
Leave a note in the comments, and we’ll help build out content for each of the suggestions.
Leave a comment below to share your reflections,
or visit Leapers to discuss the question further.
Things we read this week:
A new start after 60 - I handed in my notice and opened a bookshop - Guardian
Balance - helping creatives balance their minds and books
How to turn every day stress into optimal stress - McKinsey
Laziness doesn’t exist - procrastination exists for a reason - Medium
A surprising take on what ‘strengths’ really are - Helen Tupper
It’s not coming home - when you miss out on success - Leapers