Hello all!
Kayleen here, founder of Mtn. Dog Media. I started this company more than seven years ago riding a high of coffee and boundless enthusiasm. I hustled through the day and through the night for five straight years building this company into what it is today, then… I burnt to a little crisp! I was exhausted, depressed, stressed, unmotivated and desperately lacking creativity. Something had to give! And that’s when I started to learn that I wasn’t alone! Did you know that 1 in 3 creative entrepreneurs suffers from depression?
On July 14th I will be presenting “Mental Health for Hustlers” an interactive workshop as a part of 2020 West Slope Startup Week. Yes, my professional expertise is digital marketing, but mental health is my personal PASSION topic! I couldn’t be more excited to share this with you all. It’s high time we destigmatize conversations about mental health in our personal lives and in the workplace. Click here to register to attend!
Activities for Registered Participants
Already signed up? Before we dive in, I have a few exercises for you to work on prior to our session. Preparing these materials ahead of time will allow us to get vulnerable and foster some truly authentic connections during the allotted workshop time.
ACTIVITY ONE: WELLNESS METER
This activity is pulled from Chapter 1 of Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. “You can’t know where you’re going until you know where you are,” is their thesis. I revisit this wellness meter several times a year just to check in. On a scale from 1-4 rate your current level of fulfillment in each category and jot a few words about why.
Work pertains to everything you do for money and as a volunteer. Play is everything you do for fun. Health refers to your physical and mental health. Love refers not only to romantic relationships but also to friendships and family life. “1” = completely dissatisfied. “4” = it doesn’t get any better than this! Complete your rating in each of the four categories and add a few notes about why you chose that rating. For more on this activity read Chapter 1 of Designing Your Life.
ACTIVITY TWO: THE FIVE WHYS
This is a great activity that was given to me by a mental health professional many years ago! It’s called “The Five Whys”. You can use this to get to the bottom of any dilemma, whether it’s personal or professional. In this exercise simply state any problem and then ask yourself “WHY” five times. This will help you unpack and understand the root of an issue. Here’s an example:
Statement: I’m feeling frustrated with my daily responsibilities in the workplace.
Why? I feel like I’m micromanaging my employees.
Why? Because they aren’t taking the initiative to problem solve without me!
Why? Because I haven’t given them the feedback to do so.
Why? Because I lack a confident, authoritarian voice as a leader.
Why? I view myself as their equal and don’t want to cause any tension among the team.
Conclusion: I’m feeling frustrated with my daily responsibilities in the workplace because I haven’t challenged myself to stand up to my employees and encourage them to be more self motivated to resolve their own problems and come to me with SOLUTIONS!
Solution: Schedule a meeting to review expectations with employees and incentivize them to be more self motivated and independent! Employees that come forth with solutions instead of problems will be rewarded.
Now it’s your turn! Take a moment to try the Five Whys exercise with a situation that’s causing you frustration in the workplace.
Another great way to use this exercise is to remind yourself WHY you started your business! Put your product/service in the “statement” box and ask yourself WHY five times. This will help you get to the core of your marketing language and value proposition as advocated by Simon Sinek in the Golden Circle Philosophy.
WOW! Hopefully these exercises have gotten the wheels turning! I look forward to meeting and sharing with you all next week at 11am MST via Zoom! You’ll find the meeting link in your daily summary email via Sched.
Questions? Feel free to contact me directly at Kayleen (at) mtndogmedia.com