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Wellness. Me-time. Break. Refresh. Pause. Whatever you call it, call it essential. Wellness is no longer a luxury but a must-have. Research continues to uncover the benefits of better sleep, less stress, and (guilt-free) wellness. How do you incorporate more wellness into your planning, and into your day?
When we plan events, one question we ask is ‘why?’ Why are you planning the event? But now more than ever we also ask, ‘how?’ How will your event have a positive impact on your attendees? Your audience will be attracted to anything that will give them more of what they value. If it’s knowledge and time, let’s re-ask the question with, ‘how will my event, aka my content and wellness, have a positive impact (and provide value) to my attendees? Answer that question and your audience will follow.
When it comes to planning a virtual event, give online attendees time “off” by ending sessions early (at very least, on time). Add wellness sessions with yoga, chair stretching, guided mediation, or an encouragement to step outside. Offer incentive challenges to ensure attendees are using wellness moments to their advantage. And since wellness means something different for each of us, offering mental health sessions and creative brain-storming round tables on the subject helps guests focus on what’s important to them.
When planning for an onsite event, create break zones between sessions. Creative types will enjoy light music, ambiance with plants and soft lighting, white boards and markers to collaborate, colouring sheets, and board games. For those who want to relax, offer lounge seating with charging stations and bags of ear plugs and sleeping masks to encourage a quick rest. Top it off with infused water and super-food snacks and you just levelled up the value to attendees with: Time. To. Recharge
When planning or attending Zoom meetings, keep conversations clear but to the point instead of over-emphasizing or reiterating decisions for the sake of the allotted hour. Think in increments of 5, 10 or 15 minutes and relish in concise meetings that efficiently end early, then encourage the team time to refresh, or move on early to another project.
When it comes to working from home, wellness breaks can be tricky. Tired of emails at all hours? Don’t feel guilty for snoozing alerts after hours and editing your signature with a note that you will happily reply in the morning. Do you work best during ‘off-peak’ hours? Do it. Don’t feel pressured into working 9-5. Sometimes we do our best work starting at 11:00am and working on-and-off into the evening. Sometimes ideas strike at midnight. Sometimes we power through work early in the morning and then take the rest of the day to go for a head-clearing hike. That’s all ok! If you remain accountable to your work commitments, give yourself full permission to work around your wellness.
Wellness also becomes a bit easier if you redefine your success. Success doesn’t have to mean more hours or working harder. Define it as giving work your full attention when you’re ‘on the clock’, but then having the guilt-free freedom to enjoy wellness in whichever way recharges you. Your well-being is a measure of success!
Creating healthy work-life boundaries and time for wellness means a stronger, more productive, more creative you! Trust us, the work will still be there when you come back, which you will – recharged and ready to take it on!
A quote that comes to my mind: If you don’t make time for your well-being, you will be forced to take time for your illness. And nobody has time to plan for that! Haha 😉
