Indicator Blog.

The Winter Doldrums – yes, it’s a ‘thing’ and now is the time to be aware of it. 

Some years ago, when I owned a different business, we suffered from a massive explosion in demand for our products and services. I know, right? Cry me a river! 

But at the time, it put incredible stress on our business and for me it meant working long hours 7 days a week while we were desperately recruiting and training up new staff. It was also in the middle of a particularly crappy winter. It was cold, it seemed like it rained every day and it got very dark, very early at the end of the day. Without realising it I had succumbed to the winter doldrums and had become tired and grumpy. One day at home, I had an argument with our lawn mower which was refusing to start. My wife watching this unfold shook her head at me and told me to “sort my sh*t out”. She was right, and I realised that my mood was affecting me worse than I realised. 

As we are well and truly feeling the impact of winter, I think now is a great time to quickly check in to see how we are travelling. 

How is your mood right now? Have you managed to hold the same high energy levels and enthusiasm you had at the start of the year? Or are the effects of winter taking a toll, and it is harder to get out of bed in the morning as the winter blues set in? 

Based on what I am seeing and hearing amongst my own network there is no doubt that more than a few are currently in the grip of the seasonal blues. At the moment it is made even more real by the current surge in daily Covid infections and onset of general winter ills which are even more harsh this year. Many are commenting that their general resilience isn’t what it usually is and perhaps this isn’t at all surprising given the ongoing disruption from Covid’s boringly long tail. 

Seasonal affected disorder is a real thing and left unchecked it can have a significant negative impact on your business. We are in the middle of winter, most of us are severely vitamin D depleted, many are tired through a lack of resource, poor product supply and all the media ‘noise’ about a looming business slow down and even recession on the horizon. Not to mention that we don’t have another public holiday until Labour Day in late October. You only need to watch the vitriol on LinkedIn to tell you that we are not quite as upbeat or resilient as we should be. For me this highlights risk – business and personal. 

There is much more acceptance today of the importance of mental health and wellbeing and that is a good thing. It is very important to create an environment where your team feel safe, heard and understood. 

The risk associated with the winter doldrums are that people’s productivity begin to fall, a once pleasant demeanour when dealing with clients may not quite be where it should be and an increase in people taking sick days. 

In short watch out as people may also make bad decisions. You may even find that because the mood has fallen that people suddenly decide to jump ship both from an employee perspective or even from a customer perspective. 

So what can we do to deal with the winter doldrums?

10 simple hacks to beat the mid-winter doldrums 

1. Put a name to the winter doldrums and create an environment where people are encouraged to talk about their current state of mood, mind and general wellbeing. 
2. Create simple daily rituals & habits that you find uplifting. 
3. Celebrate your achievements, wins and successes as they happen (no matter how small). Better still, do this as a team each week. 
4. Get out and see some customers and suppliers. We quickly moved to being totally comfortable with online meetings but being face to face can have a considerable impact on your mood. 
5. Laughter is always the best medicine (just this week the Indicator team had a night out at the Covert Theatre watching a live improv comedy show).
6. Move your body. Just because it is winter, and the days are shorter don’t give up on your exercise and movement. Even a 15-minute walk makes a difference. 
7. Make sure you have something to look forward to at the start of each week and heading into the weekend (It doesn’t need to involve a big expense or time commitment). 
8. Take time out just for you! 
9. Set shorter term goals. We passed the shortest day of the year on 21st June, and we are on the upside now. Spring will officially be here in 8-10 weeks and setting short term bite size goals will help get us through. 
10. I am not yet ready to buy into this recession message, up to you but I am keeping my optimism high!

Tap Your Happy Brain Chemicals: 

As research suggests, you can meet your happy brain chemicals by simply doing some of the activities listed below. Pin this table to you fridge, desk etc. as a reminder.