Body First. Business Second.*
We’ve all been there.
It is late in the afternoon at your desk. You realise that not only have you not eaten, drunk, or moved since the morning, but you’ve also wanted a wee since 9 o'clock. Work has consumed you to the exclusion of all other consumption or expulsion. You've entered a kind of post Maslow world world, where you pretend you can skip the basic steps of the pyramid and still function well.
So here’s the thing. You can’t. The quick fix of ignoring basic bodily needs to meet productivity drivers means cognition suffers. Quite frankly, you will be worse at your job. You may also feel the impact on your mood, experience more anxiety, decreased self esteem and less perspective. And that’s only short term. Long term, we all know that stress and poor physical care leads to decreased immunity and potential mental and physical illness. But when you are in a demanding and pressured role, it can be hard to remember that truth. As an Arabic proverb reminds us: ‘health is a crown that only the sick can see’.
This isn’t a blog exhorting you to meditate and do yoga (although: meditate and do yoga). This is a nudge to remind you that you have a body and it has some fundamental needs in order to function effectively. I sense this has got worse with hybrid working: clicking from one Teams meeting to the next - with no chance to wander down the corridor and have a quick wee on the way to the next meeting. I see a fair bit of burn out in my practice, and while I think there is important work to do on the drivers, mindsets and environments that can bring us to that point, one of the first things I invite clients to explore is how they are connecting to their bodies at the most basic level. Then we can work up the needs hierarchy.
I have learnt this at my own cost. I now recognise (with some shame) that not eating until late afternoon became almost a badge of honour of how terribly, terribly important I was. Pesky status drivers. From a leadership perspective, I was unconsciously role modelling that to others and adding to an unhealthy culture of unnecessary urgency (while also saying that my teams needed to show themselves safe care… we all have to work on our blind spots…). But really, no one is that important. The hard truth is that we are all replaceable at work. Even, or especially, Prime Ministers. But to ourselves, families and friends, we are not. We must honour that: by eating a sandwich, having a glass of water, and going for that all important wee.
*with thanks to Kate Northrup
Mary Kerr: The Voice of God
Title Photo by manu schwendener on Unsplash
