Four wellbeing lessons we can take from the past year

Paul McGee (pictured) is one of the UK’s leading speakers on change, workplace relationships, and motivation, with a bestselling book, SUMO (Shut Up, Move On), and is known for delivering practical, relevant tips and guidance that have an immediate impact on people’s professional and personal lives. In this article, first published in Issue 7 of our magazine, Lodders Life, Paul reports on a session he ran for Lodders staff.

Lodders understands the important aspect within a workplace: “our staff are our biggest asset”. The team contacted me to run a session last year and this focused on my principle advice – Shut Up, Move On, or SUMO – which can also mean ‘stop, understand, move on’.

Why wellbeing leads to welldoing

The session focussed on providing practical points for better wellbeing, and demonstrated why wellbeing leads to welldoing.

There are four key lessons we can use to understand this:

1. It pays to be flexible. “Blessed are the flexible, for they will be successful”. In a storm, the trees that get uprooted are the ones that remain fixed, whereas some trees learn to bend with the wind. I believe flexibility is a skill for life, not just for lockdown.
2. You don’t always need to give advice. We often put ourselves under pressure to feel people are looking to us for advice, and that’s not always the case. Sometimes, people just want to be heard. We know very little about a lot of things, and often, we need to step back and say, “I don’t know enough about this to give you advice, but I can share my perspective”.
3. We do better together. People need people, and ultimately, we don’t get through tough times alone. We need the support of others. In more practical terms, it’s important to connect with friends and colleagues, even just to ask them how they feel, and if there is anything you can do to better their mood. People value feeling heard.
4. We all have potential. It can be hard to see potential in difficult situations, but sometimes, the way to find potential is to simply ask yourself the question: “What opportunities are there?” But also: “What can I learn from this?” It’s important to understand there are things out of your control, but rather than letting uncertainty bother you, focus on what you can control, and create happiness where possible. You cannot always overcome anxiety – sometimes, we can only accept it, and manage it.

Stay in touch

The past year has shown us the importance of staying in contact, and perhaps in the future, we can value this contact better, and be more intentional with the way we interact with others in order to get the best out of life and each other.

More information:

Contact Paul McGee

Email: contact@thesumoguy.com

Follow: @TheSumoGuy

Read this and more great stories in the latest issue of Lodders Life.