3 Ways to Improve Mental Health for Better Work-Life Balance

Happy May! Did you know May is Mental Health Awareness Month? Mental Health America (“MHA”) started this observation in 1949, and each year they release a toolkit of resource materials to guide us to better mental health.

One interesting resource is MHA’s “Mind the Workplace 2021 Report” measuring responses of over 5,000 employees across 17 industries in the U.S. between February 13, 2020 and September 9, 2020. The survey reveals some startling results.

• 83% of respondents were experiencing early signs of burnout.
• 59% of respondents disagreed that their supervisor provides emotional support to help them manage stress.
• 85% of respondents feel their workplace stress affects their mental health.

So, if you are feeling a strain on your mental health due to your work, you are not alone. Take some time to make a few changes that can help you improve your mental health and your work-life balance.

1. Prioritize your time.

Sometimes we get bogged down at work with daily tasks that are not urgent nor important, and at the end of the day, we feel like we’ve failed to achieve our goals. A simple way to prioritize is to list those tasks into four categories:

1. Urgent & important

2. Important but not urgent

3. Urgent but not important

4. Neither urgent nor important

Tackle that first list at the beginning of the day to set yourself up for success.

2. Understand mental health is directly related to physical health.

Feel mental fog from eating foods that don’t nourish?

Chronic back pain causing you stress because you can’t maintain the physical stamina to get what you need done?

Lack of physical exercise causing you to feel mildly depressed?

These are just a few examples of the link between physical health and mental health. What can you do? Take care of your physical health with an annual health exam, moderate exercise, adequate sleep, and foods that fuel your body. Don’t tackle them all at once! Start today by scheduling an annual health exam, and add to your wellness efforts in small increments each week.

3. Invest in your personal and career development.

How long has it been since you’ve invested in yourself? If you don’t, no one else will. TapRooT® TV and TapRooT® Podcasts are simple ways to start with five or ten minutes a day of personal and career development. You can learn everything from how to conduct better investigations to how to improve emotional intelligence.

Want more ideas to improve?

Join us for the 2021 Global TapRooT® Summit, Knoxville Convention Center, Knoxville, Tennessee, June 14-18, 2021 (Virtual or In-Person).

Following are a few of the best practice sessions planned for this track:

Fighting Fatigue

Learn the latest fatigue research
the ways NASA fights fatigue
a practical industrial solution to measure fatigue

Applying Emotional Intelligence to Support Mental Health in the Workplace

Improve emotional intelligence in a few simple steps and become more skilled at managing your employees.

Balancing Life & Work

Learn important strategies to help reduce stress and prevent burnout in the workplace.

Injury-Proofing your Employees with Body Education & Badassery

Catch any small body issues before they become large injuries! This session will help you keep yourself and your employees safer.

Check out our website to learn about our Keynote Speakers: Olympic Medalist, Shannon Miller, Master Communicator, Vicent Phillips, UT Football Hero, Inky Johnson and TapRooT®‘s Chief Technology Officer, Daniel Verlinde.

And don’t forget to book a room in beautiful downtown Knoxville if you are attending in person!