Personal Development

Ariful Bhuiyan ACA, Financial Accountant in Bank of Ireland Group, shares five tips on how to stay in the black and wait out a second lockdown. COVID-19 has already impacted business, education, health system, sports, entertainment, and environment. Moreover, it has left people worried about their current financial plans and how they should approach their day-to-day finances. Here are some smart ways you can manage your bank account during this crisis.  Suspend major spending If you were planning to buy a home or looking at purchasing an expensive car, this is not the right time. We don’t know when this pandemic will be over, nor where it will drive the economy. For now, it would be prudent to hold onto some of your savings to give yourself breathing room if any future uncertainty arises due to unemployment, illness, etc.  The best approach is to observe and react. For example, the property market can be volatile for the next few months, and you may benefit if the house prices fall in the future.  Reassess other expenses If you have cable service, Netflix, Amazon Prime videos, or any other streaming subscriptions, it is high time you look at which is best suited for you. For instance, if you are subscribed to a cable service just for sport, think about suspending your service as many sporting events will be on hold for the foreseeable future. It's also a good idea to check the phone plan and utility bills to see if these make sense for you and your family. Look for better offers from competitor companies.  No panic buying With Christmas right around the corner, you might be tempted to jump in and buy all your gifts right now – and this is reasonable given that shops will be closed until the beginning of December. However, when people panic buy, they can check out before they even realise what they are buying or for who. Does Aunt Mary really want a shawl, a bath bomb and wool slippers – or were they the first thing you saw online and put straight into your basket? Make considered purchases. Improve your saving profile and invest in undervalued stocks Most of us would have booked holidays and parties over the summer if the situation were normal. Due to the lockdown, many have been lucky enough to save some extra money.  Try taking advantage of the situation by building your saving profile. If you are continuing to work and earn your full income, it is a good opportunity to buy undervalued stocks. The valuation of many companies went down in April/May, and there is a chance that it may fall again in the coming months due to the surge in numbers. Take suggestions from the brokers and invest in some companies to make a good return in the future.  Avail of the reliefs available to you The government has implemented financial relief for people and businesses. Keep in mind that you might be using utilities for work purposes. It was just announced in Budget 2021 that some of these employment costs could go towards tax credits. 

Accountancy Ireland Extra has partnered with the team at SpunOut.ie to bring you some top nutrition tips for the exam season. Eating well is good for both your mental and physical health. When it comes to exams and studying, you want to be at your best – that means eating the right foods to ensure your concentration levels are where they need to be. We have put together some tips to ensure that you can eat your way to exam success. Avoid skipping meals No matter how rushed you are, try to avoid skipping meals – especially breakfast. Starting your day with breakfast gets your body going and maintains your concentration for the day. Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables It might sound like hard work, but try to add fruit or vegetables to every meal if possible. Simple ways to increase your fruit and veg intake include smoothies, adding banana to toast, and adding fruit to porridge or breakfast cereals. Drink plenty of water Try to drink eight glasses of water per day to keep your body hydrated. By drinking enough water, you’re also less likely to be hungry. If you’re not a fan of water on its own, add a sugar-free diluted squash. Opt for healthy snacks It can be tempting when studying to reach for unhealthy snacks. Snack foods such as cakes, biscuits, chocolate and sweets can be high in sugars and saturated fat, and low in certain vitamins and minerals. Instead, keep fruit such as apples, blueberries or bananas on hand for those moments you need a snack. Check out our article on swapping your favourite snacks for healthier alternatives. Wholegrains The brain cannot function without the right energy, and it needs a constant supply throughout the day to ensure it functions correctly. Achieve this by eating wholegrains with a low glycaemic index (GI) such as brown pasta, brown rice or brown bread. Things to avoid… Avoid sugary snacks as they will result in a short-term high that will eventually come crashing down, leaving you feeling tired. Don’t overdo the caffeine. Coffee and soft drinks such as Diet Coke may give you a short-term energy boost but in the long run, it will result in an energy crash that just isn’t worth it. Avoid energy drinks like Red Bull, as they will result in a caffeine and sugar rush that won’t do your body any favours. And lastly, when you’re studying, alcohol is not your friend. It will dehydrate you, disturb your sleep and wreck your concentration the next day. Not worth it! This article was produced by Spunout.ie, Ireland’s youth information website. Five great brainfood-based snack ideas The last thing you need right now is to spend time researching what to eat in the run-up to your exam, so we’ve done the hard work for you! Here are our favourite brain food snacks, all of which are quick and easy to prepare... Hummus and carrot/celery sticks. You could make both from scratch or – to save time – pick up the end-product in your local supermarket. Apple slices with almond butter. The latter can be pricy but you’ll pick up a bag of apples for less than a euro, so it all balances out. Natural yogurt with chia seeds, banana, blueberries and nuts. This can also be a full breakfast, but it’s a superfood bonanza for the brain. Smashed avocado on wholegrain toast. A big snack that’ll keep you going for a couple of hours. Dark chocolate. A daily portion of dark chocolate has been found to improve blood flow to the brain, so treat yourself!

Thinking is the top-rated next generation skill, but the ability to think critically is rare. Follow these tips to stand out from your peers in the soft skills stakes. I was browsing LinkedIn recently when a headline caught my eye. It read: “The top skills companies need – and how to help your employees develop them”. I’m a sucker for a list, so I clicked in and scrolled down for the answer, whizzing past the verbiage in the process. To my surprise (and that of the article’s author, as I found out when I eventually read the intro), the leading ‘next generation skill’ is... thinking. We do it all the time but according to research from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, it’s the most important skill of the future followed by self-understanding, empathy, ethics and communication. Develop your critical thinking According to Georgetown professor, William T. Gormley, critical thinking consists of three elements: a capacity to spot weakness in other arguments, a passion for good evidence, and a capacity to reflect on your own views and values with an eye to possibly changing them. He elaborated on these points in a recent Harvard EdCast, which you can listen to here. But how can you develop these three elements and learn to think critically? According to an article published by NUI Galway, there are a number of ways to do this. You will likely know some of the points mentioned (join a debating society, get involved in class discussions etc.), but there some very noteworthy suggestions also. They include: Swap coursework with a classmate and critically evaluate each other’s arguments, use of evidence and conclusions; Accept that criticism and disagreement aren’t the same as conflict. It’s okay to hold different views to a classmate, friend or lecturer; Engage critically with course content, particularly with your assigned reading; and Remember that critical thinking is hard. As a set of ‘higher order’ skills, it isn’t something you can learn overnight. Keep trying. Ask for feedback – and learn from it. There’s some great material there, but the university’s Christopher Dwyer also suggested a very useful – and fun – means of honing this skill in his book entitled Critical Thinking: Conceptual Perspectives and Practical Guidelines: play devil’s advocate. In the era of groupthink and news bubbles, it’s easy to be convinced that there’s a right way and a wrong way. Seeking out alternatives, even seemingly irrational ones, could help you see things in a new light and this is what your future employers will be looking for - someone who is technically competent but can approach things with fresh perspectives. Let the debate begin!

In an always-on world, it can be difficult to strike the right balance between work and relaxation, but here are eight tips to help you tip the scales. For many in the workforce, achieving any type of work-life balance can be a myth – especially since technology allows us to be accessible around the clock. So how do we do it? I found myself back at work after maternity leave with a 10-month old working full-time and sharing a business with my husband. I remember feeling so overwhelmed and hugely distracted. To overcome this, I devised a list of top tips for balancing work and life. STEP 1 Firstly, take a deep breath. It will all be ok. STEP 2 Work life balance doesn’t happen automatically. It involves making deliberate choices about what you want out of life. Having a roadmap plan and committing to it. Realising what is important to you and working smarter not harder to ensure you can spend your time how you want to.  STEP 3 Communication is key. I still don’t believe we talk to each other enough. You need to be open about what’s working and what’s not. Work will always be there; however, you need to have your personal life and routine in check as a strong foundation. If you feel like you’re veering off course, reach out and talk to someone. STEP 4 Set aside time for your interests, family and friends. Make a point of planning and booking time off work to do the things that are important to you. Don’t wait to see what time is left over as I can guarantee that there won’t be any. Your list of tasks will never be complete and there’s never a good time. STEP 5 Set your own parameters around what success looks like to you. Having a strong sense of who you are, your values and what drives you will help you better understand what makes you happy and to get more of that in your life.  STEP 6 Turn off your distractions. It’s learning the skill of turning off the technology and enjoying the quality time. STEP 7 It’s also important to align your goals in pursuing your passion. Those that do achieve this balance usually have a defined plan around timeframes and what they are willing to sacrifice to get what they want in the end. Don’t let the situation control you, take hold of it head on. STEP 8 The most important tip to achieving work-life balance is building your A Team, also known as your support network. People who are successful and achieve good balance have a strong support network who help them through the tough times. Sorcha Pollack is an Audit Senior at EY Ireland.

Acknowledging our vulnerabilities and improving our self-awareness can allow us to succeed in our personal and professional lives. “What are your strengths and weaknesses” is a question frequently asked at interviews and one that interviewees are often least prepared to answer. While few have difficulty rhyming off strengths, describing one’s weaknesses or vulnerabilities is another matter. Doing so requires a level of disclosure that few of us are willing to make to ourselves, much less to others.  As Abraham Maslow, American psychologist who is known for creating Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, said, “We tend to be afraid of any knowledge that would cause us…to make us feel inferior, weak…We protect ourselves and our ideal image of ourselves by repression and similar defences”. However, research shows that vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change. We connect to others through vulnerabilities. They are key to our self-awareness and how we manage ourselves socially.  This article is designed to equip you with some means to identify and explore those vulnerabilities and improve your self-awareness.     Focus on the here and now Begin with noticing and self-reflecting. When interacting with others, you should slow yourself down and take notice of your emotions, thoughts and behaviours as situations unfold. Try to concentrate on what is happening to you in the moment. Studies show that we are able to concentrate on up to four voices at one time. One of those voices should be our own.  The ability to focus on the present can and should be practiced regularly by using mindfulness exercises. Mindfulness is simply concentrating on the present moment and focusing on one element to keep you in that moment, such as your breathing. Through mindfulness practice, we learn not to engage with passing thoughts but rather to observe them and take notice of recurring negative thoughts that may be affecting us. By practicing mindfulness privately, we develop skills that we can call on to ground ourselves when we feel stressed or unfocused. These skills help us to avoid being distracted by anticipatory thoughts and give us the ability to stay focused when circumstances demand.  Numerous apps are available to help develop or improve concentration skills. Headspace is one such option. Thinking errors How do we identify emotional or cognitive barriers to self-awareness? Be on the lookout for ‘thinking errors’ in your internal dialogues. These are harmful thinking patterns that may habitually hold us hostage so that we behave at the will of others or as victims of circumstance. Some examples of these include: ‘Awfulisation’: “That was the worst interview ever. I was awful.”; Blame-throwing: “It’s all his fault, he should have highlighted the difference.”; Demands: “He has to listen to me because this report is late”, “She should have pointed that out, she knew it was important.”; Extreme thinking: “she never listens”, “he’s always late” Globalising: “I failed my exam. That proves I’m a failure.”; Personalisation: “If I ask my manager for support, he’ll think I’m incompetent”. Such thinking errors should be intercepted and challenged by considering their usefulness. Are these beliefs helpful? Are they true? Is there evidence to support them?  Group dynamics While mindful meditation and self-reflection are useful tools for improving self-awareness, our reflection in other people is more informative. When working in a team, it is important to stay aware of how others react to our behaviours. Noticing such reactions provides us with valuable feedback. Active listening and observation can help us to recognise and then adjust any negative behaviours of our own.  A simple tool called the PFAT scan can help here. With it, we pay attention to: physical body reactions in other members of the group. Are they blushing, sweating, fidgeting, clenching their teeth or fists? others’ feelings suggested through their mannerisms or behaviours. Are they defensive, anxious, worried, bored, tense, challenged, or angry? the appearance of negative body language. Are they retreating or lunging forward? Are they stammering or yelling?; and  where their thoughts are focused. Are they speaking on task or are they defending their position, discrediting others, and redeeming themselves?    To gain greater insight into our relational habits, we should pay attention to group dynamics, focusing not only on how we think and what we observe but also on how we feel during teamwork or group work. Certain situations or people may trigger negative reactions within us. We may discover that what we are experiencing is the mirroring of past behavioural patterns seen in close family members. We should also seek feedback from trusted people seniors in your company and peers. Receiving such feedback openly and sharing our vulnerabilities can prove edifying. By accepting our vulnerabilities with reasonable self-compassion, we can start to accommodate them and to build on our strengths. March EI exercise Practice mindfulness and the reflective exercises described in this article.  Paul Price is is an Executive Coach at Dynamic Connections.

Sometimes you are presented challenges where you find you cannot cope. While we might not be able to change the amount of work that has to be done in a day, we can change how we react to it. I describe stress as being the scenario where the challenge you are facing seems to exceed your capacity to cope. We can feel threatened, overwhelmed and like we’ve lost control of the situation. While it seems odd to be sitting here writing about stress when it’s a warm, sunny summer’s day outside, stress doesn’t take the summer off. Learning how to deal with stress is a year-round task. The day from hell To illustrate an overwhelming challenge and our difficulty in coping, I thought we’d start with a really difficult day in work – the day from hell. While a small amount of stress can be a good thing – it provides a sense of urgency and it gets us moving – this is bigger than that. It took off like an out-of-control rocket, we are being pulled beyond ‘useful stress’ into a more manic orbit, and we end up in the ‘too much to cope with’ zone for too long.  When this happens, we lose three things: energy, short-term memory and the ability to problem solve or think creatively. We become quite primitive and it feels like we are in survival mode. We just want to survive the meeting, the phone call, or the afternoon. In summary, ‘stress eats energy’. 60-second recovery In reality, there’s very little we can do about the pace of a really hectic work day but we can do something about our response to it. For this, discipline is our most useful strategy. For those days from hell, we need to build ‘recovery breaks’ into the day. It only needs to be about 60 seconds, but – and here’s comes the discipline – the break should be once per hour throughout the day. Discipline eats stress Here’s your challenge: take a deliberate recovery break for one minute out of every 60. This will require a certain amount of discipline and mental toughness. In fact, you should be doing this even on good days. Remember, you’re doing this to ensure that you stay mentally fresh for as long as possible throughout the day. You are also doing this to ensure that you leave work with energy for what’s after work – life! When you create this discipline, and you stick with it for a week, it means you have energy to burn at the weekend. Otherwise, you spend that downtime in survival mode, dreading the return to work the following week. Recovery actions What do you actually do for the 60-second recovery? That depends on what you need. Sometimes it will be something simple that gives you a sense of control back, other times it will be something that slows down your mental traffic, and other times it will be something that energises you. Here are some examples: tidying, filing, reading, chatting, stretching, walking, improving your posture, and, the best one of all… breathing. Increase capacity If you’ve been following my well-being series, you will have come across  references to mental fitness. I am in the fitness business and fitness is about increasing capacity. Stress management is not about reducing stress in work and life, it is about increasing our capacity to cope with whatever is coming next. And when it comes to increasing capacity, discipline is your best friend.   Physical is the new psychological As you can see from the above, almost all of the strategies for stress management and mental health are physical and not always mental. It’s always beneficial to go out do something. Your body has the answer: calm the body and the mind will follow. Stopping is not recovering Leaving work and going home does not count as recovering. If you just crash into bed, you will still feel exhausted in the morning. Doing something that absorbs you – that energises you – is recovering. Finding the discipline to go for a short walk rather than watch television is recovering. Going to your yoga class is mental toughness and recovering. Remember: discipline eats stress. The key to resilience is working really hard, stopping, recovering properly and then working really hard again. Work success So far in this series I have been focusing on an operational level – how to have high self-worth, how to operate on the edge of comfort, how to have great habits and how to manage stress better. In the remaining two articles, I will be taking a more strategic approach.  See you then.