How much of our time and mental energy do we spend dwelling on things that have already happened or worrying about the future? For many of us, mentally multi-tasking and having our brain in three places at once is a reality of daily life. But it often means we miss out on what's happening in the here and now. This is bad for our mental wellbeing in a number of ways. By dwelling on things we can't change or control, we are more likely to feel anxious, insecure or uncertain. Focusing on the present, on the other hand, allows us to channel our energy into the things we can control. When we're distracted, we're less able to concentrate and focus on the task in front of us. How many times have you walked upstairs and forgotten why you're there? By paying attention to the present, we increase our effectiveness and productivity. In addition, when our minds are somewhere else, we miss out on all the positive things that are happening right in front of us. Being present in a moment allows you to enjoy everything it has to offer. The key to breaking this cycle is mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of the here and now, of your thoughts, feelings, sensations and your surroundings. Using techniques like meditation, breathing and yoga, it can help you become more aware of the present moment, rather than worrying about what happened yesterday, or what will happen tomorrow. Mindfulness exercises Here are three mindfulness exercises you can try in your own time, at home or at work. 1-minute meditation - This quick and simple breathing exercise is useful anywhere, anytime you need to pause and refocus. 3-minute breathing - This quick mindful breathing exercise can help you pause, regain control and refocus on the here and now. 10-minute body scan - How are you feeling? Reconnect with your body and your senses with this 10-minute full body scan Being present throughout your day Like any other skill, mindfulness takes practice. But the more you do it, the easier you will find it to apply the principle of being present to moments throughout your day. When you're eating... Whether it's in front of the telly at home or sat behind a desk at work, many of us eat throughout the day simply to satisfy hunger pangs before moving on to the next thing we need to do. But eating can be an opportunity to experience real sensations of joy and pleasure. The next time you sit down to eat try this mindful eating exercise. What difference do you notice? When you're walking... In the daily rush, walking is usually just a means of getting from A to B and on to C. But it could be an opportunity to exercise our curiosity and heighten our senses. By becoming aware of the world around us, we're more likely to find things that make us happy, fill us with wonder or spark our imagination. Try this mindful walking exercise as part of your commute or the next time you walk to the shops. When you're listening... Even when we're mid-conversation with someone it's easy for our minds to wander off. How many times have you found yourself thinking, 'What were they just saying?' To really listen to and understand someone requires your full and undivided attention. And that means being aware of how your own thoughts and feelings might distract your attention from a conversation. Learn how to apply mindful listening techniques for more meaningful conversations and stronger relationships. Article reproduced with the kind permission of CABA, the organisation providing lifelong support to ICAEW members, ACA students and their close family around the world.

Lots of us are good at showing compassion and kindness to other people. What many of us aren't great at is showing ourselves the same understanding. Our inner critic and negative self-talk can be hard to ignore. But dwelling on mistakes and focusing on faults makes it hard to maintain personal resilience and good mental wellbeing. We could all use a little more self-compassion. The concept of self-compassion has three important elements: Mindfulness - being aware of your thoughts and feelings without judging them or dwelling on them Common humanity - a recognition that no one is perfect and that we all make mistakes Self-kindness - caring for yourself the way you would a friend or loved one in a similar situation Why is self-compassion good for your mental wellbeing? Research shows that people who exercise higher levels of self-compassion tend to be more resilient than those who don't. They have less of a physical response to stressful situations and spend less time dwelling on them after the fact. This is partly because self-compassion involves actively recognising your strengths and achievements, which boosts self-confidence and our belief in our ability to cope with difficult situations. But self-compassion also has an impact on our biology. Stress is your body's natural response to a perceived threat, sometimes called the 'fight or flight' response. A recent study by the Universities of Exeter and Oxford has found that exercising self-compassion helps to calm the heart rate and shut down this threat response. Participants in the study demonstrated a state of relaxation and security. They also reported feeling a stronger connection with other people. If you exercise self-compassion, you're also more likely to adopt healthy self-care behaviours such as getting plenty of exercise, eating well and establishing healthy sleep patterns. Put simply, you're more likely to make choices that boost your physical health, which is crucial for your mental wellbeing.  Self-compassion also encourages personal and professional development, which in turn improves our confidence and self-esteem. That's because it allows us to consider our strengths and skill set objectively without fear of criticism and judgement. We're then able to identify areas for improvement and make a change for the better. 5 ways to show yourself more compassion At its heart, self-compassion is about self-care or looking after yourself the way you would a friend. In fact, thinking about what you might say to a loved one in a similar situation is a good starting point. What advice would you give them? Here are a few ways you can start showing yourself a little more kindness and understanding: Practice mindfulness - learn how to notice and observe your thoughts without judging them. Mindfulness encourages you to be curious and self-aware, understanding that your thoughts and assumptions are just that. They're not facts. Reward yourself - celebrate your successes and achievements. Keep a list of your personal skills and strengths to review in moments of self-doubt Take a break - time away from your day-to-day routine and a change of scenery can help you keep things in perspective Strengthen your connections - kindness is contagious! By showing love and understanding to the people who are important to you, you're more likely to show yourself the same compassion Do things you enjoy - spending time on our passions, hobbies and interests is good for the soul. Article reproduced with the kind permission of CABA, the organisation providing lifelong support to ICAEW members, ACA students and their close family around the world.

What is stress, and is it bad for you? The dictionary definition of stress is “a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances”. In a medical or biological context, stress is viewed as a physical, mental, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension. Stresses can be external (arising from environmental, psychological or social situations) or internal (stemming from an illness or a medical procedure). Stress can initiate the ‘fight or flight’ response, a complex reaction of neurologic and endocrinologic systems. And so we start to see the see-saw relationship we have with stress. It is needed to charge our body and mind, so we can best prepare to deal with challenging situations. It also releases adrenaline to make us the strongest and most productive we can be – this is our friend. However, it is when this delicate balance is tipped that it becomes our foe. The two sides of stress For me, good stress is the feeling before an Ironman – I am nervous, tense, anxious (and indeed, often questioning why I am here!) However, I know that this feeling means my body is preparing for pressure and that the adrenaline being released will fuel my muscles. It is the feeling before a presentation in work or a tough meeting – to some extent, it is a comfort as I know that this will ensure my reactions are charged and I will deal with unanticipated questions. However, stress becomes a problem when it significantly affects our emotional well-being and our ability to function at home, work or in our relationships. For a professional accountant, this pressure can sometimes arise from our work environment and as a member of the community of accountants, we should all be aware of the warning signs in others. Critically, the pressure often begins at the start of our career when we are juggling study, lectures, learning the tools of our trade with clients and dealing with our peers. However, throughout our careers, the lifecycle of an accountant exposes us to different pressures at different times.  It is okay not to be okay While we have come a long way in our ability to talk about our mental health, our profession appears slow to fully embrace the acknowledgement that it is okay not to be okay. From my interaction with students in the profession and my peers, who are often employers, we are still not 100% comfortable, or indeed perhaps don’t fully understand the impact stress can have on a person. Also, not all places of work have a safe environment in which individuals can talk openly. Yes, I am generalising here, but would you honestly feel 100% comfortable telling your employer that you were off on sick leave with mental health issues? If the answer is no, then as an employee or an employer we have an issue. And let us be honest, statistics demonstrate that we should see these sick certs as, on average, stress, anxiety and depression account for nearly half of all sick days taken in Ireland and the UK. Stark statistics Is stress, and the related side-effects when it becomes too much for us, more prevalent in accountants? Research by the Chartered Accountants Benevolent Association in the UK shows that more than eight out of 10 accountants suffer from stress-related problems. Over a quarter of accountants said they drink more than the recommended level and the study revealed that the suicide rate for female accountants is three times higher than the average for other occupations. Stark statistics. So, what can we do as a profession?  Well, we can ensure that our workplaces are open and transparent and that, most importantly, all staff can talk, voice their concerns and articulate when they are feeling stressed. We don’t need to go full throttle and bring in the massage chairs and yoga mats (even though this has been proven to help). However, we do need to ensure that as a community of accountants, we are there to assist each other and spot the warning signs. It is okay not to feel okay – and the more we say it and really believe it, the more we will help break the stigma of mental health and ensure that the profession is a compassionate one that supports its members and enables and empowers people to speak up. If any of the above strikes a chord with you, please note that CA SUPPORT is available to all members to help with matters of mental health. Sinead Donovan FCA is a Partner in Financial Accounting and Advisory Services at Grant Thornton.

Assessing a disaster, whether in your personal or professional life, can be difficult if not put into perspective. Leanne Hoffman explains how we rewire our thinking to build resilience. We are living in volatile times. Some would even call it a crisis point with divisions over Brexit, distrust in our political systems, a shift towards to nationalism, a rise in terrorism, seismic changes in technology and climate change. Events like these can take a toll on a person’s wellbeing, but it is important to have perspective: we are also living in relatively safe times with less poverty, less crime, better healthcare, fewer childbirth-related deaths, and lower infant mortality than any time in recorded history. So, how do we assess a genuine crisis and separate it from terrible, but not existential, events? Rewiring our mindset Our emotional state is affected when our resilience is tested, creating a negative feedback loop. However, we have more influence than we might imagine over how we make sense of our world. We have the agency to take back control and stop any feelings of powerlessness, whether it’s because of Brexit or a disaster in the office. This is not simply about having a positive mindset. Tell a person to ‘look on the bright side’ when they are staring down a career crisis and you can rightly expect an aggressive response. However, if you separate the emotive feelings from realistic observations of what is actually happening, a person can learn to focus on behaviours that will help them cope or even make things better. Struggle is an integral part of life and we are wired to respond more to the bad than to the good; our successful ancestors did not spend their days admiring the flora or fauna, or even their offspring. They were anticipating and watching out for the kind of threats that could potentially kill them. It makes no sense for modern-day stresses to evoke the same chemical reaction that flooded our ancestors when a tiger leapt into view, but it still happens. This physical response is not negative thinking, it is an error in thinking and we need to rewire. We cannot control every situation we face, but with work, we can influence our responses and the emotional state these ‘threats’ evoke. For instance, vocabulary matters – we need to stop saying that things are ‘a nightmare’ or ‘devastating’ or ‘awful’ unless they genuinely are. Understand your world So, what can we do when things feel hard, when the news is unrelentingly gloomy or when you think your career is in peril? Understanding your emotional world can help discern what is truly awful (losing a loved one), and what is just incredibly unfortunate but fixable (a boss that makes life hard). Doing this internal work before we are faced with adversity puts us in better shape when life takes a difficult turn; if the mental tank is empty, the experience will be even worse. Being able to separate our current feelings from past feelings can pull us out of the well of despair and stop us from getting frozen in melancholia. Recently, Jacinda Arden, Prime Minister of New Zealand, focused on bringing the community together and supporting the mourners after a terrorist attack on two Mosques in Christchurch. She skillfully avoided knee jerk reactions to blame, scapegoat and build a wall that would be based solely on fear, confusion and devastation. Her humility, compassion and humanity is a lesson to us all on how to be resilient in truly volatile times. Leanne is a coach, trainer and psychotherapist. She is also a founding partner of the company Healthy Minds @ Work. Leanne also wrote a CPD course, Building Resilience for Professionals, available to take online.

EY’s Lynn Abbott discusses her FAE journey in which she overcame bereavement and academic failure to qualify as a Chartered Accountant. What has been your biggest challenge to date? I repeated my Leaving Certificate twice and took two attempts at CAP 2 but the biggest challenge I’ve ever faced is repeating my FAEs. The first time I sat them, I had a tough year both personally and professionally. In October 2011, we lost my uncle to suicide and very soon after, I spent four months in the UK for work which meant I didn’t get to spend the time I needed with my family to heal. Subconsciously, I gave up on the exams about half-way through that year and spent the summer trying to make up the impossible amount of ground I had lost. Repeating both Core and Elective in the following year took a lot of mental strength. I had to put behind me the feelings of low self-worth people have after failing at anything. I was harder on myself too as a result of my previous track record. You also have to push past the negativity of others (“If she had failed one, fine, but she’ll never get both”). Facing into that summer with the memory of what the previous study leave had felt like was terrifying. I had to get into the zone in a way I had never done before. Did you ever feel like you weren’t going to achieve your goals? You don’t fail as many times as I have and just assume your goals are still achievable. I’ve had so many hurdles to jump over the years and it’s easy to blame others when you fall down. Initially, I blamed the world for my shortcomings and got angry with those things in life I had no control over. I was embarrassed that things weren’t going to plan and didn’t want to look at what had gone wrong in any great detail. When I took ownership for my failings and realised where I was going wrong, I finally had something to work on and that put me on the right road. What advice would you give to students facing their own battles? It’s important to keep pushing on. Recognise that everyone fails at some point in their life and those setbacks make your victories even sweeter. The best leaders come through adversity. Ask for help and don’t be ashamed of what you’re going through – someone has been there before. What, in your view, is the most important skill to develop? I think there are two important skills that young Chartered Accountants could benefit from. One is perspective; a lot of us work in high pressure environments with tight deadlines and it’s easy to lose sight of what’s important. There’s nothing more important in life than your physical and mental health and well-being, so keep perspective and make sure you take care of yourself and those most important to you. Second, sheer grit and determination. To get where you want to go in life, you have to be willing to put in the hard yards. Keep the head down and you’ll get there. And finally, what’s the best advice you’ve ever received? Surround yourself with good people and good things will happen. Surround yourself with people who understand that you have a busy professional life, who will support you in your darkest hour and who will drop everything to help you with even the most mundane chore. They will keep you going when the road gets tough.

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.