If you’re depressed, your number-1 job is to look after yourself. Productivity is secondary to your mental health, says Alice Boyes. However, learning how to be productive when you’re feeling down can help with depression recovery.
Source: Harvard Business Review, October 20, 2021. Link. Summary.
When people are depressed their energy, activity, and mood levels decrease in a spiral. The lower energy you feel, the less you do, the worse you feel emotionally, and the cycle continues. Being productive can help interrupt that negative spiral and turn it around. Here are five strategies for how to break the cycle and move forward:
- As a general rule, try to have one source of accomplishment and one source of pleasure in each of your mornings, afternoons, and evenings.
- Find the sweet spot between not working enough and expecting too much of yourself.
- Alternate between easy, medium, and hard tasks.
- Cultivate a deep-work habit to reduce your need for self-control.
- Consider getting treatment for your mental health.
INSIGHTS: The advancing risks of Covid variants are challenging decisions for animal health pros and society. Please, don’t forget to apply what you’ve learned over the past 24 months.
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