Message of the Week 18 - 22 January 2021

Face Everything and Rise

There’s no argument that 2020 was a challenging year filled with fear and uncertainty – not only in terms of concerns around our personal health and safety, but even globally with international economics and politics heralding few positive headlines.

With so much negativity and struggle around us, now is a good time to reset. It’s not to say that everything will be sunshine and roses going forward, but by paying attention to our mental health and developing some healthy coping strategies we can better manage future pressures.

It is essential that we learn to re-focus our response to fear and rather use it as fuel to step outside our comfort zones and feed our courage. By shifting our mindsets and recognising fearful situations as a challenge to adapt and thrive, we can take control and rise above stressful events.

It really comes down to Franklin Roosevelt’s assertation that “…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. In fact, the word FEAR can be boiled down to a popular acronym:

Face

Everything

And

Rise

The Conversation recently published an interesting article, which outlines how we can rise above COVID-19 stress and boost our moods. 

Tomorrow Today, meanwhileoffers some helpful pointers on how to create and maintain forward momentum, as we continue to redefine our ‘new normal’, by:

• Identifying and changing dysfunctional routines – Ask yourself why you are doing something and if it is serving the people and the business. If not, change things.
• Keeping emotions in check – Workplace transition can create emotional strain. Key to helping teams transition successfully is allowing for, validating and dealing with all emotions.
• Stop Ticking Boxes – While this might look good on paper, it will not cut it in the face of an organisational transition.
• Listen to everything. Listen to your customers, staff and the world around you – Listen to and find the lessons in everything.
• Remember past victories – Recalling past victories works profoundly in motivating teams, because it allows them to believe in the possibility of victory again.

This week’s Industry Highlights is filled with Kyocera news and whilst the future is uncertain, and the end of the pandemic still feels a long way off, looking through the recent news reiterates that there is a lot of value we can offer and many possibilities await us, if we just remember to Face Everything And Rise.

Werner Engelbrecht - General Manager - KYOCERA Document Solutions South Africa