Care more about your mental and physical health than your job, as your well-being is the foundation for sustainable success and a balanced ‘portfolio of meaning.’ Actively invest in activities that bring you joy outside of work, such as spending time alone, with family, or engaging in creative pursuits.
Actively experiment and identify what truly re-energizes you, whether it’s a long vacation, shorter breaks, rescheduling meetings for focused work, or daily meditation, as effective rest is highly individual. Create your own list of practices that genuinely recharge you, rather than relying on generic advice.
Recognize that emotions are an unavoidable part of decision-making and interactions, and failing to acknowledge them can lead to worse outcomes. Before making a decision or engaging in an interaction, pause to identify your current emotional state and consider how it might be influencing your perspective.
Understand that feelings provide valuable information, such as envy signaling what you truly value or anger indicating a violation of something you care about. Instead of suppressing or judging ‘difficult’ emotions, explore their underlying message to inform your actions and growth.
Differentiate between emotions relevant to the immediate situation and those that are irrelevant (e.g., stress from lack of sleep affecting a job application decision). For irrelevant emotions, consciously regulate them or delay important decisions until you are in a more balanced state.
When experiencing a strong emotional reaction, pause before acting and approach the situation with curiosity, questioning the assumptions underlying your feelings. Give yourself time to process and avoid projecting the worst possible interpretation when information is missing.
Develop systems for navigating conflict by addressing ’task conflict’ (clash of ideas) before it escalates into ‘relationship conflict’ (personality-driven arguments). Proactively name potential issues and communicate your intention to resolve them in the interest of mutual success to build trust and strengthen relationships.
As a manager, dedicate explicit time for discussing difficult topics and invite opposing viewpoints, leading with your own vulnerability to create space for others to share. As a team member, you can also lead from below or the side by sharing vulnerability and suggesting open discussions.
Foster psychological safety through small, positive gestures like correctly pronouncing and spelling names, asking questions when unfamiliar with something, and explicitly thanking people for their feedback. Provide context to new participants to ensure they feel included and can contribute effectively.
As a leader, be highly aware that your emotional expression cascades throughout the organization, influencing others. Practice ‘selective vulnerability’ by sharing authentic emotions (e.g., sadness or anxiety during layoffs) but always couple it with a clear path forward, avoiding oversharing personal anxieties.
As a leader or manager, identify whether you tend to be an ‘over-emoter’ or ‘under-emoter’ to consciously adjust your expression for stability and clarity. If an ‘under-emoter,’ verbalize your thoughts and feelings more explicitly; if an ‘over-emoter,’ check yourself to avoid creating instability.
Work with your team or group to co-create an ‘it’s okay to’ list, making explicit the desired emotional culture and acceptable behaviors (e.g., ‘it’s okay to have a bad day,’ ‘it’s okay to take a break’). This codified list helps clarify norms and holds everyone accountable.
To reduce bias and ensure fair decision-making, do not rely solely on gut feelings when hiring. Instead, clearly outline required skills, design objective tests, use blind evaluations, and conduct structured interviews with immediate scoring.
If you cry at work, excuse yourself to a private space to regain composure, then reflect on the underlying reason (e.g., overwhelm, frustration) to communicate the need. If you are a manager, follow up with empathy and curiosity, asking what happened and how you can support, avoiding assumptions about sadness.
Recognize that emotional expression varies significantly across cultures (e.g., more expressive in Greece/Italy, less in Korea/Japan). When working with cross-cultural teams, educate yourself on these generalities and consider proactively stating your own cultural communication style to prevent misunderstandings.
Pay attention to subtle ‘feather taps’ of burnout, such as finding normally pleasant people irritating, cutting out self-care activities, longing for sick days, or engaging in ‘revenge bedtime procrastination.’ Do not ignore these signals, as powering through actively harms your long-term well-being and career.
Build more autonomy into your job by rescheduling your work to consolidate meetings on certain days, allowing for dedicated ‘heads down’ time on others. This increases motivation by giving you more control over your schedule.
To increase team motivation, managers should focus on defining desired outcomes rather than dictating processes. This empowers team members to create their own methods, fostering a sense of control and engagement.
Actively seek and reconnect with the meaning in your work, whether it’s the deeper purpose, finding interesting and fun aspects, or even just the practical meaning of paying bills and showing up for a coworker. This helps combat disengagement and burnout.
When faced with a task, shift your mindset from ‘how can I get this done quickly?’ to ‘what would make me really proud to send this?’ This reframes the work as a creative opportunity, increasing enjoyment and motivation even within time constraints.
To make dreaded or avoided tasks more enjoyable, get together with colleagues or friends (in person or virtually) to complete them collectively. Chat, play music, or share stories while doing tasks like expense reports or taxes to foster bonding and make the work less isolating.
If you’re experiencing a strong emotion (e.g., frustration from traffic), communicate it briefly to colleagues or direct reports to prevent misinterpretation. State that your mood is unrelated to them (e.g., ‘It’s been a morning; I need five minutes to be present’) to avoid creating unintentional anxiety.
Ignore the advice to ’never go to bed angry’ and instead, go to bed angry if you are tired, as sometimes anger is exacerbated by exhaustion. Prioritize getting a good night’s sleep, as things often seem clearer and better after rest.
If you identify as an ‘under-emoter’ (people find it hard to know what you’re thinking), make a conscious effort to verbalize your thoughts and emotions more explicitly, especially as a manager. This helps your team understand your state and prevents misinterpretations.
When communicating with individuals from different cultural backgrounds, adapt your communication style to their norms, especially in written correspondence. For example, in the U.S., include social pleasantries and a warmer tone in emails, even if your native culture is more direct.