Surviving lockdown was an issue raised in the last GrowCFO Situation Room networking group. I asked resilience specialist Russell Thackeray for some advice.

Our finance leader community is affected by lockdown in a number of ways. Some are working solo, home alone. Others are struggling to do a high-pressure role alongside home schooling and childcare. Yet others might be finding themselves in between jobs. It’s lockdown number 3, its starting to feel like Groundhog Day, and the weather isn't great anymore. So, how do we all keep sane?

Surviving lockdown is the wrong mindset

Many people are currently extremely worried about this lockdown and part of the problem is the way that we frame it.  We often think about surviving lockdown, rather than accepting it and then working out how best to deal with it.

People spend a lot of time reading negative headlines in the press, which can easily make you feel depressed.  However, the chances are that many positive things have also happened to you during the past year.  For example, new hobbies, personal achievements, business successes, family additions, discovering more things to do locally, meeting more of your community and spending valuable time with your household members.

It is important to build the right mindset and select which facts you would like to focus on when determining how you really feel.

Personal resilience helps surviving lockdown

Building personal resilience is essential towards surviving lockdown.  Everybody has their own unique combination of circumstances. Your circumstances can have a huge impact on how this lockdown is affecting you.  The chances are that you cannot do many of the things that you previously enjoyed doing. Spending time with family and friends; going to work; travelling; visiting bars or restaurants; and playing sport.  Plus, many people probably haven’t had much time off work recently.

Regardless of how you feel, you need to find a sense of perspective and determine what best options are available to you.  Otherwise, you can easily fall into the trap of blurring the lines between personal life and work. This will inevitably lead to you working harder at the expense of your wellbeing.

Statistics show that employed people are currently working incredibly hard and that most people are being incredibly productive.  However, this is unsustainable and carries a range of risks including developing stress and potential burnout.  You could also be missing an opportunity to maintain some form of personal life. Maybe there's an opportunity to develop new hobbies that you may benefit from

How long is your working day?

Many people now have a potential working day from the moment that you wake up until the moment that you fall asleep.  Other than attending various Zoom sessions, much of your work can be done at any time. You can balance it around your personal requirements, household and family commitments.

However, given the blurred lines between each of these activities, many people find themselves constantly juggling work, homeschooling, childcare, household requirements and personal activities all into one go.  This can result in doing 14 things badly, rather than delivering each of these effectively in turn.

Neurotherapy shows that the way we think, feel and act is reflected in our physiological functioning. Particularly in the brain and nervous system.  Problems like depression and anxiety form when your brain gets stuck in maladaptive states and patterns, due to the hormonal feeding of cortisol into our system. 

Surviving lockdown is all about managing cortisol

Just small amounts of anxiety will create a cortisol load rocking through their body, affecting your heart, lungs, digestive system, glucose immunology and brain function.  Too much of your physiology is being poisoned by cortisol, which loves glucose and drains energy.

You need to control your situation to prevent cortisol from being stimu...