1. When leaders speak openly about their struggles with anxiety, depression, or the constant comparing themselves to others. It creates space so that their employees can be open about how they are feeling. Especially quota-carrying roles where 50% of your salary can come from your performance, so when something like COVID-19 hits it drastically affects your livelihood and well being.
2. You are not alone. Depression is a weird thing where you feel like you are alone, and no one else could feel how you do. From my 50+ Interviews on my podcast, I realize that even the top performers suffer from imposter syndrome.
3. Offer an EAP(Employee Assitance Program) like LYRA– at Linkedin, we are fortunate to be given so many free therapy sessions that employees can take advantage of. Speaking with someone to process these emotions will help you during change, like converting over to work from home to lack of productivity or motivation where we are in survival mode. How can we think about quotas when you’re not even sure if you are going to survive the next few months from loneliness and isolation
4. Speak up and own your mistakes. I more I tried to hide my mistakes, the more it showed up at work and during my 1on1 conversations with my manager. When I finally acknowledged that I am not perfect and that is perfectly fine to make mistakes as long as you learn from them, that’s how you grow. I was given feedback that I was not aware of people’s boundaries and that I tend to overcharge. Something I’m still working on, but at the end of the day, we all mess up one way or another. It’s impossible to make 100% of people happy around you all of the time. It’s a losing battle if that’s your goal.
5. Take care of yourself before helping out others. The days I put myself first, being a natural giver, I always want to respond back to people as soon as they ask for help. I’ve learned to block off my calendar and put myself on DND so that I can take care of business first before tending to other people’s needs and goals.
6. Stand for something greater than yourself. Although it’s been a challenge month, these times will determine so much of the future. Technology is a wonderful thing when leveraged correctly, but if you find yourself in a constant state of despair, turn off social media for a day or two and check yourself to see if this is something that watching ten hours of news a day is serving you or not. Being able to discuss mental health awareness showed me how many millions of professionals are dealing with the same issues as in American society, our worth is highly dependent on our income and status in society.
7. Find your tribe- We might have to make more of an effort to stay in touch with people, but when I called people I haven’t spoken with in a while, something magical happens, and we all connect and pick up where we last left off. Harvard Business Group studies show that relationships are the keys to happiness.
8. It’s okay to take a day off. HR keeps telling us to take days off, and how many of us actually do it. With work boundaries and home responsibilities intermingle, we are working more hours than ever. Take that day off sometimes, you are doing collateral damage by trying to work more hours to make up for the lack of productivity.
9. Writing Linkedin Articles helps you process many of these emotions. Journaling and communicating how you feel makes you feel better at the end of the day. Who knows, even if you’ve inspired one person, mission complete.
10. Don’t forget to have fun during this. Most people would not associate joy with COVID-19 but with anything in life. Some would view this time as a time to connect with old friends, work on side projects, or spend quality time with family or meditate more. I would like to acknowledge that there are many suffering from what’s going on, but this isolation time is a great for self-discovery.

coaching Mental Health Awareness Month