Page 29 - Retail Pharmacy Assistants - October 2020

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW 27 time you allow to sit down and enjoy your meals, and move your body, the more productive you’ll be in all other areas of your life. Rest and recovery are not only a must for athletes but also for those in busy, high-stress workplaces. What are your top tips for achieving optimal rest and recovery, and how can retail pharmacy assistants incorporate that into their daily routines? Recovery is where growth happens. It’s where we recharge after a busy day. It’s where all the repair work happens. Without adequate sleep and/ or time to chill, the body is burning up the adrenals. Exercising, eating well, and then allowing our bodies and minds to rest is crucial for productivity and general health. Being able to stay consistent in your workplace and exercise routines because your health is good is far more important than burning the candle and needing a sick day once a fortnight to ‘catch up’. Some tips to help with recovery, include: • Get up early. It’s a great way to firstly get some exercise in and feel tired at the end of the day. • Avoid screen time after 8pm or for at least an hour before bedtime. • Establish a good routine, especially a regular sleep time and wake time. • Reducing stimulants can help, too. If you’re anything like me, if I have caffeine after lunch, I’m up all night. Even some teas, and chocolate at night, can be enough to stimulate the mind and body enough to play with sleep. Let’s talk mental health and in particular men’s mental health and given this year has been particularly hard on everyone. What is your advice about maintaining positivity/a positive outlook/positive mental health during these unprecedented times? I try to take more of a growth-mindset slant to life than a strictly positive-at- all-costs approach. This means, we try to see obstacles that come our way as challenges that help us to grow and become stronger (mentally and physically). It’s important to feel all the feels, and even more important to talk about it and not be scared to ask for help where needed, or offer your ears, too. being able to shift your perspective into seeing the big picture. This can be hard when you’re in the middle of a forced lockdown with limited or no outdoor time, but being able to zoom out, get out of the weeds, so to speak, and see the forest for the trees, can help to keep your chin up and you focused on what’s on the horizon. Try to think along lines of ‘this is happening for me’ rather than ‘this is happening to me’. How can I use this opportunity to grow as a person? – this means only working with a very limited number of athletes. Time is my most valuable currency, especially while my children are young and still think I’m cool enough to spend time with. I think it’s also important to note that balance sways depending on what needs more attention. Some days/ weeks, the scales can be tipped further in any one direction than the other, but it all works out as the months and years roll on. As someone who is at the top of his game, what does it take to succeed in your chosen field/profession? I’m a long way off being at the top of my game. On the Dunning-Kruger \\\[cognitive bias\\\] scale, I’m probably on the downward slope towards having enough experience and skills to have a good solid grasp on what I’m doing. But there’s so much to learn still. Is anyone ever really at the top of their game? Myself and the rest of the coaching team at T:Zero Multisport have very much adopted the growth- mindset approach to coaching and life. While we’re all very capable coaches, we know there’s always room for more learning and improvement. The moment you think you’re at the top of your game in any profession, you either need a swift kick to remind you to keep learning, or you’ve likely had enough and need to move on. Images courtesy of Samantha Laine Smith “Try to think along lines of ‘this is happening for me’ rather than ‘this is happening to me’. How can I use this opportunity to grow as a person?” As someone who wears a lot of hats, how do you juggle everything and maintain balance? I implement and do the things mentioned above and keep life pretty simple. I exercise. I eat mostly wholefoods (I allow some treats and a cold beer here and there). I aim for eight hours sleep per night (although I go well on seven). I manage my own workload, so I have the time to do all the things that matter most to me in life One thing I speak about often is RETAIL PHARMACY ASSISTANTS • OCT 2020