Wellbeing Resources: Task Prioritization, Working Parents and More

When it comes to wellbeing, employers often find themselves challenged by how to approach a shift from a traditional wellness model to a comprehensive and holistic program that supports the whole person.

Career Wellbeing

• 10 Things We Don’t Do That Help Us Get Our Important Tasks Done – When we talk about productivity, we typically lean into tips and tricks that help us cross everything off our to-do lists. But oftentimes, the little things we don’t do are what help us ultimately accomplish the most important tasks. Which of these can you give up?


• Are You Suffering from Collaboration Overload? Are we too eager to jump into (or be nudged into) collaborative projects that might run just fine without us? The benefits of collaboration are bountiful but excessive collaboration can create superfluous meetings, emails, slack messages, etc. Here are the 9 most common beliefs, motivators, and triggers that put people into collaboration overload and some tips on what you can do about it. 

Social & Family Wellbeing

• Reminder: Whenever You Say “Yes” to Something, You’re Saying “No” to Something Else – We identify with being busy, and we think being busy will take us towards our best work but that’s because we’re blinded to the long-term costs. Saying “yes” might mean saying “no” to exercise, dinner with our family or even just downtime to do some reading. Here are some thoughts on how to say “yes” to our most important work and also say “yes” to the time needed for the things that are most important to us personally.


• How to Get Kids to Tell You About Their Day – If the response from your child to the question “how was your day” maxes out at “fine”, you are not alone. Here are some strategies to help kids open up

Financial Wellbeing

• Estate Planning 101 – Whether you’re just settling into your career, or you’ve been working hard and achieving your financial goals for years, estate planning can help formally protect your assets, allow you to have control over your health care decisions, and provide for loved ones. Join Principal for a webinar to learn what’s included in an estate plan and the steps you can take to create one, so your wishes are carried out the way you choose. Join the event on Wednesday, October 30th at 12 PM ET. 


• 8 Tips to Help You Control Holiday Spending – Think you can't get through the holidays without spending a fortune? It can be easy to go overboard on holiday shopping, but with a little bit of planning and budgeting, it is possible to celebrate without spending your last dime. Use these eight practical tips to ensure you stay on budget for the new year.

Physical Wellbeing

• The Podcast for All Things Sleep – Dr. Matt Walker is a Professor of Neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, a recognized expert in the world of sleep. This podcast is all about sleep, the brain, and your body. All episodes are kept to short, 10-minute segments for ease of listening.


• How to Master Hunger and Cravings – Many people feel like their food cravings control them and that a lack of willpower is driving their weight gain. The truth is that our modern diet, elevated stress, and inadequate sleep has impaired the body’s system to manage our hormones and control appetite. In this podcast, Dr. Elizabeth Boham discusses how our bodies may get off track and strategies to help the body regulate hunger naturally. 

Emotional Wellbeing

• The Busier You Are, the More You Need Quiet Time – Recent studies show that taking time for silence restores the nervous system, helps sustain energy and facilitates clear and creative thinking. Here are four practical ideas to help busy people cultivate periods of sustained quiet time. 


• Mental Health Resources Guide for Individuals – From apps to podcasts to YouTube channels to organizations, there are many tools out there to support our mental health. Please peruse this curated resource list to see which items might be helpful for you. 

Community Wellbeing

• Meet the Photographers Who Volunteer Their Time to Help Pets Get Adopted – Many pets who enter shelters, understandably, can be scared and nervous. When the pet has their photo taken to appear in online adoption searches, families see a picture of a scared animal and they can’t visualize that pet in their home. A Tampa couple, photographers, have spent much of their free time over the past 5 years photographing shelter animals to show off their unique personalities to help them get adopted. See this heartwarming 4-minute video story. 

Employer Focused Wellbeing

• “Parenting Loudly” is the Secret Anti-Stress Weapon for Working Parents – Over the last 18 months, the realities of daily life have made it difficult for most employees to hide their parenting struggles (e.g., toddlers walking in on a zoom meeting). What if, instead of hiding the messiness of life as a parent, we openly acknowledged there are times we need to step away to deal with family needs? Read on to learn about how to embrace “Parenting Loudly” at work to allow employees to feel more connected to their organizations and to alleviate some of the stress many workers are feeling. 


• It’s a New Era for Mental Health at Work – In 2019, employers were just starting to grasp the prevalence of mental health challenges at work, the need to address stigma, and the emerging link to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). One silver lining amid all the disruption and trauma over the last two years is the normalization of these challenges. In Mind Share Partners’ 2021 Mental Health at Work Report, the authors offer an excellent comparison of the state of mental health, stigma, and work culture in U.S. workplaces before and during the pandemic. They also present a summary of what they learned and their recommendations for what employers need to do to support their employees’ mental health.