00:00Off late, there has been a lot of focus on mental wellness and the catastrophic consequences
00:07when it is absent.
00:09What is mental wellness?
00:12Your brain compares incoming information from the sense organs, eyes, ears, nose, tongue,
00:19skin, every moment with an internal resilience set point to determine the degree of arousal.
00:25There can be three states under arousal, moderate arousal and over arousal affecting your reactions
00:33and performance.
00:35For the majority of the population, the graph looks like an inverted U. Under arousal generally
00:43leads to boredom like watching a really slow, dull movie and moderate arousal leads to a state
00:50of calmness also called comfort zone.
00:52Imagine playing a game you love and have mastered.
00:57If the arousal further increases, the positive challenge leads to learning and the highest
01:02productivity.
01:03Think learning a new language.
01:06Any further increase in arousal leads to exhaustion and anxiety and the first signs of loss of
01:12mental wellness show up.
01:13Anxiety, panic, anger, sleeplessness and depression.
01:17Further arousal will lead to serious breakdown and eventual burnout manifesting in diseases
01:23like infections and heart attacks.
01:27For some people, the resilience set point is low and the curve is naturally tilted to the
01:32left.
01:33These are people who get aroused very quickly.
01:36Unfortunately, these people almost rarely are calm.
01:39Even arousals that are moderate for most people take these people off resulting in fatigue,
01:45anxiety and breakdown.
01:48The exact opposite are those whose set point is high and the curve shifts to the right.
01:55These people are the super relaxed people.
01:58They stay calm even under enormous pressure.
02:02They rarely get panicky, angry and of course rarely suffer a breakdown.
02:07The vast majority of population is somewhere between the super anxious and the super calm
02:13extremes.
02:14Let's see how this plays out in life.
02:17A moderately demanding task that would be exciting for most people would lead to pandemonium for
02:25the panicky people but generate relaxation in calm personalities.
02:29On the other hand, a stretch assignment could easily lead to burnout in panicky personalities
02:34but could lead to optimal performance in calm personalities.
02:38Now here's something surprising, your own internal resilience set point changes as life hits you.
02:47Let's assume you accept a stretch assignment in anticipation of a promotion.
02:51If the pressure stays high for a long time, your set point and your curve shifts to the left
02:59even if there's no extra pressure leading to potential burnout and depression.
03:06As we can see, the same work, the same organization and the same manager that causes calmness in
03:13one person could lead to peak performance in another and burnout in a third.
03:18Forget other people, consider yourself.
03:21What would have been exciting to you at one point could cause boredom at some other point
03:25and burnout at a third.
03:28Mental wellness is a deeply personal moment in time experience.
03:33So how do you stay mentally well?
03:35Understand yourself.
03:37Figure out what causes panic in you and what brings out the best in you.
03:43Choose work, culture, colleagues and environment that works well for you.
03:50Cultivate professional and personal support system in the form of friends and mentors.
03:55Develop an active social life and find time to engage in hobbies.
04:00Seek peace of mind and satisfaction instead of power, status or prestige.
04:05These help to increase the internal resilience set point.
04:09And lastly, listen to your body.
04:12Seek help with the first signs of persistent sleeplessness, increased anxiety or loss of interest.
04:18Don't wait to get to the red zone like disease or burnout or depression.
04:23Now let's get to the end of the second sign.
04:23And let's go to the next sign of the first signs of the first sign of the second sign.
04:25It's the first sign of the current sign, and you can see that all of this sign is that you
04:27can do.
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