Diane Whiddon for Mental Health Awareness Week

Speaker: Diane Whiddon, CEO, Clarity Website Design

Diane Whiddon: So I would answer this question in terms of business. The activities that have had a positive impact on my mental health is, one of the big ones is the way that I communicate with clients. Now, I no longer, do client calls anymore. And I very rarely very rarely do zoom calls only if I have to. And I communicate with my clients over WhatsApp and Voxer, which is really wonderful because it's like email in that I can only do it. I can do it when I want to. I can batch tasks and messages and, like, you know, wait to respond until I, like, have a moment. And then I can just respond to everyone at once, which really protects my focus. but it's also voice notes, which I really love. So I'm not, like, stuck at my keyboard writing. I can respond to to my clients with voice, which I really like, and I can give more detail that way, and it's faster and it just seems to save a tonne of time and save a tonne of my energy. So that's one of my big ones really protecting myself from zoom calls, not doing those very frequently and, and yeah, moving from phone calls to voice recording apps

Diane Whiddon: So this isn't specifically related to mental health, but these kinds of books definitely support my mental health. I just got finished reading. 10. X is easier than two X. It's a business book about how thinking big and kind of in an unconventional way, is often easier than just trying to work a little harder and optimise what you've already been doing. And I just really loved it. And II I just generally like books and podcasts and videos, anything that really celebrates a different way of doing things, because it encourages me to be more accepting of myself when I wanna be weird and think big, or think that something else is possible or just approach a problem in a unique way.

Diane Whiddon: You know, I'm going to draw this one back to business. I love all my online networking groups. They they really get it. You know, the groups that are full of other people who are trying to grow a business and trying to do their own thing. It's It's the sense of community and camaraderie I get from them is invaluable because a lot of people don't really get this life.

Diane Whiddon: I would say figure out what you need. Figure out what's unique to you. Figure out what's supportive to you. The most impactful thing that I did in my in my life was realise what was really draining me in my business, like I had an in person office that I was paying rent on, that I was dressing up, you know, putting on professional clothes, whatever that even means I'm like, you know, wearing makeup and like going in and seeing clients in person. I mean, hour after hour, day after day. I mean, I was exhausted. I can't do that. That's that's I can't even talk on the phone to people like that. It's horrible. It's a horrible way to run my life in business. And so just really understanding that like, Oh my gosh, now I want to run a virtual business. I basically am a hermit. I am a super super introvert. and I love my people. I love to talk to people I love to teach. I love my communities, but I really want to be able to control when I'm engaged with them. And when I'm not, I don't like my phone ringing all the time. I don't like because anything that breaks my concentration just destroys my ability to be creative, which is a necessary part of my job. So just understanding what I needed and then figuring out the processes and systems I need in place, needed in place to protect that was huge. So my advice is figure out what you need and honour it.