How To Look After Your Wellbeing When Working in a Fast-Paced Industry

Written by Jessica Pardoe, Senior Account Manager at Leopard Co

Many Future Faces members will understand the realities of working in a high-pressure, fast paced industry. One that’s exciting and inspiring, but that can also be challenging and – sometimes – exhausting.

Working in a marketing agency, I’m well versed in managing last-minute tasks and jam-packed days, but also in knowing how to separate work and personal life and retaining a healthy work life balance.

So, here's my advice for how to look after your mental health and wellbeing when you work in a fast-paced industry.

5 Tips for Protecting Your Mental Health When Things Get Hectic

1. Practice Gratitude and Thankfulness

One thing that I started doing during the pandemic and continue to do because it really helps me – is to take a moment to remember what I am thankful for.

After a busy day you can feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, and if you don’t acknowledge and confront these feelings head on. They can build.

Use time before or at the end of your working day to reflect on the things you’re grateful for, in or outside of work. This is also a poignant time for a reminder of how far you’ve come in your professional life so far and to celebrate your own successes.

2. Physically Separate Your Work and Personal Life

An extension to practicing mindfulness, is protecting your own personal time and space.

Working from home  in a fast-paced, demanding environment can be especially challenging when your workspace is also where you usually relax.  If you’re able to, I’d always recommend creating a space in your home that you can leave once the working day is finished. Whether this is a dedicated office, or simply a corner of a room that’s strictly for working. No laptops in bed or on the couch!

If you work in an office, a commute makes it a little easier to switch off an unwind – but think about what makes you feel most comfortable. If trains make you feel stressed, for example, then is there another mode of transport you can consider that won’t make an already difficult day worse?

As well as physically separating your work environment from your home environment, consider other ways the two may collide. For example, if you’re working in social media, finishing work then doomscrolling on TikTok – you’re absorbing more of the same and not allowing your brain to take a moment. Or if you work in accounting and go straight from work to helping family members with their finances, the lines can become really blurred.

I’d always recommend protecting your personal life and setting boundaries that work for you.

It doesn’t mean you have to stick to a strict, unchanging 9am – 5pm schedule and then you’re uncontactable, but it does mean that you work out when you need to put your own mental wellbeing first. And stick to it.

3. Figure Out What Your Non-Negotiables are

Leading on from that, figuring out what your non-negotiables – the things that bring you joy and ensure that you’re functioning happily and well – are, is a great way to begin guarding your piece.

The things you aren’t willing to compromise for work can be so varied, but could include things like…

• Keeping your home tidy
• Getting enough sleep
• Having good relationships outside of work
• Maintaining hobbies
• Travelling
• Upkeeping a regular gym routine

…And so much more.

Being a young professional means accepting you can’t have it all and understanding you may have less time than you did in education but also remembering there are many hours in a week that are still your own too.

If you can build a routine that complements your work life and doesn’t compromise on the things that are most important to you, then this will create a healthy balance for you that supports you when things get challenging. 

4. Manage How You Consume News

Working in a fast-paced industry often means consuming a lot. Whether that’s current affairs or industry news, you’ll probably have a head full of knowledge and a hunger to always know what’s going on.

This is great, but something that also needs to be controlled.

For me, working in PR means I always need to be on top of what the latest trends are, what the news of the day is, and any industry changes too. But I can’t be taking this in 24 / 7. As such, I manage my news consumption by making sure it’s the first thing I do when I come into work, what I do as I’m on my way home – and that I have breaking news updates on my phone, so I don’t miss anything important. Even on super-fast-paced days, this works for me. So, finding your rhythm will be beneficial.

The news oftentimes doesn’t make for the happiest reading too. So, make sure you’re breaking up your consumption of it with positive things too. The Times’ daily newsletter ends with a ‘good news to start the day’ segment, and there are sites such as The Good News Network that share things to be happy about.

5. Lean On the People Around You

Whether it’s from being part of a network like Future Faces, or simply getting support from your colleagues – leaning on the people around you when things feel fast paced and difficult is essential.

Even just talking things out can help relinquish some of the burden on your brain during stressful periods, but often, your network will be able to support you further than this. At work, it could be colleagues supporting with your workload, or through the likes of Future Faces, it could be assigning you a mentor to help you balance your days out and manage your stress.

I don’t think anyone can ever say they were glad they bottled something up. Talking is good for you, and as they say… A problem shared is a problem halved.