Page 3 - October 2020- CommExpert Digest

The ability to anticipate • Plan when things are going Wellness
separates humans from well: Set out your daily plan Resources
animals. When we pay attention (everyday activities), wellness
to external stimuli, we ensure plan (general observations • Nurturing vs. Depleting
activities: getting your ratio
survival in a world that is subject to of risks and preventative right
change. Despite this measures), and crisis plan (when https://www.headspace.com/bl
og/2019/03/27/sleep-health-5-
magnificent preservation tool, we plans get off-track) nurturing-vs-depleting-
have limitations: Our brain can of positive anticipatory things in our • “Microdose” happy activities-getting-your-ratio-
right/
only occupy a few thoughts at a minds to make less room for the anticipation: Inject life • Anticipation and planning with
time. negative. Below are a few strategies with small, short-term sources of mental illness
https://www1.health.gov.au/int
What allows us to get that can help us all win the mental happy anticipation that are closer ernet/publications/publishing.n
excited for future happy events war against anticipation: in time (i.e., dinner with friends, sf/Content/mental-pubs-p-
mono-toc~mental-pubs-p-
also enables us to worry when we • Embrace Approach Thinking: reading time, walks outside, etc.) mono-bas~mental-pubs-p-
mono-bas-ant
think of future hardships. If we When a stressful event is • Balance Your Activities: Detail • How the type A brain thrives on
could be perpetually imagining the approaching, think of something a list of your daily activities and stress and how you can too
https://www.headspace.com/b
next happy thing, it would be pure pleasant coming up, identify log/2018/01/15/type-a-brain-
stress/
bliss. However, this is not (i.e., vacation). View what nurtures or depletes your • It’s Time to Learn How
realistic (lawyers live and breathe yourself as moving energy. Make sure you have to Microdose Anticipation
worst-case-scenarios), nor is it towards the pleasant more nurturing than depleting or https://elemental.medium.com
/its-time-to-learn-how-to-
advisable. When you are event versus resisting the stressful at least the same number of microdose-anticipation-
10cb6250a663
constantly looking to the event/your fear. each. • Well-being and Anticipation for
future, you wind up losing out on • 3 C’s to Turn Negative Future Positive
what is happening in the Events: Evidences from an fMRI
Stress into Positive Study
moment, a.k.a. the pitfalls of Excitement: Be involved in what https://www.frontiersin.org/arti
mental anticipation. cles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02199/
full
is happening (Commitment);
We are in a battle to (i) strive to influence and not wallow
prevent anticipation from
in passive powerlessness
disrupting our ability to confidently (Control); and view stress as an
plan and (ii) maximize the number
opportunity to grow (Challenge).

As we selected tools to include on CEN, the Tools & Resources (T&R) team was guided by the 100,000 Feet Prioritization Tool and 10,000 Feet Tenets
developed by the 2019 CommEx team and updated in 2020. Our goal was to share tools that have assisted legal professionals around the world to foster a
self-serve way of supporting their Business partners and create efficient ways of tackling routine activities. We believe the tools listed below can help flatten
the learning curve for new LCO members and further knowledge-sharing initiatives to help upskill LCO members to handle their work more strategically.
As you consider whether you might develop a new tool or incorporate the use of a tool into your daily practice, consider whether the tool will create impact
by helping you:
1. Identify relevant business issues and understand why these issues matter;

2. Ask the right questions about the issue;
3. Recommend appropriate actions to address the issue; and
4. Execute on the recommended actions.
We hope you will visit CEN to browse available resources and identify those that will help you further integrate the CommEx principles into your daily
practice. Click here to access CEN.
And as part of measuring impact, we want your opinion and thoughts on CEN. T&R will be posting one question per week on Yammer to learn what you like,
find useful, or may want to see changed. Respondents to the weekly question will have their name added in a prize drawing at the end of the month, which
will feature multiple winners of great CEN SWAG. Thank you in advance for your participation in turning CEN into a world-class, accessible, knowledge
sharing platform for LCO.