Be your own manager – have an autumn performance appraisal

For some, autumn is all about preserves and harvesting or maybe a new class at the adult education centre, while for others, it’s all about the darker evenings – in both good and bad ways. What do you want from autumn, or what do you dread about it?

This might be a great time to have a performance appraisal with yourself to think about how you want to manage your wellbeing this autumn. Think back to the best things about previous autumns or let your mind complete the following sentence: “The best thing about autumn has always been…” Let your stream of consciousness flow onto a paper note or into your phone’s notes app. If it’s easier for your mind to complete this sentence: “This autumn, I definitely don’t want to…”, take advantage of it. In reverse, it will tell you what you truly need this autumn.

The result of your performance appraisal with yourself could be one or two concrete things that help you have a good autumn in your daily life. For example: "I will reserve one additional hour of sleep once the darker days make me tired". Or: "I will schedule walks during the daylight hours and take care of work calls in the meantime." A development measure could also be to add individual days off to your weekends, to take a mini overnight trip to see a friend or to send the rest of the family off on a mini holiday so that you get quality time by yourself at home.

The idea of having a performance appraisal regarding how you manage your wellbeing is to sum up what has already become a routine in your way of life and to think about what you still want to achieve. The polar night can be a rough time if you just try to continue doing everything you are used to doing during the brighter seasons. Even so, you have surely had many good moments in autumn in your lifetime. Autumn has its own atmosphere and opportunities. Grab the ones you need the most right now!

Susanna Paarlahti, Service Manager, Occupational Health Psychology