Our individual well-being is a critical component within our lives. It is important that we check in on that well-being often and find ways to influence it. The definition of well-being is “the state of being comfortable, happy or healthy.” But becoming comfortable, happy and healthy doesn’t usually happen on its own. Like most things in our lives, our well-being requires work to achieve desired results.
There are many simple activities we can incorporate into our daily, weekly and monthly schedules that can dial us in to our well-being. I find it beneficial to chunk out the days of the week by categories, each day focusing in on a topic that will contribute to a positive state of being and then practice activities around that topic. Most of these activities require no necessary materials and are not overly time-consuming. Let’s look at how we can break down well-being activities by day.
Monday: Practice Gratitude
Gratitude is a great way for us to take moments of introspection. When we practice gratitude, we can stop and evaluate the things around us. What are we blessed to have? Who in our lives has been impactful lately? Or who might we be taking for granted? Gratitude can remind us of the good we have in our lives, which can be important when we are going through a difficult time. Here are five simple ways to practice gratitude.
- Think of five things you are grateful for today.
- Write a letter at the beginning of the week to someone you have been meaning to thank.
- Send out virtual high fives to multiple peoples to recognize their activities, behaviors or presence that you appreciated.
- Write in a gratitude journal.
- Collect notes to yourself and save them in a jar.
Tuesday: Establish Purpose
Our purpose gives us our reasons to get up in the morning. It is essentially who we are, what we are and the why we are. When we practice activities to build and support our purpose, it can directly correlate to more enjoyability within our days and our overall life. Here are some ways to add purposeful exercises into your routine.
- Taking an attentive and purposeful walk. Use your time to ground yourself.
- Taking a well-being inventory. How are you doing in your well-being domains? Then align on one action to take that will adjust your approach and more closely align you to your optimal state.
- Giving back to something you care about in your communities, a philanthropic organization, in your professional life or somewhere else.
Wednesday: Spread Kindness
One thing the world has shown us over the past few years is that people are craving more kindness. Makes sense right? Kindness is a powerful thing. We can boost our well-being by exercising kindness — to ourselves and to others. Try incorporating the kindness exercises below into your daily routine.
- Be patient to the people you work with and meet. Send them silent good wishes. We can assume that most of these people are struggling with something unseen to us.
- Give out meaningful compliments to those you meet today.
- Spread positivity on social media.
- Engage in a random act of kindness. Examples would be leaving a positive note for a stranger, paying for another person’s coffee, etc.
Thursday: Be Present
When we think of our well-being, often it is an afterthought. So many of us are maxed out with busy schedules that the idea to take time for ourselves simply falls to the wayside. But neglecting our well-being can only make us feel more burned out and more defeated. A great way to shift this mindset and prioritize our own needs is through the act of being present. Tuning into our presence can boost our comfortability and contentment with ourselves. Here are some ways we can be present:
- Spend at least 10 minutes in nature and really focus on its beauty. This can be alone or with a companion.
- Spend time with a loved one, friend or colleague. Greet them as if you haven’t seen them in a long time.
- Use a technique like box-breathing or short meditation to re-center yourself before your next meeting or task.
- Give someone in your life two minutes of your undivided, non-judgmental attention.
Friday: Always Celebrate
Most people are overjoyed when the calendar reads Friday. We generally associate Friday with more positivity than the other days of the week. So it’s fitting that on Friday, our well-being activities center on celebrating. Celebrating is a fabulous mood booster. When we celebrate, we release endorphins which in turn make us feel happy. The more happiness we experience, the more we crave, which is why these activities are great to layer into your routine.
- Highlight what is special about the day by informing others about designations or historical significance.
- Engage in a “treasure hunt” to find something beautiful, interesting, or a piece of art that you would like to share. Then connect that with other people and rejoice together.
- Take time to recognize accomplishments. Celebrate the big and small throughout the week, month and year.
Our well-being is within our control and there are many ways we can focus and improve our current state of being. If you are new to incorporating specific well-being activities into your routine, take it slow. The beauty of this process is you control the pace. As you become more comfortable, add in additional activities. Or try those activities that seem out of your comfort zone. I find it helpful to add these theme days to my calendar. Try a new activity within the theme each week.
The more we incorporate these well-being activities into our routines, the easier it will be to maintain them.
Lisa Beth Lentini Walker, who began contributing to CCI in 2022 as Well-Being Editor, is the CEO of Lumen Worldwide Endeavors, a firm specializing in compliance, governance and ethics consulting. She is a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC) and a certified meditation and mindfulness specialist. She also is an adjunct professor of law in the U.S. and EU. Lisa Beth has led award-winning legal and compliance departments within large public corporations and privately held enterprises. She does this by strategically aligning resources to create efficiencies and advising the board of directors to further strategic initiatives while mitigating risks in all aspects of the domestic and global operations. She has held corporate secretarial, legal, compliance, ethics, governance and risk positions as an attorney at a Fortune 50 corporation, as the compliance leader of a global travel company operating in 150 countries and as the corporate secretary, chief compliance officer and co-chair of the risk council at a NYSE-listed corporation. Lisa Beth also served with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C., in the Divisions of Corporation Finance and Enforcement. Lisa Beth is a member of the Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and District of Columbia bars. She delights in the art of possibility. In her free time, she is an advisory board member to a women’s fashion startup, Alice Riot, she serves on the board of Stages Theatre (a children’s theatre) in Hopkins, Minnesota, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics and the Healthcare Compliance Association (SCCE/HCCA). Lisa Beth co-authored the book, 
