Sisu
Hygge Companies hire certain types of people: the selection process is designed to spot talented people who are passionate about what they do and ready to hustle to achieve their goals, both personal and professional.
In remote settings, Hygge employees have to learn to manage their resources and energy in a new way. This is why Hygge Companies adopt the concept of good daily sisu to keep their people going.
What is Sisu?
Sisu is a Finnish concept of a courageous mindset that embraces challenges and builds fortitude and resilience. It means perseverance in the face of adversities that are more demanding than usual. It’s the quality that lets you pick yourself up, move on, and learn something from previous failures.
On this page, you can find some of the ideas that will keep you sane in a demanding remote environment, no matter what your life or work throws at you.
Daily sisu
While remote work affords greater flexibility, it also makes it challenging to disconnect sometimes. It can be hard to set boundaries if your office is in your bedroom or at the kitchen table. When you’re involved in projects that you’re really passionate about, you might forget to do common sense things, such as eating and resting properly.
It’s hard to build your strength if you’re running on empty and exhausted. That is why it’s crucial to learn to manage your energy so that you can do the things that sustain and nourish you.
Study your work style and accept it. If you’re productive in the morning, plan to tackle the most challenging problems at this time of day. Understand your limitations and be realistic. You can’t complete everything at once. Expect imperfection: start with an MVP and chart your way to a better result iteratively.
Make a conscious attempt to devote time to yourself. This could be a daily walk in nature, cooking a healthy meal for yourself, or getting a massage. Try to avoid abandoning your interests (sports, music, reading, etc.) to close off another issue or reach another milestone. You’ll be more efficient if you take time off work. Learn to say “No” when necessary and rely on priorities when choosing what to do next.
Take vacations. Hygge Companies don’t track vacation days and don’t have any special paid time-off policies. This allows employees to schedule their work hours and time off the way they want. If you feel you need a break, make sure that there are no approaching deadlines, coordinate with the rest of the team, and set “out of office” status in your calendar. Your compensation remains the same even when you are off work for a while, as you don’t get paid for your presence but for the tasks you accomplish. Taking vacations is not selfish. Regularly recharging batteries is vital for work efficiency and closing issues.
To consider each area of your life and assess what’s off balance, try the Wheel of Balance worksheet.
Remote sisu
It’s easy to feel lonely when you work remotely. Working autonomously, you don’t necessarily get in touch with other people. At the same time, social interactions and contact with other people are essential to your well-being and health.
Hygge Companies have a number of bonding practices. Additional tips for remote workers to maintain the remote sisu are:
- Schedule breaks in your day to interact with friends or family in your home or nearby in your community.
- Experiment with working in a shared setting (e.g., a local coworking venue), or try alternative places to work like coffee shops or parks.
- Keep your communication transparent. Good sisu management means that when something is troubling you, instead of keeping it to yourself, you make the effort to talk to a friend or a teammate. You can do it through peer coaching.
Loneliness isn’t the physical absence of other people. It’s the feeling that you’re not sharing anything that matters with another human being. And this can easily be tackled—even in remote settings.
Mental sisu
You can build resilience by being aware of your weak spots and trying to minimize them. Dealing with your own issues, whatever they may be, is about caring for other people and for the world. It’s a sisu-building action, as resilience comes from taking care of your own emotional baggage so that you don’t unintentionally spill it onto others.
Psychological counseling is one of the tools that can help you build your mental sisu. Some people may dismiss therapy or find it scary or foreign. But if you have a twisted ankle, or an unusual ache or pain, you go to the doctor. So, if your mind or soul is troubled, why not seek professional help?
For the most part, counseling involves talking about an emotional difficulty with a trained psychotherapist. These therapists build conversations to help you with your challenges. You can work through any situation that lasts for a while and causes psychological discomfort to you. For example, Mary often feels offended by her colleague’s comments, while John is procrastinating his job by scrolling through Instagram for hours. Elizabeth feels incapable of completing issues after receiving negative feedback. All these things are among the many reasons to consult a professional.
Rule of thumb: All in all, you should feel better after the session. Of all the factors in choosing a psychotherapist, finding one that you click with is perhaps the most crucial. Hundreds of studies show that the relationship between psychologist and their client is crucial for counselling success. Don’t worry if you don’t get it right the first time around. Sometimes it’s necessary to try a few out to find your perfect match 😉
There are many misconceptions of psychotherapy. To get reliable information about who needs counseling, how to choose your psychotherapist and what to expect in this process, consult this comprehensive article the American Psychological Association.
A healthy sisu mindset is a can-do, will-try, courageous, and not-afraid-of-failling approach to life. When balancing your daily, remote, and mental sisu, you can live your dream life! Sisu it up.