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Welcome to The Change Room Game Plan for Wellbeing.

We know that a good night’s sleep is such an important step to being your best self and sometimes there are factors such as shift work, increased workload or social outings that can impact the length or quality of our sleep.

As an intro to this program, Matt talks with Nam Baldwin about the role breathing and routines can play on our quality of sleep. Nam gets on average 6 hours of deep sleep each day… for any of you who have wearable devices, that’s about 6 – 7 times the amount of deep restorative sleep that most of us get… Just think about how you would feel and what you could achieve if you had the best nights sleep every night…

Watch the video below and let’s get going!

CHALLENGE TIME

The process of going to sleep can be improved through a routine. Let’s try these over the next few weeks and if you have some sort of wearable device that can track your sleep, take note of the changes that you experience.

• Ideally no food within 2 hours of bedtime

• Where possible, we need to dim the lights in the lead up to going to bed (2-3 hours before bedtime). For shift work this can be more challenging, so you need to simulate the sun going down, close curtains etc make the house darker where possible

• Avoid tech devices (this includes the TV) for at least an hour before bed

• Avoid coffee or caffeinated 6 – 8 hours before bed

Tip Sheet:

• It’s easy to say no tech devices for at least an hour before bed but what can you do? A hot shower, read a book, stretching, spending time with your partner etc

• Your room needs to be dark and cold to get the best quality sleep. Not so easy if you are doing shift work or trying this in the Australian summer. If you don’t have total blackout blinds, you will need to find a way of doing this. We have heard or people putting up the foil on their windows to block out all the light as a temporary solution. The ideal temperature to sleep is 18 degrees, a fan or air conditioning might be needed.

• Nam has recorded a breathing practice for you to listen to whilst going to sleep. Have a listen to it as you are going to bed listening to it here (THE SWITCH)

• Understand that good quality sleep starts in the morning – see if you can follow Nam’s wake up routine. Oxygenate, hydrate, invigorate, appreciate and anticipate

I’m grateful that we have the opportunity to provide you and your team with resources that we KNOW will elevate your wellbeing.

It’s week 8 of The Change Room Game Plan for Wellbeing.

The Change Room Founder, Matt Elliott, catches up with Anthony Minichiello who shares his insights on how you can increase your mobility, stability and fitness during the lockdown. Movement and exercise have a huge impact, not just on our physical state, but our emotional and mental health. It stimulates our lymphatic system and releases dopamine which helps us anticipate pleasure, feel motivated, and maintain hope.

Anthony encourages us to focus on the things we can do, find balance and create new habits around movement and exercise. Click on the below video to find out how.

CHALLENGE TIME

For 1-week schedule 10-15min of movement or exercise into your daily routine (ideally outside)

Tip Sheet:

• Write down a few notes on how you feel after you do your exercise or activity – you will be amazed when looking back at these notes at the end of the week at how important this is for your wellbeing

• See if you can get in a walking meeting into your schedule or if you are watching tv for an evening – stretch during the ad breaks

• Get a friend to join you on this challenge for the week – set a time to meet every day

Pump up your endorphins and kick start this week on a high!

It’s week 7 of The Change Room Game Plan for Wellbeing and we hope you are enjoying the challenges so far. The good news is that we are almost out of this current lockdown period – there is a plan in place to re-open and it will be here sooner than we think. Today our Founder, Matt Elliott, talks with Dr Ali Walker about how we can improve our self-awareness and become more intentional by using the one thing we have plenty of right now and that is the time! Prior to the current lockdown restrictions our time, for most, was dictated by our routines; getting ready for work, taking kids to school, exercising and after school activities. Routines provide structure around our physical and mental wellbeing. It’s time to break those unconscious lockdown habits and create new intentional routines to help us set some new boundaries and maintain health and wellness.

Prior to embarking on this week’s challenge, ask yourself “How do I want to feel at the end of the day?” Having good routines can mean the difference between feeling good or not so good at the end of the day.

Take advantage of the current circumstances and look at some skills or areas in your life that you want to improve – here’s how

CHALLENGE TIME

1. Develop self-awareness around your routines

• Take note of what you are eating, drinking, movement, TV/Netflix/screen time and implement structure as you would in a usual pre lockdown day. Reflect on how you feel at the end of the day.

2. Where is your area of greatest discomfort?

• Identify one area that you want to improve most and spend 5 -10 mins a day practising that skill

• Reflect on how it felt and take notes on how you think you are improving. It will get easier the more you practice

Tip Sheet:

• Fill your weekly calendar with work, chores to do around the home, free time, exercise, hobbies. This will help build structure and keep you motivated

• Think about a skill that you would like to improve on, whilst you have the time, maybe look at some free courses

• Think about how improving on this skill now help you in the future

Best of luck and have a great week.

It’s week 6 of The Change Room Game Plan for Wellbeing and I hope you are all holding together well. How did you get on with Angela’s challenge for you last week?

The goal of these videos is to provide you with different ways to elevate your wellbeing from our mentors. Some ways might work better for you than others so try what feels right to become part of your daily/weekly routine.

Today our Founder, Matt Elliott, talks with Jeff Hardy about the Indigenous practices that have stood the test of time and are sure to have an impact on your wellbeing. As a mentor of The Change Room, Jeff passes wisdom and knowledge from his culture and emphasise the importance of taking time to connect with your story and appreciate nature – our greatest teacher of all!

CHALLENGE TIME

This week’s Challenge:

• 2-3 times in the next 2-weeks step out into nature (the bush, a park, the beach). Leave your phone and other technology at home and take time to appreciate the beauty before you

• Notice how nature makes you feel and either write it down or share your experience with a friend or family member

• Invite someone to join you on your walk

Tip Sheet:

• Take time to learn about your personal, family and cultural history

• Ask questions of those around you rather than relying on Google

• What was it like when your parents & grandparents were growing up?

It’s episode 10 of The Change Room Game Plan for Wellbeing.

This week Matt Elliott catches up with Mark Hughes to discuss what are some tools or things to try if we are experiencing change or adversity. Mark has unfortunately had some significant challenges that he has had to overcome in his life and what he has achieved in the face of this is so inspirational.

As with all the Gameplan challenges we would like this to be about improving YOUR wellbeing, just take a moment to reflect on the past challenges and what has worked for you before diving into this episode.

CHALLENGE TIME

• Connect with your friends each day – even if it’s just a quick phone call to check in and see how they are doing this week

• Find time each day this week to “get out good china” and appreciate the things that we have in our lives to be grateful for

Tip Sheet:

• Try not to get hung up on things that we cannot change – focus on the things that we can change

• We know that helping others elevates our own well-being – is there a way this week that you can make someone’s day by doing something a little extra for them

It is week 5 of The Change Room Game Pan for Wellness and this one has been such a timely reminder for me.

This week our founder Matt Elliott talks with esteemed author and presenter, Angela Lockwood, about disconnecting and finding calm. Why is disconnecting so important and how can it help us? As Angela explains, we often invite lots of noise into our lives and homes which can lead to overstimulation, this, in turn, can have a negative impact on our mental health. Being able to disconnect for at least an hour a day can help us quieten that noise, feel calmer and connect with people and activities that nourish us.

CHALLENGE TIME

Be careful what we wish for – During the lockdown, we have been given the gift of time so doing activities that nourish our bodies and souls like reading a book, gardening, or planning activities is a good way to disconnect from the everyday noise.

We are going to be out of this lockdown period soon and life will quickly become busy again. Use the next few weeks to do something every day (ideally) that is about YOU.

Tip Sheet:

Try to limit your time in front of the TV, have a break from looking at social media, turn off the notifications on your phone and get outside in the amazing spring sun 😉

Best of luck and have a great week.

It’s week 9 of The Change Room Game Plan for Wellbeing.

Today Anthony Minichiello has Matt Elliott in the box seat who wants to share some insights to you on gratitude, kindness and connection during the lockdown and what this can do for your wellbeing. We are a social species that thrives on our connection and interaction with others. We know this because we are have experienced the impact of this on our wellbeing over the past few months. What we want to tap into this week is kindness and the impact that it has on your wellbeing. It seems like it is so simple but it’s amazing the impact that this will have on your wellbeing – scientifically we know that

• Kindness makes us happier,

• Kindness is good for the heart,

• Kindness slows ageing,

• Kindness improves relationships,

• Kindness is contagious.

Matt’s challenge for you for this week is to bring an act of kindness into your day. It doesn’t have to cost you anything but take note of how this makes you feel and the impact that has on the people you connect with.

CHALLENGE TIME

• Reach out to a person that has had an impact on your life and let them know how grateful you are for what they did for you

Tip Sheet:

• Don’t stop there – what other acts of kindness can you squeeze out of this week 😉

• Spend a couple of minutes and search acts of kindness if you are out of ideas and get a few of them into your week

• Being grateful and kind are free but the impacts on your wellbeing are profound

I’m grateful that we have the opportunity to provide you and your team with resources that we KNOW will elevate your wellbeing.

It’s week 4 of The Change Room Game Plan for Wellness. Anthony Minichiello talks with our founder Matt Elliott about the previous weeks ‘Game Plan’ challenges and how they have gone so far….no coffee was a challenge for Matt and probably a lot of us! Look at the previous week’s videos if you would like to catch up on the different tools our Mentors have provided and find the 1 or 2 things that really resonate with you.

Matt gives us some tips today to help us take back control of this 2021 remake of Groundhog Day. For most of us, our routines have been upended and changed dramatically through this period and we can get into a habit of letting the day take control of how we feel and what we do. Matt talks about the opportunities change can bring and taking time to improve …under threat, there is always opportunity.

CHALLENGE TIME

Every morning for the next week before you jump into the day do this 2-minute routine

1. Step Back: be aware of how you are feeling and how you want to feel?

2. Step Up: What are your priority tasks for the day and they don’t need to be work-related. How & when will you get them done? How will it feel when you have completed them?

3. Step In: With the energy of feeling the way you want, immediately move in the direction of getting your priority tasks done

If at any stage during the day you feel overwhelmed or overloaded do this 1-2min process.

Tip Sheet:

• In these times of change look past the threat and find the opportunity; to learn, exercise and connect to others

• Don’t make the list too big – usually, there are one or two key things that you really need to do to change the course of your day for good

• When you have tasks to complete do the most difficult & most important first – eat that frog 😉

All the best from The Change Room team.