The 364-Day Playbook…

How to build a culture of daily habits so that next R U OK? Day is a celebration of your action on well-being

364 days. That’s how many days we are judged on how we actually show up—on how we choose to behave. It’s the number of days we have to choose kindness, vulnerability, and critical reflection. It’s the number of days we have to turn up and be the person we want to be, even on the days when we have very little energy or motivation left. The days when we haven’t had enough sleep, when we feel let down. The days when we question whether our values still align, or when we feel we’ve given too much and received too little in return.

Then the 365th arrives. A day of amplification. A day of critical reflection on the previous 364 days, when the collective memory of your team, workforce, and general goodwill will be tested against the aspirational alignment of the R U OK? Day morning teas, cupcakes, and roaming massages get temperature checked.

I draw attention to the 364 days not because the 365th day and its message aren’t important, but because these 364 days are more important than the 365th in its singularity.

These days represent the collective memory of all the employees who left because they weren’t supported in meaningful ways throughout the previous 364 days. It amplifies the message to those team members still on the ground that the recurring staff survey results, where they’ve told you they feel overworked and under-resourced year on year, and the organisation’s response has continued to be, “We’re working on it.” All the while, they experience FTE stagnation, but activity budgets grow.

So, in the spirit of the 364 days, I offer this playbook. It’s about concentrating on the choices we make for the rest of the year. Not because R U OK? Day isn’t important—but because every day is important. Your team members, your friends, your family, and those you care about deserve your attention every day of the year. Let’s build better daily habits and check-ins with those we care about deeply, so that when R U OK? Day arrives, we use it as a day to celebrate all we’ve achieved, built, and strengthened for our individual and collective health and well-being over the previous 364 days.

I want R U OK? Day to be a celebration of all we’ve chipped away at and accomplished throughout the year, while the other 364 days are spent building those little habits into our daily lives.

So here is Dialectical Consulting’s Playbook to 364 Days of building rituals towards strengthening ourselves and our organisations way of being.