The foundation for sustainable wellbeing is getting to know yourself better and better. What it means to get to know yourself can of course vary. One way to think about it can be to define your values. Your values are all about who you want to be and what legacy you want to leave behind in this world. I could be linked to advancing technology for the greater good, spreading empathetic communication, being a great parent, being honest, transparent, a challenger or leaving places nicer than you found them.

Getting to know yourself is a lifelong journey. People who are honest with themselves about who they want to be and what they want to do will over time be more well. There are many different ways to get to know yourself better. Here are a couple of them:

• Read the book Search Inside Yourself by ex-Googler Chade-Meng Tan.

• Explore your values via exercises available at DiscoverYourValues.org.

The most important thing to successfully uncover your values is being really honest with yourself. If you aren't honest with yourself it will be difficult to uncover your true needs and get them satisfied.

Our bodies need to work well for us to be well, so physical wellbeing is fundamental to sustainable wellbeing.

Here are some things to consider:

• Sleep: We need to sleep ideally 8 hours per night, but minimum 7 hours (ref). If you struggle with sleep, solutions such as Sleepio could be worth exploring.

• Exercise: We need to exercise in some way, shape or form at least three times/week times 30-45 min each time (ref). If you want to get started or improve your exercise routines you can for example engage in a training group on Facebook to get tips for free on how to get started.

• Nutrition: We need to eat high quality food in moderate portions (ref). If you want to get started on a journey of better nutrition, one way to get started is to join the same type of training/health group on Facebook to get tips.

Without these three things our wellbeing will be impacted negatively. So ensure that you get these three needs fulfilled. At work, this could mean scheduling yourself for three exercises per week during working hours. If working from home, it could also mean blocking enough time over lunch to prepare something nutritious instead of something that is just fast. It could also mean not working so late so that you have a hard time winding down and getting the sleep you need. Ensure that you sleep, exercise and eat well. You need it.

EXAMPLES OF GOOD HABITS: 1) Sleep minimum 7 hours/night, 2) Exercise minimum 3 times/week x minimum 30 minutes, 3) Eat high quality food in moderate portions.

The overall focus for sustainable mental wellbeing should be to maximize the amount of so called health factors in your life, and minimize the amount of so called risk factors in your life. Mental wellbeing is a big area, and there are many health factors that can help you, and many risk factors that can impact you negatively. As such, this guide will never be fully exhaustive. Besides this proactive approach to mental health, it's important to be knowledgeable of the tools you can use reactively in case you for any reason find yourself struggling with mental health such as anxiety or depression.

Health factors are things you can do that increases the probability of a good mental health, these are for example:

• Learn new things

• Practice a regular thankfulness routine

• Spend time in nature

Risk factors are things you can do that decreases the probability of a good mental health, these are for example:

• Mindless social media scrolling, especially after 11pm

• Excessive consumption of alcohol or other substances

• Excessive consumption of short-format online video

To understand what you can do reactively when struggling with mental health, learn more about methods such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). For example, you can already now practice some of the things you can do if struggling with anxiety to have them more readily available if and when that happens.

Here are some things to consider doing:

• Start exercising your mental health proactively every day via the free non-profit app 29k.org.

• If you need to talk to a professional, you can always reach out to a psychologist or get chat therapy via Talkspace.

• If you struggle with stress, Headspace can hopefully help.

EXAMPLE OF A GOOD HABIT: Start every day before getting up from bed by thinking about how thankful you are for being alive and that you will see everything else as an undeserved bonus. Thankfulness is a super power for wellbeing. Invest in it.

The longest running study in the world, at Harvard, shows that what drives wellbeing most is well-working relationships. So invest in relationships. Whether it's family, friends, colleagues, neighbours or another community. Take the time to deepen your relationships, it will be worth it.

Here are some things to consider:

• A very powerful way of engaging with people with empathy is so called Nonviolent Communication (NVC). Consider reading up on it via the book Nonviolent Communication.

• Consider a routine to call someone every day. Just to catch up on life.

EXAMPLE OF A GOOD HABIT: Spend time with a friend every week when you are fully present in the conversation.

Planetary wellbeing is an emerging field and we're learning new things every day. It can perhaps sometimes feel like you have very little impact on the overall planetary wellbeing amongst 8 billion people. That said, every action matters.

Here are some things to consider:

• Learn more: Read The Climate Book and watch the latest videos from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

• Consume less: For example, don't refresh your tech unless you absolutely need to. Ideally to live sustainably we refresh our tech at most every 7th year.

• Reduce your flying: Challenge if the trip is really needed. Also consider alternatives such as train.

• Eat less meat: Animal meat production represents about 15% of the world's emissions today. Just changing beef for a vegetarian alternative would reduce emissions more than 90% of the total emissions in the housing sector. Beef in particular has the biggest negative impact on the environment.

• Dress more sustainably: Buy maximum three new pieces of clothing per year. Consider repairing and reusing clothes by buying for example second hand.

• Try not having a car of your own: Consider alternative ways of transportation. If you need to travel by car, consider pooling.

EXAMPLE OF A GOOD STARTING HABIT: Challenge every purchase you make to see 1) Is it needed? 2) Do I need to own it or can I share it with others? 3) Do I/we need to buy it new or can we get it re-used?

One thing you can do to help others is to overall move from being reactively helpful to being proactively helpful. It's great and amazing to be reactively helpful. That said, we can move from "just" being reactively helpful to also being proactively helpful by thinking about the people around us and ask ourselves the question "Who needs what?". By doing this you take the perspective of someone else and think about their needs. If you put this into practice you will start contributing to a culture of proactive helpfulness.

Helping others also helps your own wellbeing (ref), so ask yourself regularly the question “Who needs what?”, and reach out to help.

EXAMPLE OF GOOD HABIT: Ask yourself the question "Who needs what?" and proactively help others 1 time/week.