Having an effective plan for the day makes all the difference to the mental health of Rhys Schofield, protection adviser at Peak Mortgages and Protection.
Ahead of World Mental Health Day (10 October), Schofield (pictured right) told Health & Protection about how his neurodiversity has affected his career to date.
Decision paralysis
“Unsurprisingly to anyone that’s ever worked with me I carry a fully diagnosed neuro-diverse card,” Schofield said.
“It’s all too easy to procrastinate, get decision paralysis or lose track of tasks. Fall off the rails that manifests quickly into stress and anxiety.”
Working with the challenges
However, Schofield maintains that there are some positives to his neurodiversity,
“On the flip side there are aspects which are net positives. Hyper-fixation on a tricky case has absolutely meant I’ve got terms for clients where others would have given up.
“I’ve learned to work with the challenges over the years with what now feel like simple adjustments to my day that help me keep on top of the negative side of things whilst making the most of the positive traits.”
Routine sets you free
One particular piece of advice that has stuck with Schofield came from a presentation 10 years ago, when he worked for SpicerHaart, by Tom Panos at the Bangkok Shangri-La where he said ‘routine sets you free.’
“This was a lightbulb moment for me. A switch was flipped in my brain and it genuinely changed my career trajectory. All of a sudden everything wasn’t so overwhelming. Within a year I was a divisional director, within three I was setting up my own firm that I later sold. These days I’m a multiple award winner for being the best protection adviser in the UK.”
Planning before the day starts
In terms of what Schofield changed, he revealed he now plans his diary before the day starts.
“I always have a paper to-do list and still run paper files so I have the dopamine hit of finishing with a client for the day. Nothing beats finishing a case and archiving the file!
“But this helps me keep on track and works for me and prevent the low level anxiety I think most of us who run our own business or care about doing the best for our clients from being problematic.”
Great support
And Schofield maintains he has benefited from a great support network around him when he joined the industry.
“They really helped me lay the foundations I needed, which is something a lot of new entrants may not have,” he continues. “I can only imagine how overwhelming it would be if you don’t have this. There would undoubtedly be a toll on someone’s mental health in that situation.
“But we’re a close knit industry and my advice to anyone is that if you’re feeling overwhelmed, hop on Linkedin and pop someone like me a message who has been there, done that because we’d probably make half an hour for you to help a peer.”
