Small Habits, Better Workdays: What We Learned from Our Latest Lunch & Learn

What do happy hormones have to do with the working day?

Quite a lot, as it turns out.

Our latest Lunch & Learn at The Brew welcomed Colin Rouse and The Workplace Health Coach team to Eagle House for a session all about health, happiness and feeling better at work.

It was the latest in our programme of practical member sessions, following topics such as AI agents for small businesses, with one simple aim: to give people something genuinely useful they can take back into their working day.

Colin took us through some of the science behind mood and wellbeing, but this was definitely not a sit-back-and-listen session. The focus was on practical things we can actually do, without completely changing our lives or adding another long list of things to worry about.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways.

Small changes are usually the best place to start

One of the main messages from the session was that looking after your wellbeing does not have to involve a huge lifestyle overhaul.

Often, it is the simple things that are easiest to overlook when work gets busy.

Getting outside. Moving during the day. Eating properly. Taking a break rather than staring at your screen for another hour.

They sound obvious, but how often do we actually do them?

If you work for yourself or spend most of the day behind a laptop, it is surprisingly easy to get to the end of the afternoon and realise you have barely moved.

The better approach is to choose habits you can realistically repeat.

• Go for a quick walk at lunchtime
• Step outside for some daylight between meetings
• Make sure you actually stop for lunch
• Get up and move regularly during the day
• Give yourself a clear point when the working day ends

Nothing dramatic. Just small changes that make the day feel a little better.

A bit of recognition goes a long way

Another point that stood out was how much our interactions with other people can affect the way we feel at work.

It is easy to finish one task and immediately move on to the next, particularly when everyone is busy. But taking a moment to recognise when somebody has done something well can make a real difference.

That might be thanking someone for helping you out, telling a colleague they did a good job or simply acknowledging that a project went well.

It does not need to be formal or forced.

For small teams, those little moments can help create a much nicer working environment.

And for freelancers or people who work remotely a lot of the time, simply being around other people can matter too. Having a coworking space in Shoreditch gives you those everyday conversations and familiar faces without needing a packed social calendar or constant networking.

At The Brew in Shoreditch and Old Street, that is very much how we see community. It is there when you want it.

How are you actually doing at work?

This was probably one of the most useful questions from the session.

We are all used to answering “fine” when someone asks how things are going. But when was the last time you properly checked in with how work is making you feel?

Colin encouraged us to look at wellbeing as more than simply whether we feel happy at work. There are several different areas that can affect how we experience the working day, including positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, accomplishment, physical health, mindset and our environment.

It raises some useful questions:

• Are you able to focus properly?
• Do you feel connected to other people?
• Does your work feel meaningful?
• Do you feel like you are making progress, or are you just busy all the time?
• Is your workspace helping you work well, or constantly distracting you?

Sometimes simply stopping to think about those areas can make it easier to spot what is working and what might need a little more attention.

Your workspace matters more than you might think

One thing we liked about the session was that it did not treat workplace wellbeing as something you have to fix entirely by yourself.

Where you work can make a difference too.

Working from home can be great, but it can also mean spending the entire day in the same room, struggling to switch off or realising you have not spoken to another person since breakfast.

Coffee shops have their own problems. They are not always quiet, comfortable or particularly reliable when you actually need to get things done.

For some people, having a dedicated place to work creates a much clearer routine.

You arrive. You work. You take a break. You see a few familiar faces. Then, importantly, you leave work behind when you go home.

That does not necessarily mean committing to an office every day either. Hotdesking at The Brew works well if you simply need somewhere reliable to work when home or a coffee shop is not cutting it, while our coworking memberships give you a more regular base in Shoreditch.

For small and hybrid teams, having a shared base can also create more natural opportunities to talk, collaborate and recognise what other people are doing well. A private office can give a team its own space while still keeping the flexibility of working within a shared building.

A workspace cannot solve every wellbeing issue, of course. But the right environment can make some of those good habits much easier.

And then came the health checks

The session did not finish when the talk ended.

Colin and The Workplace Health Coach team stayed at Eagle House afterwards to offer complimentary wellbeing checks, including:

• A grip strength challenge
• Body composition checks
• A coaching MOT
• A personalised Positive Psychology report

It gave members a chance to find out a bit more about where they were currently at with their health and wellbeing.

There was also something useful about making the topic tangible.

Wellbeing can sometimes feel vague. A health check or even simply answering a few questions about how you are feeling can give you somewhere practical to start.

Sessions like this are also part of what happens beyond the desk at The Brew. Alongside a place to work, our Shoreditch community has opportunities to step away from the day-to-day for an hour, meet other members and learn something useful.

So, what can you do tomorrow?

Probably less than you think.

You do not need a new morning routine, five new apps and an ambitious plan to reinvent yourself by Friday.

Pick one thing.

Go for a walk at lunchtime.

Eat away from your desk.

Get outside between meetings.

Tell someone they did a great job.

Or take a look at your current working environment and ask whether it is actually helping you work well.

If working from home or coffee shops are starting to feel more distracting than useful, our hot desks and coworking options give you a flexible place to work in Shoreditch, close to Old Street, without committing to a traditional office lease.

Small things are easier to keep doing. And that was really the point.

Thank you to Colin and The Workplace Health Coach

A big thank you to Colin Rouse and The Workplace Health Coach team for joining us at Eagle House, and to everyone who came along and got involved.

The biggest takeaway was refreshingly simple. Looking after yourself during the working day does not have to be complicated. Start with the basics, pay attention to how you are actually feeling and make the changes that work for you.

At The Brew, we will continue to host practical Lunch & Learn sessions for our Shoreditch and Old Street community, alongside flexible coworking, hotdesking and workspace options designed to make the working day simpler.