These days, it seems stress is a normal part of life. Our daily lives can be crazy, and sometimes things pile on and you can’t help but feel downtrodden, but there is a way to handle it.
Our mood and perception of events plays a huge part in our day to day lives. It affects how we see ourselves, how we treat others, the amount of work we do, the quality of that work, and our positivity.
When you’re in a bad mood, for whatever reason, you’re more likely to get frustrated, feel bad about yourself, and be less productive as a result. Even worse, the feeling is cyclical, and as you get less done you feel worse and prolong that feeling.
Our mood can often feel like something we have no control over, and it’s true that we don’t really have control over what other people might do to upset us. But, we have an exceptional amount of control over the way we frame our thoughts and deal with things that upset us.
Learning to practice positivity throughout your day will encourage better work habits and a good mood. When you have a good mood, people will appreciate talking to you and working with you more, too. Take these few simple steps to improving your daily life.
Do Good Work
This step might feel a little obvious, but it’s an important one.
No matter what else happens during the day, if you focus on doing work that you’re proud of, you’ll have something to feel good about all day long. This isn’t always a measure of the quantity of work you do, but the quality of work and how you feel about it.
And it doesn’t have to always be work. Just try to do things that put you in a positive mindset. Maybe that’s knocking out that project you have to do, or maybe it’s hitting the gym early in the morning. Start the day productively with something you can feel good about.
Do good work that you can feel proud of, and it’ll positively affect your mood.
Have Relentless Positivity
Every day is full of both good and bad things. Your mood is all about how you weigh those things. For most people—and especially those in creative lines of work—it’s very easy to be overly critical of ourselves, putting more weight on the negative things.
Doing this gives control of your mindset to these negative influences and feeds into this bad mood. Instead, learn relentlessly positivity. This means turning negatives into positives in your mind when you can, and putting them aside when you can’t.
When all else fails, fake it until you make it, as they say. Don’t let your negative mood show. Continue to show positivity with people, smile, and you’ll have taken the first step in changing your mood.
Learn to Appreciate Things for What They Are
Once in a while, you’ll come upon negatives that you can’t spin in a positive light.
The best thing you can do to maintain positivity is learn to deal with those things. Take the time to appreciate things for what they are, including the things you have in your life to be grateful for. It can be easy to say and hard to do during a bad mood, but it’s an important practice.
By teaching yourself to frame things in a positive light and be thankful for the good factors in your life, you’ll be more appreciative of what you have and be more resilient when negative things do come up.
Let Go of Things You Can’t Change
It’s time to get rid of the things you can’t change.
We so often tend to hold on to negative parts of our life. Fights with friends or loved ones, problems at work, or just little frustrations that get under our skin. Carrying these things around with you every day just weighs you down and makes you tired.
It saps your energy and leaves you not wanting to get anything done.
There are some frustrations in life that you just can’t change, and it’s important to learn to recognize what those are and, even better, to make our peace with them. Positivity can’t flourish in a negative atmosphere. Finding balance in your life in this way will give you a solid foundation to deal with day-to-day tasks.
Make Lists of Accomplishments
Finally, reinforce the positive aspects of your day.
Instead of thinking of the things you didn’t do, or the areas that you feel you personally fell short, get a pad of paper and a pen and make a list of the good things that happened that day, and the good things you did.
There are always things that went right during the day, sometimes we just let them get overshadowed by everything else. The more you teach yourself to acknowledge what went right, the better you’ll feel about yourself.
Set meaningful goals for yourself if you feel you can do better, but remember to always frame them in a positive light. Reward yourself for doing well instead of punishing yourself for not doing as well as you might have liked.
Positive reinforcement will go a lot further towards instilling positivity in your life and improving your mood.
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