Tag: Positivity

Journey To Leadership

10 Proven Ways To Shift Perspective

by journeytoleadershipblogLeave a Comment on 10 Proven Ways To Shift Perspective

We are often faced with stressful situations in our personal and professional lives…

Unfortunately, perception is reality.

That means that our perception of the situation will most of the time determines our reaction.

Shifting perception doesn’t mean switching viewpoint or distorting the truth but broadening your understanding of all facets of the situation.

Wondering how to shift your perspective?

Perception is a combination of the information collected, your experience and system of belief.

To shift it, there are some steps that you can take.

10 Proven Ways To Shift Perspective #perspectiveshift #positivity #positive #journeytoleadership journeytoleadershipblog.com

1. Put some distance between you and the drama

Sometimes, we get caught up in negative situations whether we want to or not or we stay in toxic environments longer than we should.

Removing yourself from that environment is the best way to change perspective.

If you are consistently surrounded by negative people, your thoughts will sooner or later become negative.

You may wonder whether you are creating or amplifying the negativity but if you remove yourself from it and it still goes on, you have nothing to do with it.

You probably just got caught up in someone else’s crazy.

2. Change your programming

You must be aware of the type of content that you allow to program your subconscious mind.

If you aren’t able to find the perspective you are looking for, seek out content that comforts you and that is similar to the perspective you wish to achieve or to the attitude you wish to emulate.

You may need to gather different sources of positivity around you like podcasts, books or movies.

3. Pay attention to self-talk

You are in control of your thoughts and of the way you react to situations.

In order to help your self-talk, you can use words of affirmation.

4. Adjust your expectations

Most drama in life comes from having too high expectations for people.

If someone has disappointed you or created unnecessary drama, you need to reset and lower your expectations for them.

5. Limit your time

If you are unable to physically remove yourself from drama, you can limit your time there while attempting to find a solution.

By doing so, you will gradually:

  • Prioritize the essentials.
  • Understand that everything is temporary.
  • Acknowledge that you don’t have to stay in it longer than necessary.

6. Find the lesson

Find the lesson and focus on the positives.

Finding the lesson in a negative situation allows you to look past yourself, to grow and to not be the victim.

7. Take a step back

Sometimes, we create our own drama or participate at some level in someone else’s.

According to Miguel Ruiz in The Four Agreements, taking someone else’s drama personally will only make things worse.

It then helps to take a step back to gather yourself and to evaluate the situation.

By doing so, you can also make sure that the story you tell yourself isn’t laced with elements of your past.

8. Change your reaction

You may no be able to shift your perspective just yet but you can change your reaction.

The truth is if you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same result.

So, when faced with a situation that seems consistently challenging, try doing something different.

It may not solve the situation but you will get a different result and therefore gain more perspective.

9. See the bigger picture

Drama and the way we think about it can cause serious repercussions on your life.

Visualizing the bigger picture reframes the negative situation and reduces its impact.

Will this matter in the long run? In 5 days, 5 months or 5 years, will you remember this person or that job?

10. Forgive yourself

Staying in a negative situation, talking to negative people or walking around thinking about negative situation is damaging to your health and will only amplify the drama.

So, take the time to process the negative emotions, forgive yourself for staying in a bad situation for too long and hold on to the glimmer of hope.

Last Words Of Advice!

The circumstances of the situation you are dealing with depend on your perspective and your reaction.

Shifting perspective is a mind trick that allows you to better face challenges and that relies on the principal that you have the power to control your thoughts.

Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!

Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.

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Book Reviews

Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want By Michael Hyatt & Daniel Harkavy

by journeytoleadershipblogLeave a Comment on Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want By Michael Hyatt & Daniel Harkavy

In Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want, Michael Hyatt & Daniel Harkavy suggest that we define a plan for our lives.

They introduce us to the concept of Life Planning and show us how to implement the process.

Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want By Michael Hyatt & Daniel Harkavy

What is a Life Plan?

According to Hyatt and Harkavy, “A Life Plan is a short written document, usually five to fifteen pages long“.

The Life Plan is personal, describes your priorities, the steps to reach your goals and the legacy you want to leave.

It is a life long process, that can continually be adjusted and improved. A Life Plan doesn’t shield you from life challenges and failures. Instead, it will help you create intention for your life.

It is common to have a career plan but no Life Plan. The Life Plan enables you to:

  • Set priorities and stick to them.
  • Stop sacrificing yourself, to stop trading health and time for work, career advancement, accolades or money.
  • Filter out opportunities. As you get older and as you get experiences, opportunity coming your way will multiply. It is therefore important to know where your priorities lie and what opportunity to choose.
  • Avoid distractions, confront and deal with reality.
  • Avoid the feeling of being stuck and allow you to keep your eyes on the future.
  • Avoid regrets and increase your level of control.

The drift and its consequences

Most people drift away from their dreams because:

  • They are unaware that their ideas and assumptions are inaccurate and harmful.
  • There is a discrepancy between their beliefs and reality.
  • They are distracted, are spread too thin or too busy to focus on their lives and to start prioritizing.
  • They don’t understand that there is hope, that they can change and that they have more control over their lives than they think.

When you drift away from your dreams and when you don’t have a Life Plan, you tend to:

  • Lack meaning and purpose.
  • Waste your time and other valuable resources on meaningless tasks.
  • Lose opportunities and their sense of urgency. People who drift away procrastinate and are unable to discern a good opportunity from a bad.
  • Experience trouble more intensely because they are unprepared.
  • Take a passive approach to life, shift blame and live in regrets.

Designing and implementing your Life Plan

To design your Life Plan, it is necessary to outline your legacy, to set your priorities, get clarity on your objectives and to reserve one day to build your Life Plan.

Outlining your legacy

To design your Life Plan, keep in mind that everybody leaves a legacy, face your mortality and begin with the end in mind.

It is critical to write your Life Plan like you are writing your eulogy, to imagine how you want others to remember you and to stay committed to the process.

Setting your priorities

Getting more clarity on your objectives will definitely increase your commitment. To do so, you must steer clear from external expectations and do what is right for you.

Getting clarity on objectives

  • Identify your purpose.
  • Project yourself into the future, picture yourself in it and imagine all the different positive outcomes. To make your vision much more compelling, write down in the present tense what you hear, feel, see, smell and taste.
  • Find and apply a quote that inspires you.
  • Make an honest assessment of your current progress.
  • Commit to specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time-bond goals.

Devote one day to your Life Plan

Hyatt & Harkavy recommend that you schedule one day to create your Life Plan. Needless to say, the Life plan should be implemented starting the next day.

It is necessary to allow yourself to dream, to not expect perfection and to not get distracted.

Implement your plan

Implementing the Life Plan is the most challenging part. It is necessary to:

  • Include your Life Plan in your everyday routine.
  • Fight the feeling of being overwhelmed by life’s drama.
  • Don’t be afraid to say no or to disappoint others.
  • Read your plan daily and review it often.

Review

Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want by Michael Hyatt & Daniel Harkavy is an easy to read self-help book that is based on some of their traumatic experiences.

It is destined to increase our focus, to helps us find out what matters most, to acquire meaning and fulfillment in our everyday life, to allow us to prioritize our lives and to contribute effectively,

This book is written for people who are looking for a better direction for their life because they are either:

  • unsatisfied with the current state of their lives,
  • lack purpose,
  • seeking more balance,
  • unable to overcome life challenges,
  • noticing that their lives don’t fit their vision or dream,
  • not reaching their full potential.

The earlier we start creating and implementing a Life Plan, the better.

Favorite quote(s)

Living Forward will heighten your sense of what’s truly possible for you in life. If you feel out of balance, aware that your current pace is unsustainable; if you are making great gains professionally but don’t want to neglect personal priorities; if you want to have better focus to succeed financially; if you have gone through a recent tragedy and suddenly become aware that life is short; if any of those are true, this book is for you.

I know that how we lead ourselves in life impacts how we lead those around us. Self-leadership always precedes team leadership. We must have a balanced approach to accumulating net worth in all of the critical accounts in our lives, not just one or two. Ultimately this allows us to make the greatest difference and adds the most value to those around us. It is possible to grow at work without diminishing other areas of our lives. Living forward helps us find and maintain our balance.

Ratings 4/5

Author

Daniel Harkavy

Michael Hyatt

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Journey To Leadership

10 Proven Ways To Shift Perspective

by journeytoleadershipblogLeave a Comment on 10 Proven Ways To Shift Perspective

We are often faced with stressful situations in our personal and professional lives…

Unfortunately, perception is reality.

That means that our perception of the situation will most of the time determines our reaction.

Shifting perception doesn’t mean switching viewpoint or distorting the truth but broadening your understanding of all facets of the situation.

Wondering how to shift your perspective?

10 Proven Ways To Shift Perspective

Perception is a combination of the information collected, your experience and system of belief.

To shift it, there are some steps that you can take.

1. Put some distance between you and the drama

Sometimes, we get caught up in negative situations whether we want to or not or we stay in toxic environments longer than we should.

Removing yourself from that environment is the best way to change perspective.

If you are consistently surrounded by negative people, your thoughts will sooner or later become negative.

You may wonder whether you are creating or amplifying the negativity but if you remove yourself from it and it still goes on, you have nothing to do with it.

You probably just got caught up in someone else’s crazy.

2. Change your programming

You must be aware of the type of content that you allow to program your subconscious mind.

If you aren’t able to find the perspective you are looking for, seek out content that comforts you and that is similar to the perspective you wish to achieve or to the attitude you wish to emulate.

You may need to gather different sources of positivity around you like podcasts, books or movies.

3. Pay attention to self-talk

You are in control of your thoughts and of the way you react to situations.

In order to help your self-talk, you can use words of affirmation.

4. Adjust your expectations

Most drama in life comes from having too high expectations for people.

If someone has disappointed you or created unnecessary drama, you need to reset and lower your expectations for them.

5. Limit your time

If you are unable to physically remove yourself from drama, you can limit your time there while attempting to find a solution.

By doing so, you will gradually:

  • Prioritize the essentials.
  • Understand that everything is temporary.
  • Acknowledge that you don’t have to stay in it longer than necessary.

6. Find the lesson

Find the lesson and focus on the positives.

Finding the lesson in a negative situation allows you to look past yourself, to grow and to not be the victim.

7. Take a step back

Sometimes, we create our own drama or participate at some level in someone else’s.

According to Miguel Ruiz in The Four Agreements, taking someone else’s drama personally will only make things worse.

It then helps to take a step back to gather yourself and to evaluate the situation.

By doing so, you can also make sure that the story you tell yourself isn’t laced with elements of your past.

8. Change your reaction

You may no be able to shift your perspective just yet but you can change your reaction.

The truth is if you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same result.

So, when faced with a situation that seems consistently challenging, try doing something different.

It may not solve the situation but you will get a different result and therefore gain more perspective.

9. See the bigger picture

Drama and the way we think about it can cause serious repercussions on your life.

Visualizing the bigger picture reframes the negative situation and reduces its impact.

Will this matter in the long run? In 5 days, 5 months or 5 years, will you remember this person or that job?

10. Forgive yourself

Staying in a negative situation, talking to negative people or walking around thinking about negative situation is damaging to your health and will only amplify the drama.

So, take the time to process the negative emotions, forgive yourself for staying in a bad situation for too long and hold on to the glimmer of hope.

Last Words Of Advice!

The circumstances of the situation you are dealing with depend on your perspective and your reaction.

Shifting perspective is a mind trick that allows you to better face challenges and that relies on the principal that you have the power to control your thoughts.

Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!

Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.

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Journey To Leadership

18 Innovative Approaches To Improve Your Positive Thoughts, To Change Your Work Life And Your Leadership

by journeytoleadershipblog1 Comment on 18 Innovative Approaches To Improve Your Positive Thoughts, To Change Your Work Life And Your Leadership

Thoughts, positive or negative, influence our character, our behavior, our vision, how we deal with setbacks, how we build and maintain relationships, has direct impact on our body and health, emotions…

For instance, negative thoughts affect our daily lives more than we think and can send us down a spiral of despair, depression, insecurity, anxiety and self-sabotage.

Needless to say, most people want to improve themselves, to evolve, to get ahead in their work life but have a tendency to welcome negative thoughts or ignore how to shut them down.

Unfortunately, they end up hindering their accomplishments and career advancements.

That is why it is necessary to control the damage caused by our mind, to discipline our thoughts and emotions, to build up a robust positive attitude and to find peace of mind.

Wondering how to process and control negative thoughts, emotions and how to use a positive mindset to get ahead at work?

18 Innovative Approaches To Improve Your Positive Thoughts, To Change Your Work Life And Your Leadership

Thoughts automatically appear in our mind. They come from past experiences and from the fact that we believe what people have previously said about us. They can be brought up by a word, an image or a memory and employ torture words that decrease our self-esteem, worsens situations, such as “should”, “must” and “have to”.

Because they are spontaneous, we think that they are true. In the long run, thoughts sometimes become rigid beliefs, absolute truths.

Therefore, it becomes an imperative to gain control over them. Disciplining your mind, controlling your thoughts and generating emotions regardless of your environment, regardless the level of attack help you become more mature, make healthier decisions, become more creative, escape, heal bad memories.

Maintaining A Positive Mindset

Positive attitudes can become difficult to maintain in challenging situations in the workplace. But once acquired, it is a habit that can help you overcome bad situations.

Indeed, positivity ensures progress, diffuses situations, alleviates stress, reduces fear, increases endurance, increase self-esteem, attracts positive results and better opportunities. It requires inner work and is independent of external circumstances of the outcome.

There are many ways to bring positivity into the workplace and to your mindset.

1. Identify the source of your thoughts 

Identify the source of your thoughts and check the memories that you store in your brain.

Be selective about the information that come into your mind.

Stay away from the news because they will negatively affect you.

Have a joke of the day and send it to people who matter to you. Watch shows, listen to podcasts, audio books that will uplift you, inspire you and motivate you.

2. Identify triggers, patterns in your thought process

Identify triggers, patterns in your thought process.

How do they start? What my thoughts say about me? What are the consequences of my thoughts? What do you say regularly to yourself?

3. Be aware of the content of your thoughts

At some point, you must be aware of the content of your thoughts.

Therefore, you will be able to interrupt them whenever they don’t help you, to delete the negative ones and replace them with forward-looking ones. Changing thought patterns is difficult because our brain generally resist change.

4. Understand that you are not the prisoner of your thoughts

When you understand that you are not the prisoner of your thoughts, you will eventually become the one to change the atmosphere in the workplace, won’t allow the environment to drain you or define who you are and won’t let someone else control your behavior.

5. Think about who you want to become

It helps to:

  • Think about who you want to become and how you want to affect people.
  • Write down 5 dreams that you have ever have, find 5 words to describe yourself and think about it several a day.

6. Select and force your brain to redirect negative thoughts

When faced with negativity, select and force your brain to redirect negative thoughts toward more pleasant alternatives.

For example, think about the opposite of the negative thought, attach constructive emotions to an outcome, visualize a positive outcome for the situation or visualize the perfect life every day before you got to bed and everyday when you wake up.

7. Focus on what is going right

What’s going right for you?

Focus on what is going right instead of what is going wrong.

People give negative emotions more importance than the positive ones, which conditions our brain to bring up negative thoughts automatically and repetitively for a long period of time.

You have the power to choose and train your brain to give positive emotions more attention.

8. Accept the present moment

Improving your thoughts reside in accepting the present moment and understanding that it is inevitable.

How to focus and stay in the present? Understand that panicking and worrying is useless, that the past is unchangeable and the future uncontrollable, that every experiences have made you who you are today.

9. Give your thoughts a name

Give your thoughts a name and call them out whenever they send us down a negative spiral and challenge every single thought by speaking them out loud.

10. Be grateful

It is easy to complain and whine, so be grateful that you have a job and show appreciation in your contribution.

11. Learn to discern toxic coworkers

Learn to discern toxic coworkers.

Don’t tolerate or focus on negative people.

12. Wake up early

Get up early and work out before going to work to seize the day and release the endorphins throughout the day.

13. Create a positive work zone

Create a positive work zone by insulating yourself with headphones for example.

Also, avoid gossip at all cost, put up motivational objects around your desk.

Take regular breaks from your cubicle to stop thinking, to meditate and go to the bathroom.

14. Create a better work life balance

It becomes essential to create a better work life balance to protect your home life.

So, leave the drama at work, be strict with your hours, avoid staying late and taking work at home!

15. Behave positively as well

Meaning fake it until you make it…

16. Separate yourself from the negativity

Sooner or later, you will have to separate yourself from the negativity and surround yourself with open-minded people with a positive mindset.

One way would be to stick positive quotes on your wall of your cubicle or on your desk.

17. Change your surroundings

Take a class after work or find a hobby so you have something to look forward to at the end of the day.

18. Find better!

Finally, if this environment isn’t working out the way you want to, you can always discreetly find a more comfortable and productive workplace.

Last Words Of Advice!

There is a need for Positive Leadership.

Positive leaders have a moral compass, are purpose driven, communicate effectively, exhibit integrity and provide emotional safety.

Because they inject good energy into the team, they instill an atmosphere of trust and openness they rip enthusiasm, motivation, transparency from their team.

Positive leaders are able to impact their company culture, improve results, increase performance and enhance job satisfaction.

18 Innovative Approaches To Improve Your Positive Thoughts, To Change Your Work Life And Your Leadership

Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!

Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.

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Book Reviews

Declutter Your Mind: How to Stop Worrying, Relieve Anxiety, and Eliminate Negative Thinking By S.J. Scott & Barrie Davenport

by journeytoleadershipblog2 Comments on Declutter Your Mind: How to Stop Worrying, Relieve Anxiety, and Eliminate Negative Thinking By S.J. Scott & Barrie Davenport

Our thoughts are a way for us to process our experiences and deal with our emotions…

Our thoughts are necessary  for us to understand our situation, to find solutions, to make decisions and to plan for the future.

Our thoughts plague us with negative emotions, stop us from leaving in the present, steal our joy and peace of mind.

It just seems that we just don’t stop thinking and our mind is constantly cluttered.

Declutter Your Mind: How to Stop Worrying, Relieve Anxiety, and Eliminate Negative Thinking #books #bookreview #mindulness #stress #stressrelief #positivity

Four Reasons For Mental Clutter

Mental clutter can trigger several mental illness and physical symptoms. It may cause us to react and to respond in an unconventional manner.

There are four main reasons for mental clutter.

1. Life stress

We are stresses by our jobs, the daily headlines or social expectation. The first reason for mental clutter comes from our everyday life.

2. Too many choices

Having to choose between too many options can be a great source of anxiety, indecision, paralysis, and dissatisfaction. 

3. Too much clutter

Our home is filled with things that we don’t need.

Our mind is filled with data that doesn’t serve us.

Our time is filled with distractions and trivialities.

After a while, we start being too busy to declutter and start thinking negatively.

4. Negativity as reality

We react to negative events more easily, quickly and intensely than positive ones.

That is because we are “hardwired to overthink, worry, and view situations more negatively than they are in reality”. 

Therefore, we accept negative thoughts as being reality, we see “threats as more threatening and challenges as more challenging.”

Habits To Help You Declutter Your Mind

Mindfulness is the art of staying present, of identifying your thoughts and decluttering.

It requires a lot of patience, practice and building specific habits.

1. Deep breaths

Our breathing habits is directly connected to our thinking habits. Whenever we feel anxious or overwhelmed, our breathing changes immediately.

However, we have the power to adjust our breathing to control our thoughts.

To regulate your breathing, several times a day, you can:

  1. Adapt your posture. Sometimes, the way we stand or sit constricts the air in our lungs. It is imperative to sit up straight or to relax your body.
  2. Pay attention to your breathing pattern throughout the day. 
  3. Use abdominal breathing techniques.
  4. Practice slow and deep breathing. Deep breathing relaxes the body, improves general health, quiets the inner dialogue and forces you back in the present.

2. Meditation

Meditation, practiced for thousands of years and originated in ancient Buddhist, Hindu, and Chinese traditions, can be used as a tool for exercising and decluttering your mind.

Meditation reduces negative thinking, redirects to the present moment and improves creativity. To see the benefits of meditation, you must:

  1. Practice meditation daily or in stressful times.
  2. Find a quiet place and a adequate position to practice meditation.
  3. Let your mind wander but always bring back the focus on deep breathing.

3. Mindset monitoring

Many people fall victim to their negative thoughts. They believe the negativity and think that they have no control over what they think.

however, our thoughts are not our identity and we have the power to challenge and reframe them. To do so:

  1. Be aware of your thought pattern. You can witness them without judging  or becoming them.
  2. Give a name to your negative thoughts in order to seperate yourself from them. 
  3. Interrupt them before spiralling. You have the power to say no to the flood of thoughts coming your way. You can also use the rubber band technique to interrupt your thoughts. 
  4. Identify your triggers. 
  5. Distract yourself with positive thoughts and projects.

4. Mindset improvement

After decluttering your mind from negative thoughts, you need to fill your mind with new positive ones.

To integrate a new mindset:

  1. Challenge the negative thoughts whenever they happen and replace them with positive ones.
  2. Accept the negative situation that you are in instead of mentally fighting it. This will give you more control over your thoughts and the situation.
  3. Take positive action that aligns with your values, goals and priorities.
  4. Don’t stay too long in your head. Instead, set a timeframe where you can expand on your worries. Then, find something to distract yourself from your worries.

Review

Declutter Your Mind: How to Stop Worrying, Relieve Anxiety, and Eliminate Negative Thinking is a collection of several blog posts from S.J. Scott & Barrie Davenport.

It is written for people who want to become more productive, who have problems focusing and finding their peace of mind.

Declutter Your Mind: How to Stop Worrying, Relieve Anxiety, and Eliminate Negative Thinking frees you from addiction, distractions, overthinking, from negative and unproductive feelings.

It gives you tips to help you save time, build up your priorities and set the proper boundaries. The tools given are common knowledge and may not work for everyone. I find that the rubber band technique is painful for no reason, is not discreet and is not helpful when it comes to reducing negative thoughts.

However, there are different options that can work for you and your situation.

Furthermore, there is no reason to get discouraged because these techniques require huge commitment and have to be practiced quasi daily for you to see results.

Let me know below what you think about this book!

Favorite quote(s)

Our powerful brains are constantly processing all sorts of experiences and
analyzing them in the form of thoughts. Thoughts form what we perceive to
be reality.

We worry about our health, our jobs, our kids, the economy, our relationships, how we look, what other people think of us, terrorism, politics, pain from the past, and our unpredictable futures. Our thoughts about these things make us suffer and undermine the happiness we could experience right now if we didn’t have that constant voice in our heads stirring things up.

Ratings 3/5

Author

S.J. Scott

Barrie Davenport

 

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Book Reviews

Are you Fully Charged? The 3 Keys To Energizing Your Work And Life by Tom Rath

by journeytoleadershipblog4 Comments on Are you Fully Charged? The 3 Keys To Energizing Your Work And Life by Tom Rath

Are you Fully Charged? The 3 Keys To Energizing Your Work And Life by Tom Rath, introduces people to new strategies to increase their productivity and overall well-being at work and in their lives.

Are you Fully Charged_ The 3 Keys To Energizing Your Work And Life by Tom Rath

STRATEGY #1: Find meaning in helping people

Through his research, Tom Rath found that bringing meaning is detrimental to organizations and to self. Deriving meaningfulness from money and power is the fastest way to sabotage yourself, is not sustainable because it opens up door to comparison, damages your well-being and relationships.

In order to create meaningfulness, to strengthen your relationships and increase your performance at work:

  • Stop seeking happiness and stop putting your well-being first all the time. Sometimes, put people’s need before your own.
  • Create meaningful interactions to protect yourself from negative thoughts, depressions.
  • Contribute to a collective good to make a difference.
  • Dedicate extra hours to meaningful activities.
  • Avoid doing what people expect of you but explore different areas of interests.
  • Focus on the impact of your work, on internal motives rather than external motives. Find ways to remind yourself of your internal motivators daily.
  • Understand your contribution to your organization, your efforts to work. Your efforts can be attached to a larger purpose afterwards.
  • Identify the right work to that it is not only a monetary transaction and that you are emotionally engaged, have better interactions with your colleagues, be more productive. Financial security contribute to happiness.
  • Assess your strengths and weaknesses and apply them to the organization, fill a specific need. Work on your talents to grow and be great at something
  • Say no to distractions. Being busy is not synonymous to importance or progress.

STRATEGY #2: Create positive interactions

To thrive in the workplace and to better your work performance, it is important to intentionally create positive interactions:

  • Assume the best of a situation and of an interaction and learn to convert a negative into a positive.
  • In performance review, spend more time discussing strengths than weaknesses.
  • Use positive words to build on relationships. Creating strong bonds with coworkers fosters creativity and increase effectiveness at work, takes a year to solidify. When confronting or in a difficult situation, preface with positive words.
  • Take small steps and appreciate small wins. For example, make someone smile before making them laugh.
  • Pay attention to people so that they don’t assume the worst about you.
  • Ask questions to initiate a conversation, to engage a debate, to build influence, to negotiate.
  • Share embarrassing moments and mistakes to instill trust and to remain humble.
  • Mirror someone else’s behavior to better the conversation.
  • Don’t use your phone when spending time with people, show that you value the conversation, their time and openness.
  • Create enjoyable experiences with loved ones to create long-lasting positive memories. We tend to forget the purchase of material goods over time even though we felt good while buying it.  Create experiences instead and treasure the memory.
  • Spend money on people you care about. Seeing them happy will instantly make you happy.
  • Plan experiences ahead and share the details with people around you so you can look forward to something and increase your well-being.
  • To motivate people to work for you, have them do something for someone else or for the benefit of the team.
  • Be sincere, help someone see their potential and develop their self-confidence.

STRATEGY #3: Take care of yourself

Leaders are the first to arrive early at work and leave late, to sleep less hours. they claim they are busy but their lifestyle is unsustainable and will lead to burnout.

  • Watch what you eat. Acquiring the right food has nothing to do with calories count but everything with quality. Therefore, eat healthy, avoid fried foods, carbohydrates, sugar and eat more vegetables to boost your energy and to positively influence your mood.
  • The human body isn’t built for a sedentary lifestyle. Exercise, avoid sitting down and add as much exercise and movements a day as possible, especially in the morning.
  • Sleep 20 minutes through the day and sleep longer at night to increase your ability to think, your productivity, health and well-being. Lack of sleep reduces alertness and awareness.
  • Don’t work on a same activity for too long, it will diminish your performance. Take multiple breaks.
  • To improve sleep quality, close the light of your electronic devices, cancel out noises with white noise or noise cancelling devices.
  • Good lifestyle habits create a buffer against stressful situations and slow down the aging process.
  • Take a minute before responding to a negative situation.
  • View stressful situations as challenges.

Review

Are you Fully Charged? The 3 Keys To Energizing Your Work And Life, by Tom Rath, is an easy to read self-help book, a practical guide to life and social interactions. It teaches us how to increase our well-being and make the mots of a bad experience.

Tom Rath has been battling an illness his whole life and as a consequence has the ability to put a positive spin on any situation.

Favorite quote(s)

I have discovered that creating meaning is central not just to my existence but to that of every organization in society today. Businesses, schools, governments, families, and faith-based groups are being challenged more than ever to show how they make a meaningful contribution to society. The essential thing people want in a job today is work that will allow them to create meaning for others.

Work should be more than a necessary means to an end.

The best experiences create memories and well-being that last for years to come.

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Tom Rath

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18 Innovative Approaches To Improve Your Positive Thoughts, To Change Your Work Life And Your Leadership

by journeytoleadershipblog4 Comments on 18 Innovative Approaches To Improve Your Positive Thoughts, To Change Your Work Life And Your Leadership

Thoughts, positive or negative, influence our character, our behavior, our vision, how we deal with setbacks, how we build and maintain relationships, has direct impact on our body and health, emotions.

For instance, negative thoughts affect our daily lives more than we think and can send us down a spiral of despair, depression, insecurity, anxiety and self-sabotage.

Needless to say, most people want to improve themselves, to evolve, to get ahead in their work life but have a tendency to welcome negative thoughts or ignore how to shut them down.

Unfortunately, they end up hindering their accomplishments and career advancements.

That is why it is necessary to control the damage caused by our mind, to discipline our thoughts and emotions, to build up a robust positive attitude and to find peace of mind.

Wondering how to process and control negative thoughts, emotions and how to use a positive mindset to get ahead at work?

18 Innovative Approaches To Improve Your Positive Thoughts, To Change Your Work Life And Your Leadership

Thoughts automatically appear in our mind. They come from past experiences and from the fact that we believe what people have previously said about us. They can be brought up by a word, an image or a memory and employ torture words that decrease our self-esteem, worsens situations, such as “should”, “must” and “have to”.

Because they are spontaneous, we think that they are true. In the long run, thoughts sometimes become rigid beliefs, absolute truths.

Therefore, it becomes an imperative to gain control over them. Disciplining your mind, controlling your thoughts and generating emotions regardless of your environment, regardless the level of attack help you become more mature, make healthier decisions, become more creative, escape, heal bad memories.

Maintaining A Positive Mindset

Positive attitudes can become difficult to maintain in challenging situations in the workplace. But once acquired, it is a habit that can help you overcome bad situations.

Indeed, positivity ensures progress, diffuses situations, alleviates stress, reduces fear, increases endurance, increase self-esteem, attracts positive results and better opportunities. It requires inner work and is independent of external circumstances of the outcome.

There are many ways to bring positivity into the workplace and into your mind:

  1. Identify the source of your thoughts and check the memories that you store in your brain. Be selective about the information that come into your mind. Stay away from the news because they will negatively affect you. Have a joke of the day and send it to people who matter to you. Watch shows, listen to podcasts, audio books that will uplift you, inspire you and motivate you.
  2. Identify triggers, patterns in your thought process. How do they start? What my thoughts say about me? What are the consequences of my thoughts? What do you say regularly to yourself?
  3. Be aware of the content of your thoughts. Therefore, you will be able to interrupt them whenever they don’t help you, to delete the negative ones and replace them with forward-looking ones. Changing thought patterns is difficult because our brain generally resist change.
  4. Understand that you are not the prisoner of your thoughts. Be the one to change the atmosphere in the workplace. Don’t allow the environment to drain you or define who you are. Don’t let someone else control your behavior.
  5. Think about who you want to become and how you want to affect people. Write down 5 dreams that you have ever have, find 5 words to describe yourself and think about it several a day.
  6. Select and force your brain to redirect negative thoughts toward more pleasant alternatives. For example, think about the opposite of the negative thought, attach constructive emotions to an outcome, visualize a positive outcome for the situation or visualize the perfect life every day before you got to bed and everyday when you wake up.
  7. Focus on what is going right instead of what is going wrong. People give negative emotions more importance than the positive ones, which conditions our brain to bring up negative thoughts automatically and repetitively for a long period of time. You have the power to choose and train your brain to give positive emotions more attention.
  8. Accept the present moment and understand that it is inevitable. How to focus and stay in the present? Understand that panicking and worrying is useless, that the past is unchangeable and the future uncontrollable, that every experiences have made you who you are today.
  9. Give your thoughts a name and call them out whenever they send us down a negative spiral and challenge every single thought by speaking them out loud.
  10. It is easy to complain and whine, so be grateful that you have a job and show appreciation in your contribution.
  11. Learn to discern toxic coworkers. Don’t tolerate or focus on negative people.
  12. Get up early and work out before going to work to release the endorphins throughout the day.
  13. Create a positive work zone by insulating yourself with headphones for example. Also, avoid gossip at all cost, put up motivational objects around your desk. Take regular breaks from your cubicle to stop thinking, to meditate and go to the bathroom.
  14. Create a better work life balance to protect your home life. Leave the drama at work, be strict with your hours, avoid staying late and taking work at home.
  15. Behave positively as well. Meaning fake it until you make it.
  16. Separate yourself from the negativity and surround yourself with open-minded people with a positive mindset. Stick positive quotes on your wall of your cubicle or on your desk.
  17. Take a class after work or find a hobby so you have something to look forward to at the end of the day.
  18. Discreetly find a more comfortable and productive workplace.

Last Words Of Advice!

There is a need for Positive Leadership.

Positive leaders have a moral compass, are purpose driven, communicate effectively, exhibit integrity and provide emotional safety. Because they inject good energy into the team, they instill an atmosphere of trust and openness they rip enthusiasm, motivation, transparency from their team.

Positive leaders are able to impact their company culture, improve results, increase performance and enhance job satisfaction.

18 Innovative Approaches To Improve Your Positive Thoughts, To Change Your Work Life And Your Leadership

Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!

Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.

 

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12 Ways Leaders Live Life To The Fullest

by journeytoleadershipblogLeave a Comment on 12 Ways Leaders Live Life To The Fullest

Leaders are generally very busy and have a tendency to spread themselves pretty thin.

They dabble in multiple activities but don’t take the time to relax and to smell the flowers.

While achieving their goals, it seems that they forget to live life to the fullest and can hardly make the difference between Monday, Friday or Saturday.

Wondering how leaders live their life to the fullest?

Living life to the fullest means that you go after what you want without letting fear get in the way.

12 Ways Leaders Live Life To The Fullest #positivity #leadership

1. Leaders focus on themselves

Leaders work towards their goals everyday, focus on themselves and not on others.

Leaders who live their life to the fullest focus their time and energy on things that matter.

In Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit Of Less, Greg Mckeown urges us to discipline ourselves, to be selective of the activities that you partake in. 

2. Leaders give way to their imagination

Leaders don’t downsize their dreams.

Instead, they dream so big that it scares them.

They expect great things from themselves.

They are just convinced that they will succeed no matter what.

3. Leaders are self-assured

They don’t care what others think about them and don’t live by other people’s expectation.

In addition, they say yes to opportunities that they want, they don’t settle for less, for people or a job they don’t respect.

Furthermore, leaders don’t complain, make excuses, or procrastinate.

4. Leaders go after what they really want

Life is shorter than we think. Years go by in a blimp and leaders know that. 

I can hardly remember what happened last year and the year before that.

All I know is that I didn’t do what I really wanted to do.

To go after what they really want, leaders:

  • Maximize their potential
  • Choose their job and activities carefully (if they can).
  • Are selective of whom and what they give their energy to.

5. Leaders do something that they really enjoy everyday

If you like to read like I do, you can take time off at lunch or in the commute to read and to unwind.

Their life choices are not tied to monetary issues.

6. Leaders don’t take life too seriously

Leaders have huge responsibilities.

Paradoxically, they don’t take life too seriously.

Leaders learn to laugh at themselves and their circumstances.

They relax when they have to, and don’t succumb to negative emotions and behaviors.

For them, being positive is a state of mind but most importantly it’s a choice.

7. Leaders walk in their purpose

Leaders live life from the inside out: they know that how they think will demonstrate itself.

Therefore, Every little thing that they do had purpose.

They stick to their system of values and live in alignment with their purpose.

They have clear defined values and a personal mission statement that they live by.

8. Leaders are present

Leaders consider everyday to be a new day.

They don’t let life rule them, they stay present and don’t look back at the past failures.

9. Leaders are forgiving

They do not hold on to past hurts, memories and to people who degrade them.

10. Leaders are authentic

They are committed to grow.

They don’t want to live someone else’s life.

They don’t want to be surrounded by people they don’t like or respect.

11. Leaders are people persons

They enjoy alone time.

They surround themselves with people who push them to grow, to be better and to do better.

12. Leaders are curious

Leaders get out of their comfort zone.

They seek to know more and to upgrade their mindset.

Last Words Of Advice!

We all have an idea of the person we want to become in life.

Don’t wait to have everything 100% in place to behave like your ideal self.

Remember, it’s your life and you create your own life experiences.

 

Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!

Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.

 

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