7 Things You Can Do to Start Your Day On a Positive Note

How do you start your day?

The dawning of every new day presents you with another fresh chance to make the most of unexplored potential and opportunities.

But how can you ensure that you start your day on a positive note, avoid anxiety and depression, and have positivity echoed throughout the day?

Below are seven habits that are guaranteed to help you start your mornings on the right footing and maintain the same until the day’s end.

1 – Keep A Reminder By Your Bedside

If you keep a note of what it is you intend to do or achieve in your day, and it becomes the first thing you wake up to every morning, then it can be the motivational element you need. You can write down your topmost priorities in life, and then read them and keep reminding yourself of those words so that you never assume or forget what is truly most important in life for you. Consider scribbling down at least three things that you give the highest priorities for the day. This process will help you work towards achieving those goals.

Additionally, you can scribble down anything that promotes a positive outlook on life. This will help you be more appreciative of things, be it the weather, work, food, people or different things that happen around you. It may not seem like much, but often it’s the small things that we take for granted that make the most significant impacts in our lives.

Get in the habit of allocating a few minutes to read what you have written down and to meditate upon it during the day.

2 – Give One Genuine Compliment

Give a genuine compliment to your spouse, friend, family member, workmate or merchant that you bump into in the morning. This will help lift their day and your day as a result. This may help you go about your activities feeling happier and with brighter spirits. Look at the various things that make you appreciate from the people in your life and then let them know how you value them.

If possible, let it come unexpectedly. Bonus points if it is something that person has not heard before. If you are short on ideas, pick something a bit different from the ordinary such as superficial stuff that people enjoy doing. For instance, you can praise someone for their great sense of fashion or taste in music, or how they are good with animals.

3 – Positive Nourishment During Breakfast

If you like to start the day with the news, just be mindful that you don’t start every day by reading about things things that are depressing and evoke negativity. Instead, settle for what will inspire you throughout the day.

You can opt to read check out websites and blogs that share funny, positive, and uplifting posts, such as https://psycoaching.com.au/blog/ As mentioned in point 1, you can have an inspirational book that you read a few pages of every morning to motivate you.

You can decide to start your day on a fun and warm note by engaging in exciting conversations when you are with the family at the kitchen table. And don’t skip breakfast – it really is the most important meal of the day!

4 – Start Work by Handling the Most Crucial Task of the Day

Always begin your work by handling the duties or responsibilities that you have given the highest priority. Completing such tasks will make you feel confident about your abilities, and happier when you take a rest during the day. It also will have you feeling confident when you move on to the pending jobs.

Psychologist Wendy Corlis suggests you avoid pushing yourself too hard to handle something if you are having trouble getting started. Take your mind off work for a few minutes, and then you can refocus on the task at hand with a fresh look at things. The hardest bit is getting started, but you need to find ways of remaining positive and ensuring things flow once you set the ball rolling.

5 – Take Things Slow

Avoid getting into things in a rush. Slow your pace so that you allow yourself to focus and be in tune with what you are doing. It will help you avoid stress when you encounter some challenges.

If you feel as though you are not getting much done at the end of your day, then ensure you handle some jobs that you find exciting and demand quality input from you. Such tasks can get your juices flowing and lower your stress levels, thus allowing you to proceed to the next duties feeling energetic. Start at a slow pace and see how it goes.

6 – Remember To Work Out

Healthy exercise is vital in starting your day with positivity. You should find ways to exercise through the course of the week says sports masseuse Jason Hollier, as it will help you lessen tensions, elevate your moods and enhance your energy levels. Your mind will feel more tuned in, and you may find you are more decisive and optimistic about what you want to achieve in each passing day.

If you can, squeeze in some workout sessions in your morning. Try walking to work, or riding a bike to school, or even a quick 15- minute workout before getting ready and taking your breakfast.

7 – Do The Right Thing (In A Small Or Big Way)

The objective of this is to boost your self-esteem and uplift your spirits so that you feel happier during the day. Strive to do what you feel deep within you is the right thing. For instance, you can opt to do the following:

  • Holding the door for your workmate, carrying some boxes for your neighbour, pointing out the way for that stranger you meet on the road or any other random act of kindness.
  • Be ready to offer a shoulder to lean on or a listening ear to someone in need of such.
  • Do something that inspires positivity in you or another person in one way or the other and building upon that step.

Do you need help finding balance and positivity in your life? Contact a Gold Coast psychologist to start e counselling and live the life you deserve.

By Finn Fox and Richard Moore.

www.psycoaching.com.au

New Years Resolutions Done Right

Happy New Year Everyone! Are you tired of New Years Resolutions? Do they cause you depression and anxiety?

What’s the big deal about New Years resolutions? After all – there is no time like the present to set and review goals. Well, it just happens to be January, so let’s take the opportunity to have a look at getting it right!

Many reading this may well say they are “done” with new years resolutions. The very nature of them means that we keep coming back to the ones that haven’t worked in the past – so we tend to set resolutions around our weaknesses, rather than capitalising on our strengths. As noble as it is to recognise our weaknesses and attempt to change them, we are facing an uphill battle if we don’t set a plan of action that focuses on capitalising on the strengths we already have. For those of us with a habit of “beating ourselves up” over resolutions that didn’t turn out as planned, this can weigh on us to the point where we may want to throw in the towel.

For some of us who did set new years resolutions; come February, we often find that the casual resolutions thrown about over Christmas drinks have either been forgotten, or are already starting to look too difficult.

So are New years resolutions worth doing?  Is there a better way of doing it to the way you are doing it now? Absolutely. You can also take the help of online therapy Australia to set your goals without getting stressed.

Give the following tips a try:

-Set goals using the S.M.A.R.T. approach (see previous posts).

– Avoid massive changes. Instead, plan to celebrate smaller wins toward small goals. The science says it’s far more likely to work for you. And you can always go back and set the next step in the next quarter.

– Do it gradually. You’re far more likely to have success if you do it in little chunks.
For instance, if you want to eliminate junk food from your diet, and total abstinence hasn’t worked in the past, remember that you don’t need to do it all at once. Instead, try not to have junk food for one meal a week, then every third meal, and so on. You’re more likely to have success if you do it in little chunks.

-Forgive yourself, because willpower will always ebb and flow. Use the moments when you’re feeling resolved to prepare for the times when you might falter.

-Set your life to minimise temptation. Put on your gym gear the night before, slice up fruit and veg and place it at the front of the fridge. Remember that if we order the super-size popcorn at the cinema, we will eat it.

-If necessary, make fewer resolutions in the first couple of weeks or months to allow yourself to really focus on what you want to accomplish.

And remember – if you have “fallen off the horse” already, don’t be too critical of yourself.  Setbacks are part of the process.  Just remember to get back on the horse.

If you would like some personal assistance with setting goals, or if something keeps on blocking you, personal consultation with a Gold Coast Psychologist can help.  

See the blog section at Psycoaching.com.au for more helpful articles.

What are your thoughts on new years resolutions?  Let us know in the comments below.

-Richard