Positive attitude at work: how to start the working day

Perhaps everyone is familiar with situations when you have to think about how to force yourself to work. Everyone is susceptible to such phenomena - office workers, freelancers, housewives and others. A familiar situation: when you sit down at your desk, the first thing you do is study social networks, read everything in a row, drink coffee, go for a snack, but never get to work? How to deal with this reluctance and why does this happen?

Wake up with pleasure

Waking up in a good mood guarantees a great start to the day and a positive continuation. To do this, firstly, it is important to go to bed not too late the night before to get enough sleep. Secondly, the following recommendations will help:

• Be careful when choosing an alarm clock and its melody. Modern alarm clocks go off during REM sleep, when it is easier to wake up. If you set an alarm on your smartphone, choose a pleasant, cheerful melody.
• Don't rush to get up immediately after waking up. Psychologist Marina Baskakova advises lying down for a couple of minutes and thinking about something good, dreaming. At the mental level, positive thinking will set you up for productive activities.
• Turn on a lamp or open the curtains to let in the sun. Bright light gives you a feeling of cheerfulness and joy.

Remember the need to follow a routine and routine. If you go to bed and wake up around the same time every day, you can stay active and alert all day. This will maintain a positive attitude.

Reasons for reluctance to work

Let's look at the main reasons:

• Most often, the main reason for reluctance to work is simple fatigue
  . The pace of modern life rarely allows for relaxation, and this comes with its own consequences. Trying to match the surrounding rhythm, a person begins to exhale, fatigue accumulates, and there are few opportunities for relaxation. The endless desire to do everything in time and fulfill the plan turns into a nervous breakdown and weakness of the immune system. This affects normal functioning.
• Laziness
  becomes a serious obstacle to fulfilling responsibilities and implementing plans. It rarely appears suddenly, often forming at an early age. It is inherent in almost everyone, but its consequences will not be too destructive if you learn to fight it. If you let it take over, then the work will go slowly, and only serious motivation can change something.
• Endless stress
  has a negative impact, and it is more difficult for a person to force himself to work. They have similar effects to fatigue, but are more difficult to combat. Stress can result not only in a reluctance to work, but also leads to apathy, neuroses, and depression.

Use affirmations

Starting the day for vigor and positivity: Freepick
When you go to the bathroom after waking up, smile at yourself in the mirror. Remember the feelings from childhood when you woke up on your birthday, and try to restore them.

When looking at yourself in the mirror, use a few affirmations from the book “Live Positively” by Louise Hay, for example:

• I'm the best at what I do.
• I'm professional.
• I am a successful, strong-willed, persistent person.

You can formulate your attitudes - positive statements in the present tense. Regular practice of this technique gradually rebuilds the mind towards positive thinking, gives strength and self-confidence.

Allow yourself not to get tired right away

Get into the working rhythm smoothly

After a vacation, we are full of strength and energy, but we shouldn’t immediately rush to work. By incorrectly distributing your resource, you risk quickly “burning out.” In addition, during your absence, the situation at work may have changed, and the tasks you were working on before your vacation may no longer be relevant. Without assessing the situation and rushing into battle without reconnaissance, you risk wasting time and energy.

Read also: Why are French fries called that?

Add creativity

The time after vacation is the best time to try to make your work a little more interesting, a little more creative. If no new projects are planned, you can try to do your daily routine work in a new way, review your usual workday routine, or simply rearrange the items on your desk. Then, without noticing it, you will come to work with more pleasure.

Do some exercise

As a child, parents often force me to do exercises, but do not explain why. It is difficult to instill such a habit in a child who usually does not yet care about issues of health and longevity.

As we get older, we understand that:

• Physical exercise improves blood circulation, nutrition of tissues and organs, and makes the brain work more actively.
• Warming up helps relieve night swelling and tones the body.

Make up a set of exercises from turns and rotations of the head, joints of the arms and legs, bending, and squats. The goal is not to feel the strain, but to prepare the body for an active day. This warm-up will help you finally wake up and lift your spirits.

Sequencing

1. Stop beating yourself up. There is no need to force yourself. This can lead to serious consequences. If you torture yourself, you will develop a dislike for your work.
2. It is important to calm down and clear your mind. Meditation will help with this. You will be able to get rid of unnecessary emotions and establish harmony with your inner world.
3. Think about why it’s difficult to go back to work after a vacation. Perhaps you dislike your workplace or team. It is possible that you need to change your job or even your specialty. Or perhaps you are just tired and a short rest did not allow you to fill your body with energy, and you simply don’t have the strength.

Make time for motivation and meditation

After you wake up and exercise, take some time to find motivation and inspiration. To do this, read a chapter from the biography of an outstanding person, quotes from great people, articles on productivity, or watch a short motivational video.

A short meditation will also help you tune in to your work day, calm your thoughts and give them the right direction. This is the so-called proactive behavior that psychotherapist Linda Esposito recommends. It can be difficult to find time during the day to create inspiration, so the morning is a great time for this purpose.

Overcoming difficult situations

I hope you have adopted a few strategies from this article to increase your positive feelings in the workplace. But what to do with those people who constantly sow negativity around us? Here are some tips for you:

1. Sometimes the most appropriate response to other people's complaints and negativity is simple empathy. Don't take their complaints to heart and don't sympathize. Sympathy does not solve problems, it connects.
2. Keep your distance. We deserve to be happy, and when others try to steal that joy from us, a little distance is considered acceptable. Long distance is not always an option, so what then? Imagine a shield that goes up so that you can see and hear, but are not infected by the toxicity of negativity.
3. Gratitude game. Sometimes we just want to tell a person “hey, stop being so negative!” But I promise you that this will not help. Instead, ask, “tell me three good things that happened today?” This approach is called the gratitude game.

Yes, sometimes life gets complicated. Positive feelings must be genuine. This is not a fake smile, a game of happiness in times of tragedy or intense sadness. When life is hard, you will feel bad. Developing positive habits will help you sustain yourself during dark times, but it won't make your pain go away.

When things get bad, be alert and think about what could be worse. Pay attention to extreme words like “always,” “never,” and “worst.” Are you always late with your work? Is this really the worst day of your life? Is it true that your boss never notices your hard work? Ask yourself these kinds of questions before you start setting yourself up for negative emotions.

When we lose someone in our life, we grieve. Give yourself time and space to move through all five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance.

Keep in mind that emotions are only one part of Dr. Seligman's five elements of happiness model: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and achievement. Although positive emotions may not be possible at some points in our lives, we can still focus on the other four patterns. Focus on what matters to you: rely on strong relationships, recognize and enjoy your successes in other areas of your life, and more.

Conclusion

I have listed all the positive mood strategies at the end of this article. There you will also find an action plan that you can use in your experiments with different approaches. Try to maintain your optimism and charge other people with it. This will have an immediate positive effect on your career. Follow the advice from the article to protect yourself from the negative emotions of people around you.

Action plan for becoming a positive person

You may find it helpful to take a few notes on each of the 21 strategies to help you remember each one.

Reducing the number of negative thoughts in our head

• calculate the worst, best and most likely options;
• reject negative thoughts;
• change your perspective on a negative situation.

Increasing the number of positive thoughts in our head

• gratitude journal;
• create a portfolio of positive moments;
• Find a specific point in your life that you associate positive thinking with.

We create a positive environment

• Change your physical space;
• Take a break from your daily movement;
• Take a social media sabbatical.

Creating Positive Relationships

• Emotional constructive question;
• Give more positive reviews than negative ones.
• Practice random acts of kindness.

Creating positive habits

• Balance of work and play activities;
• Find joy in your work;
• Use your natural strengths.

Attitude towards negative people

• Showing empathy;
• Keep your distance;
• Gratitude game.

Actions in difficult times

• Stick to extreme words;
• Give yourself space to get through the difficult phase;
• Focus on what matters to you.

After reading the article, use this action plan to record your experiments with

different approaches.

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Create a Ritual

Morning ritual: Freepick
A ritual is understood as a certain action or set of actions that “turns on” a person and puts him in a certain mood. Various options:

• vigorous exercise;
• cold and hot shower;
• a cup of coffee or tea.

Psychotherapist Nicole Urdang recommends making a delicious, leisurely breakfast a ritual. Immerse yourself in the process completely and enjoy it. Anticipating your favorite ritual makes waking up much easier.

Set achievable goals for yourself

Small, accessible goals will help motivate you. Create some tasks for yourself or for your team if you are a leader. Setting the bar too high often only leads to disappointment when goals are not met on time. Reward yourself and your employees with small rewards for achieving these goals.

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Make a plan for the day and visualize it

A clear understanding of what exactly you will do and what you want to accomplish helps you to have a positive attitude towards work. Blogger Anastacia Kay recommends making a clear plan for the whole day:

• Write down the tasks.
• Place them in order of priority.
• Allocate an approximate amount of time for each task.

When creating such a plan, do not try to fit all the tasks for the week into one day (especially if it is a Monday plan). Assess your strength soberly, allow a little time in reserve in case of force majeure. Plan relaxation and pleasant moments (meeting with friends, calling those you care about).

When the plan is ready, visualize the coming day and the result of completing all tasks. A mental picture of a positive result helps you cope with work tasks faster and more efficiently.

Tips for working at 100%

To get yourself to work, stick to a simple and effective plan.

• Motivation
  . Often, poor performance is not due to laziness, but to a lack of clear motivation. Your task is to understand what you are working for, what results the work will bring - visualize it.
• Clear wording
  . One of the main mistakes that provoke reluctance to work is the incorrect formulation of the task. Because of this, a person avoids completing a task, problems pile up in a medium-sized lump, and the feeling of guilt and subconscious anxiety due to an unfulfilled item increases. Don’t set the task like this: “Write an article.” Paraphrase: “Write about which countries to relax in in winter, tell where the most beautiful places are.” Make detailed clarifications. The more detailed the goal is, the closer you are to it, and the higher the likelihood of achieving it. You can add additional details: lead time, deadlines.
• Negative thoughts
  . Don’t keep repeating to yourself: “What a boring job,” “How hard this is for me,” “I don’t want to do this.” You program yourself for negativity, discourage the remnants of the desire to work. Understand this: putting off a task for too long takes more energy. During the time of procrastination, you could have dealt with the matter long ago and forgotten about it, but it continues to hang over you as an invisible weight. Start working not with negativity, but with fruitful thoughts. Get ready for action while sipping tea and listening to upbeat music. Convince yourself: “This is a small thing, you can finish it in two days and not think about it anymore,” “I’ll do this faster, I can relax, take a walk,” etc.
• Just get started
  . The simplest and most correct way to combat procrastination is to start. Tell yourself that you will do this task for ten minutes, and if it is unbearable, then quit. In ten minutes you will be drawn into the process and will not want to quit what you started.
• Mindfulness
  . An important point on the path to motivation is to realize why you are doing something and where it leads. Don't expect motivation to appear if you are faced with a not particularly pleasant task and its outcome is not clear to you. Can't start working? Clearly imagine the end result of the action.
• Imagination
  . Think about the essence of the upcoming process. Imagination is a powerful tool, and it would be foolish not to use it. Imagine that you are on an internship, and your performance determines whether you get a position and a salary.

Find positivity on your way to work

All the previous points on having a positive attitude at work can be done at home, but you still need to get to the office. It is very important not to lose your mood here, especially on public transport or due to inclement weather.

On the way to work:

• Notice beautiful things. Pay attention to the trees and clouds, birds and flowers. The beauty of nature is calming and positive.
• Use your imagination. During a crush on public transport, mentally compare people to penguins, shifting from foot to foot. If you are driving and get stuck in a traffic jam, dream about something pleasant.
• Look around and mark the places and establishments you would like to visit, pay attention to posters for interesting events. Planning your rest helps you work more efficiently.
• Listen to your favorite music or audiobook. While traveling in public transport or walking, positive melodies or funny stories will add excitement and create a good mood.

How to force yourself to work when you don’t feel like it and don’t have the strength

People who don't want to do anything and don't know how to force themselves to work often deal with procrastination. How to overcome it? Look for energy. Many people complain of chronic fatigue, due to which planned work progresses slowly. It’s easier for a person to collapse on the sofa with a book than to carry out the original plan.

Where to get energy from - the main ways:

Physical exercise

Many will find this advice absurd, because sport also takes energy, but do not rush to conclusions. Start training and you will receive effective help in the fight against apathy.

What does sport give:

• Increased learning ability
  . This is achieved by increasing the level of neurotrophins, which support the viability of neuronal cells and provide them with the necessary resources. Hormone levels are normalized and concentration improves.
• Strengthening the body
  . With the help of physical exercise, a balance is achieved in the interaction between the body and the brain, toxic substances are eliminated. Feeling better, the immune system more effectively fights possible illnesses that provoke fatigue and apathy.

Hobby

Sometimes we don't want to work, thinking that something interesting is passing by at that time. We start reading magazines, news streams, watching shows, analyzing the lives of stars. As a result, the feeling of disappointment does not go away, because with such a pastime we gain nothing, and the work remains unfinished. Find productive and interesting hobbies that you genuinely enjoy and relax. This could be sewing, playing the guitar, swimming (there are many choices). By spending your free time productively, you will be more willing to get to work, inspired to new achievements. A hobby should not be related to your main job, so you will not be distracted. Choose a hobby that is far from your professional activity.

Rest

To have the strength and desire to work, you need to rest well. It is impossible to work every day from morning to evening without getting emotional burnout. A person needs to periodically take time away from work responsibilities to avoid stress. Give your body a chance to recover.

Improved sleep

Healthy sleep is the key to good performance. By paying attention to sports, doing various exercises, or simply walking in the fresh air, you are more likely to overcome insomnia. Healthy sleep ensures good health and gives you vigor. It is difficult for a tired person to force himself to work, and to get rid of fatigue, do not neglect proper sleep.

Create a positive atmosphere for yourself and your team

When you come to work, it is important to maintain a positive attitude and not let your mood dissipate, for example, at the sight of irritated colleagues. Candidate of Psychological Sciences Svetlana Tikhomirova is sure that for a positive attitude it is important to love your job, respect your colleagues and enjoy life.

This can be expressed in simple steps:

• Take a sincere interest in the affairs of your colleagues.
• Focus on achievements and enjoy even small successes.

Having completed all these steps in the morning, you will feel invigorated, learn something new, draw up a clear action plan and know where it will lead. All together will be the key to a positive attitude not only at work, but also for the whole coming day. Remember that your mood and condition are in your hands.

Original article: https://www.nur.kz/family/self-realization/1691932-tekhniki-pozitivnogo-nastroya-na-rabot/

Get ready

First you need to find a quiet corner.
A tip for those who work in open space offices: this is not your workplace. A car won't do either - there are too many things around that will distract attention. Most likely, it will be more convenient in the foyer or on the balcony. You can arrive early so that no one disturbs you. You will also need a notebook or notebook for notes (make sure you have a pen with you). And of course it will take hours. Otherwise, how will you be able to time it and be sure that you do it in exactly seven minutes?

Get inspired by successful people

Read interviews with successful people, watch the program “Business Secrets” with Oleg Tinkov. Examples of people who have become successful are inspiring, and it will be easier for you to force yourself to work again.

Remember that periods of failure and decline are followed by periods of growth. If you don’t feel like working right now, this doesn’t mean that this mood will last forever. Examples of successful people will help speed up the recovery from the crisis. They will pump you up with the positivity you need during a crisis.

What is procrastination

In the USSR, this condition was simply classified as laziness! Now, instead of: “I’m screwed!”, they answer: “I’m procrastinating.”

Procrastination is the deliberate putting off of things until later. Everything is transferred: from little things (writing a note, doing the cleaning) to serious matters (visiting a doctor, submitting documents).

Chronic procrastinators do everything at the last minute: coursework overnight, urgent order - 24 hours in advance.

“Procrastinators” find a million reasons to justify doing nothing. They'll give the cat a bath, clean out the closet, clean the grout on the tiles, and sort through the photos on the computer. Anything to avoid writing a program or dissertation.

When there is a critical minimum left before the deadline, they pull themselves together and do everything quickly. Often they even do well. Then they honestly promise: “I will always do everything on time!” A new task arrives and everything starts all over again.