Creating highs

Leading and managing others begins with managing yourself. Managing my mood is a daily practice. When I go through a hard patch, one change makes a huge difference to breaking the state I am in. I consciously inject my days with highs.

Here’s a few things I play around with:

Appreciation
Writing 5 things I am grateful for shifts my mood. Spending the day looking for what I will write is what takes this to the next level.
An attitude of gratitude is a discipline, a habit, a small step that always surprises me with the shift it creates.

Achievement
When we are a bit frazzled, we slip into seeing what we haven’t done. Consciously take your brain to a better place by listing 3 things you’ve achieved that day as you leave work. Celebrate the small wins.

Attention
Choose somewhere positive to focus your attention each day. Stick it on a post-it note. Then look out for it all day. You could focus – on seeing beauty, on positive feedback, on connecting with people. Energy flows where attention goes.

Mental rehearsal
Choose an energy for my day, or for a key event in my day. Confident? Calm? Optimistic? Play the film in my head of me moving through the day or event this way. Show the brain where to go.

Kind thoughts
Loving kindness is a type of meditation. It’s very accessible. You spend time wishing people well and wanting the best for them. Find guided mediations on the Insight Timer or Waking Up apps. Feeling kind to others lets us be kinder to ourselves.

Music
Headphones on + Volume up = Mood boosted.

How’s your mood? How does it impact the people around you? What boosts you? What daily habits help? What is one step you could take?