Here’s an article I wrote for Positive Masters at www.positive masters.com, an e-commerce store that provides lifestyle practices, creative writing, apparel, accessories, and fashion to boost your happiness and counter any stress, anxiety, and sadness you may be facing.
On your bad days, just work on 1 to 3 of the most important things that you need to do, and more importantly, by completing them, you know you will feel better. That alone is huge!
On some days, you wake up with less motivation to attack your day. Maybe you’re stressed about the overwhelming amount of work you have to do. Maybe you’re down because things aren’t going as you planned? You’re wondering if something will or will not happen, causing you angst. Are you worrying about a relationship, the break-up of one, or being lonely? The death of a loved may have hit you hard. Maybe it’s because someone yelled at you at work or the critics are attacking you. Heck, it could be all of the above.
You turn off your alarm, wishing you could fade away into a wonderful dream where you’re smiling and sipping a favorite beverage as you overlook the glisteningΒ blue ocean with puffy white clouds floating through the teal blue skies. Aaaaaahhh, that would be wonderful!
No, you can’t do that. Not now. So you drag yourself out of bed and freshen up. Then you return to your bedroom and make your bed to get your first win of the day. You tell yourself, “No matter what happens today, I can make my bed, and when I return, it’ll be welcoming me!”
You execute on your favorite practice, gratitude. “I’m so luckyΒ to be alive to have a shot in this universe,” you say to yourself. You’re mindful of all the useful and memorable things in yourΒ home and express yourΒ gratitude. As you make yourΒ breakfast, you use your late grandma’s plate and quietly express yourΒ thanks as you think of your grandma. You see items from yourΒ other late grandparents and yourΒ parents, causing positive energy to pour into your soul.
With yourΒ breakfast, you drink green tea for its benefits such as L-Theanine to calm yourΒ anxiety and mellow its caffeine, which gives youΒ the calm type of clarityΒ that you need.
In addition to yourΒ mindful and gratitude practices, you do a quick self-reflection on all the good qualities you have and how you’re going to apply them to get closer to your dreams of your future. On your worse days, you meditate to clear yourselfΒ of all yourΒ negative thoughts.
Okay, Now you’re ready to take on the day. However, you powerΒ up your computer and stare at it. Damn, you feel nothing.
You ever feel like this? I do. We all have these challengingΒ days because we’re human. We can’t expect to always have those awesome days when ideas flow smoothly and problems getΒ resolved rather simply. Those terrificΒ days when you put in 10 hours of fulfilling work that didn’t feel like work because you were enjoying the process.
On yourΒ bad days, just focus on 1Β to 3Β of the most important things that you need to get done that dayΒ and execute on them. That’s all you have to do. When coming up with the 1 to 3 things you need to work on, don’t add up many tiny tasks, instead, lump them into broad categories to fit into those 1 to 3 things you need to complete for the day. It’s psychologically beneficial to simplify what you need to do. We’re telling ourselves, “I got this. I can do this.” Don’t allow the gloomy side of your mind to sabotage your plan by overcomplicating and even exaggerating the work you have before you. For that day, you don’t have to achieve a million things, onlyΒ on those few key goals you set for yourself. Accomplishing these goals, even if they’re little are huge because every single accomplishment will add up over time. Getting those few things done will also boost your happy chemicals. Praise yourself for this accomplishment!
This is a part of the process of what I do to keep myself moving forward on my not so good days. It works for me. If it can help you in some way to feel better on your terrible days, it would make me happy!
JON RIKI KARAMATSU 