Here at SNS we take action every week to make progress in making our dreams come true. By setting clear defined actions every week, being accountable to others and then celebrating those successes makes our progress focused, tangible and way more fun.
But there are times where we are working on something that is really difficult or we just feel down and need a pick up. In the past I focused on adding coffee to my body to help in these times. While this is close to the right idea – making changes in your body to help the brain become more active or to help raise your emotions – it falls short.
The following are three things that I do to help myself feel happier and better focused through the day.
- Realize that you can decide how you want to feel – figure out how you want to feel, make a clear decision that you are going to feel this way and say it out loud to yourself 5 times.
- Get out of your desk and do some stretches with deep breathing. By getting your blood flowing through your entire body every 45 mins to 1 hour you can feel refreshed and focused again.
- Change your body language - instead of being hunched over and looking down while walking try walking like John Travolta at the beginning of Saturday Night Fever. Not only will you look cool but you will feel 10 times better. See – How to Strut
These are just the beginning. Yoga, tai chi, meditation and many other diciplines have lots of great ideas on how to feel better that take just a moment to preform. If you have any other ways to feel better then share them with us by commenting below.
You will have to excuse me as I need to practice my strut.
Jason
A nemesis is “an opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome”. All of the cool heroes have one, some even have an arch-nemesis, so why can’t regular people have a nemesis as well?
It happened by accident
This idea has its origin in a trip my wife and I took a number of years ago. We drove our Volkswagen van around Idaho and British Columbia for the summer, mountain biking along the way. During the course of the trip we had a few van pitfalls: doors not unlocking, engine overheating, electrical fires; the usual Volkswagen van issues. Some of these issues were resulting in some fairly heated discussions (alright, we were fighting) and putting a bit of a damper on our trip.
During one of our vehicle breakdowns, I believe it was the electrical fire, things were about to start getting heated when I blurted out, “it must have been the banditos.” Needless to say my wife was taken off guard by the comment and we both started to laugh (while making sure the fire was out under the dashboard).
I hate sombreros
For the rest of that trip, and for many hiking, camping, and biking trips after that we have avoided many of our heated discussions by blaming things that go wrong on the banditos, and it instantly lightens the environment and helps to avoid problems. Our inside joke has entered into other parts of our lives as well: when we wake up in the middle of the night and think someone is downstairs, it’s the banditos; when I sent my wife on an engagement scavenger hunt it was because I had been kidnapped by banditos.
You get the picture.
Something to use in everyday life
This has been a useful tactic for my wife and I too add a bit of fun to stressful situations we encounter, and could be a useful tool for you as well. If you think long enough I am sure you can think up your own nemesis:
Lost a computer file? Damn those vampires.
Stuck in traffic? It must be those pesky robots.
Lost your keys? Those disturbing smurfs must be at it again.
The point is, sometimes (lots of times) we take ourselves, and our circumstances far to seriously. So, create yourself a nemesis and make those stressful moments in your life a game instead of a problem.
Let me know what nemesis you create for yourself, or, if you think this post is crazy, let me know that too (of course if you criticize me you must be in it with the banditos)
Check out other helpful posts in my Success Toolbox
