Much Of Happiness Involves Your Attitude
You do not have control over your life or the circumstances around you, and you never will; so quit trying. However, you do have control over how you react. In fact, this is really the only thing you can control—and it isn’t easy. Try to keep your emotions from boiling over when an enemy insults you publicly with an aim toward embarrassing you.
That gets tiresome, and controlling well-deserved rage is very hard. However, you can control your spirit. And in business, you absolutely must. Whether you’re working for a tyrannical boss or you’ve got clientele who you serve that are underhanded and bothersome, if you don’t control how you respond, there will be issues.
But how do you do that? Should you just plaster a smile on your face and lean into it? Well, maybe. It’s hard to manufacture happiness, but you can, and if you persevere long enough, you will.
Following are five tips you may want to consider to help you not only start your business day with a smile, but to help you keep an even keel throughout life’s unpredictable difficulties perpetually.
1. If You Make A Mistake, Make It Right ASAP
Everybody makes mistakes. Even the pope gets indigestion every now and again. There’s no perfect human being. Here’s the thing about accidents, or mistakes: you don’t make them intentionally. Very few people get into a car accident on purpose. Very few people break bones intentionally. Few people screw up sales on purpose, either.
But while some accidents are made honestly, others are made through thwarted ambition. Still others are errors in judgement. Well, if you don’t make those mistakes right, you’ll be fighting to save face and ruminating over why what you did wasn’t your fault. Quit that chicanery! Admit the issue and fix it as soon as possible.
Getting over such problems will help you feel better about yourself, even if you’re dealing with some notable fallout. Bury a mistake and get away with it, and you’ll always have a hunted feeling stealing your joy. But fix it, and you’ll be free—here’s a seven step process to help.
2. Keep The End Goal In Mind, Focusing On That
Another reason to get over mistakes is to keep from being bogged down in “the now”. On the one hand, we do want to live in “the present” rather than the past or the future. On the other, we need goals in life, and those goals must be remembered.
If you’re digging a ditch, you’re not doing it aesthetically, but for an end result—like paying that house off, or putting the kids in college. Remember that each shovel-full of dirt is another dollar to a brighter future. Don’t forget the difficulties of life are inexorably leading somewhere, and somewhere good.
3. A Good Business Day Starts The Night Before: Rest
Get the right level of rest! Everybody needs sleep. Don’t start your work day with two hours of sleep and a hangover, start it with a full night’s sleep on a memory foam mattress in a quiet room where you can dream peacefully and have yourself reset, body and mind. Good rest will give you strength, stamina, and mental clarity for the day ahead.
4. Learn How To Totally Separate Your Work From Your Life
Even if you love the work you do, it’s not your family, it’s not your home, it’s not your life. Clint Eastwood doesn’t come home and pretend to shoot bad guys while grimacing at family members. He has some food, reads a book, watches a little TV, checks in with the grandkids, and generally unwinds. Find a way of separating your work from your life.
5. Find An Attitude Of Gratitude, And Make This A Clear Priority
If you’re reading this you are literate and have access to technology. Congratulations, you’re in the top 10% of the world, in terms of quality of living. Be thankful for that. Learn to have an attitude of gratitude. This puts your life in perspective. Always be thankful in all things, and you’ll find there’s always something for which to be thankful.
The Value Of A Good Beginning
With an attitude of gratitude, the ability to separate life from work, good rest, your end goal in mind, and the will to correct your mistakes whenever you make them, you will have little to anger you in your day-to-day. Focusing on your future, being rested, and being guilt free will help you start tomorrow and every day with an honest grin.