Four tips to improve the quality of your day

Theresa M. Szczurek //December 29, 2014//

Four tips to improve the quality of your day

Theresa M. Szczurek //December 29, 2014//

Life and work bring many surprises, opportunities, challenges and unexpected changes.  It can be a jungle out there.  Peace, health, and wealth may be illusive.  You may wonder, “Over what do I have control?” 

In Simple Abundance, A Daybook of Comfort and Joy, Sarah Ban Breathnach provides guidance, “The one thing we do have absolute control over is the quality of our days.  Even when we’re grief-stricken, racked with pain, sick from worry, deeply depressed, squeezed by circumstances – how we greet, meet, and complete each day is our choosing.”

Henry David Thoreau agrees, “To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.”

Practical Pointers.

  1. Greet each day in a grateful, positive way.  Try this from Ban Breathnach, “Thank you for the gift of this wonderful day.” 
  1. Use the Self-fulfilling Prophesy in a Positive Way.  According to businessdictionary.com, a self-fulfilling prophesy is defined as any positive or negative expectation about circumstances, events, or people that may affect a person’s behavior toward them in a manner that causes those expectations to be fulfilled.  Expect a GREAT day. Ban Breathnach continues, “Days that are expected to be wonderful before they begin turn out to be so much more frequently than days greeted with grumbling.”
  1. Shift your perspective.  “Even loosy days possess hidden wonder.  Sometimes all you need is a moment of attitude adjustment to shift your perception of an entire afternoon and move forward into a pleasant evening,” learned Ban Breathnach.
  1. Invest your energy.  Put your heart, head, and hand (or physical) energy into your day.  “All days are wonderful in direct proportion to the creative energy invested in them.  No investment, no return.  Weather does not seem to affect the experiment.  Gray, cold, and rainy days spent in an office are just as susceptible to the warming influence of enthusiasm as are sunny days spent lying in a hammock sipping sangria,” explains Ban Breathnach. 

Diary of a Start-up

A high school friend recently visited me.  She had me read a very detailed horoscope for my upcoming birthday month October.  It predicted with two upcoming eclipses, there were major, positive career developments coming my way.  Well, I don’t normally read these predictions, but this helped me set a positive expectation.  It shifted my perspective. It activated my use of the “Attraction Strategy” as described in my book, Pursuit of Passionate Purpose.

Low and behold, in exactly the stated timeframe, the forecast delivered:  a new partner found Radish with exactly the right skills, attitude, and contacts to leverage our core competencies and product.  In our discussions, that partner said, “This is a partnership made in heaven.  It may be serendipity, but we are very excited to work together.”  Other good things began and continue to happen with new customers, additions to our team, positive response to our newest product offering, and much more. 

Conclusion.

The quality of your day is self-determined.  It is your choice.  “It doesn’t matter whether a day is good or bad.  What matters is what we do with it,” concluded Ban Breathnach.  You can turn a good day into a great day.  You can turn a good life into a great life.  Begin now!