Take a Fresh Look

I have just been away for ten days or so on a writing break (look out for my new ebook soon!). We arrived home last last night with the energy to do nothing but fall into bed. This morning, however, I had a glorious surprise.

During my few days absence my garden has burst into bloom. Everything looks totally different and utterly gorgeous and I am relishing it to the full. The small tight buds which were modestly clinging to the branches when I left have now burst out into glorious, trollopy, rapturous colour and scent. It was literally breathtaking.

Yet, if I had been here as the buds began to unfurl I probably wouldn’t have noticed such a transformation. I would have appreciated it, most definitely, but I doubt I would have seen the full effect as I am now, or that it would have had such an impact, because I would have been living with it on a daily basis. We just don’t fully appreciate the incremental changes.

Your Life

And life is a bit like that, isn’t it? We don’t always notice out achievements and acknowledge our successes because we’ve been so busy pursuing them. We’ve been so busy living our lives that sometimes we forget to take a few moments to stand and stare, and acknowldege just how far we have come.

Try it now; close your eyes and imagine you are describing your life for someone else. You’re only going to highlight achievements and successes because we spend enough time doing the other thing. Just think how far you have progressed and travelled and the skills and experiences you have acquired; bask in those thoughts for a moment before plunging right back in there!

Photo Credit: Neil Witty

What Do You Best?

In terms of work, what is it that you do best? What makes you feel good about yourself? When do you feel most confident and competent?

Research

It’s important to know. Research on what makes a great workplace* placed having a daily opportunity to do what you do best high in a list of positive factors. In fact, it was number three in 12.

Money is a motivator, of course, but for most of us money alone is not enough and it rarely comes out top in any survey of what motivates people. Work is usually so much more than simply a means to earning a living. We need to get something meaningful from it.

Self Worth

And one of those things is the feeling of self worth that comes from doing what we’re good at, at least once a day. If you are not currently getting that feeling of self worth from work, maybe it’s time to explore other avenues? Perhaps there are other ways of meeting that need, like voluntary work, a second job following your passion?  First stop is to see if work can provide it, but if not, try looking beyond the boundaries of paid employment and see what is out there!

Do you have an opportunity to do what you do best every day?

*Gallup, Buckingham & Coffman. ‘First Break all the Rules: What the world’s great managers do differently’.

Love Yourself!

Do you? Love yourself that is? I don’t mean in the ‘I am wonderful, better than anyone else’ obnoxious kind of way, but do you value and respect yourself?

Sometimes events in our lives have caused us to feel unloveable and it’s hard to shake the negativity off. In fact, sometimes a good deal more than a metaphorical shake is required to rid ourselves of notions acquired by the experiences of life. (But hang onto the wisdom those same events have given you!) We are what we think. As we think so we act.

So, answer honestly, do you love yourself? Would you be friends with yourself? What are the loveable things about you? (There will be loads and if you’re having trouble answering that question take some time to think about it. If you’re still struggling consider asking for some outside help). Think differently about yourself and how you behave will be different.

Write down the reasons you are loveable and likeable.

This is not about achievements, although considering your achievements will help you determine some of your likeable and loveable qualities. It’s about your qualities: loyalty, kindness, honesty, humour, ethics, values, and so on.

When you love yourself it becomes easier to make positive changes in your life; you lose some of the fear around change. More importantly, you believe that you deserve some positive change! Powerful motivators for achieving your goals!

If you’ve found this post helpful, you, or a friend, may be interested in my next RenewYou course.