Live Your Life With an Attitude of Gratitude

Cultivating gratefulness enhances your life and will provide long-term emotional rewards.  How grateful are you for your life, for those around you, for where you live, for having running water everyday?

We live in an extremely materialistic age.  It is standard to expect so much, often too much.  The fact we have and own so much appears to have an impact on how grateful we actually are.  Some of us tend to focus on what we don’t have at times rather than what we do have.

Imagine what it would be like if you started every morning being grateful.  Grateful for a wonderful night’s sleep, grateful for a warm bed, grateful for a comfortable mattress, grateful for being able to sleep in your own room.  Wouldn’t that be a positive way to start the day?

I once heard someone say – don’t wait to have a wonderful day – start your day in a wonderful way.  So why not start your day by being grateful from the moment you wake up.

Imagine the impact it would have on those around you if you show true gratitude.  You would be the person they aspire to be.  As we get older, we do tend to be more grateful, grateful for our health, our family, our friends, good food, at times even a sunny day.  When we are grateful, we magnify our positive emotions.

The impact this attitude of gratitude would have on your children or grandchildren and generally the people around you would create an incredible ripple.  You would be leading by example in such a positive way.

Gratitude is about appreciation; it is recognising the small details around you that are special.  We take so much for granted.  We start to appreciate ‘the little things’.  You start to see good in so many places.  Living your life being grateful means that in so many small ways, everyday will be a positive experience.

Keeping a gratitude journal is a fantastic idea as it allows you to spend time each day thinking about what you can appreciate in your life.  Oprah Winfrey once said: 

“If you look at what you have in life,
you'll always have more.
If you look at what you don't have in life,
you'll never have enough.”

So why not spread the gratitude and teach others around you how to be grateful.  Lead by example; start to send thank you notes to friends for small things.  It could be a call, a text or an email.

Display gratitude and thankfulness to those around you often. The more people that hear and experience your appreciation, the bigger the ripple effect.

The bonus is that the more you display appreciation and gratitude, the more you will experience and notice the small things that we do for others.  At times, if we let it, our life can feel hectic and we can reach our capacity and then comes overwhelm; however, when we stop, take a moment to enjoy the present that is when we can see, feel and experience, all the wonderful things and people that surround us every day.

Promoting this is promoting life.  Live your life everyday with an attitude of gratitude.

7 Tips to Work More Effectively

By implementing these 7 tips you are going to start feeling and being more productive and efficient.  If you implement them regularly they will develop into positive habits that support you to function at the best you can.

1. Plan your week

When you have planned your week, you are clear and know exactly what needs to be done.  It allows you to handle unexpected situations with a calmness.  But when you are so busy how do you find the time to plan?

The fact is that if you spend 30 minutes to 1 hour planning your week, writing down everything that needs to be done, prioritising the list by importance and then deciding what should be done on Monday, what on Tuesday and so on, you will save hours during the week.  It keeps you on track and your momentum going.

2. Plan your day

Spending time on planning your day makes a difference.  By planning, we know what needs to be done and we are working more effectively and efficiently.  I imagine you are thinking, ‘I planned my week, why do I need to plan my day?’  When you do your weekly planning that is the big picture view.  During the week, other tasks arise that need to be done, so that is what comes into consideration when planning your day.

3. Batch your activities

Every time you start a new activity, it takes time.  You have to get everything you need in order to do the task, you need to get into the mindset and you need a little “warm up time” during which you don’t work as fast as when you have done something for a while.  Once you are done with the task, you have to put everything away, and “cool off”.

So batch your tasks – email, phone calls, shopping.  It makes you more efficient

4. When at work, work!

Focus and concentrate and work when at work.  Just because you are in the office does not mean you are working.  There are many distractions around you – people, coffee breaks, meetings, etc. Focus and really complete the top three tasks for the day then you can reward yourself with a little down time.

5. Finish every activity you start

Fifteen completed tasks are more effective than forty five uncompleted tasks.  Leaving an activity half-finished is a big source of stress.  Whenever something is only half done, it gnaws at you and stops you from focusing on other activities.

On the other hand, when you complete a task, a rush of endorphins is released into your system making you happy, pleased and relaxed.  It gives you the energy to go on and complete the next activity.

So once you start something, finish it.  If you are breaking the task down then make sure when you stop, you know what the next step is.

6. Focus all your energy on the most important activities

The much quoted 80/20 rule states that 80% of the value you create in a day will come from 20% of the activities you perform.  Meaning, if you complete those 20% you will have done much, much more than if you complete all the rest.

Go through all the activities you perform and see which ones are the most important.  Find ways to focus more time on them.

7. Take a break!

The best way to save time is by relaxing!  To be able to work hard and efficiently, you need to be of sound mind and be able to focus.  Take a break once in a while and go for a walk, drink a cup of coffee or take a nap.

Thank you and I look forward to sharing more tips, strategies and skills to support you to be more organised so that you too can create a better life.

“Be an inspiration to yourself and

you will be an inspiration to others.”

What Changes Do You Need to Make You Understand How You Use Your Time?

Last week, we spoke about the value of your time and your action.  Whenever you are about to begin a task, stop and estimate how long the task will take then compare how long it actually took.  You can learn an incredible amount from this exercise.  So …

What did you notice and what did you learn?

What are you going to change as a result of what you learnt?

Have you started to make these changes?

If yes, congratulations on taking action.  If no, not yet ... why not, what is stopping you from improving?

Some additional questions to think about:

• How does your day start?
• Do you have enough time or do changes have to be made?
• When checking your emails does it go on too long?  Do you have enough time or do changes have to be made?
• Is your evening at home enjoyable, and do you have enough time or do changes have to be made?
• Do you enjoy your weekends or do changes have to be made?

Action

Evaluate every task, to gain a better understanding of how well you use your time.  If you didn’t do the time tracking last week, feel free to go to the website www.lifestylerefocus.com.au/free-resources to download the time tracking forms.  Think about one small change you could make that will support you on your journey to creating a better life.

Thank you and I look forward to sharing more tips, strategies and skills to support you to be more organised so that you too can create a better life.

“Be an inspiration to yourself and

you will be an inspiration to others.”