As we enter a period of renewal and change, Your Clear Next Step is committed to helping our customers make their businesses and workdays even better. We will be here to walk beside you, to listen, to connect, and to aid in your search for clarity. In doing so, we are offering a free, daily Zoom call, called Daily Connections, at 1:15pm (CDT) every weekday from 3/19/2020-5/1/2020.
These calls are a chance for us to share tips and discussion about relevant topics (working remotely, maintaining consistency in uncertain times, building relationships across geography, staying motivated, staying connected, etc) and network with each other to provide help and support during this time of change.
Thank you to everyone who was able to join us today! The next call will be Friday, April 17th at 1:15pm (CDT). Click here to join.
On today's call...
Sinikka shared a few thoughts on finding what's good.
What we focus on is what we see and where we head. If we focus on the negative, we’ll wallow in the negative. If we focus on the positive, we have a better shot of more wise and insightful problem solving.
Disclaimer – I am not in any way diminishing the economic impact of this current pandemic. I am in no way downplaying the personal, financial, emotional, and physical toll that this moment is taking on us collectively and individually.
Disclaimer – Dyed-in the wool optimist that I am, even I am not advocating for naively viewing every situation through a rose-colored lens that is so tinted that I can’t see the truth in front of me.
BUT.
Emotional intelligence teaches us that a dimension of self-management is a positive outlook. I think that there are some of us more naturally wired to see the rose for the thorns, but I FIRMLY believe we can train ourselves in this space. And it’s a conscious, intentional choice.
Here are five tips to help you find the good on a more regular basis
- Start each day with a focus on something good
- Keep a gratitude journal
- Make a deliberate effort to share positive social media posts – exponentially more positive than negative
- Spend time with positive people – it will rub off on you
- Focus on “catching” yourself in the moment – praise the positive, redirect the negative
Participants shared some of the good things they’ve seen over the last few weeks:
- My family, including two highly engaged teenagers, have had (at least) 30-minute dinners together for the last 33 days. I worked really hard to make sure we had family dinners before that, but sometimes they were only 5 minutes. It’s been wonderful to have so much time together around the dinner table every single night.
- I shared a message of hope on my Facebook page called “uncertain times?”. I keep hearing that phrase, “uncertain times”, places. But if you think these times are uncertain, you will begin to adapt that way of thinking. So, let’s begin to focus instead on the things that we are certain of. I’ve had so many people reach out to me to share that they’ve been feeling weighed down with the uncertain things, but we can all change that by re-framing the way we look at life
- I’ve seen people work hard to overcome things. They’ve seen obstacles in their way recently, and so many people have rolled up their sleeves and try to solve it. It’s been encouraging to see so many people step up, and take a solution-based mindset, instead of just complaining about what has happened to them.
- Seeing so many people invest their dollars back into their community has been really encouraging, especially when so many people’s paychecks are uncertain right now.
- Our church is feeding 95 families breakfast every single day. We deliver to an apartment building that is low income, and many of the families there don’t have their own transportation so this is one of their only options.
- I’ve had the opportunity to talk more with my family, and about things that we otherwise wouldn't normally talk about.
- There is an undisputed national rise in appreciation for teachers.
- And grocery workers, and sanitation workers, and truck drivers, and healthcare workers. So many of the essential workers who are normally go unrecognized.
- I’ve seen a couple pictures recently of the LA skyline where you can see a perfectly pristine blue sky, which I’m not sure has been the case there for many years.
- I’ve heard of several people who have wanted to adopt or foster a pet during this quarantine, and they couldn’t, because were no more pets in the shelter!
- I’ve heard of people offering up their unused campers or RV’s to healthcare workers, so they have a clean, safe space to sleep.
- My granddaughter called me the other night and said “you’ll have Applebee's for dinner tonight, all you have to do is go pick it up” which was so delightful.
What are the good things you’ve seen?