4 Steps to a Better Day

“Success today! Great way to start a Friday!”

This was the announcement made by a parent this morning as she checked her child in at her daycare. Her fingerprint had scanned well, her ticket had printed and torn off easily.

What a simple task to help determine the course of her day!

Don't let situations rule your day
Don’t let situations rule your day

One little incident can oft times start our day off on a positive path or set us on a downward spiral that can easily get out of control. Those moments that fill our days have the power to determine our course. We give them that power. We hand off our control to the actions and incidents in our day that we don’t have control of to begin with.

Why?

In the case of our daycare mom, she had a positive reaction to a simple task that worked out for her. It was one moment that didn’t negatively affect her plans. Had she struggles with her fingerprint or if the ticket machine had failed to print, her optimistic attitude may have taken a different turn. But she claimed her little triumph and reveled in a great start to her day.

How can we make our days better? … more successful? … more fun?

Positive Attitude

Work on your positive attitude. You know… is the cup half full or half empty?

To a large extent, our optimistic or pessimistic view is part of our character and personality. We all know people who, by nature, tend to see things very positively and others who see doom in everything. We don’t have a lot of control on the basics. But, at the same time, we are an intelligent, thinking, wonderfully made being and God has given us the ability to overcome many things. So we have the ability to “choose” our reactions to many situations. With practice, we can learn to choose our reactions to most situations.

So was that torn ticket really going to affect how my day at work goes? Will my child’s tantrum be the reason I had an irritable customer to deal with? Will the flat tire I had on the way to work actually cause my grocery bag to tear on the way to the car? Things like that don’t have anything to do with one another and some of the issues we face from day to day might simply be the result of the mood we’re in when we encounter them.

Everything needs to be kept in perspective.

Be on Time

Be on time or early.

Running late is a big cause of frustration and irritability. If we’re already behind schedule, anything that slows us down will create even more frustration. We lose our patience with people and situations that wouldn’t have been a problem on any other day. Give yourself some extra time on days that you know could throw you obstacles. If you’re dealing with children, teenagers, spouses, friends that could affect your efforts, give yourself that extra time buffer in case things don’t go perfectly according to plan. Be prepared for the delays that can come from those interactions. You already know how easy or difficult it can be when you have to rely on others being ready, so plan that into your schedule.

Prepare Early

If there is anything that needs to be done in order to get where you’re going or to accomplish something you need to do then prepare early. Pack that bag the night before. Get up and shower a bit earlier. Set out the children’s clothes before you go to bed. Check to make sure you have what you need to fix dinner before heading to work.

Basically … think ahead.

If your plans need something done to be successful, then do it early.

Humor Can Transform

Your attitude when you hit those obstacles will have an impact on a LOT of things. If you can see things from the upside of life, it will transform your day. Not every negative thing that happens to you needs to send your day into chaos. Find the humor in the situation.

When your child spills his juice on himself on the way to school, don’t berate him and send yourself into that dismal day. joke about it. It’s really not the end of the world. Change him when you get to your destination into those extra clothes you packed because you prepared early knowing the types of things that might happen. This won’t cause you to be late because you started out early. And biggest of all… you’re teaching your child that life can be good no matter what happens. You will send him the message that we just need to deal with what happens and move forward so we can enjoy life. It’s too short to throw our moments and days under the bus because some juice was spilled. It will go a long way in showing your child how to handle situations in his future. Anger doesn’t help in most situations, it just gets in the way and causes more hurt.

It's gonna be a half-cup-full kinda day!
It’s gonna be a half-cup-full kinda day!

So… next trip out to work or the store or a trip or whatever… prepare yourself so you can enjoy your journey.

And… if spilling juice happens frequently, get him a sippy cup or fill it with water or let him wait until he arrives at your destination. No need to set yourself up for an “expected” problem. 🙂

For some insightful thoughts about positive changes, check out 10 Areas to Simplify In Your Life

For insights on how to stay more positive check out this link byDeze.

Need help organizing those kids? Read about Mom Hacks here at My Favorite Job Title is Mom.

Go forth and Preserve Your Journey for a great day!

6 Replies to “4 Steps to a Better Day”

  1. The preparing early and being on time is good advice. It can make all the difference. The positive attitude overall helps too, and I just created an email course on changing our thinking.

  2. A positive attitude is so important with everything, and also easier said than done. It’s so easy for us to quickly jump to the negative. Thanks for the insight!

  3. Great steps! Positive attitude is one that I really focus on. I love that you brought up preparing early- one of my shortcomings recently! Thank you!

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