Our attitude starts with our thoughts. Therefore the thoughts we choose to focus on make a big impact on our attitude. If you want to improve your attitude, start by focusing on the right things.
Here are two simple tricks to help you begin and end your day focusing on something positive, which will in turn boost your attitude.
Begin your day with gratitude
The Why: When the alarm goes off, our brains start chugging through all the reasons we have to be anxious, upset, or annoyed. These kind of thoughts don’t exactly give our attitude a boost of positivity. To combat that, start your day with an intentionally positive thought.
The What: Before you get out of bed each day, think of ONE reason to be grateful about your life. That’s it! Just one simple thought. The only challenge is that you cannot be grateful for your Keurig or the muffins at your favorite bakery every day. You must come up with a different reason to be grateful each day.
You can, of course, think of more than one reason to be grateful, but start with just one each morning until you’ve developed a habit.
End your day with 3 positive thoughts
The Why: We don’t to be reminded to look back over our day and notice all the things we did wrong. That comes naturally. But most of us do need a reminder to look back over the day and notice the things we did well. This will boost your
The What: Each evening, write down (physically or digitally) three things you did well that day. It doesn’t matter how insignificant or life shattering they are. All that matters is that you write down something you accomplished, and you are glad you did it. Again, it’s that simple.
More about the importance of making a Three Things I Did Well List
If you practice this simple exercise consistently it will boost your self-confidence, which helps you have a more positive attitude. Not because you’ll give yourself a big head writing down how awesome you are, but because you are documenting a track record that helps you see that you can accomplishing more than you think, even on days you feel like a total failure.
This is especially important when you are going through trauma, when accomplishing normal everyday tasks done can feel insurmountable. For example, if your fighting an illness, getting through the day without taking ibuprofen might be a big accomplishment. Or getting dressed instead of staying in your PJs all day.
But writing down three things you’ve done well each day is important all the time Every day we hear about people doing amazing things and we can feel worthless in comparison. This simple exercise helps us notice the good we are doing, even if no one else notices.
Here are some examples of things you might include on your “Three Things I Did Well Today” list:
- I took time to stop and enjoy the flowers. I even took a photo.
- I met my exercise goal for the day
- The laundry is all put away
- I held a conversation with my teen without raising my voice.
- I made the phone call I’ve been putting off for two weeks
- Dinner turned out as good as I’d hoped
- I remembered to floss my teeth
- When I bumped into a friend at WalMart, I let her talk without stressing over my schedule.
- I was on time for the meeting
You can take it from here.
Start your new positivity-boosting habit immediately!
Stop right now and think of one reason to be grateful about today. And before you go to bed, take a minute to write down three things you did well.
It may now sound like much, but making these simple tricks a habit will pay dividends. Try it and see for yourself.
