I had a bad day. Ok, it was more tragic than bad. Recently I had a very close friend die. She died on a Monday, was buried that Thursday, and I returned to work full-time on the next Monday. I find it difficult to deal with bad days.
Full-time strikes me as a funny phrase in this situation.
Keep learning: A Story about Living as Told by a Six-Year-Old Boy about His Dog
I am working full-time if you do not count the time that my mind wanders. I just watched my friend’s daughter and son bury their mother — how could I think clearly?
The outpouring of support has been tremendous. Sarah was a powerful, well-known force. She was a leader in many non-profit groups and created innovative speech therapy training programs for a local School District. Here are just a few of the kind words that people have shared:
I am in tears, and that is ok. May her memory be a blessing. This is the time to mix it with work.
Thank you for sharing her fight. She beat cancer not because she did not pass (we all will eventually), but because she chooses to live while she was here!
The following comment hit me the hardest though. It was a bit different from the others, and reminded me that even successful people have miserable days:
Work is a great way of channeling emotion into fantastic outputs. It doesn’t always work of course – we have days when we don’t want to get out of bed.
This is true. Work is often an antidote to suffering, but it is not a cure-all. Long-time readers know that I reject work-life balance in favor of happiness in life. I believe deeply that everything worth toiling for involves work, and that we should do more of what makes us happy.
The problem is, life is not always happy. If we want to support sustainable happiness, we must also accept that tragedy will seep in. Bad news rarely waits for anything.
Whether you work from home or in an office, are the CEO or an intern, you will feel lousy at work. Sometimes it’s a low-grade malaise, and sometimes it makes you sick.
Do you have the occasional bad day at your job? Not every workday can be met with unbridled enthusiasm, can it? We all have moments when our mood lags far behind the “to do” list in front of us.
In many cases, we can’t identify the cause of the issue causing the problem. Ultimately, the “less than optimal” mood spells serious trouble for the day ahead. But there are actions you can take to turn your day around.
Certain days demand that you get your head in the right place in a hurry. Simple strategies can help. But, changing the negative dynamic — pronto — becomes the first order of business.
Employing a few well-traveled paths can help. A great piece music often helps me a great deal. Also thinking of family or looking at their pictures.
Another quick option is re-reading a few all-time favorite quotes about work, career, and inspiration. It can help to get “lost” in a couple of these and reinvent your day. Always seems to give me a lift.
Use of checklists? Ever given them a try? Lots of ways to use them. We like their use of attitude adjustment to start every day.
After college, I spent almost two years training as a naval aviator. An important element of that training was the use of checklists in the learning and refresher process. Checklist utilization remains an important part of my business life.
It is always a good idea to have a helpful checklist for daily reminders of improvements for your business or your personal life.
I keep a stack of 10 or so checklists that I rotate and update occasionally. I pull out one checklist to read and contemplate for five minutes as a way to start each day. 5-minute review of the checklist puts my thinking in the right frame of mind.
Related: Improving Your Positive Mental Attitude; It’s Not Just Business, It’s Personal.
So what do successful people do when they have a really bad day? Here is what my checklist tells me to do:
Deal with bad days … name it
Feeling lousy is part of life. It is okay to feel pain and more important not to run from it. The most important thing you can do when bad news arrives is to take a moment to acknowledge it. Name it and let it settle in.
Talk to people about it and shine a light on it through your words and actions. Talking helps to shine the light, doesn’t it?
Keep your routine
If you are successful, you are already a disciplined person who lives by good habits. Hold on to as many of those habits as possible. Even when it’s hard. It’s why I kept working out last week — despite feeling sick.
We cannot stop bad things from happening, but we can control how we react to them. Get back to as much of what you did before things went astray.
Deal with bad days … go, go, go
We all endure difficult times and have bad days. Depending on what happened, the deep pain can last for a few moments or several months. Some of us live affected our entire lives.
Set small, achievable goals each week to keep yourself moving forward. Respect what has happened and keep an appreciation for what you have.
Here is another checklist example on my favorite “perspective changing” quotes. Hopefully, these will impact your day for the better as they often do mine.
Doors of happiness
When one door of happiness closes, another one opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
Helen Keller
Helping others
One of the most beautiful compensations of life is that no man can help another without helping himself.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
How you see
When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
Wayne Dyer
Deal with bad days … change
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
Lao Tzu
Careful for what you settle for
You are what you settle for.
Janis Joplin
Feeling good
People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Maya Angelou
Decisions
Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.
Abraham Lincoln
Risk-taking
To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all.
– peter McWilliams
Kindness
The two most powerful things in existence: a kind word and thoughtful gesture.
– Ken Langone
Making a difference
Unless you walk out into the unknown, the odds of making a profound difference in your life are pretty low.
– Tom Peters
Optimism
The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
– Winston Churchill
Pathway
The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them.
– Unknown
Learning
We learn something from everyone who passes through our lives. Some lessons are painful; some are painless … but, all are priceless.
– Unknown
Problem solving
No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.
Albert Einstein
The bottom line
Pain makes us all equal; how we handle it and the compassion we show makes us special.
As humans, we all are vulnerable to events that hurt us. As a leader, I have wanted to share my pain and provide space for others to express theirs. This is how successful people conquer what ails them and make everyone stronger along the way.
Have a favorite quote you use? Share it here so that we can craft the second checklist.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy improving your enthusiasm?
Do you have a lesson about making your motivation better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.
More inspirational stories from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
A Story About Living as Told by a Six Year Old Boy
Surprising Story Lessons on Making a Difference
Deal With Bad Days: How Successful People Handle Them