Article by Richard Houwing, Business Advisor, Western Sydney Business Centre

 

Keeping your Spirits Up

Small things do add up to make a big difference. Nobody likes to be around someone with a cloud of gloom and doom overhead. Your customers, staff and associates easily pick up on your attitude, so as leaders we are duty bound to keep our spirits up.

 

This is not always easy to do. A businessperson’s life can be overwhelming. However, it is important to stay inspired and joyful. This helps your attitude, creativity and well-being. When we are stressed we focus mainly on two things – fight or flight. Studies have found that over time stress can have a permanent affect on your brain, not to mention your health and family.

 

Here are some things you can do to keep your spirits up

• Reconnect with the reasons why you chose to be in business. What inspired you? If you have surpassed those goals, give yourself a chance to dream once more. Ask yourself, “What would I do if there were no obstacles?” Engage your emotions – in the end it is feelings that drive people.

 

• Learn how to prioritise tasks and the power of focus. Consider each task in accordance with its importance and urgency and then set out a plan to focus on one at a time.

 

• Look after yourself; make time so that you eat, sleep and exercise well. You literally become a new person when you do.

 

• Be forgiving. Holding a grudge wastes your most precious resources – time and energy. Be wary of the culprits and circumstances in the future, but forgive and move on. The same applies to you. Don’t hold yourself in the grip of a mistake that happened last month, last year or last decade.

 

• Look for joy. Robert Leahy in his book, the Worry Cure, cites a study that 85% of what we worry about never actually happens, and the remaining 15%, most people can cope with. So turn off the worry switch and do something that brings you joy.

 

• Repeat the above daily if needed.