How To Maintain a Positive Workplace.

Start the day on a good note

The way you begin the day will very much affect the way the rest of the day goes. A clinical study analyzed the moods and performance of customer service personnel over a period of time. The study found that those who began the day with a good mood in the early morning, were also the ones who were the most positive and had the best interactions with their clients throughout the day.  

So, make sure you begin each day with something you really like to do and that makes you feel good.  

For example, take a few minutes of your morning to savor your favorite morning brew. This could be coffee, tea or even hot chocolate. Orange juice is a great way to begin the day as well. But this means you will actually have to pause for a moment before and truly focus on the feelings you enjoy so much. If you are gulping down your coffee while sprinting to your desk, you are missing the point. 

Get some fresh air — there is no better way to begin the day than with a walk in that crisp morning air. Getting out of the house refreshes the mind, awakens the body and places creativity. And there is scientific research to back this point, it is known that just 20-minutes of fresh air and sunshine can boost happiness and feelings of well-being.  

Make fewer decisions 

One of the most difficult parts of my job as CEO is the innumerable amount of decisions that I must make each day. Many of these ideas are not even made on complete information. This results in a high level of “decision fatigue” which quite literally impairs the decision-making structures of the brain, thus making each decision progressively more difficult. This can quickly exhaust the mind and body and leave you feeling quite depleted at the end of the day.  

So how can you make fewer decisions? 

One thing you can do will be to operate on autopilot as much as possible, it may get tedious to eat oatmeal for breakfast every day, but don’t actually change your menu until the tediousness is unbearable, then you have reduced several decisions and probably know exactly what you want to eat. Steve Jobs said he used the same outfit so often because it meant less decisions.  

You can avoid fatigue altogether by taking yourself out of the decision altogether. Simply ask yourself if the decision is really going to impact you and if you actually have a strong feeling on the matter? If you are not impacted by the results of the decision and have no specific opinion, you have no reason to clutter your mind with the inconsequential.  

Help a colleague 

Helping others is always a good way to feel better yourself and has the added bonus of making your colleagues happy as well. For example, a study showed that people in their 30’s who had a history of being helpful to those in their workplace also reported feeling happier and better many years later. Another study found that positive and upbeat workers helped their fellow workers 33% more often than others.  

This is also an especially easy task because there is nothing you really have to do. To be a heroic employee grab a beverage for your colleague while on your way to get your own. Ask if they would like help on a project. You can even offer a type of notes after a meeting and this will get you on everyone’s good side.  

The tough part will be making this an important part of your daily routine. A good way to do this will be to make it part of your regular routine. It may sound silly to put this type of thing on your professional board, but it is how you change your world through changing yourself.  

Make progress and acknowledge it 

No matter how bad your day may have seemed, take the time to consider all the great things that were accomplished. No matter what happened, there is always something to be proud of and grateful for.  

Try this: Before you begin your workday, take time to note three small things that you would like to see accomplished at the end of the day. Use Track Time 24 to make sure they are completely accomplished before you call it a day. At the end of the day, no matter how poorly everything else turned out, you can rest assured that you are a success because of these factors.  

If you have a major project looming, it can seem insurmountable if you don’t break it down into several parts. Sometimes, these parts will have to be broken down and then broken down some more. When I began this article, I got as far as the title before being called away on an unrelated emergency. I couldn’t get back to writing until the following day. But when I did get back, I felt really good that I had at least gotten that far.