Do you ever get the “Sunday Scaries” when thinking about the week you have ahead of you?
Recently I was asked by the award-winning, career-coaching company, Career Benders, to write one of their weekly “Don’t Let Monday Ruin Your Sunday” email newsletters. As a subscriber to this series myself, I really appreciate getting these weekly career tips and tricks that help to inspire you make the most out of your week ahead.
Here’s my “Sunday Seven” contribution:
Just like you ensure your cell phone is charged daily, ensure that your internal power container is operating on powerFULL each day. Minimize the drains of your power and practice charging yourself up and each-and-every day with these seven tips:
1. Look for reasons to pat yourself on the back
Far too often throughout our day, we criticize ourselves and practice negative self-talk. This just drains your power container, which in turn, causes you to have less energy for the tasks you have ahead.
Rather, practice acknowledging all of your accomplishments, both big and small, throughout your day. Find reasons to pat yourself on the back. You sent a well-written email? Awesome! Take a moment to bask in the moment and feel good about your work. Have you completed your entire task list for the day? Nailed that presentation? Fabulous! Literally, take your arm, wrap it around your shoulder, and give yourself a big pat on the back. It makes you feel great about yourself and charges up your power container.
2. Give yourself a quick charge during the day
I have something I like to call my “Joy List”. It’s just a small list of simple things that quickly get me to my happy place. My list includes: listening to music, going for a walk when it’s sunny outside, laughing at funny animal videos, etc.
Think about what charges you up. The key is to ensure that it’s something that doesn’t require any planning and that you can easily do it anywhere. Write anything that comes to mind on your own “Joy List” and place the list somewhere you can easily see it each day. Then practice at least one thing from your list each day to give your internal power container a quick charge.
3. Stop using power-draining words
Watch out for using words like “just” and “sorry.” Often, we unconsciously shrink ourselves down in order to try to make others feel more comfortable.
For example, if you would like to ask a question in a meeting, saying, “I just want to ask a quick question,” or “sorry, but I was wondering if XYZ…” minimizes the power of your voice and drains your power container. It’s no wonder that using these types of diminishing words leads us to feel a lack of power in our lives. By consciously removing these disempowering words from our vocabulary, we are telling ourselves, and the world, that what we have to say matters, that we matter. And this helps us feel powerFULL in our lives.
4. Let go of perfectionism
Perfectionism stems from a fear of not being perfect. We believe that us or our work won’t be acceptable if everything’s not perfect. And if we won’t accept anything less than perfectionism from ourselves, we tend to expect the same from others in return. The fear of not being perfect is a major drain on our power containers and serves to bring us down.
Learn to adopt the “80% is good enough” rule. This will allow you to be much easier on yourself, and in turn, on others. It allows for more productivity, forgiveness, and ease at work. You’ll also then have more energy to devote to other tasks.
* Pro tip, you can combine these for a Power-Stack!
For example, if you successfully practiced the “80% is good enough” rule, take a moment to pat yourself on the back for having successfully accomplished this positive change and supercharge your day!
5. Value your time and attention
Your time and attention are incredibly valuable. If you don’t own it, others will, and they won’t place a high value on it either. Show yourself that you value your time and attention by saying no when that’s truly what you feel like saying. Place boundaries on how much of your precious time and attention you’ll devote to work or other obligations. Make sure you are in full ownership of your time and attention.
For all the super-moms out there: try to let go of believing that only you can do things “the right way” and let the family help you. For example, be OK with letting the kids, or someone else put the groceries away. Does it really matter if the groceries are put on the shelves in a certain manner? Your time and attention are far too valuable and can be better allocated.
6. Start a morning habit that energize you
A habit that connects you with yourself. Try journaling for 15 minutes, have a morning workout routine, practice meditation, and sign up for my morning Love Notes To Myself series.
Devoting even just a little bit of time in the mornings for yourself sends you a message that you care about yourself, and that fosters self-love…which, in turn, charges your power container.
7. Embrace being powerFULL!
Unfortunately, many of us (women especially) haven’t positively associated ourselves with the notion of power. We tend to think of power as having power over others, so we tend to push aside the idea of having power.
When we can reframe our relationship to power, our own power, and embrace being powerFULL, we can learn to harness our power and use it to positively impact our lives, our work, our families, our communities, and the world!
