Its amazing how the last few years, years of turbulence and unwanted changes, has flown by. What were established plans and processes with clients did not all materialize as determined. In most cases, clients decided not to make any significant changes because of this uncertainty. What was certain was the recognizable large increase in stress and personal depression. That is what I want to drill into in this post. Financial life planning not only incorporates goals and objectives. It is also driven by your self-health and mindset.
While the last few years have been a whirlwind, it’s not over yet. Not only are we now officially in year three of the pandemic, but we are witnessing troubling global events unfold in front of our eyes. While everyone is unique in how they manage through these difficult times, there are ways we can try to cope with seemingly endless trauma.
Though that might seem like an insurmountable task, you’d be surprised at the power of our own inner voices to battle negativity. Positive psychology can do wonders in helping us conquer our goals, alleviate negative thoughts, and see our surroundings as potential boons rather than mood deflators. This is especially important as work and life become increasingly intertwined causing mental health issues to pervade into every aspect of our days.
Approach goals in a different way
Apparently, it takes around two months to form a habit. While this may seem like a long time to stay consistent, there are small tips and tricks that we can use to remain on track.
Building micro-habits as opposed to attempting a new behaviour for a significant time investment can help you maintain your new habits. People often make their goals way too difficult and this is a major factor contributing to why so many people give up so early. Give yourself grace when thinking about your goals and be realistic with your plans. You can absolutely reclaim your original goals at any time if you’ve fallen off track in the past!
It’s also important to identify the meaning behind your goals if we want them to stick. Develop meaning behind it. It will help create actionable steps like how to best keep organized and stay on track with this bigger picture in mind. Connecting our goals to meaningful reasons for having them will allow us to find motivation for difficult tasks.
Finally, ensuring our goals are measurable and tracking progress are critical steps to keeping a positive outlook. This allows you to acknowledge our progress towards goals and proves to ourselves that they are achievable. For extra motivation to stay on track and think positively around our goals for the year, find an accountability buddy whether in your family or friend group, workplace, or even online who will check in with you periodically.
Think and be positive
It might be a cliché, but consciously working to reframe your thoughts in a positive way can be great for our relationships, careers, and friendships. While it’s important to honor your feelings whether good or bad, we also need to remember that this too will pass and ruminating on negativity can only breed more negativity. Conversely, dwelling on things with a positive mindset can do wonders for your mood and shine a light on the good in our lives.
A couple of actionable ways to quickly shift gears to positive thinking are by volunteering and expressing daily gratitude. Studies show that volunteering can boost positive thinking and can serve as an outlet to help others, and daily gratitude will put into perspective the good in your life. Looking at the big picture, finding meaningful connections with others, writing down the good in your life and honouring your feelings as tools to process situations are all great ways to approach daily gratitude and improve your overall outlook. Not only will these approaches help you at home, but they’ll help you arrive at work refreshed and ready to start the day.
Centre yourself
Everyone experiences moments where it feels like they’re stuck on something and pairing this with normal stressors, and occasional frustration that can lead to an inability to focus on the task at hand. These stressors are only exacerbated by the many negative world events occurring around us and any potential mental health challenges we’re facing in our personal lives.
It can sometimes feel like we need to be productivity machines, but we need to cut ourselves some slack. It’s important that we are patient with ourselves in times of stress and practice being more mindful throughout the day. This can include blocking personal times during the day or taking five minutes to centre yourself with a guided meditation to help reframe your mindset. It’s a common belief that we can’t take breaks during the day but establishing self-care practices and taking a step back can work wonders for our ability to focus throughout the day. Remember that stress is a normal part of life, and it serves an important purpose. By reframing feelings of stress to recognize that your body and mind are preparing for a meaningful task ahead, and our body’s stress response can be an advantage, you can actually be more focused, engaged, and confident.
The bottomline
Being positive doesn’t mean living in denial though we are all facing an incredibly difficult situation, we shift our outlook to things that keep us going every day. Being realistic, approaching situations positively from the outset, and offering ourselves some respite from the daily grind will help rework our thinking. Regardless of how you approach your goals, remember to treat yourself with kindness while Keeping Life Current.