How To Be More Positive At Work and Home
Hey friends!
Last post we talked about how mums working part time are often wracked with guilt - guilt for not working enough hours, guilt for not being with their kids, all the things.
Now I want to share an easy exercise for building positivity about YOURSELF at work and home.
Why Are We So Negative?
The reason we feel so guilty and “not enough” is because our brains are wired to look for the negative.
Up to 80% of our thoughts every day are negative so it’s no wonder that it flows over into our thoughts about work and home, right?
If you feel guilty, your brain is just doing its job. Don’t feel bad about feeling guilty. But if we’re not enjoying life with all this guilt, how could we potentially start to change it?
Isn’t It Conceited?
I feel pretty confident saying that most mums spend little to zero time thinking about what a good job they’re doing at work and home.
For me, when I would get praise at work in particular, I’d usually brush it off or think “oh it was really the team, not me personally”.
But think about it. Can you imagine telling everyone how good you are at your job every day?
You’d feel pretty uncomfortable right? It just doesn’t happen.
I think our society really struggles with self confidence and self compassion, and I sure didn’t take the self love class at school!
I often laugh and say that when I was at school we would call people “up themselves” if they seemed too confident. Really nice right?
Build Your Positivity
Having a good relationship with yourself is only going to happen if you start focusing your brain on the things you’re doing right and what a great worker and mum you are.
You might feel uncomfortable thinking that right now, but I’ve got an exercise that will help you.
Make a list of 10 things you appreciate about yourself at work. This might feel challenging but I’m sure there are 10 things. They might be “I’m very patient” or “I always help people out” or “I am great at creating presentations”.
Now make a list of 10 things you appreciate about yourself at home. “I always feed my kids”, “I make sure the heater is on if it’s cold”. No matter how small, you can note it down.
Keep these lists on your computer or on a note somewhere near you day to day. Then when the 80% negative creeps in, you can breathe and refer back to the lists.
If you do those exercises, you’ll be able to catch your guilt in the moment, and you’ll have done some preparation to help you focus on more positive thoughts instead.
This will make a huge difference to your outlook and your work and your parenting.
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If you’d like more help with time management and positive thinking as a toddler mum, grab my free guide to Get Everything Done here or follow me on Instagram.
