Have you ever had a day at work that ended badly?
Something that left you feeling angry, upset, or just plain annoyed right before you went home? Or maybe it was so bad you had to stay late to sort it out, making you feel resentful too?
Did you fume about it on the way home? Ruminating on the causes, maybe assigning blame, or worse, planning retribution?
When you got home and your partner, a friend, or a family member asked you, “How was your day?”, you answered, “Awful!”, “Complete mess!”, “Disastrous!”, “Worst day ever!”.
Now pause for a second. A question I like to ask my coaching clients is, “What evidence do you have for that?” Was the whole day really that bad? Did everything go wrong?
Or did the recency of the negative event cloud your judgment of an otherwise decent day? Like the earworm of a song that gets stuck in your head when you get out of the car, a bad ending to your workday can sour your perception of your entire day.
Try this instead:
– Take a few moments to breathe and calm down.
– Review your day, specifically looking for things that went well. (Remember, we tend to have a negativity bias that makes the negative more noticeable and potent.)
– Ask yourself, “What did I learn today?”
– “Who did I help?”
– Notice how you feel as you remember these moments.
In a few minutes, you might find that you have reframed your day and things don’t look so bad. Now, when you get home and your significant other asks, “How was your day?”, you will be able to honestly say, “Actually, pretty good…” and then tell them why.
#LoveYourWorkLife #ReframeYourDay
Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash