63. Two Simple Practices to Transform your Day

Every morning and evening I have settled into a familiar routine that I think has had the biggest benefit for my mental health.

Do you want to know what it is?

It is a gratefulness practice.

In the morning it is writing 3 things that I am grateful for 

and then in the evening it is documenting

the win(s) for the day. 

These 2 small practices have made such a change in my life that I wanted to share them with you. 

Gratefulness

I have to share this wasn't my idea, my husband started this habit. Looking back we think it started during Covid. He had a challenging role and wanted to focus on positivity. 

I have always thought that I am a positive person but doing this practice has taken me off the hampster wheel of life and proved that considering all things - life is good - in it simplest form.  

This practice has helped when I unexpectedly lost my mum, my dad got sick, jobs finished, kids were struggling and a myriad of other things that puts bumps in the road. 

It helped me focus on what was good and what did I value. 

Many years ago we started having a cup of tea (or 2) in bed before the day started and before the kids got up and the rush of the day started - so we could talk - so we take a couple of notes on a phone about what we are grateful for. 

It can be a simple as I got to watch the sun rise as I caught the train into the city this morning. 

There has been a lot of people talking about journalling, being grateful and positivity, I never thought that doing this daily would shift my mindset so much.

I now suggest to all my coaching clients to do this. For me it has been finding joy in the simplest of moments. 

It has gotten me off the merry go round of wanting more and not being satisfied with what I have. I still have goals and things that I want to achieve but I value more what I have - today. In the moment, in the present. 

When I look back through the list of things that we have been grateful for - it tends to be about people or experiences - not material things. They are generally small. But this practice has grounded us in smelling the roses.  

The Wins

The second thing that I have started doing is noting down the wins of the day. I tend to do this solo. When life is busy it is easy to get dragged down by things that happen around us and sometimes these can be negative. 

So instead I want to focus on the positive and what made me feel good. 

How did I win today! 

How did I shift forward on my goals. What went well. 

Again these things can be super small. 

The real magic though has been the consistency of this practice over time and how it has compounded to make challenging situation seem a lot easier. 

My career tip of the week:

1. Start a gratefulness practice in the morning and start a wins practice in the evening. 

I would love to hear how you go with this - respond to the mail and let me know what you think. 

Cheers Sam xx