158. How to have a great day: 13 simple things you can do today
Oct 31, 2022
When you're job-hunting, it's easy to feel depleted and negative. There are a lot of different tasks to be done, and many listeners complain to me about feeling overwhelmed. So, in this episode, I am sharing with you 13 simple things that improve my days. I hope it inspires you to create your own list, cruise lightly through the day, and go to bed with a smile.
Some of the ideas I share may be things you can adopt, but most importantly, I want you to consider doing this exercise of listing things that make you happy.
Do you know how I came up with the topic for this podcast episode and blog? Read below!
I wanted to encourage you to check my website and learn more about a new-ish service that I have called Find My Talents. Find my Talents is an excellent way to improve your day, come to think of it! You answer a short questionnaire, and minutes later, you will receive a great report with great visuals describing your top talents, career drivers, and personal values.
For example, one of my top talents is Creativity, described in the report as "You generate creative ideas and novel solutions to outcomes." It makes sense because some ideas, such as creating content for The Job Hunting Podcast and this blog, come so quickly for me, and I know many coaches struggle to create regular content.
The report then explains three instances where I am in the "Creativity Zone." One of them is, "You often have flashes of creative inspiration at work and outside," which is so true. I get inspired easily by movies, music, books, and stories people tell me. I often must stop what I am doing to write down an idea immediately. I also often have to wake up in the middle of the night to write things down because they are so cool and novel, and I don't want to forget them.
The report gives me information on when I am at my best to boost my creativity and the actions I can take to optimize it. I have been using this part of the report a lot for all my five talents, so I can learn to become better and better at the things that come naturally to me, like my creativity. For example, I have been attaching other talents that rank lower in my report, such as organization, to my creativity. I learned to do this because of the report. This has made a massive difference in making my creative ideas into tangible outcomes, such as new podcast episodes, short videos, and content for my courses and coaching.
And a super cool feature of the report is under the heading "Talent used in excess." In the case of creativity, it tells me that when I overuse this talent, I may struggle to complete them. This has been great in helping me create risk management processes so I don't spend all my day in creator mode! It's good to see the recommendations in paper because I have my own business and must be commercial about my projects and ideas. I need to be pragmatic.
Click here to have your report with your top talents, career drivers, and personal values.
Pay attention to the little things that are part of your daily routine that calm you down or elevate your spirit. Take note. Do them again and again.
The idea for this episode happened when I was listening to yet another productivity video on YouTube. The "day in the life" format was so dull and super structured that I felt sorry for the person. I kept thinking there is no joy in a life like this when all your tasks, including playing with your kids and eating, are allocated in 15-minute blocks. How can I flip this concept and talk about little things that make me happy and contribute to me having productive days? So, I took some time over a few days and started writing down in a list on my phone everything that I knew was part of my day to bring me joy and make my day better.
I wanted my list to be real things that are easy to incorporate. Because whenever I tried to find articles about this topic, I felt they were too busy. I will list some good articles below if you want to check them out. But the lowest common denominator is my list, I think. It requires minimal effort. I am suggesting you watch the sunrise or the sunset or tell you to meditate to make your day better. This list is much easier than that. Because watching the sunset is great, but maybe you just can't get out of the house.
However, if you are driving by a sunset, I would encourage you to stop the car, turn on the radio, take a deep breath and enjoy that moment. It's all about the moments already happening to you and making the most of them.
So here is my list of 13 simple things that improve my days. We will talk about them in detail during the episode:
Timestamps:
- 09:31 - Take pleasure in the little things
- 10:54 - Music over news
- 12:48 - Post its
- 14:04 - Avoid shopping
- 16:00 - Opt for minimal upkeep
- 17:53 - Smile
- 19:34 - Plants in the house
- 20:40 - Smell the roses
- 21:37 - Opt for walking over screen time
- 22:48 - Eat what you love
- 23:58 - Do the chores that bring you joy
- 25:09 - Check in with your emotions
- 26:03 - Let the tears flow
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Learn more about my service: Find My Talents
- Article: How to Turn a Bad Day Around
- Book: How to have a good day
- The newsletter I get in the morning with the news is from Axios
- Podcast I listen to in the evening with business news: Daily business podcast from BBC News
- The news radio show I listen to in the mornings the ABC RN with Patricia Karvellas
