Work can drive meaning and self-esteem in our lives, but it can also be a medium for a lot of self-sabotage. The reality of working is that it is always going to be a mess to some degree. All work is relating to other people. For most of us, our work is heavily relationship-focused. We have clients, coworkers, and managers. Our schedules fill up with meetings and calls and through all of this contact with other people, our well thought out plans fall apart. Other people have other ideas and other priorities. So we will never be able to do exactly what we thought we would do.
That gap in between our ideal state and where we are right now, in reality, can slowly tear you apart over time. As humans, it’s natural to notice the things that didn’t go right and put more emotional weight there, than on the flip side of the things that did go write. So when we arrive at the end of the day and have a list of things we didn’t get done, and do that day after day, over time we lose confidence and start to feel burnt out.
Our minds start to tell us that we need a break, or a vacation, or a new job, but the reality is that often all that is required is a shift in mindset. To shift your focus towards the progress you are making instead of the what’s lacking between today’s reality and an abstract idea of perfection. There are lots of ways to work towards this, but I find one of the best is to write out a short list of wins at the end of every day. By bringing your conscious attention to the wins, you put the losses back into their proper balance.
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