Tag: small steps

Small Changes, Big Impact – Part Five

beach-362220_640Enjoy the last installment of our “Small Changes, Big Impact” series!

Comparing yourself to others? Stop!

Do you indulge in this counter-productive behavior? It is natural to compare yourself to others and judge your life compared to other people’s destiny. Want to be seriously unhappy? Looking at ways how the grass is greener on the other side of the fence will deliver a sad life.

Life is not a competition. Who wins and who loses is just a matter of perspective sometimes. Even when you win, constantly competing with your co-workers or friends is just exhausting. All that energy wasted without any results to show for!

We all have good and bad points, strength and weaknesses. Good and bad things happen to us. We all win some days and lose some other days.

And the funny thing is? Next time you compare yourself to someone else, remember that they are likely comparing themselves to you too!

Yoga practice is perfect for teaching about unnecessary comparisons. Yoga is no competition. In yoga, you compare your progress today to your own performance yesterday. If your co-worker can a hold a posture longer than you, that is awesome. If you are more flexible – wonderful! Know that both of you work on realizing your full potential in that minute.

 

Help others to bring happiness to life

Did you know that performing random acts of kindness towards others could actually benefit your health? You will experience less stress and more happiness – both are very advantageous for your health!

Why not make an effort to unselfishly help a colleague or even a perfect stranger starting today? A few ideas: taking over a small task from a co-worker so he/she can leave the office on time to pick up the kids, bringing flowers for the office or having a stash of healthy snacks to share in the office for those uninspired afternoon hours.

How about sending flowers to an old friend, complimenting a neighbor on their outfit, donating books to the school library or paying for the person behind you in the grocery queue? There are so many great ideas for making somebody else’s day a bit brighter.

Have you ever thought about gifting a family member or colleague with a yoga class card? It is a wonderful gift to experience “time out” from the usual stressful day! Maybe your act of kindness will start them on a lifelong yoga journey. You can purchase a yoga gift certificate through our secure shopping cart or just call us at 314-630-1677!

We hope our tips on small steps helped you to make a big change in your life! If so, please let us know in the Comments below!

Read all parts of this series! Here are the links to our recent series articles: Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. Enjoy!

 

Small Changes, Big Impact – Part Four

111HDiscover more great tips on how small changes will influence your life deeply in our continued series.

Learn to say No

How many times do you say YES to new projects and tasks at your workplace even though you know you should say No instead? It might be clear from the beginning that you will not be able to finish said project on time. Or you miss resources that enable you to deliver great work. You might feel obligated to take up more work for whatever reason. The result? High level of stress, decreased performance and poorly delivered work. And you might even feel hostile against your job – all bad outcomes.

Just imagine: instead of saying automatically “yes”, take up a serious conversation with your boss or co-worker around the deliverables, time frame, etc. You discover all the important information around the new task, negotiate to find the best way to handle the project and then make a conscious decision to say Yes or No to it.

The same principles apply in your private life, too. If you are asked to organize a school event during a stressful time at the office – feel free to say No or negotiate it.

We often cause ourselves a lot of stress when we feel obligated to say yes to everyone all the time. We feel as though saying “no” is rude. But we all have a limited number of hours in the day and we can’t do everything we’re asked.

Try offering alternative solutions, or even just saying you can’t do it right now. Yes, it’s direct but you probably feel worse saying it than the recipient feels hearing it (as long as you say it nicely!)

 

Trying to be someone else?

Saying no is difficult as we learn early in life that we are supposed to say yes and take up more than we can handle.

Our whole life if full with these “supposed” behaviors. Our parents tell us early on how we are supposed to talk, play, sleep, eat, etc. Then school shows how we are supposed to learn and behave as part of groups. And it doesn’t stop until our last day.

It is so easy to forget who you are really. What true talents and strength do you have? How would you like to live? What is the best way to share your talents with the world? Maybe you have forgotten all the answers…

What if you began exploring your truth? What if you started being yourself?

Just tiny little steps of showing up as the real you will make you happier. If you always had a passion for fashion – why don’t you add a few fashionable accessories to your office attire? You don’t have to look like you just left the Milan runway and still make a statement about loving fashion. If you dream about writing short stories – why don’t you declare a 2-hour writing date every weekend?

We are all different, isn’t just beautiful? We’re not meant to be the same and we all have different destinies. Getting closer to yours might be challenging at first, but it will make you happier at the end.

Would you like to read all parts of this series? Here are the links to our recent series articles: Part 1 , Part 2 and Part 3. Enjoy!

 

 

 

Small Changes, Big Impact – Part Three

eggs-390224_640Craving a positive change in your professional life? The easiest way is to take small but consistent steps every day! Let’s continue with our “Small Changes – Big Impact” series!

Stop complaining!

We all engage a bit of complaining, right? And many times it is a totally OK way to connect to others. It is much easier to begin a small talk with a stranger when we start complaining about the weather. This is a topic that is not-threatening to engage in and a good basis for moving to other topics if both parties feel like it.

The problem is when you turn into a non-stop complaining machine. Have you ever met a chronic complainer? Griping about things to no end, complaining about the exact same thing for weeks, never having anything positive to say. Nothing screams louder that the person believes to be the victim of life. This being a “victim of life” stance irritates others deeply.

Chronic complainers love to share all the negativity but rarely ever listen to any feedback or advice they might get. You might spends hours listening to them.  Try to give a tip to help with their bad fate but don’t expect them to take that tip seriously. A bad complainer will just find a new person to complain to.

If you feel you might be a bad complainer yourself, try to consciously listen to your conversations today. How many times did you complain today? To whom? What topics did you complain about? How did you feel after your griping session – better or even worse? Did you find any new ideas or solutions to deal with the thing you were kvetching about?

Listen to your own words

When you talk to some of your colleagues, you might just know exactly what they will say before they even open their mouth. Because they talk about the same things and use the same language all the time.

A few years ago I noticed that I use the word “terrible” all the time. Everything was terrible. I was talking to a co-worker about our jobs and the job market – and somehow began listening to my own sentences, speaking and hearing them at the same time. I was astonished to hear my non-stop “terrible-this-terrible-that” talk. I was shocked to hear my own negativity. It took some time and conscious effort on my part to change my pattern of “terrible” but was so worth it!

Awareness is always the first step! Make a conscious effort to listen to what you say in your conversations at the office. What are your themes? Which words do you use all the time? Look at the reaction of your co-workers! Do they look more hopeful and inspired? Or do they feel defeated and negative after talking to you?

You can change your patters! All you need is to switch off your automatic talking machine and choose your words with care and intention.

Remember:

Talk less but with a clear intention!

Listen more without the need to judge.

If you are willing to complain less and listen more, you will be pleasantly surprised to see the big impact this will bring to your life every day!

Would you like to read part one and two of this series? Here are the links to our recent series articles: Part 1 and Part 2.