In both our life and our career, good things start with small beginnings and grow over time as we provide nourishment and time and attention. We can build our life and career stronger by having positive daily rhythms and routines.
What you do consistently will propel you in that direction. Good habits lead to good results, and poor habits lead to poor results.
Over a year ago, I started learning Krav Maga, an Israeli self-defense training program, which is taught at a local karate school. Every week I see the students in the karate class before me as they learn skills and form that build upon each other. In karate, students test to progress to the next level and earn different color belts based on those skills. My instructors recently completed testing and earned a sixth-degree black belt and a third-degree black belt, respectively. Earning any black belt degree is a significant accomplishment which takes years to accomplish. Those accomplishments started with small beginnings and progressed with daily routines and good habits.
Learn how to maximize your routines and habits starting with our mindset.
Find Beauty and Joy in Daily Rituals
I’m a fan of James Clear. He’s a New York Times bestselling writer and speaker. In his “3-2-1” email newsletter, he offered this idea about how to make habits and routines a beautiful part of your day.
"Many people view their habits and routines as obstacles or, at the very least, obligations to get through. Making the morning coffee, driving your kids to the next activity, preparing the next meal—we often see our routines as chores to be completed.
But these are not moments to be dismissed. They are life. Making coffee can be a peaceful ritual—perhaps even a fulfilling one—if done with care rather than rushed to completion. It’s about the amount of attention you devote to these simple moments, and whether you choose to appreciate them or bulldoze through them on the way to the next task.
Find the beauty and joy in your daily rituals and you will find beauty and joy in your daily life. To love your habits is to love your days, and to love your days is to love your life."
I resonated with “beauty and joy” because that’s what we’re all about - using sacchettos to bring you beauty and joy. What if your routines could make your day better? They definitely can. Let us show you how.
It’s All Tied Together
Many times we rush through whatever we’re doing to get to the next thing. But what if it is just as James Clear says, those things we rush through are the gems of our day, those “things” are what make life beautiful.
Be Present
It seems like finding beauty and joy in your daily routine is tied in with being present and tied in with appreciating the small things. If we are present, we can find joy in whatever we are doing. If we feel joyful, scientifically speaking, our brain is performing at a higher level, and we will do a better job at whatever task is at hand.
Appreciate the Small Things
If we appreciate the small things, we again feel joy, our brain works better, and the cycle continues.
Rose-Colored Glasses
But what if your day isn’t all roses and peaches and cream? What if it is downright awful just like the children’s book by Judith Viorst, Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Sometimes your day may not go well, and we recognize that is also life. Just don’t stay there. Feel it - the sorrow, the anguish, whatever emotion the bad day is giving you. Then, do something to change your state - exercise, phone a friend, take a walk in nature, sleep it off, whatever works for you. Then start anew.
Fresh Perspective
Start your morning off in a way that puts you in a peak state. That is different for everyone. You do you but look at your morning routine with a fresh perspective. Do the things you do each morning contribute to a positive or poor outcome? Ruthlessly cut out anything that does not contribute positively.
Many experts recommend keeping your phone out of your bedroom or across the room. Try not to check your phone the first thing when you wake up. Don’t be at the mercy of others. Don’t let the demands of others trump your time for yourself. Guard your waking hours fiercely. This is the time to set yourself up for success and a beautiful day.
What are some things you can add to your rhythms and routines?
Meditation
Meditation is one great thing to add to your repertoire. It is cumulative and is a daily tool to put you in a peak state for healing and for a magical life. Five or ten minutes a day is all it takes. And if you think you’re not doing it right because all kinds of thoughts keep entering your head, don’t worry. You’re doing it right. Think of tying each thought to a balloon and sending it off. Eventually you will find peace and calmness in your meditation.
When you approach your work day in a peak, calm state, you will start your day with clarity, balance and new ideas and solutions will be easier to find. You will be a better person to be around and a better teammate.
Gratitude
According to Harvard Medical School, the four feel-good hormones are dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin.
You can boost levels of these hormones with some simple lifestyle changes, like diet, exercise, meditation, and . . . gratitude.
When we feel and express gratitude, our body releases these feel-good hormones.
In addition, gratitude is positively correlated to more vitality, energy, and enthusiasm to work harder. Gratitude builds professional commitment. Grateful workers are more efficient, more productive and more responsible.
Keeping a gratitude journal helps lower stress, improves the quality of sleep, and builds emotional awareness. Whether you do it in the morning or in the evening or both, write down a few things for which you are grateful. We tend to forget all the magic that happens in our lives. But if we write it down and review pages of gratitude, it will feel like an avalanche of blessings. Gratitude can be viewed as a natural antidepressant.
It might not be a stretch to say that if you are grateful, you will be a better worker and enhance your career.
Bonus: Things That Lead to Happiness
Studies have also found that happier workers are more productive and stay longer at their jobs. Happiness is most often the by-product of good habits.
A Harvard Happiness researcher concluded that you will be happier than 95% of the population if you do these six things:
Meditate
Exercise daily
Be kind
Remove toxic people from your life
Get 8 hours of sleep
Appreciate the small things
Setting yourself up for career super powers starts with positive habits and routines. Find the beauty and joy in your daily rituals, be present and appreciate the small things, and practice meditation and gratitude. You will find yourself on a path leading to happiness in your life and career.
Thank you for reading.
Wishing you beauty and joy, kindness and compassion, and great career super powers.
It is Time
Our Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign launches Tuesday, September 19th. Follow the link to get notified when we launch. Your support, excitement and sharing are greatly appreciated.
What are Sacchettos?
How often do you switch purses, handbag, computer bags for all the demanding facets of your day? OFTEN!
There is more than just a wallet that needs to be transferred, how do you keep your things together?
A Sacchetto can do it for you. It is a beautiful pure leather case that is both elegant and easily transferrable.
Sacchettos help keep you organized, safe from pickpockets and make it a breeze to transfer your things to another handbag without forgetting anything. It also doubles as a clutch.
Your purchase helps empower other women through our donations.
Support our Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign by pledging for these rewards.
Find out about everything we are doing at Cindy-Kay.com.
About Super Powers
We break the year down into 12 areas of balance. You will achieve greater growth and life balance by intently focusing on one area at a time. This month’s Super Powers focus is on your career life. Next month is about creative life.
See the full year’s schedule.
Our goal with the Super Powers newsletter is to guide you with small, easy steps to improve many areas of your life. Over time these small changes add up to significant growth and improvement. You will be amazed at how far you have come when you look back at all your progress.
Do you need a positive boost each day?
Read a weekly positivism on our website.
Here’s one:
I will guarantee you that the day you step outside your comfort zone by making success your goal is the day you discover that adversity, risk, and daring will make life sweeter than you ever imagined. – Mark Burnett
It’s time to start building your Super Powers!
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