How you can change your work life in the first 7 weeks of 2014

It’s a brand-new year and now is the time when everyone is resolving to improve something about themselves. Rather than making a big resolution with no concrete plan on how to make it happen, why not start taking steps to change your heart instead?

Monday, January 06, 2014

It’s a brand-new year and now is the time when everyone is resolving to improve something about themselves. Rather than making a big resolution with no concrete plan on how to make it happen, why not start taking steps to change your heart instead? If you can change your way of thinking, you’ll be more likely to make big changes in your life that will actually stick instead of being forgotten by the spring.Spend the next seven weeks changing your attitude and I promise this year will be filled with opportunities you never noticed in previous years. Focus on one new attribute each week:Week 1: Gratitude:  Write seven things you are grateful for. Demonstrate your gratitude for at least one item on the list each day.Week 2: Courage:  Write seven things that cause you fear or stress. Work each day to remove the illusion of fear from at least one item on the list.Week 3: Commitment: Write seven things that have taken root in you as a result of walking in gratitude and releasing fear. Commit to creating a new path at work based on these discoveries.Week 4: Loyalty: Write seven things you are willing to sacrifice to show your loyalty to support and uplift others. Discover and implement at least one item each day.Week 5: Trust:  Write seven areas where your trust for yourself and others has developed and grown. Nurture each item one day at a time.Week 6: Belief: Write seven new things you have found to believe in about yourself. Strive to increase your belief in at least one of these areas each day.Week 7: Respect: Write the names of seven people you respect more than anyone else. Pattern your behaviors and attitudes after theirs to see what happens, focusing on one person each day.What can you expect when you reach the end of week seven?  You will likely lose the desire to judge others harshly and instead discover significant changes that need to occur within your heart and mind. You will no longer need to demand credit for everything you do in order to demonstrate your value to others. This journey isn’t about beating yourself up. It’s about making small improvements day by day until you are surprised to find yourself standing far above where you used to be. By doing this, we discovered in our company, Fishbowl, that we focused less on changing others and organisations and lived less in judgment and more in discovery mode.