Over the last few months, I have been trying to "change" my attitude and make myself a better person. Everybody has their flaws, and you will always have them, but I feel that, personally and professionally, in order to make ourselves better, it is important to know your flaws and how you can improve on them. Pointing out your downfalls is never a fun thing, but it makes you stronger person. With this, I have done a lot of observations lately and a few behaviors I have noticed repeatedly in different areas:
- Everybody looks forward to the weekend because you usually do not have to work, but nobody looks forward to the week. Yes, we work during the week, and we are tired and away from our loved ones. If we only look forward to the weekends, we are wasting 65% of our time waiting for something that will eventually come (only 35% of our time) and not enjoying that time which we are currently in. I personally want to enjoy 100% of my time, but am going to try and enhance that 65%. I am fortunate, I love what I do, it's not work to me. But, yes I do sometimes dislike getting up early and working late because it cuts into other things I would like to do. But, I look on the bright side and find a balance so I can enjoy the week fully.
- Negativity - there is so much of this going on and a lot of it has to do with the state of our economy and other factors which are caused and/or related to this. Aside from that, have you found that people complain an awful lot? When you say how was your day, many will say how it was terrible, or what went wrong, etc... How many people actually say it was a great day? How many ask you how your day actually went? How many look at the glass half full? People are cynical and tend to look at the negative side other than the positive. It's become human nature - which scares me! I am trying very consciously to be positive. If things are bad, they will get better but in order for that to happen, I have to focus on the positive. Things won't just turn around, I have to assist this in happening.
- Relationships - What is a relationship to you? How do you define your relationships? This is something that seems to take the back burner more than it should. Many times we get busy in our lives and "assume" that relationships will stay in tact and you will tend to them when you have time. If you know me, one pet peeve I have is people saying "I don't have enough time", I think that if something is important enough you schedule time for it or figure out a way to do it and if you are SO busy that you can't make time for your relationships, then you may need to re-assess your schedule. I don't buy the excuse "I don't have time". You can ask my husband, parents and siblings how strongly I feel about this. I am a fairly busy person but have tried to make an effort to make time for what is important and what I should do. Again nobody is perfect, so I am trying to improve upon my efforts.
- Goals - what do you aspire to do? Personally? Professionally? Relationships? Regardless of what you do for a living and your family structure, I think it is important to have goals in all areas of your life. This is something else I have noticed lately, people do not have goals, they are just going through the motions and are ok with what is happening. If you are truly happy, then that is great and I am happy for you. But, if you are negative and unhappy and still are not setting goals for yourself, then something needs to change. Goals are scary, especially if you are unsure if you can reach them. What fun is a challenge if it is attainable? It has to have something to push you a little further. When I first took my current job, I was frigtened, still am, that I would not be able to do it. It is very challenging, the group of people I work with are extremley talented and intelligent and I thought "What have I gotten myself into - there is so much room for failure". After I realized my attitude, I was doing all the things which I dislike - being negative, not looking forward to living in the world or that job and not setting goals. I have overarching short term and long term goals professionally but didn't have incremental goals set on how to reach the bigger goals. I have been assessing my position and my goals and have begun to set incremental goals in order to meet my bigger goals. This isn't easy, because it goes back to looking at your flaws, which nobody likes to do. But, I knew that to do that would help me in the future.
- Responsibility - all I am going to say about this one is that I notice, more than I would like to, people not take responsibilities for their own actions. It is easier to blame others than blame yourself.
