Reframe your negative thoughts. Getting out of bed on the wrong side doesn’t have to ruin your day.

The thunder was crashing, lightening flashing, and the dog was trying to burrow under the carpet this morning. The atmosphere was definitely not conducive to hopping out of bed, jumping into work clothes, wolfing down a quick breakfast and dashing off to work. A glance at the clock said get up now! Yuck! Looking into the mirror while brushing my teeth was a bit scary all by itself. No singing in the shower this morning.

Starting the day in this kind of mood can sabotage your productivity. How can we reframe or reimagine the start of our day? Alexander Caillet, Jeremy Hirshberg, and Stefano Petti have studied this issue and interviewed 740 leaders. In an article in the Harvard Business Review they shared what they learned stressing the following four actions:

• Thoughts and feelings. Acknowledge your emotions to reduce their intensity. Allow your thoughts to be transient. Visualize positive images to generate positive feelings. Refocus your attention on different stimuli. Journal to find clarity. And engage in meaningful conversations to foster understanding and optimism.
• Physiology. Use deep breathing to reduce stress. Stretch to loosen muscles, stimulate blood flow and improve cognitive function. And take breaks to clear the mind, relax the prefrontal cortex and increase contentment.
• External environment. Adjust lighting and block noise to generate calm. Listen to music to stimulate reflection. Eliminate clutter to reduce anxiety and improve focus. And spend time in nature to shift perspective.
• Health and well-being.  Eat a well-balanced diet, stick to an exercise regimen and get adequate sleep to maintain your energy and balance.

Retrieved September 2, 2015 from https://hbr.org/2015/04/4-steps-to-dispel-a-bad-mood.

Our productivity is directly linked to our mood when we arrive at work. It is much easier to reframe our thoughts before we head out to a busy work day. Consider the bad weather/depressed mood scenario.

• You control your emotions and mood. You don’t have to be crabby just because the weather is crabby.
• Think about the accuracy of your thoughts. “It’s raining so it will be a bad day.” “Everyone at work will be mean spirited today.” When you look at them objectively, are they true?
• Think of positive ways to restructure these thoughts. “I will not let the weather control me. “ “I will cheer others up with my good spirits.” “My productivity will be positively effected by my taking a few moments to reframe my thoughts.”
• Take action: “I will sing in the shower this morning.” “I will smile and be pleasant to the grumpy folks I encounter.” “My mood might lighten the moods of others, but my job is to be in charge of myself.”

These simple steps can be used for any negative thinking. Using your own experiences practice reframing your thoughts to control your mood. Remember that you are only responsible for yourself. Each individual must do their own reframing. If your cheerful outlook touches someone else for the better that’s a great bonus.

Adapted from Building Resiliency Workbook by John J. Liptak, EdD and Ester Leutenberg.