In this week’s Facebook Live, I talked about why it is important to move away from being a ‘Debbie Downer’ and more towards becoming a ‘Grateful Gal’. I had a few special guests with me which made this live extra special.
Here’s what Lisa said…
Lisa, our new Digital Marketing Assistant (shout out!), has been tasked with ‘listening’ and one of the profound things that she has uncovered when listening to the women who are in various Facebook groups that we partake in (and even in our own!) is that women do themselves down – way too much and way too often.
I loved Lisa’s observation that we often do ourselves down before we even give something a go.
Here are some of the words and phrases that women used to describe how they are feeling…
- Imposter syndrome
- Lack of confidence
- Feeling stuck
- Not tough enough for rejection
- Burnt out
- Baffled by recruitment
- Frustrated
- Insignificant
- Terrified of social media
- Out of depth
Now, I’ve embraced personal development for the past 15+ years and so nearly every day, I have little hacks I do to help me combat these feelings because, let’s face it – EVERYONE has them.
It is how you deal with it that matters.
Here’s what I do know from my reading into Habits (check out our series on habits if you don’t know about it yet) – if you want to see change, you have to create GOOD habits. Bad habits manifest themselves. And a simple bad habit that we are all susceptible to doing is going down the road to negative town, becoming a Debbie Downer.
So in the Facebook Live, I wanted to find out from a couple of our investors (who have done amazing things in their careers) what they do to combat the negative thoughts that pop up in their heads.
Here’s what Aimie said…
One of the things we discussed was how appreciating what you have – taking stock – allows you to quickly change your attitude. By adopting an attitude of gratitude, you realise what you have and start to look at things from a new perspective.
Aimie challenged us to think about how we use this new perspective to craft a new one for ourselves. So for example, if you’ve had a failure, instead of looking at it like a negative experience, take stock and try and find the little nuggets of wisdom you gained from the failure that you pull out and use towards future success. This is effectively re-framing something negative and putting a positive spin on it.
Here’s what Sarah said…
Sarah talked about how important it is to have big ambition. As a new Mum herself she now realises just how often Mums at home sometimes think that thinking big isn’t an option for them anymore. Sarah’s point was that signing up for a programme like TechPixies (where you learn a relevant skill like social media or WordPress or Digital Marketing) will help bring back your confidence in your skillset and the supportive environment that surrounds you while you are on your learning journey will help you as you take bold new moves towards re-entering the workplace, starting a business or changing careers.
You’re challenge:
Write out 5 things you are grateful for – this will help you shift from a negative state quickly into a positive one AND if you want to take it a step further, think about a negative situation in your life and write down 2-3 things you can take away from it in a positive way in order to have a better experience next time.
Join the discussion, write in the comments of the Facebook Live what 5 things you are grateful for – there are some pretty good ones there already. Go check them out.
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