Brew Your Unique Blend of Positivity in a Jar

Unconventional Goals-Setting When You Have Little Spare Time

How the heck did we arrive at the middle of March already?

The ‘new’ year is in full swing and Spring may have well and truly sprung in your part of the world. It is the season associated with positivity and optimism.

But what of those audacious goals you made for 2019? Yes, the ones you made under the intoxicating influence of a heady cocktail of audacious ambition and headstrong hope.

Fading into a distant memory?

Derailed by distracting internal or external forces? No need to name names.

Sacrificed to the hustle and bustle of daily life?

The looming prospect of an ugly struggle with New Year goal-abandonment anxiety wasn’t a tussle I fancied taking on. Determined to keep my positivity intact, I chose to take a different, less pugilistic approach and I started 2019 ‘goals-lite’.

Taking down the Christmas decorations by 6th January was the extent of my lofty New Year resolutions. I can happily report, “Achieved!”

Working away from home on a full-on hotel opening HR assignment, meant that dismantling festive decorations was the maximum mind capacity I could spare for goals-setting. The goals genies had other plans for me. A Jeff Goins blog post teased inspiration and fresh hope from my goal-weary, skeptic's mind - “it’s possible to get the life you’ve always wanted, to set big goals and achieve them, as long as you understand this isn’t magic. It just requires daily practice.”

Goins’ unconventional approach to goal-setting piqued my curiosity! Three months into the year and I am revisiting my feelings to goal-setting.

After all it’s never too late to change, right?

Join me?

Let’s begin with a simple yet powerful trio of questions recommended by Goins.

Ask and answer honestly, or you will stumble hard and struggle later.

There are the critical three steps towards building yourself a habit-forming positive daily practice

What do I want to STOP doing?
What do I want to START doing?
What do I want to KEEP doing?

Write down your answers and make time to reflect on them.

You hold in your hands three keys to unlocking a bold and brilliant paradox – simultaneously hold fast and let go, unlearn and learn, pause and act. Practise every day to build a set of skills which will lead you into a change-igniting process.

What practice do you choose to (re)start?

I choose to return to my lapsed daily gratitude practice.

Grow with Gratitude: Positivity in a Jar

Six years ago I stumbled across the ‘gratitude jar’ project and it inspired me to create my own version – a ‘Positivity Jar’.

My positivity jar sits on my desk with these words taped to it.

“Starting NOW, I will fill this empty jar with notes about the good things that happen and great experiences I have shared as I chart a new course. 12 months from today, I will empty it and celebrate the unexpected, that wonderful things did happen and my journey was all the more rewarding for it.”

You too can capture moments of gratitude in your jar and brew your own blend of positivity. It is easy-peasy to do.

Step 1: Get creative. Make Your Positivity Jar (plain or decorative – your style, your choice)

You will need: 1 clean empty jam jar (other type – e.g. pickles.) Glue or tape. Scissors. Paper or labels. Beads, ribbons, twine, glitter, trinkets, talismans – whatever you fancy to decorate your jar.

Step 2: Find a Suitable Location for Your Positivity Jar. In the light is best. It is very important to place your Positivity Jar where you can see it every day.

This is your visual prompt to write a note and drop that positivity seed in your jar.

Step 3: Add pieces of gratitude to your Positivity Jar every day. It is like catching positivity fireflies in a jar. (No fireflies were harmed in creating my positivity jar)

Here is how.

First, write down at least 3 positive things you experienced and for which you are grateful. Images that inspire positive feelings or words that motivate you are perfect for stuffing in your positivity jar.

Finally, at the end of a tough day, write your feelings and thoughts about the challenges you faced.

3 questions to help you on your way.

1. What can I unlearn-learn from this experience?

2. What am I grateful for in this moment?

3. What is the good or positive I can take from this?

If you manage to write more than three notes, you are really on a roll.

Next, pop gratitude moments and learning experiences notes into your jar. That’s how you brew your own unique blend of positivity.

When disappointment or demotivation threatens to overwhelm you, pull a few of the positivity notes from your jar. Read them.

Because an dose of positivity and perspective is sometimes all that is needed to lift your spirits and help you get back on track. It works for me.

Psst! Remember you get the best results when you make gratitude and positivity a daily practise. Do it in the morning and start your day off on a with your head and heart tuned into a positive mindset that can help you take on the day’s challenges.

Make your own Positivity Jar today.

Share the gift of positivity. Why not make a jar for someone else?

Come back next week. I am sharing an unexpected paradox you can add to your daily gratitude practice to build mental toughness and resilience to power through adversity.