As leaders and business owners, it’s crucial to regulate your mood. The tiniest bit of feedback can drag you down and make it hard for you to be solution-oriented, creative, and innovative.
Last night, I was chatting to Saul Rosenberg on his show, ‘People in Perspective’, on Chai FM. I shared how a positive state (enthusiasm, happiness, joy, great energy, being driven) can be contagious. I also shared that as leaders and business owners, it’s crucial to know that your mood, attitude, and state will ripple throughout your business, to your clients and especially to your staff.
Have you seen the impact of a person walking into the office and giving a huge sigh, kicking their dustbin, slamming the door or throwing down their bag?
What we do immediately sets the state for those around us, and even if you don’t mean to have a negative ripple effect, you will.
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On the other hand, have you seen a person with positive energy enter a room? They have a smile on their face, and suddenly, a sense of warmth is radiating in the office. The sales teams are suddenly friendlier to their clients, and their clients also respond better.
So, what do you do to help you regulate your mood?
Keep a brag file
A friend of mine was kind enough to share details of my radio interview on a WhatsApp group we have in the Speaker space, and suddenly, two media gurus whom I deeply respect gave their comments. I only saw this afterwards but knew I had to add them to my bragging file.
Your bragging file is a file that you can go to for those times when you are feeling low. It is for times when you’ve received criticism, wondering if you are an imposter and not feeling good enough to do your job or be the leader you know you can be.
In this file, save positive comments and feedback, such as Whatsapp messages, emails, and even photo evidence of times when you were in the flow, confident, and in the best state possible.
In Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way, she speaks about your inner critic.
We all have that inner critic who is always out to tell us that we are not good enough and that we will be caught out soon enough.
When you access your “bragging file,” that voice can be quieted down.
Morning pages
Another technique Julia Cameron writes about is the Morning Pages. In this technique, you write in a journal every morning for up to three A4 pages long by hand. This allows all of your negative thoughts and “gunk” to get out on paper and calms down your inner critic. Suddenly, creativity and innovation will sneak up on you.
Your Brag file and Morning pages can help you regulate your mood and perform at your best, especially if you want to influence others and have them mirror your behaviour.
Which of these two techniques do you want to try out?
What is making my bragging file?
