I am writing this on a Monday morning, after a wonderful weekend catching up with great friends who visiting Bali, followed by a less than stellar start to the new week.
Do I have a case of Monday-it is? Here I am, the dude who writes about happiness, doing a waltz with Mr Misery Guts, and wondering if perhaps I can give myself an early finish for the day. But given that it is not even 10am, I might be selling myself short and not practicing what I teach.
If you prefer to listen to this Happiness Tip as an MP3 CLICK HERE.
So here I will pause for 10 mins while I go and practice one of my little un-funking strategies…
I am back and yes, I feel much chipper and much more excited about writing. Before I enacted this little strategy, after I decided that a 10am wrap for the day would just not do, I started justifying to myself why I needed to do what didn’t need to be done right now. But fortunately I caught myself out an enacted Un-Funking Strategy Number 6. I had a shower. And by the end of that shower I was refreshed, energized, cleansed and ready to get back to business. It allowed me to change my emotional state (I don’t want to work today) and dig into something a little more potent and powerful.
The Strategies
Therefore what follows is a simple list of 15 Great Unfunk-ing Strategies, that are quick to apply and quick to work.
- Look up. Then take a deep breath and on the out breath release a big long ‘Aaaaahhhhhhhh…’ Then repeat 2 times.
- Get up. Walk over to the water cooler or tap and have a long, slow, conscious glass of water. Say or think loudly, ‘Ah. That tasted so good. And my body loves me for it’. Then walk slowly back.
- Do a cool yoga breathing exercise. Bring your hands together in front of your heart. Then take them as high as they will go as you breathe in. Separate the hands. Face the hands out. Then with arms extended bring them all the way back to your sides as you breathe out. Feel your body as you do this. Repeat as necessary. You can do this sitting or standing.
- Push your self back from the desk. Close your eyes and take 5 very conscious breaths. Breath in to the count of 5 and out to the count of 10. Feel the belly expanding as you breath in.
- If you are in an office, car or home alone, do a few big ‘YES!’ chants with appropriate physical actions. I like a bit of punch in the air action personally.
- Take a shower. Maybe even hot then cold as a bit of a body detox too.
- Take a leisurely walk around the office, block, neighbourhood or city.
- Make a short call to someone you care about and who has a good vibe going on (however you are not allowed to complain).
- Write down 3 things you are grateful for or if you have no pen and paper think or say them.
- Do ten star jumps on the spot.
- Do the famous WorldsBIGGESTGym energization exercises (takes 4 mins).
- Do something charitable or giving for another person. A random act of kindness.
- Listen to your favourite inspirational song.
- Watch your favourite YouTube inspiring clip – I have a soft spot for the Britain’s Got talent clip with Susan Boyle. She taps into something purely magical (and spiritual) when she finds her voice.
- Do some mental reps by saying ‘Life is for me. Life wants me to succeed.’ These can also be done while walking on the spot, while listening to your inspiring music, while looking up.
The Triad
As Tony Robbins makes a point with his three-part ‘Triad’. We can change our current emotional state by changing our focus, language and physiology (how me move). To listen to a great recording from the 30-Day Happiness Challenge on this very topic CLICK HERE.
A Final Reminder
When we are in a wee funk, it is important to interrupt the emotional hamster wheel we are on. That is what the 15 Great Unfunk-ing Strategies are for. The next stage, after you shake yourself out, is to just start doing the thing that is the highest priority for you or that needs to be done. Once you have the momentum going, it is much easier to keep it going. Like me writing this article. 1 hour ago it was not going to happen – or write itself. But once I broke out of my little Monday-it is routine, it opened up the space to move into a direction of my choice. And once I got started…well this is where I ended up.
Please share with me (and everyone else) below what other un-funking strategies you have found useful yourself. Pretty please? Sharing is caring after all. 😉
Have an awesome day and here is to having an un-funkingly great week!!
Take care
Carl
Author: The Guidebook to Happiness (Find out how you can win 1-Year of Coaching support – WORTH OVER $5,000!!!)