Whew! Today’s challenge is proving to be a challenge! How ironic that it fell f on a Sunday when I’m home with my family and they are the one’s I have to focus on being less critical of and more positive with. Definitely an eye opener.
For those that don’t know my household dynamics – my husband, myself, my 11 year old son, my 4 year old son and the 11 month old teething diva-in-training. Plenty opportunities for not-so-fun conversations on most days.
My family had a birthday party for my niece yesterday and my kiddos are still high on all the cake, ice cream and candy their grandparents stuffed them with before hightailing it out of here to the peace and quietness of their home.
I’m a huge advocate of watching the words we speak to and over our children. I can still remember negative, nasty things said to me decades ago. They truly can impact your self-esteem, confidence and worth.
I started the day out by explaining the challenge to my children and letting them know that today’s focus was on being less critical of others and their actions. Needless to say, we’ve all taken on the challenge and have been mindful to remind each other if someone’s words seem to take on a negative connotation. There have been less arguments between my boys and I even caught my oldest “coaching” his younger brother on how to play a computer game so they could play together. Winning!
How do you motivate your loved ones with positive feedback and influence? Once I get my kids to buy into a behavior it’s awesome to see how they incorporate it into their daily lives and remind us all if we slip up.
Week 1 of the Challenge:
Day 1: Write Personal Mission Statement
Day 2: Rather than criticize, coach. Motivate with positive feedback and influence.
Day 3: Do something nice for someone else – leave a soda money by the vending machine, pay for someone’s coffee, let that extra car turn during your morning or afternoon commute, etc
Day 4: Focus on the positive all day. No negative thoughts. (Warning – often when you make a conscious effort to be positive, it will seem as though anything and everything that can go wrong will – keep smiling and stay positive through it all).
Day 5: Connect with at least 4 other people and commit to motivating and inspiring one another for the next 5 days. It doesn’t have to be anything ornate – just a simple motivating text, email, Facebook post, etc.
Day 6: Have a selfish moment. Do something for yourself.
Day 7: Share lessons from your successes and failures with someone that can benefit from it.
You can see an overview and the inspiration behind this 14-day challenge here.