Framing and journaling can help you stay focused and create a happier worldview

Leadership often feels like an all-you-can-eat buffet of distraction and negativity. Here are two tools to be more focused and positive.

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If there is one sentiment that seems to be shared by leaders of all stripes these days, it’s a nagging and lingering sense of a feeling somewhere between general unease or grassroots frustration, to panic to hardly managed. It’s not surprising. We live in a world that is far from certain, and each day seems to bring a new item to add to our list of concerns. These concerns can include everything from concerns about geopolitics and health issues, to persistent cybersecurity threats, to which of your key employees has a foot outside. For many of us, this deluge of worry creates a constant, harmful background noise that can not only distract us and make us less effective leaders, but ultimately make us less happy, healthy, and positive.

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Framing — consciously defining your worldview

Framing is a wonderfully simple and intuitive concept that can be grasped in a matter of moments, but takes a lifetime of practice to approach mastery. In short, that’s how you see the world. We’ve all met people who see the world through a certain lens, and too often it’s a framing that has been subconsciously defined by the circumstances rather than one that its holder has carefully and actively cultivated.

For example, if you know someone in law enforcement, they probably have a very different way of seeing the world and its people than someone who works in the fashion industry. As technology leaders, we could naturally define the world based on how technology might solve the various challenges we face. If you allow your framing to be defined subconsciously, it usually amplifies what you encounter in your daily routines. With a barrage of 24/7 worries from climate change to cybercrime, too many of us default to present our world as an endless parade of woe and misery with a rare flash of joy.

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If you don’t believe that something as simple as your world view can have such a dramatic impact, consider the two or three most positive and joyful people you know, as well as two or three of each other. side of that spectrum. . There is unlikely to be a dramatic difference in material circumstances, physical condition, or a magic potion that positive people have discovered and savored on a daily basis. On the contrary, you will probably notice that positive people always find the silver lining, while negative people have a glass that is constantly half empty, and they are not even thirsty and they are angry that someone has had them. given a drink in the first place. These old bromides are simplified ways of expressing how someone frames their world.

The magic of framing is that by being aware of its existence, you can actively manage it. You can choose to absorb all the negative news or allow this underprivileged politician to steer the way you structure the world, or you can ignore these distractions and choose to focus on the positive aspects of your world and the events on. which you can have a direct impact.

Over the course of my career, I have experienced months of frustration with aspects of my job, ranging from the burdens of travel to a perceived lack of advancement. Focusing on what I liked and enjoyed about work or focusing on actively changing my situation had a huge impact on my mood and perception of my job and made me a better spouse, father and friend. It may be harder than it looks, but luckily there are tools to help you out.

Journaling: a tool to shift your framing

One of the best tools I have found is to keep a daily journal. You don’t have to travel far to hear the virtues of journaling, and most of the great people in history kept regular journals. Like many things, I ignored this advice for too long, possibly due to a misconception that a diary was something akin to the “Dear Diary” trope of my childhood movies and novels. , with pre-teens documenting every nuance of their lives only for someone to steal those deep secrets.

What helped me was having a streamlined structure and being a tech-oriented person, using my phone and tablet as a repository as they were always on hand. There are many simple and structured logging templates and tools out there, but I have found a variation of the 5 minute log to be very useful. Each morning I focus on writing down three things I’m grateful for and three things that would make this day great, an exercise that takes five minutes from when I feel like it and when I press. on Done in my logging app.

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This simple act, which quickly became as essential and delicious to my mornings as a cup of coffee, gradually shifted my framing of the world to one centered on gratitude and anticipation and a sense of control over what the day brings. . It also forces me to think about how I’m going to make this particular day a great day, and I’ll enter things from progressing on a specific piece of a complex project to work to spending a few minutes chatting with my spouse or my children.

There are dozens of important management books and elaborate leadership training courses and programs, but a little thought and a few minutes each day spent actively managing your coaching can do wonders for our lives as leaders and managers. ‘Human being.