Whether it’s working at a job you don’t like, or dealing with an annoying customer, there are many things that dampen peoples moods.

They feel as if from that one singular moment that their entire day is ruined. That or they just feel like today was going to be a bad day.

I am familiar with all of these kinds of things. A long time ago I worked at an insurance company as an accountant.

Every day I woke up and said to myself,

“I know today is going to be bad because I feel like I made a mistake somewhere.”

And more often than not, I was right.

But these days, those events are distant memories, and I can’t recall the last time I had a bad day.

Mind you I still faced some tragic things: one of my uncles passing away this summer for example.

But that doesn’t make that day a bad day.

Let me explain.

What Makes A Day Bad

The first thing to avoid having bad days is to know what makes a day bad.

As I was hinting at, typically what makes a day bad is of course a bad event.

An angry customer or co-worker, you making mistakes, or experiencing failure, or even a loss in the family or loss of a friend.

The list is endless.

However what people do is they dwell on these things for extensive periods of time.

It’s like that quote goes:

Bad day? Or was it a bad 5 minutes that you milked all day?

For a lot of people, it’s normally the second option.

I know for myself I had “bad days” when working with that insurance company.

That became a reality because I immediately woke up, said something negative, and milked it all day long.

Anyway that’s really the key thing here to keep in mind.

For a lot of people they experience bad things.

As I’ve said before we can never become perpetually positive and optimistic. There will always be doubt or negativity.

What matters is how we respond to those kinds of things.

People who have “Bad days” milk that one event for the rest of their day.

People who never have “bad days”, move on and grow from it.

How To Grow From Bad Days

There was a quote I recently shared on twitter that sums up my thoughts perfectly. In a nutshell it reveals a framework of how to perceive the things around you.

Never regret a day in your life: good days give happiness, bad days give experience, worst days give lessons, and best days give memories.

Living a positive life, is simply seeing those days that we experience as simply that. But how do we get to the point of seeing something like that?

Well here’s a few pointers to keep in mind.

Note that when you use all these techniques you are more likely to grow your mindset faster compared to using only one or two.

1. Take A Deep Breath

Regardless of what kind of day that you are experiencing, take deep breaths once in a while. I remind you that we are all unique individuals with a limited amount of time on here.

Make your breaths count.

Relax yourself and practice this on a daily basis.

2. Have A Mantra Or Positive Affirmations

One of the big issues I had with that insurance company was that I was depressed and lonely.

This impacted my work where I made mistakes pretty much on a daily basis.

I felt like an idiot and all around I let myself bash myself. Furthermore I set myself up for failure.

There were a lot of issues around that place from my perspective.

That being said, I’m sure if I practiced mantras or positive affirmations, I probably would’ve been slightly better off.

Regardless this can put you into a positive mood when you practice and believe what you are telling yourself.

3. Avoid Complaining

This is a big one.

It’s not that simple to outright stop complaining, I know I still do it to some degree.

That being said, work on complaining less and less and make an attempt to see the other side of the coin.

There is always another side to every problem and you need to do some research into it to know it.

Furthermore avoid complaining about things out of your control.

It’s good to be informed of those situations, but don’t use it as a scapegoat for your problems.

4. Ask Yourself “How Can I Grow From This?”

I remember an article I read several years ago mentioning this question.

This was a question asked by successful individuals when they see something negative on the news.

Whether it’s stock prices dropping or other world issues, I believe the next step is asking yourself how can you grow from this.

For example if you see your community is struggling with homeless people, why not start a company where you build shelters for them?

The point is you are spinning what would be a negative and sad story into something beneficial.

This isn’t anything heartless. Once more, this is positive thinking.

You are still acknowledging the problem but you are putting your energy into something more valuable than complaining.

5. Give Out Compliments

One thing that I’m finding with people is they have bad days because they milk that 5 bad minutes all day.

But imagine if a person milked a compliment all day? I bet they’d have a really good day.

This is the power of compliments at work. So dish them out, but of course, be genuine with them.

People can detect flattery easily, so avoid that and be genuine and authentic about it.

6. Think Solutions Not Problems

This follows the same vein as #4, however not every solution you come up with may be a viable business idea.

In situations like that, again it’s important to dwell on the solutions.

The more that we focus on the problems of our world, the harder they become to solve them.

What we need to do is think of solutions and a way forward.

Again how can you grow from these in a productive fashion as an individual as opposed to turning into something larger scale.

7. See Each Day As a Blessing

Whether you are a religious person or not, see each day as a blessing.

For those who are religious you can see it as God’s grace that he has given you another day to continue your work.

For myself, I turn to something Gary Vaynerchuk said.

My favourite ratio is one in one billion: the chances of being born today.

The odds now are one in 400 trillion, however that is still incredibly small odds of being born a human.

Needless to say, I feel blessed and fortunate because of that fact.

No matter what faith you have, I see each individual person as fortunate to be here today and I strive to be grateful for that.

So if all else fails, remind yourself you are one fortunate person to be here.

The Positive Life

Bad minutes are everywhere. We will experience them no matter where we are or what we do.

But as I’ve been talking about and what you may realize now, it all boils down to how we react.

What exactly do we do with these bad events in our lives?

I encourage you to go back through painful memories and work past them, grow from them.

Furthermore, when you experience bad events, try out those seven strategies I mentioned above.

Try using all seven over the course of your day.

To your growth!

Eric S Burdon