Having our world turned upside down has meant that for most of us how we measure our days, chalk up our successes and even how we view ourselves in this ‘new normal’ is something we’re slowly adjusting to. Gone are the long power lunches, talking strategies and solutions and instead, we’re spending time having lunch with our family or Zooming friends and sharing a virtual lunch.
As someone who likes to be busy, tends to have a million projects and ideas on the go I’ve had to quickly and probably not very prettily, set myself new measures of success. Where before I’d had a weekly to-do list and individual project plans, I’ve had to not only learn to scale them down but also combine my achievements with others (namely my children). For many of you seasoned leaders out there, well used to delegation and managing teams this will possibly come naturally to you – or maybe less than you imagined. These days, my measure of achievement in a day is actually moving to sit next to one of my children when they ask for help instead of offering instructions over a screen, finding a new Zoom application, no tears (either me or them) and managing to just get one key thing done that I can tick-off, instead of my usual 10.
But probably the greatest thing I’ve been reminded of over this past week is something my husband introduced as a measure – the ‘smile-ometer’. Looking for and recognising moments in the day when our inner and outer smiles are registering 10 on the smile-ometer. Like lots of working families out there and people living alone, seeking out these special moments of joy that lift our spirits and brighten our day surely have to be our new measures of success as work and life become blurred into one.
What will take your smile-omter to the max today? If you’d like support in moving your smiles and helping to establish your new routine, then why not get in touch and ask for a sample session or dive right in and book yourself a virtual Discovery Session.