There’s a virus targeting your freelance business, and you are overlooking it every day.
It causes harm to your personal life, and creeps into your business world, undetected, wreaking havoc on everything in its path.
If you’re anything like me, you see the problems it causes, but you’re unable to figure out exactly what it is, and how to fix it.
Today, I’m going to point you in the right direction and show you what one underlying issue is causing you the most trouble in your freelance business and the success you’re striving for.
THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF ANGER
You get pissed off, don’t you? Admit it – family, friends, people in line at your local Starbucks, they all get on your nerves at times, right?
Yeah, I get pissed off too.
Sometimes I get so angry that the only way to keep myself from blowing my top and getting into some form of trouble is to go home, lock myself in the bathroom – the quietest place in the house – and sit there until I relax.
Once I get set off on a tirade, it can quickly spiral out of control. The negative effects it has on my life is enough to cripple me, but when I realize the effect it has on my business, it sends me into an even deeper spiral of negative emotion.
For instance, two nights ago I was cooking dinner and my oven started sparking on the inside of it. I turned the oven off, got myself and my girlfriend out of the house, and waited to make sure it wasn’t going to blow up.
When I called the emergency hotline for my apartment complex, I was told they were getting in touch with the maintenance man and he’d come to check it out.
A few minutes later I was called by the manager, who told me another maintenance man would come in the morning. This pissed me off because her son is the maintenance man who was supposed to show up immediately, but it seemed like she was playing favoritism and didn’t want to bother her son.
The next morning arrived, and I called the office. No answer. I called the other complex that she manages (owned by the same people), and again, no answer.
I finally called her cell phone (the one she mistakenly called my house from the night before). It got under her skin that I was bothering her, and when she told me that everyone had the day off, I snapped.
She told me there would be someone to check out the stove, but now she’s telling me that there’s nobody in, and essentially, I would have to wait another day and spend money ordering takeout since I can’t use my stove.
And do you know the worst part of it all? It’s now Monday morning, I’m awake and unable to use my stove still, which put me in a shitty mood before the sun even came up.
That translated over into my interactions with my friend this morning, which then just pushed me into an even angrier state.
I was actually working on an entirely different article before all of this anger crept in this morning, stopping me in my tracks and forcing me to really look at the issues.
When I couldn’t focus on that article, it caused me to stress out and worry that everything I’d be doing today would be affected by the anger that I’ve felt.
We know from studies that stress causes your focus too narrow, putting the negative things you’re worried about to the forefront of your mind.
This is bad when it comes to your freelance business since the stress of your daily life can remove any progress you’d be making with your marketing, and bleed into your client relations.
5 WAYS TO RELAX, AND FOCUS ON POSITIVITY
- Meditation – A recent study shows that people who meditate daily display more positive emotions than those who do not. Starting your day off with a few minutes of mindful meditation can help center you, removing stress and allowing you to start your freelance business day on a positive note.
- Writing – Looking for a way to increase your positivity, and beat down the anger and stress of your day? This study shows the intensely positive effects of writing about your positive experiences. Take some time every day to write a quick note or two about things you’ve enjoyed about your day, progress you’ve made with your work, or even things happening outside of your freelance business.
- Reading – One thing I’ve noticed that helps me get my mind off the anger I’m feeling is reading positive quotes. Finding inspiration through kick ass quotes will help you see life in a different light, and focus your mind on something other than the burning desire to break something inside of you.
- Exercise – This is something that I’ve personally found a lot of success with. When I find myself really tense and frustrated, I drop down and do a couple sets of push ups, wherever I am at the moment. The stress I’m feeling fuels my strength through the sets, and by the time I’m done, I’ve released endorphins and burnt off the anger to a manageable size.
- Laughing – This new study proves that laughter is really the best medicine, and I agree. My favorite part of Netflix is the large variety of stand up comedy. When I’m feeling a bit pissed off, I throw on a stand up routine, sit back and watch until I’m laughing. It takes a minute for the anger to remove itself, but I can feel the stress lifting with each chuckle.
HOW ARE YOU FEELING TODAY?
If you woke up in a bad mood, try your best to not let it negatively affect your entire day by using the above techniques.
You don’t want to waste your whole day being pissed off about things that might just be outside of your control, so spend the time getting centered and move forward with your business tasks.
Your freelance success depends on it, so treat your mood with the utmost care. If not, you risk losing it all.
