I’m currently reading the book ‘The Happiness Project’ by Gretchen Rubin and taking copious notes. This girl has so many things figured out. But one of my favorite pieces of the puzzle of her happiness project is that she wrote her own commandments for her life. Before anyone gets too bent out of shape this is in no way to say that the biblical 10 Commandments don’t reign supreme, for me. But I liked the concept of setting your own commandments to live your life by.
So I started my own and today I’m sharing the first. The first commandment I’m choosing to live by (and let me tell you, I have to re-choose this on a daily basis) is this:
1. Don’t Take it Personal
If you know me in real life you may be surprised by this admission but: I take MOST things entirely too personally. Despite being confident, quirky, and more than a little sassy on a daily basis I am extremely hard on myself. As a result, I tend to take things too personally that other people say. The hardest place to apply this, for me, is actually in the workplace. In making this commandment I am choosing to take people’s challenges, questions, or need for clarifications as feedback. And using each opportunity to explain, grow, and develop in my role. In this, I am choose not to see them as questioning my work ethic or my ability to perform my job well. This gives my coworkers, family, and friends the benefit of the doubt that their inquiries or suggestions are well intentioned and it (I hope) will allow me to grow, pleasantly,and increase the feedback I get so that I continue to be moldable moving forward.
Stay tuned for further commandments as I’m on my own little happiness project journey. And I recommend reading Gretchen’s list as well.
That's What B Said 