July 2020

How Work and Career Choices Meet Your Needs

by Elizabeth Saigal

People spend the majority of their time and energy meeting the demands of their work and career. How each of us applies this time and energy has important consequences for the way our needs are met. Social distancing has had a considerable impact on the patterns of behavior we had in place to met our needs.

For some of us, work is now being done from home. This may mean you are making adjustments to the way collaboration takes place using different systems to connect securely as needed.

For some, it has meant being furloughed or laid off. You could find yourself unexpectedly seeking new employment.

For some, there is more work than ever. Perhaps there has been a flood for extra demand in your industry. Maybe you are juggling roles that were previously done by others, such as childcare and cleaning. Maybe the new safety requirements stretch your resources.

Changes to your work and career may have you identifying different needs or aspects that feel like they are missing. Added pressures may mean some needs are being neglected or undermined. Radical shifts in the way your job is done may mean that you have to opt to meet some needs differently. Our work and career are fundamental to so many of these needs because our income provides for our lifestyle. Empower yourself by actively choosing the way you wish to meet these needs.

by Elizabeth Saigal

The root of the word affirmation is affirm. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines this as to validate or confirm, or to state positively.

So, an affirmation is a positive statement or phrase. You can use an affirmation to retrain your mind and challenging negative references.

In the simplest practice, you just pick a positive phrase that describes the way you want to live and repeat it over and over. In this way, committed and disciplined exposure prompts more positive thinking. With many repetitions over time, you adjust your mental framework by building new positive connections. However, the negative connections remain and you might find yourself on occasion bouncing back and forth between the positive and negative. For true stability, add intentionally letting go of any contradictory negative statement.

With deep practice, affirmations are an invaluable tool for accessing mindset. They can be used to identify what your mindset is and to turn it around to increase motivation or raise self-esteem. They provide a way to change and release thinking that you acquired in your formative years when you were too young to process and question many of your experiences.

How Work and Career Choices Meet Your Needs

Affirmations: How to Use Them as a Mindset Miracle