If you are here, itās because you need to find a way to transform your day as a social worker!
Well, you are in the right place!
For over 3 years now, I have been working on ways to transform my day as a social worker, and I learned how to optimise my day by following these simple steps.
I really believe that having a chaotic morning can have a knock on effect on your entire day.
Organising your mornings can help you achieve a more productive day.
Being remarkably organised requires consistency and commitment.
It’s time to take action in order to be happy and get more done each day.
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Why is routine important?
As social workers, we are ever so busy thinking about our workload, overdue court reports, how to meet strict deadlines, completing assessments and organising meetings just to name a few.
As a result, our biggest challenge is to find time for personal growth or the āMEā factor.
Having a smashing morning routine can help you create the ‘ME’ factor, which can give way to a more structured day.
Why does a routine matter?
So here is the story ā¦ā¦ I felt overworked, unhappy and overwhelmed. On one hand, I knew I wanted to be happy.
What prevented me from being happy? I was ever too busy trying to figure out what would make me happy.
Above it all, limiting beliefs were holding me back!
For most of us, our biggest challenge is finding the time to think about what would make us happy and implementing these goals into our day consistently.
Thenā¦. I stumbled upon the Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, which transformed every aspect of my life.
This book thought me how to make my routine scalable to help me make time for my own personal development.
I simply invest 6 minutes in the morning for myself-growth as detailed below:
6 minutes to transform your day
Minute 1: Silence
I sit in purposeful silence and say a word of prayer to appreciate the moment and thank God for the goodness in my life.
- I read a daily verse on the Holy Bible KJV app.
- As a social worker, your day can be jam packed with visits, telephone calls and emergencies. This can make you feel swamped! However, you can make your day better by not rushing into a hectic day in the morning.
- Spend the first minute sitting in silence or engage in a guided or unguided meditation.
Why is silence important?
Engaging in this minute of silence helps me find my inner peace. Actively seeking some peace has some health benefits too.
Silence can help lower blood pressure, make you feel at peace mentally, improve your memory and cognition.
Minute 2: Affirmations
Affirmations help target the unconscious level of the mind.
They help individuals make important changes in their lives.
Positive affirmations or statements can help you challenge and overcome self-sabotaging and self-limiting thoughts.
When repeated often and believing in them can help make positive, lasting and meaningful changes.Ā
I list my daily affirmations as a social worker below.
I read these out loud and it reminds me of how capable I am, gives me a feeling of confidence and a sense of positivity.
Example of positive affirmations:
- I am patient
- I am a positive personĀ
- I am healthyĀ
- I am who I am and I do not want to be like anyone else.Ā
- I am enough and give enough.
- I get better every single day and will continue to grow
- I am a confident and amazing person.
- All of my problems have solutions and I overcome them every day.
- I forgive myself for my mistakes and learn from them.
- I put my energy into things that matter to me.Ā
- I am at peace with myself.
- I hold no ill feelings against anyoneĀ
- I use my time and talent meaningfully
- I am proud of who I am today
- I am creativity and remain inspired by the world around meĀ
- I give myself and attention to things that matter the mostĀ
- I excellent at helping others to inspire them.Ā
- My mind is full of brilliant ideasĀ
- I give myself permission to do what is right for me.Ā
- I am progressing in life and work on myself daily.Ā
- I banish self – doubtĀ
- I learn to love myself each dayĀ
What are good daily affirmations?
Good affirmations focus on the mind, body and soul.Ā
Examples are;
- I take care of my wellbeing and focus on what matters.Ā
- My past remains in the past, and it is not a reflection of who I am today or of my future.
- I take care of my body by exercising regularly.
- I am intelligent enough to make my own decisions.
- I’m in control of my behaviour and how I react to others.
- I choose peace and sanity in my life.Ā
- I am aware of all the chaos surrounding me, but I rise above them as I am strong.Ā
Do affirmations work?
When done consistently, positive affirmations inspire and motivate us. In addition, it helps improve our mental wellbeing.
Minute 3: Visualisation
I close my eyes, look at my vision board and visualise. My visualisation includes my goals, what it will look and feel like when I reach them.
I visualise my day is perfect; I visualise myself enjoying work; I visualise myself smiling and actually taking my lunch break! I visualise completing everything on my toādo list.
As a social worker, your vision represents where you want to get to in your professional life and it forms the foundation for success.
Take some time to think about your dreams, aspirations and desires in life. Allow yourself to create vivid pictures of your ultimate work day. Visualise who you will work with and people you will be meeting.
Why is visualisation important?
When you see what your day looks like, you can feel what it feels like and experience that joy of the fruitful and productive day you have created.
Minute 4: Scribing
This is when I write down things I am grateful for, what am proud of, and the ultimate results I am committed to creating for the day. I write down around 10 brief sentences.
Why is scribing important?
Scribing helps me put myself in an empowered, inspired and confident state of mind.
Scribing can also help you gain control of your emotions and improve your mental health.
Minute 5: Reading
I read a page or two of a personal development book or listen to a book on Audible.
Reading personal development books helps me learn success strategies and tips on how to improve my life.
Having an improved life will help increase your confidence and make you feel better to be better.
Being confident will impact on the way you relate with the people you work with and those you support within the community.
Minute 6: Exercise
Finally, I stand up and spend the last-minute doing press-ups for 60 seconds. This gets my heart rate up and makes me feel energised.
Engaging in exercises has a profound positive impact on your mental health. You can simply skip, do some stretches, or walk around the house/indoors.
I find that engaging in the morning exercise helps me feel awake during the day and increases my ability to remain focused and alert.
In addition, it helps boost my overall mood.
Conclusion
Do you have a miracle morning routine? How does it make you feel throughout the day?
I would love to share your views and tips with my readers so kindly comment below.
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Thank you so much for this highly informative article! I have so much respect for social workers; people don’t realize how much you all deal with a daily basis (the heartbreaking cases, court calls, overwhelming administrative work, etc.), and it’s so important that you all take care of yourselves while you all are helping others. I work in the legal field, and I always start my day with prayer, reading God’s Word, positive affirmations, and exercise-God allowed us to see another day, which means that he has a purpose for us, which we should fulfill to the best of our abilities. I love your article and will share it with my friends and family. God bless you!
Your words are really inspiring. Thank you so much š
I really enjoyed this article as although I’m not a social worker I can totally relate to your morning routine. Like you, I also believe in sitting quietly for a few minutes and calming the body before starting work. Exercise is very important and helps boost concentration. Meditation is good, though I don’t practice it very often these days. Visualisation is definitely something I do daily and it certainly helps motivation and focus. Thanks for sharing:)
Hello Kathy,
Having an organised day certainly applies to everyone and not only social workers. Glad you found the post useful š
I am a social worker and can really relate with this article. I often start my day in a rush as I tend to complete work before my children get out of bed. The problem is I never finish the task I set out to complete. After reading this article, I think I will benefit from just having some time to myself and having those silent moments to appreciate life rather than taking so much on even before my day starts. Thanks for sharing š
Happy to read that you will be taking steps to transforming your day. Do let me know how it goes š
Woah…I m a believer. when going through your post, I felt as if an anointed pastor was talking to me. Thank you for sharing. I believe your post is truly inspirational and the tips will certainly help with time management which is crucial for our overall success. I simply wish more and more people could read this.
Hello M Charles, indeed lost time is never found again and we do need to manage time effectively.
Hi, thanks for your article. You have great tips here which would be valuable not just for social workers but for other professions too. Valuable tips on how to get the most out of our day and improve our daily lifestyle as well.
I agree with you Ola. These tips can be used in every profession.