How to Keep a Bad Mood From Affecting Your Performance

by

Rebecca Borison

culled from:http://www.inc.com
Don't let that funk keep you from being productive.
It's widely accepted that your state of mind can greatly impact your productivity and overall performance at work. If you're in a lousy mood, chances are it'll carry over to the office. On the flip side, if you're feeling great on your way into work, it will only improve your performance.
The key is to manage your state of mind so that it doesn't negatively impact your work, three leadership experts write in Harvard Business Review.  Alexander Caillet, Jeremy Hirshberg, and Stefano Petti have been surveying leaders for two years--they've interviewed more than 740 leaders to date--and have found that your state of mind may have an even larger impact on your performance than you might think.
More than 90 percent of the respondents said that feeling calm, happy, and energized drives the greatest performance at work. On the other hand, many felt that being frustrated, anxious, tired, and stressed may be helpful in the short term but can be detrimental in the long term. Unfortunately, they also struggled to get out of those mindsets while at work.
Here are Caillet, Hirshberg, and Petti's four best practices for overcoming a bad mood at work:

1. Acknowledge your thoughts and feelings, and then let them be transient. Try generating positive feelings by visualizing positive images, and refocus your attention on happier thoughts. It might be helpful to journal or engage in meaningful conversations.
2. Get up and move. "Stretch to loosen muscles, stimulate blood flow, and improve cognitive function," they write. Make sure to take breaks and breath deeply to reduce stress.
3. Adjust the externals. Change the lighting and background noise to make yourself calmer. That may mean listening to happy or calming music, or buying a new desk lamp. Declutter your desk to improve your focus.
4. Be healthy. Eat a well-balanced diet, exercise frequently, and get enough sleep.