This list of mood-boosting actions uses our powerful work-life balance Grid method. Discover practical ideas to lower stress, improve your mood, and reduce anxiety.
Positive mood-boosting requires balance
You know that your moods fluctuate. Good mood fuels motivation, action, and creativity, a low mood can zap energy. While a small degree of stress can motivate one to action, too much can dampen the spirit.
Consider for a moment what tends to put you in a good mood and what makes you feel low. This simple activity can offer invaluable clues about what you may want to do more of and less of in your life.
Coaching with balance in mind
Balance is key to a healthy and rewarding life in the short and the long term. Conflict signals lack of balance.
Part of me has fun but another part of me can’t enjoy the fun because it knows there is work to do.
Grid helps us balance things out and give fun to the fun-needing part and results to the other part.
Magdalena Bak-Maier, Grid creator
At Make Time Count we teach and coach people to live well and find a path to success on healthy terms. We do this using one of our original methods called the Grid.
At the root of many low moods that tend to linger or keep coming back is an actual or perceived imbalance. It may be that we’re making a poor evaluation of the situation, or achieving in one area at the expense of another. Or that we’re facing life unfolding yet we keep denying responsibility for it.
Below we’ve assembled a series of practical ideas into an actionable list of mood-boosting actions to help you take charge. Let us know what you think, anything you’d add from your experience, or what happened when you put one of our ideas to work.
1. Organize the space around you for greater calm
Clutter adds stress. From laundry piling up, to closets full of clothes we can’t find, or pieces of paper we keep misplacing. Pretty much every area of life can be more organized.
Decluttering can boost your mood. By making our surroundings feel calmer whilst being supportive of all we want and need to do. Getting things organized need not take much time. A good way to start is to focus on one small area.
Here are some Grid quadrant-specific ideas.
Personal life
- Declutter one specific area of the house.
- Plan and diarize outings and key appointments for the next 3 months.
- Sort out health appointments or dentist checks.
- Find a designated place for house keys.
- Organize one closet shelf/drawer or cupboard.
- Set up a house binder for key services and utilities.
- Make a weekly meal plan.
- Choose a monthly date to pay your bills.
- Give away things that you no longer need or use.
Self-care
- Update home first aid kit and over-the-counter prescriptions.
- Make a fresh bed – mmm clean sheets!
- Invest in mood-boosting bath and body cleaning products.
- Schedule exercise into your day.
- Plan a couple of fun outings ahead.
Work
- Organize current projects into folders for easy management.
- Set up regular meetings with key contacts.
- Reorganize your documents for easy access.
- Complete outstanding work.
Career
- Make or update a CV.
- Review key achievements from last yea.
- Make a short list of desired courses or training to book.
- Organize a meeting with a career coach or head-hunter.
- Set business goals.
Easy wins for mood-boosting actions
When you think about how much stress you can cut by organizing the mundane aspects of life it’s a lot. This has meaningful gains.
- Less stress.
- More time to do the things we want to do.
- A sense of pride that we’re on top of things, or at least the things we can control.
Grid supports you in this process. By listing each of these items on your daily, weekly or monthly Grid, you see visual progress.
Find out how by exploring our success stories.
2. Get out and about
One of the most proven stress-lowering techniques and natural mood boosters is movement. When it comes to healthy living, this tip applies to all four Grid quadrants.
Here are some ideas to start you off.
Personal life
- Visit your local library.
- Explore a local street you never ventured into to discover something new.
- Try a new restaurant.
Self-care
- Book a self-care treatment.
- Create an at-home retreat.
- Do a taster session or a s.
- Get out for a run, swim or a long walk.
Work
- Connect with other people who do similar things to you or related things.
- Read a recently published book on a topic key to your work.
- Conduct a poll or short survey to find out what others think.
- Meet a colleague for coffee.
Career
- Attend a conference or a professional gathering in your field.
- Join a networking or business support group.
- Register for a course that will help you connect with fellow professionals.
Aim for a couple of mood-boosting actions to get yourself moving. You can find more ideas to help get you out of a rut here.
3. Set and work towards specific goals
Goals help us organize life by providing specific focus.
People who set goals are more likely to achieve results. Especially if they review their goals on a regular basis.
See the benefit of having broad and specific goals in life as a way to lower anxiety and stress and to keep positive.
Here is one way to do it. Pick one goal for each Grid quadrant that is most likely to improve your life.
Here are some practical Grid goal-setting examples to get you started:
Personal life
- Add 1-2 extra social engagements to each month to combat my sense of loneliness.
- House move or home improvement.
- Spend 1 weekend at the seaside to raise my quality of life.
- Reconnect with a friend or family member.
Self-care
- Replace my third cup of coffee with a mindful green tea break to combat stress.
- Establish a regular exercise routine to get fit and have fu.
- Cook at least one healthy meal each week from scratch to slow the pace of life.
- Explore my creative side with a jewelry making course.
Work
- Start and finish work at a specific time to make time for life outside work.
- Improve as a leader by practicing one key skill such as listening better or being more patient.
- Make 3 new business inquiries every month to grow my SME.
Career
- Clarify my next career step to help me feel like I’m moving forward
- Apply for at least 2 roles to discover my worth in the marketplace.
- Strengthen one key relationship at work to lower conflict.
Get support setting and achieving your goals
Our 12-month-long goal-setting and achievement online program supports people in creating empowering lives. What’s more, the Goal Getter Bootcamp is free to join. If you can use some help in getting you to specific results, sign up today!
Or join our monthly mailing list to be the first to know about all our events and offers.
4. Give yourself free time to do nothing
We live in a world where being busy is the norm. This way of living is often fueled by anxiety and riddled with stress. One of the most effective ways to beat stress is to give yourself plenty of rest and downtime.
We invite you to be aware of a critical distinction between idleness and laziness. While laziness is a state of reluctance to do something, idleness is a state of choosing to do very little.
We can gain a lot of being idle some of the time. For an inspiring and practical take on this, we recommend this Time article by Chris Bailey.
For more good reasons to do nothing, check out this Ted talk by Manoush Zomorodi. Manoush demonstrates how boredom and idleness support creativity.
Grid questions to encourage idleness
Here is a series of Grid-based questions to consider how downtime may aid you.
Personal life
- When was the last time you gave yourself some downtime?
- What happened next?
Self-care
- What are you like when you relax or potter about doing nothing?
- Is the way you tend to feel about giving yourself such time supporting a positive self-image or not?
Work
- How often do you give yourself a chance to pause, think or be creative at work?
- Is this enough? Too much? Not enough?
Career
- If your career left you plenty of time to rest up as well, what would it be?
5. Unleash your inner bookworm, artist or engineer
Imagine how you feel when you’re stressed, anxious or feeling low. What’s your view of yourself? Do you think of yourself as creative? Are you resourceful, or a brilliant problem solver when you’re anxious?
But what if in such moments you decided to unleash those very characteristics on purpose? What happens if you switch things up? Take your power back next time you’re feeling down or under too much pressure.
Creating things, reading or making stuff are great ways of relieving anxiety. Blending activity with relaxation is a process that supports your wellbeing.
Grid questions to encourage a more resourceful mindset
Here is a series of Grid-based questions to help you tap into resourceful mind states.
Personal life
- When was the last time you felt like an artist, a diva, a craftsperson?
- How did that feel?
Self-care
- When was the last time you read a book for the pure enjoyment of it?
- When did you last give yourself permission be creative without focusing on how it turned out?
- What can this be in the future?
Work
- When was the last time you enjoyed solving a work challenge?
- What about it gave you that feeling?
Career
- If you did anything else for a living that would tap your hidden strengths, what would it be?
Summary: Balance is the key to taking mood-boosting action
The Grid approach and the gridding process emphasized balance.
Gridding keeps stress and anxiety at bay while supporting your wellbeing and productivity. It places attention and focus on eliminating conflicts and supporting genuine wellbeing.
Grid achieves this by helping Grid adopters rebalance what they do with how they do it.
We’re all unique most of us enjoy autonomy and freedom to choose. The Grid offers this while providing structure and order to support flexibility.
We hope this article has given you some concrete ideas to improve on what is. Now it’s up to you to put them to work.
The Grid Introductory Course is a systematic journey toward making your life stress-free. This comprehensive online program will help you go from a vision to concrete results in only a few weeks.
This systematic and very comprehensive online program will help you go from a vision to concrete results in just a few weeks.
Discover how a few small tweaks and these mood-boosting actions can bring joy and satisfaction to life.
