My friend, Jim Sturm, directs the Looyenga Leadership Center at Minot State University. He required his LEAD 201 Collaborative Leadership class to read my dots and then write their own dot as an assignment. (I love that!) For the rest of the week, I’ll be sharing some of their work.
Today’s dot was written by Hannah Peterson.
No matter the season you find yourself in, encouraging words from others are life-giving.
Since my first semester attending university, one of my professors encouraged everyone within my social work cohort to create a smile file. The smile file should contain notes that you have received from others, lists of songs that boost your mood, pictures, etc. I have two smile files: one that is tangible and one that is digital. My smile files have thank you cards, little notes from my social work cohort, colleagues, and supervisors, screenshots of encouraging texts, and links to motivational videos, etc.
On the days when you find yourself needing motivation, you can pull up your smile file on your computer or the tangible smile file and begin looking through the positivity found within. The recharge of positivity you get will begin to radiate to those around you. When working in collaboration, find ways that you can add notes, thank you cards, pictures, etc. to someone else’s smile file!
