Happy New Year!

Welcome back 😊

How are you all feeling readers? I hope you have all enjoyed the holiday season however you chose to spend it, especially service-givers who spent this period slightly differently to most but still made the most of the festivities.

The New Year is often a time associated with change. I dread the storm of ‘new year, new me!’ posts all over social media channels as well as constantly being asked to share my new year’s resolution. But, don’t get it twisted, I’m not a sceptic. Although there’s part of me that thinks that new year’s is a social construct…I am all for reflection and revitalisation. But what no one seems to tell me, is that reflection doesn’t mean self-hate, and revitalisation doesn’t mean drastic change or a complete upheaval of anything you stood for in 2019! So I’m going to take you on my journey of reflection with the thought that it might relate to some of you guys too.

Hear me out: by definition, revitalisation is about enhancement and making something better, NOT transformation by changing something for the better. So with that in mind, how are you meant to develop and in turn, become the best version of yourself? Productivity! By taking your actions and making them more and more effective as time goes on, you do become that new you that you were aspiring to be.

One thing though, I’m all about getting rid of bad habits and creating good habits too, but for that you need consistency, and how do you become a more consistent person you ask? Become more productive! It’s all making sense now right?!

So how do you become more productive, you ask next? One thing to look at is what you are taking in from your surroundings, physically and digitally. To be productive, you need inspiration to keep going. The children’s charity and voluntary sector has a lot of inspiration, but that often takes the form of heart-breaking stories. The world can be a very bleak place and it is up to those of us that care to make it better and from where I’m standing, I don’t think any of us struggle with empathy and compassion which is so vital. But, I also think that is how so many of us burn ourselves out. So how can we avoid this? We can surround ourselves with positivity instead, stories that motivate us to keep doing what we’re doing because we really can make a difference when we put our minds to it.

And that’s where I come in! If you’re new here, hi! My name is Noori and I am here to be your source of positive news from the children’s sector, helping you make the most of Monday. Here to start your week off right, keeping you inspired to make every hour count until Friday rather than just counting them down. They’re always small and bite-sized editions to give you an oomph and with any luck, make you smile too. So if you are new, here’s your archive. You’ve only got nine editions to catch up on 😉

To conclude, don’t make the same generic pledge to become a brand-new version of yourself, become a better version. Start this off with positive inspiration, use that inspiration become more productive and convert that productivity to consistency.

That’s all from me today folks, I hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of #makethemostofmonday. If you did, please share it using the hashtag above. If you feel you’re doing something super positive that should be included in next week's edition, drop us a line at [email protected]. I hope you have a lovely rest of your week and this has inspired you to start the new year in the best possible way 😊