Thursday, February 19, 2009
3 Ways to Keep Your Attitude Positive During Chaotic and Challenging Times
Everything begins and ends with your attitude. It is the foundation for our success. A good attitude is not only nice, but essential. It can keep you from getting a job, building cooperation, getting promoted, establishing satisfying relationships and it can even been a reason for dismissal. For example, if you apply for a job at one major hotel chain and you do not smile at least five times in a five-minute interview your chances for getting hired are almost non-existent. In another instance, one major hardware store has managers who observe employees and if they see anyone with a bad attitude they relieve them of their duties immediately. All this ?attitude? stuff may seem ?touchy feely? to some, but to attract and keep clients, to get along with others and to promote a positive work atmosphere we must project an upbeat, caring and concerned attitude. A recent survey stated it best when they asked customers why they don?t go back to a business. The overwhelming response was, ?I didn?t go back because of an attitude of indifference by the owner, manager or employee.?
To keep your attitude adjusted at all times follow these three guidelines:
1. Flip side exercise ? This exercise is based on the principal that no matter what goes wrong there is always something good that comes from it. For example, if you hate your job, the flip side would be that at least you have a job. If you put a dent in your new car the flip side is at least you were not hurt. Or when a high school student was told he was in the bottom half of his class, he said, ?Without me there wouldn?t be a top half.? The point is that it is all about how you look at things. W. Mitchell said it best, ?It?s not what happens to you that is important, it is how you react to it.? To make the flip side exercise work for you take a small notebook with you everywhere you go and when something goes wrong, write down what went wrong and what is good about it. Try this for a month and you?ll find that you?re not only thinking this way, but you?re enjoying life even more than before.
2. Count your blessings ? Count your blessings, not your troubles. Too many times we let every little problem affect us. This causes us to be less happy, productive and positive. For example, if we lose a sale many of us become disappointed and we let the negative energy affect us. Or if we get into a small disagreement at work we end up thinking and commiserating about it all day. To overcome this we need to appreciate what we have and what is really important. Family, shelter, friends, our job and other blessings are what really counts. We need to put it all in perspective and focus on what is really important in life. When you feel you are getting a little blue or feeling down ask yourself, ?What am I grateful for right now??
3. Simplify your life ? Make your life simpler and watch your attitude improve. For example, one client of mine was going to fire one of his employees because of his poor attitude. The reason he had a poor attitude was that he had to drive a long distance to work in terrible traffic. Realizing the long drive may be contributing to his poor attitude, we gave the employee the option to move closer to work. Almost immediately, his attitude changed and he was like a new person. Simplify now and you?ll see a change for the better.
Arnold Sanow, is a communication and workplace relationship expert who speaks. He has delivered over 2,500 keynotes, seminars and training sessions to more than 500 different companies and associations. He is the author of 5 books and was recently named by Successful meetings magazine as one of the top 5 best "bang for the buck" speakers in the USA.
www.arnoldsanow.com -
speaker@arnoldsanow.com - 703-255-3133