Category: Success Attitude

The deck was stacked against me that morning…

I moved my daughter over the weekend which involved driving a truck and trailer for 17 hours, moving more stuff than I care to remember, and wrestling a bear of a refrigerator to the point of physical exhaustion and sleep deprivation…

My alarm clock went off an hour early because I forgot to reset it…and so did my coffeemaker…

I skinned my right thumb while moving furniture. It decided to bleed on my favorite white dress shirt as I put it on that morning…

I couldn’t find a band-aid in the medicine cabinet and was forced to wake up my wife to find me one so I wouldn’t stain another white dress shirt…next time, I’ll take my chances with the shirt.

My keys weren’t where I thought I left them which meant I hunted all over the bedroom, re-waking my wife, until I realized they were in my winter coat which I wore the previous night when unhooking the trailer…

I took a case of my best-selling Work Positive in a Negative World book to put in the back of the Suburban and when shutting the lift gate, slammed it into my head. Miraculously the gate was undamaged…

…and as I left the garage, it started snowing and I had a 4-hour, round trip drive.

All of this happened in one hour on one morning as I prepared to travel to speak to a group of insurance and financial services associates. Their state director was to be present which would hopefully mean a great deal of referral business…it was a big morning.

You can imagine that after all of these “challenges” what I really wanted to do was to take off the white shirt, and just get back in bed and sleep it off.

But I didn’t.

Instead, I just kept going.

Sure, I was frustrated…make that, angry, as I left.

Sure, I was more tired…make that, exhausted, as I started the vehicle.

Sure, I was doubting myself…make that, insecure, as I wandered if I’d make any sense at all in the presentation.

But I just kept going.

I drove down some snowy roads, my head hurting, exhausted, praying I’d make it safely.

I put a smile on my face, and presented for an hour like my life depended on it.

When it was all said and done, I received a standing ovation from the participants.

The meeting planner said, “Awesome.”

The state director joined in the standing ovation, clapping enthusiastically and the meeting planner said she’d sell him for me.

Even when it seems like the deck is stacked against you…

…just keep going.

It’s the one thing you must do if you will ever succeed against a stacked deck.

 

I enjoyed some quiet time early one morning before the demands of my day started. All of a sudden, a bird began squawking just outside the window. At first I ignored it, but it loudly persisted so I got up.

As I stepped out on the porch, I saw the bird squawking at Maybelle, our cat, who sat on the porch, staring off across the horse pasture. The bird bothered me, but not Maybelle.

She sauntered over, giving me permission to pet her while the bird still screamed at us. But Maybelle didn’t mind. She knew the bird was there, but chose to ignore it and enjoy my petting.

Is there always someone squawking at you about your business?

An employee complaining about your “cheap coffee”?

A vendor who’s more concerned about his sales than your profits?

A customer who’s convinced you overcharged her a nickel?

How do you deal with all the squawkers like Maybelle and Work Positive?

Ignore Them

Like Maybelle, you have a choice to whom you give your time, energy, and attention: the squawkers or someone more pleasant.

The path of least resistance is to abdicate your choice to the negative world and allow the loudest or most persistent squawker to garner your precious resources. Maybelle chose to ignore the pain-in-the-rear bird.

How often do you make a conscious choice in your workday to be like Maybelle and ignore the squawkers? She knew the bird was there, just like you know your chronically complaining employee is present, your vendor’s agenda, and your customer’s penchant for penny-pinching. You accept the reality of working with them, but strategically divert your most precious resources—time, energy, and attention—away from them.

Your internal conversation goes something like this: “I hear you, but I choose to ignore you.”

Eliminate Them

Sometimes ignoring them fails to moderate the squawking. They ramp up the volume and start dive-bombing you in a concerted effort to siphon your precious resources.

That’s when you move to eliminate them.

Maybelle was a well-fed cat, and on this particular occasion, chose not to eat the bird. However, I remember many other times when I discovered bird feathers around her mouth.

When the level of difficulty in ignoring the squawkers moves to DefCon 1 for you, then your internal conversation becomes, “It costs too much to do business with you.”

You fire the employee and hire another.

You fire the vendor and talk with the next in line.

You fire the customer and attract another, more preferable one.

You ignore, and when necessary eliminate, the squawkers at work, so you may…

Enjoy Them

Maybelle relaxed on the porch, gazing across the beautiful pastures to welcome a new day. She chose to give her time, energy, and attention to the positive morning and enjoy.

Next, she seized the opportunity of my walking out on the porch to enjoy some petting. She embraced the chance to purr.

As you ignore and when necessary eliminate the squawkers, you free up your time, energy, and attention to give to more pleasurable Work Positive pursuits. Your internal conversation transforms to, “I choose you to enjoy.”

You get feedback on how to improve from your best employee.

You strategize with your vendor to create better price points for products.

You handwrite a personal note to your best customers to express your gratitude for their sending their friends to you.

You purr as you Work Positive.

Who will win your time, energy, and attention at work today?

Be like Maybelle.

Ignore, eliminate, and enjoy as you Work Positive in a negative world.

About the Author:

Best-selling author, speaker, and coach Dr. Joey Faucette shares how all of us working together create a more positive world this week. Adapted from his #1 Amazon best-seller, Work Positive in a Negative World.

 

I really enjoy feeding the birds this time of year. I set up a bird feeder in our backyard. The problem is that squirrels love bird seed, too.

I waged war on the bird-seed-stealing squirrels one winter. I borrowed an air rifle and looked for the squirrels as I walked by our bay window. I even put our younger daughter on alert—“Honey, let me know if you see a squirrel on our bird feeder.”

That is, until one day she said, “Daddy, we used to look out the window for pretty birds. Now we look for ugly squirrels.”

It’s easy to stop looking for the beautiful qualities in your business these days, to cease listening for the lovely songs of the cash register cha-ching or the relieved look on a customer’s face when you solve a problem; to miss the brilliant colors of the relationships you enjoy with employees and clients alike.

Here are three ways to look for the beautiful at work and feed your business positively.

Abstain from negative conversations

Choose your conversations carefully whether on the phone or in the hallway. Listen actively. Redirect quickly when the conversation spirals downward into negativity without a suggestion of course correction. Attempt to reframe—“Yes, and yet…”—if the redirect is ineffective. Remove yourself with “I must go” if the redirect or reframe fails.

Words impact our perception of reality. Think about how you feel after hanging up or what you’re thinking as you walk away from conversations. Positive exchanges lift dark clouds and energize you. Negative words do the opposite.

Deal with conversations quickly. Ask yourself, “Where is this going? Do I want to participate?” and choose accordingly.

Allow for interruptions

You’re goal-focused with a prioritized list for the day’s activity. That’s great—focus on the positive and do those things that increase your profitability most effectively.

Also, allow for interruptions which happen regardless. A customer appears suddenly with a situation you can resolve. A client calls in with an opportunity for more work.

It’s easy when these detours appear on the day’s path to get frustrated, and sideways in your mental model. Such a reaction prevents you from feeding your business positively.

Instead, anticipate interruptions. Deal with them positively, quickly, and effectively. If resolution is achieved in a matter of minutes, do it. If not, promise to get back with the person and get your Work Positive dream team on it.

Then return to your schedule with a renewed interest sustained by your expectation of interruptions.

Access news/information positively

When you watch TV and listen to radio news, you abdicate your editorial license to someone with a negative agenda. Your filters are down and you simply absorb. These are “push” media that will shove their spin into your mind…as you let them.

Instead choose “pull” media like Internet news site where you are the queen/king of content. Proactively choose what to read or watch and allow into the theater of your mind. You may stop reading or follow links for more. Your plethora of sources is virtually infinite. Diversify the viewpoints. Filter out the negative for the sake of negative. Focus on information you can use to your business advantage positively.

Sure, you’ll feed some ugly squirrels in doing business today.

Choose to focus on the beautiful birds with these three ways to feed your business positively.

About the Author:

Best-selling author, speaker, and coach Dr. Joey Faucette shares how all of us working together create a more positive world this week. Adapted from his #1 Amazon best-seller, Work Positive in a Negative World.

 Article Contributed by Lisa Bloom

If the worst possible thing in your life actually happened, would you survive?

How much time do you spend thinking about this?

The truth is that there is a deep practice and commitment to the incitement of fear around the ‘worst possible thing.’ Governments, businesses and churches are trading fear; even brands trade in fear.

I believe it’s simply the wrong kind of story.

This week I also watched Tony Robbins say, “we are defined by the stories we tell ourselves, every one of us has a story or a set of stories…the question is, is your story empowering you to maximize what god has given you, or is your story causing you to fall short.”

When we tell stories that keep us in fear, it’s the wrong kind of story. We have so many better stories.

When I was about 5 years old my sister told me that strawberries, my absolute favorite fruit at that time, grow on the ground and are full of worms.  She was kidding, I was horrified. I didn’t touch a strawberry again for years. Finally as a teenager, I started to eat the delightful fruit again, but could never put a whole strawberry in my mouth; I always had to bite it in half first, take a look inside, before popping the rest in. To this day, I hesitate before I put a whole strawberry in my mouth.

Sounds ridiculous, right?  It is. But here’s another. I grew up knowing; yes that’s right, not just hearing but actually knowing, that I could do and be whatever I chose.

That meant that when I decided to start my own business, it never occurred to me that I would not succeed.  Not seriously. I knew that if I really wanted to do this, I could and I would.

Now that’s an empowering story.

And it’s not about success, it’s about knowing that I’d be okay even in failure; that the doing and the being were the most important thing, the outcome would take care of itself.

Last week, at the end of the stunning days I spent with Byron Katie at the ‘Forgiveness Intensive’, she played the song “That I would be good’ by Alanis Morissette. Not only was it incredibly beautiful and moving, it also struck a chord deep inside me.

She sings,
‘That I would be good even if I did nothing,
That I would be good even if I got and stayed sick
That I would be good even if I gained 10 pounds’

This is not some kind of wishful thinking or blind faith.  This is the right kind of story. It is complete acceptance of what is, a state of
grace. A place of peace and love.

She sings,
‘That I would be fine even if I went bankrupt…
That I would be grand even if I was not all
knowing’

Let’s tell that story.
The story of empowerment, peace and love.
What’s yours?

Regardless of whether your team won the Super Bowl or which commercial was your favorite, maybe you think most of the players on the field Sunday were highly-recruited, sought-after talent like Giants quarterback, Eli Manning. The team with the largest linemen or tallest receivers wins, right?

Nope.

The New England Patriots line-up included 7 players who weren’t even drafted as rookies while the New York Giants had 8. The Patriots’ 53-man roster only included 25 players they drafted and the Giants had 26. Almost half of each team was picked up off of waivers, after being cut by another team, or part of a trade. Other teams rejected them, but the two teams in this year’s Super Bowl gave them a chance and they succeeded.

How did they do it? And what can you learn from them that will help you Work Positive and be a winner in your game of business?

Work Hard

Center Dan Connolly was signed by the Patriots in September 2007 after he was cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars. He spent that season on the Patriots practice squad. In 2008, he played in one game.  He started on Super Bowl Sunday.

“I take a lot of pride in knowing that I and a lot of other guys have come from kind of nothing. We’ve had to work hard to get where we’re at,” Connolly says.

How do you work hard in your business? To be a winner like Connolly, going from cut to Super Bowl starter, you choose to disregard that you come from nothing and focus on your championship goals. You do more with less. You innovate. You disrupt. You focus on what’s most important. You work hard.

Have Urgency

Matt Slater, a fifth-round draft pick by New England in 2008, sees similarities between all the players who overcome being drafted in the late rounds, not being drafted or being cut by other teams.

“You kind of have that sense of urgency from the day you come into the league knowing that things are not going to be easy for you,” Slater says. For Slater, every down counts.

Do you believe in your business with a sense of urgency, with a fire in your belly? Are you emotionally engaged and passionate about your work? Do you personally see to it that the next call is made, or widget crafted well?

Lower your expectations that the path to business success is easy. Take personal responsibility for controlling the activities you can.

Be Strategic

Victor Cruz, a wide receiver, wasn’t released by an NFL team, but he wasn’t drafted by one either. He led the Giants with 82 receptions for 1,536 yards and nine touchdowns in the regular season.

“I wasn’t really shocked” about not being drafted, says Cruz, who’s 6-0, 204 pounds. “I understood the process and understood that I wasn’t a guy that had blazing statistics or was 6-6, 230 pounds or anything like that. I understood that I probably wasn’t going to get drafted and would just have to make the best of my opportunity … and just do the best I could to break through on the team.”

When you are strategic like Cruz, you strive for excellence as you Work Positive which means you do the best you can to break through and win in the game of business. To get that contract. To conceive a positive relationship with your employees or employer. To do what it takes to the best of your ability to succeed. You are strategic.

So the next time you experience rejection or failure, just remember that half of the players on the field for the Super Bowl went through what you’re going through. Yet they still succeeded in the game. You can, too.

About the Author:

Best-selling author, speaker, and coach Dr. Joey Faucette shares how all of us working together create a more positive world this week. Adapted from his #1 Amazon best-seller, Work Positive in a Negative World.