Lighten Up

“Our business isn’t going as well as I’d like.” “I can only afford a Chevy and not the BMW I really want”. “My co-worker just got promoted and I didn’t.” “With two kids in Ivy League colleges I’m doing more staycations than vacations.”

Have you noticed how these kinds of complaints are often circling around you? Perhaps you’re one of the people doling them out..For reasons I don’t understand, many of us are much more interested in looking at the dark side of life (and in the case of the presidential election campaign, hearing about it)…be it work life or home life. We’re more likely to get upset and share something bad that happened than get excited and share something good.

The oddest thing is that the bad things we like to share don’t necessarily have anything to do with us personally. Yet we still take them personally and get depressed and worked up about them.

Tornado thousands of miles away…We worry about it. Murder in a foreign country… More worry. Gossip about a long senior executive meeting that took place in the company…Worry something will happen to us. News that a well liked co-worker is leaving for a new job…Worry about what it means. Your company building a new building in another state…worry worry worry.

Sometimes there may be a reason to worry – if word arrives that sales are down, you may be out of a job. But mostly we worry about things that we have no control over and things that have little if any impact on our lives.

If we stepped back and thought about the things we complain about we’d often see that they’re just minor inconveniences related to positive events. Two kids in ivy league colleges is something to cheer. Staying home is a break from the hassles of travel and allows you to spend more time relaxing.

Looking at the dark side of life drains your energy. It leads to thinking in negative ways in general. It hurts creativity. And it hurts performance.

Companies staffed by people always looking at the dark side of things never win “Best Place to Work” awards. Their offices and counters and cubicles are filled with underperforming, unhappy people.

Your company doesn’t t have to be like this.

There’s a simple thing you can do to switch the tenor of your entire organization from negative to positive: start every meeting by having people share two good things that happened to them in the last week or two…one personal and one business. Not long stories. Just a few words so it doesn’t take more than a few minutes for 5 or 6 people to share their good news. You’ll be amazed at the difference this simple exercise makes in the meeting that follows.

Sharing the news of an upcoming wedding, a big sale finalized, a child’s acceptance at college, a huge project being on time and on budget, a vacation scheduled, and a great new hire gets people smiling. People laugh, breathe deeply, get in the mindset to do great work.

Take this idea further. Every time someone greets you by asking “what’s happening” or “how’s things” or “what’s new”, make it a point to briefly share some good news.

Before too long people will look forward to regularly sharing and hearing good news. The company culture will become more energized, more enthusiastic, and more positive about what’s going on and what’s to come. Problems will shrink in importance and creativity and optimism will fuel all you do.

Who knows, there just might be a “Great Place To Work” award in your future.