Life Lesson

Anger and a touch of resentment can be remarkable fuel.

There’s nothing as satisfying as being able to say “I told you so.”

Equally important is anger’s ability to bring us down and hold us there.

If we misuse anger, our attitude can attract the worst out of everyone we surround ourselves with, it can enable the floodgates to open too wide and crush us with our own weight.

Then again, when you think about it, the same potential impacts goes for any other emotion.

Happiness can help us, but it can also hurt us.

Same with sadness, guilt, shame, vulnerability, humor and alike.

The best part? It only takes a moment to pause and notice how you’re using the emotion.

 

Stay Positive & Hopefully For The Better

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Best case scenario, demand meets supply and supply meets demand–a perfect cycle.

More often than not, there’s too much supply and not enough demand.

So we drum up the marketing, shout louder and find ways to get in front of anybody.

In the short-term you might get enough people in the door, but now you’ve caused a frenzy of panic and your supply ceases to meet the demand.

What then?

It pays to market a product, it pays to be ready if no one comes knocking, it pays to have a game plan to deal with your endless supply–a lot of time and attention are put on these elements.

But, it pays far more to be ready for when your supply can’t meet demand.

What do you do or say or give when the appetizer trays are empty and people are in line waiting?

What do you say when someone’s waiting 10 minutes for a beer?

What do you say when the product is backordered?

Those are important moments.

 

Stay Positive & “Sorry” Isn’t Gonna Cut It

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Worse yet, is “Sorry, we didn’t anticipate this.” Wait … you didn’t anticipate succeeding?

Cleanliness indicates more than something is sanitary.

It shows that someone cares. It shows someone is paying attention. It shows someone is looking at the big picture and isn’t sidetracked by the latest fire drill.

Sometimes it’s worth spinning an adage on its head to land on the fact that it’s worth treating your space the way you would treat someone else’s–with utmost respect and order.

 

Stay Positive & Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness

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We’re all aware of what the race to the bottom looks like.

Cutting corners. Competing on price. Making this widget that much smaller or that service that much more accessible.

The race to the top is a whole other outlook–one that’s often misperceived.

It’s not quite the opposite of racing to the bottom.

It’s not about making a more quality product.

It’s not targeting fewer people with better persuasive material.

The race to the top is achieved only by being more human, more personal, more empathetic.

People notice when you care. Truly care.

 

Stay Positive & Who Would Have Thunk?

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Not positive enough.

Not confident, ballsy, serious, analytical, caring, empathetic, funny, determined enough.

Before dismissing what attitude you’re not, it’s worth understanding that these are all skills.

Resilience is a skill. So is being insightful and appreciative.

A skill is something we can learn and get better at.

All it takes is practice.

Actually, no.

All it takes is to decide to use that skill. Then, over time, we’ll get better at it.

It’s amazing what attitudes we have access to once we decide to have the attitude of accessing them.

 

Stay Positive & What’ll It Be For You? Tenacious? Vulnerable?

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Some habits are more important than others because the energy and positivity from them gets channeled to other areas of life.

Some habits aren’t meant to be broken.

If you’re ready to develop a set of new habits; habits that will ultimately benefit all areas of your life, then sign up for this small, discussion and activity-based event I’ll be leading in Madison, Wisconsin.

It’s an hour and a half long and we’ll be digging deep into the activities that can benefit us most; the ones that if we show up, consistently, day after day, there’s no way we won’t win.

Sign ups are here.

 

Stay Positive & Scratch The Itch

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It’s ridiculous how many pages there are on the Internet that tell you how to control your emotions.

With so many, it must be possible to control them, right?

And feeling like you failed is just that–an emotion.

Something you can make appear, make disappear and ultimately control.

As for actually failing?

There’s not a guide out there that teaches you how.

Plenty that bring awareness to mistakes, that help you learn from missteps and miscalculations, but actual failure? Nope.

That means like the feeling of failure, it’s perception; it’s the mindset you have before during and after your stumble; it’s what you decide to feel and do after you noticed you feel like you failed.

Like most things in life–it’s a choice.

 

Stay Positive & You Choose, No One Else

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