Recently, I have been thinking about how critical it is for me to start my day with a positive attitude and I reflected on this story and memory from a few years ago. It’s an example of how your attitude can impact your day and my hope is that it encourages you to be intentional and mindful about this as well. Enjoy. ~Lauren St. Germain, Facilitator and Coach at The Latimer Group
I woke up, sighed with exhaustion, and rolled out of bed. I knew it was going to be another long day at the office and I was dreading it. My team had a long list of deadlines approaching and just days earlier I learned that one of my employees was leaving the company. We redistributed some of their work to one of our newer team members (we’ll call him Brian), and I was planning to spend my morning training him to take on a project that needed immediate attention.
When I arrived at Brian’s desk to begin training that morning, he met me with a smile. “I woke up feeling so excited about today,” he told me, “I can’t wait to learn from you.”
I immediately felt a pang of guilt in my stomach, recalling my attitude towards this very same situation just a few hours earlier. Brian was so upbeat and excited about the opportunity to learn something new. His smile and attitude turned my whole mood around and it reminded me of this quote, which has long been one of my favorites:
“Your attitude determines your direction.”
My attitude waking up that morning was solely focused on the negative. We had so much to do, we were losing a team member, and I needed to invest a lot of time to train someone new. Brian on the other hand, approached this focusing on the positive. He had an opportunity. He could learn something new. And as a result, he was excited.
In life, and in our careers, we cannot always control what is happening around us, but we can control what’s happening within us. We can change our perspective. We can reframe our thoughts. We can adjust our attitude. The result is us being better leaders, colleagues, and friends to those who we live and work with every day.
So, the next time you find yourself waking up on the wrong side of the bed, take a deep breath and see where you might adjust your attitude. The result? You might just feel a little happier.
Does your team:
– Take too long to make decision?
– Fail to ask for what it wants or needs from you?
– Make things too complicated?
– Deliver unconvincing or disorganized presentations?
– Have new hires who are unprepared to communicate in the workplace?
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Well put!