Carroll on Work

By John Carroll

There is a story of the employee who enters the office looking sullen and dejected. His manager senses that something is wrong and asks the employee why he appears to be so unhappy.

“I blew it,” said the employee. “I’m going to have to redo all of my work on that project.”

Empathetic to the employee’s plight, the manager tries to perk him up a bit. “We’ve talked several times about how being positive can help you through these situations, haven’t we?”

Taking the cue, the employee immediately stands tall, his face breaking into a smile as he says cheerfully, “I’m positive that I’m going to have to redo all of my work on that project.”

While being positively enthusiastic won’t prevent you from having problems, it will give you the energy to handle the good and not so good in effective and constructive ways. This is not about skipping merrily through the day, totally carefree. Positive enthusiasm provides you with the strength and persistence to move through the challenging issues and situations with grace.

When you bring positive enthusiasm to work, several things happen:

You attract like energy from others. People who mope through their hours, days and weeks will see your positive outlook as some sort of separation from reality. They are likely to try to sway your disposition to a more pessimistic outlook or simply stay away. On the other hand, those who can smile through problems and challenges will be attracted to you like a magnet to steel, so you will find encouragement and support.

You look for solutions rather than dwell on problems. Putting your focus on repair and prevention will make your days smoother, more productive and more pleasant than you would experience by getting stuck on the problem. You will also find ways to improve your work and your results.

You see the good in others. Don’t be surprised when you discover that you are contagious. People new to the company or still impressionable about their work habits will be influenced to follow your lead, approaching their tasks from a position of positive expectations and outlook. Because you are leading by example, you are improving your value to the company.

You finish your day with energy to spare. You have certainly experienced those days when you are glad to get home just long enough to eat before collapsing onto the sofa or into bed, feeling that you have hardly the energy to lift a finger. By taking a positive, enthusiastic approach, you will find that you are able to function far past the end of your workday, able to visit with family members, take a walk or just enjoy a bit of downtime before your head hits the pillow. Even on the days when you finish feeling tired, it tends to be a happier feeling, one that leaves you with a sense of accomplishment.

So how do you become and remain positively enthusiastic? Here are three key ways:

Keep your mind focused on your goals and objectives. What are you trying to do in your role with this project, on this team and in this company? What would you like to accomplish personally and with your family as a result of your hard work? Where would you like to be in your career a year, two years and five years from now? What kind of person would you like to be in terms of your education, your wisdom and your influence with others? What would you like to give back to your community or your church? When you have clear goals and remind yourself of them regularly, you will find that you act consistently with the accomplishment of those goals.

Actively help other people accomplish their goals. There is an old saying, “You can get anything you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.” Help others focus on their goals. Teach them that obstacles are what you see when you take your eye off the goal.

Feel a sense of gratitude and show it in all you do. Know that you were put in your current job, in this area and at this point in history for a specific purpose and that you have the opportunity every day to accomplish something special. It has been said, “the more you give thanks for, the more you have to give thanks for.” Start each day with a sense of purpose and tell yourself throughout the day, “Something wonderful is going to happen to me today.” Be on the lookout each and every day for that something wonderful in the work you do, the people you meet and the good things that come your way.

John Carroll is a business consultant, speaker, author and president of Unlimited Performance Inc. in Mount Pleasant. E-mail him at jcarroll@uperform.com.

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