“People won’t have time for you if you are always angry or complaining.” – Stephen Hawking
It feels like lately in this space there’s been a lot of talk about belief and positive self-talk and that kind of touchier, feelier stuff. I have people tell me that they’re not big fans of that kind of thing. Post something about strategy, or planning, or something like that, they say. We’ve done that before and I’m sure will do it again.
But the longer I’m around people and organizations the more I realize that if you don’t get that “touchy feely stuff” right, the rest of the stuff is excruciatingly difficult. For one thing, think about how you feel on a daily basis. The days you’re focused on positive things, or things you’re passionate about, or things you’re good at – you feel energized. Energized people have a chance to get things done. Think about the days that are the opposite. Low energy, low engagement, just counting down minutes until you get to go home. Which version of you is more effective?
You have to have a positive focus to maintain your energy. You also have to have a positive focus to maintain the energy of those around you. We cannot accomplish all the things we want to in life by ourselves. It’s not possible, nor is it the way the world is supposed to work. We need help from those around us, whether it’s at home, at work, in our communities, whatever. If by our constant negativity or complaining we’re draining the energy of those around us, we’re damaging ourselves and our own prospects for success as well. Eventually, those people won’t want anything to do with us.
Lastly (I’ve mentioned this before), our reality is largely determined by what we think our reality really is. If we think we have lots of opportunity and have a chance to be successful and achieve the things we want, we’ll spend our whole lives proving ourselves right. If we think everything is lined up against us and we don’t have anything going for us and we really don’t have a chance, we’ll spend our whole lives proving ourselves right.
So be conscious of what you’re thinking and what you’re saying. Is it positive? Are you focused on what’s right in your business or your life? Are you thinking about what great things could be? Or are you angry, complaining, always focused on everything that upsets you, that you think isn’t fair, the shortcomings of others, etc? You tell me which it is and I’ll tell you how successful (and happy) you really are.
