Blog 6/17/12
Your Attitude Will Determine Your Altitude
Whoa-please don't leave! This isn't going to be another rah rah speech that just gives you platitudes ... you know me better than that.
Now we have all experienced a workplace with a Ms. Positive and Mr. negative. She sees the glass as half full and he is always complaining that the milk isn't cold enough.
She sees opportunity all around her and he can't even get to the root of the problem because he is so busy coming up with whining about everything under the sun.
While on the surface Mr. Negative’s attitude may just seem like an irritating part of his personality have you considered the deeper and potentially catastrophic his words and actions are? Case in point - I have two new sales reps. Ms. Positive is new and is just learning about our offerings.
She started making sales calls this week and I believe called my partner and I no fewer than 4 times per day with questions and to gather further information. As a result, her weekly recap noted that she is disappointed that she didn't sell anything this week that she feels that she has learned a lot and expects more from herself next week.
Mr. Negative on the other hand had a very frustrating week. If you ask him why, he will come up with one excuse or another. In reality he will always have a reason why he "can't" do something.
Studies conducted by Dr. John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago have shown what he calls, “the negativity bias” of the brain. Negatives have a much greater impact on our brain. Our brains are actually more sensitive and responsive to unpleasant news and remarks. That’s why personal insults or criticism hit us harder and stay with us longer. It’s why negative ads are more effective than positive ones—political or otherwise. Our brain contains a built-in partiality toward negative information.
So while we live in a world where both positive and negative exist - we have the ability to choose our thoughts.
I believe that Ms. Positive is going to be a fantastic addition to our team. Not only does she have exceptional sales skills, but her positive attitude is very contagious.
Mr. negative has the potential to be a great salesperson (otherwise I wouldn't have hired him). However, if not addresses and changed, his constant negativity will continue to dominate his thoughts and will perpetuate his negative spin.
So remember that your attitude will determine your altitude ... the question is… how high do you want to soar?
PS -
It's 4:30am on Saturday morning and alas that is too early for even this Harley Honey to be out exploring, so today's blog is brought to you courtesy of my favorite French vanilla coffee and with my faithful dog Daisy by my side.
Thanks for reading J
Christine
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