Preparing for the Future: Staying Positive

Preparing for the Future: Staying Positive

“An optimist is someone who isn't sure whether life is a tragedy or a comedy but is tickled silly just to be in the play.”  ~Robert Brault, Writer

Everyone understands the need to stay positive, even when things don’t go well at home, or in school or at work. The problem is learning how to stay positive all the time.

An old adage comes to mind, “Is the glass half full or half empty?” It really is a matter of your personal point of view. If you think it is half full, it is and vice versa. A positive person, an optimist, always sees the good side and relishes in the fact that the glass is half full. A negative person, a pessimist, expects the worst and worries that the glass is already half empty.

The focus of this blog is on the importance of maintaining a positive attitude as you move from one stage of life to another.

Recently I was at a local government office to gather some information. I won’t mention the office but I’m hoping the manager will read this blog and do something about the attitude of the people who are serving the public. First I had to wait and wait until half of the staff came back from break. They went on break even though there was a roomful of customers. When I finally got to the front of the line, I could tell immediately that this was not going to be a pleasant experience. The clerk scowled at me and said brusquely, “Stand behind the line until I tell you to come!”

It was rather obvious that the employees in this office were not at all happy about being at work. They were taking out their frustration on the people who pay their salary, the taxpayers. The manager allowed a negative attitude to permeate the office culture and failed to establish standards and expectations for customer service. It is unlikely that any customer will ever be treated with kindness and respect.

Contrast this to a really pleasant experience I had a couple of weeks ago. I was once again at the in Decatur while my wife was visiting our young grandsons in Virginia. I took a seat at the bar, my usual spot for serious people watching. It happened to be the Memorial Day weekend (and I got free parking in downtown Decatur. Thank you City Fathers!)

The bartender welcomed me with a cheery smile and a sincere, “What can I do for you today?” Then she recommended some new draft beers and the menu special of the day. I followed her advice and had a great Smuttynose Porter and an excellent pulled pork sandwich. We kept up a running conversation including the origins of Memorial Day and the sacrifices of our veterans. I mentioned that I had spent several years in the U.S. Army. When I was finished, she brought the check and said, “Thank you for your service to our country,” loud enough so others at the bar could hear. When I looked at the check, she had given me a special 20% veteran’s discount. The other patrons at the bar waved and mouthed their “thank you”.

You can imagine how good I felt as I left the pub and contrasted this experience with the mauling I experienced at the government office. One location had a negative culture; the other had a positive culture. Are you listening government office manager?

How does all this relate to you and the future? Simply put, positive people live happier and better lives than negative people. The research done by Jon Gordon, author of the book, “The Seed: Finding Purpose and Happiness in Life and Work” indicates that positive thinking people live longer, outperform negative people, get better results, are more likely to succeed in relationships and marriages, have more friends, get promoted faster and achieve superior earnings over their career. In short, positive people do better in all stages of life than negative people.  It literally pays to be positive.

If you want to test the power of positive thinking, try this experiment tomorrow morning. Put a smile on your face and try to keep it there all day long. A smile is contagious and you will learn that you can change the environment of everyone around you.

Now let’s have some fun with the original question, “Is the glass half full or half empty?” Sometimes the answer is colored by a person’s frame of reference or career. 

     The government would say that the glass is fuller than if the opposition party were in power.

     The opposition would say that it is irrelevant because the present administration has changed the way such volume statistics are collected.

     The philosopher would say that, if the glass was in the forest and no one was there to see it, would it be half anything?

     The economist would say that, in real terms, the glass is 25% fuller than at the same time last year.

     The banker would say that the glass has less than 50% of its net worth in liquid assets.

     The psychiatrist would ask, "What did your mother say about the glass?"

     The physicist would say that the volume of this cylinder is divided into two equal parts; one a colorless, odorless liquid, the other a colorless, odorless gas. Thus the cylinder is neither full nor empty. Rather, each half of the cylinder is full, one with a gas, one with a liquid.

     An experienced bar patron would say that the glass doesn't have enough ice in it.

At the end of the day, staying positive is an important fundamental for your current and future success and wellbeing. Is your personal glass half full or half empty? The next blog will focus on working smarter and harder.