None of
us love everything we do, but should we? Who loves folding laundry or doing
dishes or washing the car? In our daily jobs there is also the minutiae of
tasks which we may come to dread, but focusing on what we don’t like
robs us of the joy of what we do like. Let me be very clear. I do not
find unloading the dishwasher intrinsically satisfying. I have, however,
learned to enjoy the task. You may be thinking I am nuts. What could possibly
turn the task of sorting silverware in a cabinet drawer satisfying?
Before I
tell you my secret, let me tell you this: In your job, as well, there is a way
to become a turnaround specialist, infusing the most mundane tasks with fresh
enthusiasm. It’s not as hard as you might think. Begin with focusing on the
positive. I am thankful for a dishwasher. You may be thankful to have a job.
Pretty, basic, huh? But what happens when we don’t consciously practice
positivity?
The
opposite is getting caught in a loop of negativity. I know this isn’t the month
on reading great books, but did you ever happen to pick up Miss Peregrine’s
Home for Peculiar Children? It’s a page turner about a boy who enters a
time loop of children living in the WWII era. They live and relive a single day
every single day, but when the boy discovers the loop things begin to
change. It is inevitable.
A loop of negativity is a consistent replay of all the things you don’t like about your job. If you allow it to continue, it will come to dominate your mind and change your outlook. It boils down to this: would you rather live in a world of gray or in amazing technicolor? Success magazine offers you several tips on breaking that destructive cycle.
- First of all, look at your circle of friends. Somewhere in your bubble
there may be a Debbie Downer who complains when things don’t go as planned.
That person opens a negative zone in your mind, just by being in contact and
listening to his/her fount of negativity. Spend less time with that person.
- Learn posispeak. You may not have heard of that term. It’s
pronounced posi (as in positive)
and speak (I think we all know this word). You may not have heard of posispeak because I just made it up. It’s your new
term for rephrasing the negative. “You can’t put that display there,” is
rephrased into “I’d love to put it in a better place with more traffic. What is
your suggestion?” I hope you see the difference because there isn’t any point
in belaboring the topic.
In the course of
life we enjoy more opportunities to employ posispeak than to enjoy what we expected
to happen, don’t we? Life is full of disappointments, irritations and people
messing up our plans. That’s a given. Remaining positive in the face of all
that negativity is what helps you learn to love what you do.
Before you dismiss this article as just too much sunshine on a cloudy day, ask yourself a basic question: Are you happier when you are enmeshed in negativity? If you’re honest, you’ll admit you are not. Negativity robs us of joy. Does posispeak change anything? People are just as annoying. Opposition still happens. The only thing changed is you. You are happier, and don’t you deserve to feel happy? I don’t know about you, but markers and a cool caddy make me smile!
I think we all deserve a happier life, so
the first step in loving what you do is learning to be a turnaround specialist
when things go from bad to worse. Begin by opening your mouth and saying
something positive. Yes, it’s just that simple.
