Feeling the tension and anger? I thought so.

Two questions:
The first: What can’t you control?
o The weather.
o Your favorite cousins have the flu and won’t be attending.
o Using the new fire pit under the flowering pear tree that is in full flower.
o Aunt Melinda’s jello salad; Uncle Jim’s jokes.

The second: What can you control?
o How you cook the food today.
o How you rearrange the house or garage to have the party.
o How you move the activities to indoor events.
o How much fun you will still have, and how great it will be to see the family.
o Your outlook and attitude.

One of my favorite quotes comes from the poet Maya Angelou, “I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage and tangled Christmas tree lights.”

So, if this were your party, what would the rain tell you about you? Do events that you cannot control take control of you? Do you have a meltdown, or do you realize it is beyond your control and find reasons to be happy?

I often tell the story of getting detoured from my normal route to the highway only to find an amazing plant nursery I did not know about; great plants, great prices and a farmer’s market. What a find! I had two choices with the detour – allow it to get me upset, or to realize I had no control over the event and to be on the lookout for something great.

I believe there is always something great, often initially hidden by a disappointment. The trick is to learn how to be able to see it. And you can’t if you let the things you cannot control get you down.

You can’t always control how things happen, but you can always control how you respond. Be optimistic, upbeat and look for the good. “Positive attitude” – it does a body good.

Please pass this on to someone who can benefit from it.

One of my favorite books is Arianne de Bonvoisin’s First 30 Days. In it, she outlines nine principles of handling change and building a more positive perspective. Her first principle is “People who successfully navigate change have positive beliefs.”

Positive beliefs come from you – you may not be able to control the things that happen to you but you can control how you respond to them. You can choose to see “half-full” – upbeat, optimistic and confident – or choose to see “half-empty” – down, pessimistic and unsure.

Consider these ways to build a more positive perspective:
1. Notice when you become negative and immediately focus on something positive. Have others help you see your behavior.
2. Read a power quote or an inspirational passage to start your day on a positive tone.
3. Create an upbeat “break” during the day. Focus on 3 things that have gone well so far.
4. Choose your friends wisely; associate with positive and confident people.

To make the point, here are some great half-empty/half-full perspectives from the website www.businessballs.com.
o The project manager/engineer says the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. 

o The bar fly says is not about whether the glass is half full or half empty, it’s about who is paying for the next round.
o The consultant says let’s examine the question, prepare a strategy for an answer, and all for a daily rate of…
o The worrier frets that the remaining half will evaporate by tomorrow.
o The fanatic thinks the glass is completely full, even though it isn’t. 

o The entrepreneur sees the glass as undervalued by half its potential.
o The computer specialist says that next year the glass capacity will double and will cost half the price.
o The Buddhist says don’t worry, remember the glass is already broken.
o The personal coach knows that the glass goes from full to empty depending on the circumstances, and reminds the drinker that he can always fill the glass when he wishes.
o The grammarian says that while the terms half-full and half-empty are colloquially acceptable the glass can technically be neither since both full and empty are absolute states and therefore are incapable of being halved or modified in any way. 


You control your attitude. Know yourself; choose to be positive and upbeat. It is great for your health and happiness.

Great companies didn’t waste a minute complaining about the recession. They saw things had changed, regrouped and rebuilt a new strategy for a changed world. They said to their employees, “We need more ideas – keep the ideas coming.”

These companies have learned to be optimistic – they see challenge as a good thing – as an opportunity to improve and invent. They are not afraid of change. They know their strengths and play to them. They rely on their employees and customers to feed them meaningful information; they stay connected to their world to know the facts. They use this information to constantly create opportunities to be successful. It is how they run their businesses.

I have been traveling a lot lately working with trade associations and companies to help them relearn how to hunt for opportunities. In good times, you hunt less effectively – you hunt better when you are hungry. Today’s recession is a great time to relearn how to think more cleverly about your business.

So over the next couple of weeks, I’ll share some of my coaching and insights.

I have assembled recommendations in a new on-line download titled The Hunt for Opportunities Success Manual. You can find it in the products section of www.LiveFiredUp.com. Also, I have added the Hunt for Opportunities link to provide information, articles, an idea center and other resources to relearn how to find, create and implement high-value opportunities, regardless of the economy. Great for you and for your employees.

Next Tuesday, I’ll present one of the steps – how to assess your company strategically – so you can play to your strengths. This is the source of some of your greatest opportunities.

Until then, check out the Hunt for Opportunities link and help your employees focus on seeing opportunities to be successful instead of dwelling on the difficulty of a challenging economy. Happy Hunting.

So who is on your team, and what do performance do you require?

Today’s workplace success is based on upbeat, engaged and fired up employees, constantly thinking and hunting for opportunities to help their company perform. Your people are your profits – and what kind of people you have determines you level of profits.

So in today’s workplace, you will find:

The “yes-butters” – these are the employees who constantly focus on what won’t work, what won’t happen or what won’t improve. They always have an excuse. It is always someone else’s fault. They focus on the negative. Why are these on your team?

The “not-knowers” – these are the employees who have no ideas. These employees are here physically, mostly just taking up space. Thinking and personal investment in their work is non-existent. Why are these on your team?

The “why-notters” – these are the employees who question; they are optimistic, open and resilient. They focus on “can do,” “how about” and “let’s try.” Why don’t you have more of these on your team?

What do you do to inspire a team of “why-notters”? How do you help your employees be optimistic? For help, click on our Hunt for Opportunities and the ways to help employees learn to be upbeat and looking for opportunities in any economy.

I used to think that if you were good, bad things would not happen to you. Seemed reasonable – you should be rewarded for being good. Then, after lots of years of the planet, I realized that is not how it works. Instead, life just happens – and it brings some easy times and some tough times. The same way weather brings beautiful days and powerful storms. It just happens – it is part of nature… it is part of life.

But here is what we need to remember. As things happen, they are neither good nor bad; how we perceive them and how we choose to handle them, is what determines the good or bad. We choose to see each event as a means to something better or as a defeat. We choose to use each event to learn, get better and come out stronger or complain, check out and give up. We choose to be grateful or ungrateful. Events just are. How we respond comes from our state of mind. Optimism is a state of mind. Thanksgiving is a state of mind.

I do a lot of business coaching. And in today’s recession, much of my coaching focuses on helping organizations optimistically approach their work environments to invent, find and implement opportunities. Ordinary companies complain about how tough things are; they spend their days whining about the recession and how it has made things worse. These organizations find it very difficult to find opportunities for growth or success. They choose not to see them. Extraordinary companies always focus on seeing value, finding opportunities and remaining optimistic. The use the tough times to regroup, redefine and restructure to come out stronger and more focused. They envision success. They respect, appreciate and are grateful for their employees and customers. They have a thanksgiving state of mind.

Life is as it is. Nature is as is. We get what we get – but we have an amazing resiliency to respond. And it first starts with an attitude of optimism, energy, gratitude and thanksgiving.

• Do I appreciate what I have, who I am and my ability to make choices?
• Do I realize that life happens and it is up to me to make it great (and there is always something good in every circumstance – I just need to get better at finding it)?
• Do I realize that great events let me catch my breath, laugh and love so I have the energy and strength to handle tough events that require more effort, more thinking and more resolve?

This week we celebrate a “day” of Thanksgiving. Yes, I look forward to celebrating with family and friends on a day we have carved (I had to say that) out as a formal day of gratefulness. But I won’t forget that thanksgiving is really a state of mind, and as such, should guide my daily outlook and approach. Join me. Make “giving thanks” your state of mind.

One of my new favorite books is Ariane de BonVoisin’s The First 30 Days. She presents change creates opportunity and we should believe that change will always lead us to something better. With this thought, we don’t fear change; we welcome it. (Check out her book and website).

It is difficult to maintain an optimistic perspective in the face of harsh times. But our resiliency is dependent on our attitude. If we constantly focus on the negative, then that is all we will see (and the medications and time with psychologists will continue). If, instead, we develop the ability to constantly focus on the positive and the opportunities, we will be more upbeat and optimistic and will have the energy and tenacity to survive the down times.

This economy got me down. So to jumpstart myself out my self-imposed death spiral, I listed as many benefits of a recession as I could think of. Click here to see my list. It was easier to write than I thought and it brought me to a better reality. Use the comment section to add your personal “benefits of a recession” – I’ll keep the list going.

Time for Action: How will you stay upbeat and focused on the good? What great things have happened in a down time? How will you use obstacles to become more connected to who you are and the talents you have? You own your life and your attitude. Get out of neutral.

So each Friday I focus on something to be thankful for – to realize that there is good out there if I choose to see it, and there are great things always happening – if I choose to see them.

So my encouragement is at least once a week (better if you do it daily) that you identify something to be thankful for – to remind yourself that in spite of tough times, there are always great things to pull you through. The trick is learning to see them.

For me – I am thankful for getting out of my walking boot after 8 weeks following foot surgery. It is amazing how good a shoe feels, how much easier walking is now and I can get back to my exercise plan.

What are you thankful for? And if it involves a person, let them know.

But I am also a realist; sometimes life can be very challenging. Sometimes it is difficult to be upbeat and positive when we are constantly bombarded with negativity, dire predictions, social challenges and decreasing resources. So that means each of us needs a plan to deal with these times head on; we need to create a plan that builds our confidence, activates our courage and enables us to be optimistic and focused.

For this, I share my morning “Ten-minute Reconnect.” Using this approach, I find that however challenging things are, I land on my feet. I feel confident and focused, and direct my attitude and day in a productive and upbeat way. Though I start my day this way, consider using this “Ten-Minute Reconnect” whenever you need to regain your energy, focus and optimism.

The “Ten-Minute Reconnect”:
1. Read from someone who you find inspirational (my favorites are Steve Farber, Sherwin Nuland, Tom Peters and Ogden Nash). Get inspired.
2. Recommit to your statement of purpose or happiness (what do you want from work and life). Get focused.
3. Identify three things you are grateful for (see abundance instead of scarcity). Be thankful.
4. Identify two people who need to hear something positive from you today (see that there is more to the world than just you and your challenges). Be available.
5. Identify how you will play to your strengths today (create a plan just for today – a day at a time). Be confident.

Ten minutes is all it takes. A ten-minute investment in yourself to stay focused, optimistic, upbeat and thankful. When we move from a place of gratitude and optimism, we can more easily handle whatever comes our way. Wise people have stated that our challenges are nothing more than lessons to help us see how capable we are. Starting from a point of strength each day encourages a more powerful day and greater success with life’s lessons. Invest ten minutes. You are worth it.