7 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR ATTITUDE @ WORK.

"I love the part of my job where I get to talk to customers and help them solve their problems, but I just can’t stand all the paperwork. It’s getting to the point where I’m thinking of looking for another job." Heather went on to explain that she likes her company, and enjoys the people she works with, and doesn’t want to feel like she’s being driven from a good job by the paperwork.
"The paperwork is just so de-motivating!" she explained.

Have you ever felt like Heather? Are there tasks that you truly enjoy and find motivating, and others that really turn you off? Is finding a new job the only answer? Probably not, because almost every job contains elements that motivate you and others that de-motivate you. The secret is knowing how tackle the tasks you’d rather avoid.

Here are seven strategies you can try:

1. You CAN do it. Low motivation doesn’t mean you CAN’T do something, it just means you prefer not to.

2. Have realistic expectations of yourself. Having low motivation means you may not enjoy the task, and it will take you longer and use more energy than someone with high motivation. Don’t compare your productivity to someone who thrives on the very task you detest.

3. Determine if "Adequate" is good enough. Is it imperative that you be excellent in this particular area? If you have low motivation, you can probably be adequate with enough training and practice, but being "Excellent" may be beyond reach.

4. Reassign the work. Can this task be given to someone else? Perhaps there is someone with high motivation who would enjoy this work.

5. Partner with someone who is strong in this area. This the Rogers and Hammerstein approach. An example would be the successful sales person who relies on her assistant to do all the paperwork.

6. Create a system or use a tool. I know of a professional with high talent for creativity, but low talent for details and capturing all his good ideas. He finally decided to carry a pocket tape recorder in a leather case on his belt. This allows him to make verbal notes to himself on the fly.

7. Ask for reassignment. One of our clients who had always been a successful project manager was floundering in his new role. The reason was that he had very high motivation for routine, methodical procedures. He needed lots of structure and order in his environment. Unfortunately, he was assigned to develop new products in a start-up company, and there were no rules, no structure. His best option was to accept reassignment to a role that allowed him to create processes and procedures for the new venture.

Very, very few people are motivated by all the tasks in their job description. That’s simply because no one, including you, is motivated to do everything. We all have areas of low motivation. The most successful people are the ones who acknowledge these areas, and apply the strategies listed above.

FEEL THE FEAR AND DO IT ANYWAY

(By Dr. John C. Maxwell)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born into wealth and prestige, and as a young Harvard graduate, he seemed destined for success. By the age of 30 he was elected as a state senator, and a few years later he was appointed as Assistant Secretary of the Navy.

However, shortly before Roosevelt turned 40, tragedy struck when he contracted polio. It's hard to imagine the fear he must have felt upon suddenly losing motion in his arms and legs. FDR could have let the fear of living with polio debilitate him, but he rose above it. Through therapy, he regained the use of his hands, and he learned to walk with braces. Eight years later he became Governor of New York, and he was eventually elected President of the United States.

Interestingly enough, when Roosevelt became President, the American nation was paralyzed. How appropriate that a person who had personally conquered fear would lead a nation filled with fear. In steering the country through the Great Depression and World War II, FDR put his stamp on society and gained notoriety as one of the greatest American leaders of the 20th century.

Facts about Fear

1) Every generation experiences fear.

In the past 100 years alone, Americans have felt the fears of World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, the prospects of nuclear war with the Soviet empire, international terrorism, and the present financial recession. Our fears change with the time in which we live, but every generation has fears.

2) Every individual has fears.

Each person has something they're afraid of. Commonly held phobias include public speaking, sickness, insects, heights, loneliness, or financial problems. Leaders aren't immune to fear, either. Peter the Great trembled and wept whenever he had to cross a bridge. Julius Caesar was terrified by thunder and would hide in a cave during severe storms.

3) Fear is destructive

Upon taking office, FDR saw the crippling effects of fear creeping across the USA. That's why, in his first inaugural address, he famously told Americas, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Let's look at some of the ways fear undermines leadership.

Destructive Effects of Fear

1) Fear breeds more fear

By avoiding what we're afraid of, our fear breeds lack of experience. In turn, inexperience breeds ignorance, which results in even more fear. It's a vicious, downward cycle.

2) Inaction

Fear paralyzes and immobilizes us. In the words of John F. Kennedy, "There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long range risks and costs of comfortable inaction."

3) Divided thinking

Fear removes focus from a person's life. Like worry, fear divides the mind and prevents concentrated thinking.

4) Isolation

We withdraw from others in an effort not to have our fears exposed. As Michael Pritchard said, "Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed."

5) Procrastination

We delay what we're scared to do. In my opinion, the only person worse than a quitter is the person afraid to begin.

6) Misused energy

Fear is the energy to do your worst in a new situation. I compare fear to gunning the engine when your car is in neutral. You're making lots of noise, but there's no accomplishment.

Three Responses to Fear

1) We Can Avoid Fears

2) We Can Wait for Fear to Magically Disappear

3) We Can Face Our Fears and Overcome Them

Of course, there's only one healthy response to fear-facing it courageously. Fear undercuts personal dynamism. Instead of self-confidently emitting enthusiasm, fear causes charisma to erode and gradually robs a leader of influence.

How to Constructively Face Fear

1) Discover the foundation of fear.

Fear usually resides in feelings rather than facts. Drill down into your emotions to figure out the basis of your fears.

2) Admit your fears

We never help people by trying to cover up our failures. Admit them and realize you'll make them. Something about owning up to our failures helps us deal with the fear of making them.

3) Accept fear as the price of progress.

We have the terrible idea that we can eventually rid ourselves of fear. However, if you want to grow, then you will encounter fears the rest of your life. The good news: each victory over fear adds to your confidence and helps you to overcome fear again in the future.

4) Develop a burning desire within you.

Get red hot. Desire propels you to go where you're afraid to go and to do what you're scared to do.

5) Focus on what you can control.

For example, I can control my attitude, but I can't control the actions of others. I can control my calendar, but I can't control life circumstances. Remember: it's not what happens to you, but what happens in you that counts.

6) Feed the right emotion and starve the wrong one.

We have both fear and courage within ourselves. Here's what I've learned: you cannot purge either one. However, you can weaken the emotion of fear by starving it. Whichever impulse we feed dominates. When we feel fear, but act anyway, we deprive fear of nourishment and strengthen the impulse of courage inside of us.

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it. If you fail anywhere along the line, it will take away your confidence. You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do the thing you think you cannot do." (A quote from FDR's wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, a fantastic leader in her own right.)

HOW OPTIMISTIC ARE YOU?

It has been three days since you left a voicemail message asking your friend to call you, and you haven’t heard a word. You reject the notion that she doesn’t like you anymore, and choose to believe she must bereally busy with important and exciting things.

Congratulations! You chose optimism over pessimism, and will probably live longer for it.

Optimism has been shown to improve the quality of life (yours and those around you), and several studies have linked optimism with longevity. In fact, a recently concluded 10-year study showed that pessimistic men were twice as likely to experience angina and heart attack as optimistic men. Twice! And that’s independent of all other health-related factors.

Optimists often have more friends. Think about it. Would you rather hang out with a doom-and-gloomer, or with someone who always sees the opportunity and potential in life’s circumstances? That’s why optimists tend to get hired before pessimists.

While some people naturally view the glass as half-full, optimism turns out to be a learned behavior. You can choose an optimistic response to the events that come your way.

I encourage you to invest in yourself and see how optimistic you really are. It could turn out to be an important step in improving the quality of your life.

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.

Have you ever wondered that the great thing in the world is not really where we stand but in what direction we are moving. Life is filled with terrible misfortune, but your achievement in life is determined by the way you live your life, how much value you put in life. Do you want to live in fear or falling or catching fire.

The most important opinion you have is the one you have of yourself, and the most significant things you say all day are those things you say to yourself. Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive. Ask yourself these questions today: where are you now; where are you going and; how do you intend to get there, then work on it.

I choose to spend the whole of my day as though I have no sad moments, to allow my living to open me, make me less afraid, more transparent and accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise and as a success.

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the love of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a restoration of the honour or worth of social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because I have lived.

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else (Judy Garland), never try to live in another’s shadow, it is better to be hated for what you are, than to be loved for something you are not. Being yourself in a world that is continually trying to make you something else is a great triumph. You win when you accept your failures and mistakes, pick up the pieces, and continue striving to reach your goals.

"Success is not measured by what you accomplish but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds" (Orison Swett Marden). Stand up to your feet now and say no to your defeat, believe in yourself, do your best and leave the rest to the Almighty God.

Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.

LIFE

"Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it."

~ Mother Teresa