Author: Mark S. Brown

Do you ever wake up to a cold wet rainy day, and feel like rolling over and going back to sleep? Having a good attitude every day can be a challenge when you don’t have a strategy to make the most of every day.

When you are willing to admit that having a great attitude does not happen automatically, you should develop a strategy that can help you on days that seem challenging. Here are three approaches that can help.

1. Go to the source. The source for your attitude is within you. Your feelings reside inside, not outside. Spending a few minutes alone, reflecting from within, can help realign your attitude. After you begin to feel that great attitude inside, you will be able to show it on the outside.

2. Be flexible. Every day is different. We can be challenged when our environment does not support our plan for the day. Keeping alternate plans ready for changing environments will help you adjust to the ever changing situation around you. If it is raining and cold and you are not able to do what you wanted to do, switch your plan. Pull up an alternative plan for the day that is something you wanted to achieve. I always have a list or alternatives that can keep my attitude positive regardless of my external situation.

3. Connect with your energizer. Your energizer is a friend that always gives you a boost. A fun friend that can immediately change your attitude. They are someone that can make a good day great, or a bad day good. Reach out to your energizer when you need help getting in the right frame of mind.

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong,” said Mahatma Ghandi. Sometimes it is difficult to see how forgiveness fits in the business world. Trust, innovation, integrity, are usually found on a list of company values. Forgiveness is not.

Yet, forgiveness is one of the most important values at a personal level. People that hold grudges, have created chains that keep them from living at their potential. People that judge others, tend to be judged more harsh than others. Leaders that fail to forgive, will hold back their entire organization.

Here are three things to consider about improving your ability to forgive.

1. Discover the value of forgiveness. The act of forgiving changes you, changes others, and helps your team. Holding a grudge helps no one. Learn to see the value in perspective of all those around you.

2. Develop a reflection process for forgiveness. Forgiving comes from within. It is not something you can make happen without truly changing your attitude from within. If you try to hide a grudge, it is still there. As you reflect on your day, think about those that need forgiven. Develop a habit to forgive every day.

3. Choose to forgive. You have the ability to decide. Make the choice to forgive every one for what they do. Forgiveness is the ultimate act of love. For the world, it is the right choice 100% of the time. You decide.

Lewis B. Smedes said, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”

Brent Scowcroft once said, “An idea can be as flawless as can be, but its execution will always be full of mistakes.” It makes me think about execution. Is it a strategy or a tactic?

Disciplined execution of an idea or plan is tactical. But the plan to achieve disciplined execution is a strategy. You are not going to achieve a high level of execution by accident. So execution done well becomes both a strategy and a tactic.

Execution becomes important to everything we do. Consider something as simple as an exercise plan. First we will need an exercise plan, then a strategy to execute it, then the discipline to execute it every week.

To be successful, we need to consider execution at every step, and then evaluate our execution in reflection. Finally defining the steps to improve our execution. As  Jeff Bridges has said, “Execution is everything.”

Zig Zigler has said, “There are no traffic jams on the extra mile!” Do you usually find yourself going that extra mile alone? We use the slang, “go the extra mile” when someone does something above and beyond their normal responsibility. If you find yourself alone on that extra mile, it is great to perform above and beyond, but it could be a symptom for other issues.

Consider the following:

1. Where is your team? If you are finishing alone, you have lost the opportunity to develop your team. There is always benefit to bringing others along, even if they are there just to observe and learn.

2. Do you give the proper recognition? Do you provide the proper recognition for others that go the extra mile? If you have failed to provide the proper recognition, people will stop going the extra mile. We all need appreciation.

3. Do you get the proper recognition? If you are not getting the proper recognition, others around you are probably not either. Working based on a sense of responsibility is ok, as long as you are aligned in your priorities and you are not sacrificing something more important.

Pat Riley said, “Great effort springs naturally from a great attitude.” A good reflection exercise for this week would be to evaluate the attitude of your team and their willingness to put in extra effort.