Attitude Is Infectious! A Positive Attitude ROCKS THE HOUSE!

I can't tell you how flattered I am when I get calls from individuals saying "I needed a Trainer Don fix".  I am more than happy to be the peoples drug of choice. 

I love hearing Tiffany of SEFAA refer to me as her "Don Crack",  Kris of Park Baldwin Palms commenting that she gives her leasing consultants a "A daily dose of Don" or Shannon of Laramar saying when things become a challenge, she hears me in her head saying, "I am only hearing you present road blocks, focus on positive detours that lead to answers".  It is a huge responsibility to be a consistent positive inspiration, and it can only be accomplished with an optimistic attitude.

I remember exactly when in my life I went from pessimist to optimist, and who taught me to always have a positive attitude, or should I say - fake it until I make it.  I was living in Oak Park Illinois and an ex-nun moved in across the hall from me in my apartment building.  Both our front and back doors faced each other.  I remember meeting her for the first time when she introduced herself as Karen.  I was so disappointed, I wanted her to be named Angela, because she was the spitting image of Angela Landsbury, from "Murder She Wrote".  Oddly enough my disappointment was quickly turned into excitement, when I first heard her pecking on a typewriter through our back screen doors.  I remember cooking in the kitchen each evening, being serenaded by her peck peck peck on the typewriter.  It was culinary inspiring music to my ears.  (Yes I can cook and yes this was before the dawn of computers, we only had typewrites my young ones.)  Of course I imagined her typing deviant entangled murder plots that only the smartest and unsuspecting character would figure out.  Unfortunately,  I was once again disappointed when I later found out it was her nightly personal journal entries, seriously, how exciting could that be from a nun?

Interestingly enough, we were on the same morning schedule, leaving the apartment building at the same time.  I had a car, but she took the bus.  Through morning conversation we discovered that her bus transfer was literally in front of my office, so she started riding with me each morning to my office, to avoid the first leg of her public transportation commute.

One morning she cordially asked, "How are you", I responded, "Tired".  There was a long silence, and then she informed me that she believed what we spoke came to be true - or in this case truer.  The following morning, forgetting her one time philosophical warning,  I made the mistake of responding with "I feel lousy", of which she quickly responded with "What you have just spoken I pray to come true".  So, for all intensive purposes, if I said I felt crappy - she prayed for crappier, if I said awesome - she prayed for more awesome, if I said sick - she prayed for sicker.  Interestingly enough, this annoying little morning exercise quickly made me realize that negative words were more apt to come out of my mouth than positive.  Yes, I hate to admit it, but I once was a total doggy downer!

This realization was horrifying to me!  I was a healthy young man with an upwardly mobile career and a more than adequate lifestyle - I had absolutely no reason to be negative comparatively speaking.  So, I made the attitude change, deciding to be positive, even if I was tired or suffering from a stomach ache.  Before I knew it, I was happier, my employees were happier and the business I was managing was setting company records.  I became my own "Don Crack"!

It wasn't hard to figure out what new dynamic was causing company financial success.  The leader had received an attitude makeover, from an ex-nun who later ended up being a stalker (but that is another blog).  More importantly, the leader started executing attitude makeovers on his staff.  The lesson learned was, positive leaders attract positive followers, which insure positive business results.

So, the next time  you walk in the door and someone inquires as to how your are, reply, "If I got any better I would be twins", or "I am so freaking fabulous Dolce & Gabanna think I am their new seasons line".  No one wants to hear about your stomach ache, fight with your fiancé or infinite car problems.  However, they cannot wait to smile at your positive entertaining comments. 

Also remember, as a professional you have the right to promote colleague makeovers.  And the best way to do it, is to stop negative energy immediately.  So the next time your colleague walks in the door and says, "You are not going to believe what my rotten teenager did last night", quickly respond back, "Your right, I'm not, conversation closed"!  Protect yourself from negative energy, it will only feed off of your professional soul!

Positive happy attitudes are contagious.  It doesn't matter if you bring it or fake it, it is still contagious ... even to yourself.  Be on the alert for negative employees, work hard at changing their attitudes or make the decision to remove them from the positive pack.  You are in charge of your personal success and a major factor in the success of your community  Serve your negative energy employees a 7 day notice, let them know their bad attitudes are about to be evicted to the unemployment line, if they don't start paying their positive attitude back rent.

Remember,  if YOU ROCK, everyone around you will ROCK!