For two years my wife and I lived on a sailboat in the Mediterranean while we home schooled our three children. That adventure gave us a legacy that our family continues to draw from. When we are “stuck” on an issue we can change the tone of the discussion by focusing on the positive, such as when we stayed in the marina in Calvi, Corsica, France, exploring the fabulous village and enjoyed views like the one above.
I was thinking of this today when I read Jesse Lyn Stoner’s blog post 7 Ways to ReWire Your Brain and Become a Better Leader. One of the points that Jesse makes is “Savor your positive experiences”. The post goes on to discuss how we are hard wired to focus on the negative and how by focusing on the positive we can keep our attention on the issues at hand.
I’ve written before about Start with the Wins and the backing science behind positive phycology in Shawn Achor’s The Happiness Advantage. Of course, knowing and doing are two different things. On August 1st it will be a year since I started as VP Marketing at Webtech Wireless. In that year, I’ve worked hard to practice positive principles. While I make sure to start our weekly planning meetings with our wins, I’ve noticed that in daily huddles I often jump into challenges, before asking my team for their wins. Every time that I start with the wins, the challenges get resized and the energy in the discussion changes.
Thanks to Jesse’s post for reminding me to find that positive experience, for me and for each of my team members, each and every day.
