Not a year-end look back

2009 will be a great year if you choose it to be.

Not a year-end look back

Nope, I’m looking forward. 2009 will be a great year because there will be plenty of opportunities. How do I know? Because, I’m choosing to make it a great year. There are so many people out there whining about how tough it is that they’ve convinced themselves that they cannot grow and cannot win. They are retrenching so far back, that in effect they are not even playing the game. I’m going to play.

One thing I know is that after years of selling and in delivering sales training winners win all the time. It doesn’t matter what the environment is. Winners make their own luck. Winners have the right attitude. Both innately and by choice they are optimistic and looking for better ways to get things done in order to win. The power of positive thinking not only works for you as an individual, but it spreads to others as well. People take action when they are around positive people.

There was a recent study done that validated the effect of positive thinking. One interesting point was that positive thinking can affect others directly outside your sphere of influence. To me, that seems to match up with the old saying, “what goes around comes around”. At some point, your positive attitude (and other things such as kindnesses, courtesies, demonstrations of extra effort, the granting of grace, etc.) will come back to you in a very good way, perhaps in a time and place outside of your original actions. It may not be monetary, but it will be beneficial.

What have you got to lose by thinking and acting positively? Nothing. And, it’s easy because you have a brain and can make the choice. Stephen Covey calls it “making up your own weather.”

Merry Christmas and HAPPY New Year- make it a mentally sunny year!

Niceness

OK, there is no real intention here to tie to the holiday season as to who’s been naughty (nastiness- last blog) or nice, but…how refreshing is it when you encounter someone nice in your day to day routine. Today my wife (who is my ‘bestest’ friend) went shopping for her Christmas present- slippers. We’re at the age where surprises are still nice but it’s perfectly fine to give a major hint to your spousal unit as to what you’d really like or need.
So, off to the mall we went: Nordstrom, Macy’s, Aerosoles, JCPenney, Tully’s Coffee, back to Nordstrom, and finally New Balance. I’m a guy and not a super shopper but I still had fun. Hey, anytime I’m rewarded with a double tall non-fat latte I’m going to be just fine.
So, what was my experience with the retail world in a hectic season? Surprisingly, good, with one exception: JCPenney. We searched for ten minutes through rack after rack of merchandise, in a cluttered and jumbled department, never finding what we wanted. JCP may have had it, but no one ever bothered to come over to ask if we needed help. This chain or particular store must be understaffed because absolutely no one was available to assist us. It’s not that I got the impression that we were invisible, it’s just that no one was around, except for the cashier, who had a ten deep line at her register. Weird.
At all of the other stores the sales clerks were very helpful and friendly. One salesperson allowed my wife to try on a number of items and while none of them fit or felt just right for her, the salesperson was very helpful, friendly and full of good cheer. We finally found the right product at Nordstrom, and true to their reputation for outstanding customer service, we had a young man who hunted and hunted for the right size and color. He must have pulled out five different boxes. He didn’t find it, but he did find the product within Nordstrom’s system and get it ordered to deliver to our door.
And when ordering and getting our lattes we had the same, cheerful experience, as was going in and out of the mall a nice experience. We actually had teenagers open and hold open the doors for us. Obviously this was courteous, but it was refreshing in that I don’t experience this very often any more. Young people today (and unfortunately quite a few older people) seem to have lost their manners. So, this was unexpected.
The short 90 minute excursion into shopping mania turned out to be quite pleasant and we experienced a high ‘Niceness Quotient’. Now, it’s your turn.

Niceness

What was my experience with the retail world in a hectic season? Surprisingly, good.

Nastiness

Have you ever had a run in with someone who is just plain nasty?