And what about waiting on the telephone?  The average person spends 60 hours per year on hold.  That’s 2.5 days out of your year holding on  the telephone.  And you can’t blame it all on businesses either.  Thanks to call waiting, you now wait on hold when you call a friend’s mobile phone or even your own home.

So what do you do while you wait for those 6 months at a red light or those 60 hours a year on hold?  Have you tried using that time to focus your mind on the positive? Not that the light change but something really nice that happened that morning?  Not that your call get picked up, but so your attitude picks up?

There’s always time to focus your thoughts on something positive. Just one more way you Live Positive today!

She walks in so excited saying, “Mom!  Mom!  Look at everything!  It looks different!  Come on Mom!  Come out here!  Look over there!”  She takes her Mom out of the bathroom and into the den.  She thinks her Mom sees everything differently as well.

So her Mom patiently tells her that she’s not wearing pink flamingo sunglasses and so she can’t see everything differently.  So the three-year-old takes off the sunglasses, hands them to her Mom, and says, “What about now?”

And my sister-in-law says, “Things do look a little differently through pink flamingo sunglasses.”

How often do you assume everyone else sees life the way you do?  Pretty often?  It’s natural for you regardless of age to assume everyone sees life the way you do.  Today, when you’re talking to your spouse or child or coworker or friend about what you see, remember they are unique.  Help them see what you see by listening to life with them as you Live Positive.

I waged war on the bird-seed-stealing squirrels one winter. I borrowed an air rifle and looked for the squirrels as I walked by our bay window. I even put our younger daughter on alert—“Honey, let me know if you see a squirrel on our bird feeder.”

That is, until one day she said, “Daddy, we used to look out the window for pretty birds. Now we look for ugly squirrels.”

It’s easy to stop looking for the beautiful qualities in your business these days, to cease listening for the lovely songs of the cash register cha-ching or the relieved look on a customer’s face when you solve a problem; to miss the brilliant colors of the relationships you enjoy with employees and clients alike.

Here are three ways to look for the beautiful at work and feed your business positively.

Abstain from negative conversations

Choose your conversations carefully whether on the phone or in the hallway. Listen actively. Redirect quickly when the conversation spirals downward into negativity without a suggestion of course correction. Attempt to reframe—“Yes, and yet…”—if the redirect is ineffective. Remove yourself with “I must go” if the redirect or reframe fails.

Words impact our perception of reality. Think about how you feel after hanging up or what you’re thinking as you walk away from conversations. Positive exchanges lift dark clouds and energize you. Negative words do the opposite.

Deal with conversations quickly. Ask yourself, “Where is this going? Do I want to participate?” and choose accordingly.

Allow for interruptions

You’re goal-focused with a prioritized list for the day’s activity. That’s great—focus on the positive and do those things that increase your profitability most effectively.

Also, allow for interruptions which happen regardless. A customer appears suddenly with a situation you can resolve. A client calls in with an opportunity for more work.

It’s easy when these detours appear on the day’s path to get frustrated, and sideways in your mental model. Such a reaction prevents you from feeding your business positively.

Instead, anticipate interruptions. Deal with them positively, quickly, and effectively. If resolution is achieved in a matter of minutes, do it. If not, promise to get back with the person and get your Work Positive dream team on it.

Then return to your schedule with a renewed interest sustained by your expectation of interruptions.

Access news/information positively

When you watch TV and listen to radio news, you abdicate your editorial license to someone with a negative agenda. Your filters are down and you simply absorb. These are “push” media that will shove their spin into your mind…as you let them.

Instead choose “pull” media like Internet news site where you are the queen/king of content. Proactively choose what to read or watch and allow into the theater of your mind. You may stop reading or follow links for more. Your plethora of sources is virtually infinite. Diversify the viewpoints. Filter out the negative for the sake of negative. Focus on information you can use to your business advantage positively.

Sure, you’ll feed some ugly squirrels in doing business today.

Choose to focus on the beautiful birds with these three ways to feed your business positively.

In 1925, the New York World celebrated the birthday of Abraham Lincoln with a cartoon that has two Kentucky farmers, talking over a picket fence.
One farmer asks, “Anything new happen lately?”  And the other farmer says, “Nothing much.  A new baby was born over at Tom Lincoln’s place, but nothing much ever happens around here.”

Do you have an attitude of “Nothing much ever happens around here?”  If you do, remember:  you just never really know who’s being born next door, do you?  A leader of your country or a Nobel Prize winner or the researcher who cures cancer or the negotiator of world peace could be born in your community.  Despite your attitude of “Nothing much ever happens around here,” it could…and today could be the day!  So Live Positive today and watch some amazing things happen.

Then I got a ski machine.  It was great, after I became coordinated enough to swing my arms and legs simultaneously.  And I used it for a while, but then one day I threw a pair of jeans on it, then a shirt, then some clothes waiting to be ironed, and it became a super-expensive clothes rack.  So I moved it to the basement.

Then I wanted a treadmill.  And I remembered the bike and ski machine.  Instead I bought a membership at a gym.  And I go exercise there, missing only when I’m sick or out of town.  What’s the difference?  At home, I exercise alone.  At the gym, I’m with lots of people, all of them doing the same thing.  I discovered I’m encouraged by people doing what I’m doing.

Surround yourself with positive people doing healthy activities as you Live Positive.

After that, we’re frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with.  We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.

Then we tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, when we’re able to go on a nice vacation, or when we retire.

Then we decide that when we recover from heart surgery or get cancer-free or have a knee replacement, that’s when we’ll be happy.

The truth is, there’s no better time to be happy than right now.  If not now, then when?

Life is always filled with challenges.  So go ahead and admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.  Live each day to the fullest by choosing to be happy regardless as you Live Positive today.

The message announced that I had an e-greeting card to open.  So I clicked on the link and opened it.  There was the cutest picture of a yellow Lab puppy like the ones we have and a kitten, their noses touching.  And someone had drawn in some hearts between them.  The caption read, “Puppy Love.”

And our daughter wrote in, “Daddy, I know it’s not Valentine’s yet, but I couldn’t resist sending this to you.  Love and kisses,” and her name.

I wrote her back and said, “Thank you, sweetheart!  It’s never too early to send love.  Love and kisses, Daddy.”

And it isn’t.  Nor is it ever too late.  Yea, I know Valentine’s is past for this year, but send someone love today.  You receive 365 days a year, so share it as often as possible so you can Live Positive.

But he shared so much love with his jailer that he started believing in God.  He even fell in love with the jailer’s daughter.  He sent her cards with clovers made into hearts which read, “From Your Valentine.”

The legend of Valentine’s displays of God’s love only spread more after his death.  So much that he was made a saint and a day was declared for us all  to share love—St. Valentine’s Day.

Share God’s love with others today, not just your family, but people you don’t even know.  As you pass them in the hall at work or on the street, say, “Happy Valentine’s Day!”  And as you do, do so as if today were named after you.

Live positive.  Work positive.  Love positive.

Frankly, at that point in my life, I didn’t have enough money to buy it, but I really wanted to purchase it because it meant that much to my wife. I was discovering even then how to Work Positive. So I changed my perception, released my imagination, conceived a complementary relationship, believed that I could find the money, and acted on my attention and intention so I achieved the positive result of buying that crib.

First, I remembered my shotgun. I had not been hunting for years with that gun, but it was still special to me. Santa Claus brought it to me when I was 13 years old. It was my “dream gun”—a Remington 870 Wingmaster pump-action 12 gauge with a 28-inch modified choke barrel. I drooled all over “her page” in the Sears Wishbook catalog that year. I stood for hours staring at her in the local gun shop. Not that I was attached to my gun or anything like that . . .

Then, in a flash I decided that the crib was coming and the gun was going. I would sell my shotgun and buy the baby crib. On my way to the gun shop to sell it, I stopped by to visit my friend, James, who said he wanted it. So I sold the shotgun to him and bought the crib, presenting it to my wife as a surprise baby gift. She loved it!

About fourteen years later, on my 40th birthday, my wife threw a huge birthday party for me. She had about 250 of my closest friends over for a meal and party. It was great.

After everyone left, she escorted me into our home and said, “There’s one more thing. Close your eyes and hold out your hands and I will give you a big surprise.”

I did, and then she said, “OK, open your eyes! Here’s your birthday present” and handed me my Remington Wingmaster 12 gauge shotgun that I had sold to buy the Jenny Lind baby crib.

“Where did you get it?” I said.

“From James,” she said. “I called him and told him that you were turning 40 and asked him if I could buy your gun back. And Joey,” she said. “He wouldn’t let me pay him. He gave it to me as your present.”

Business Truth 1: Love your customers and clients, employees and suppliers with the same reckless abandon that my wife, James, and I did. Commit yourself to solving their problems, to growing their bottom line, and to improving their lifestyle. They will remain loyal to you forever.

Business Truth 2: What goes around, really does come around. Serve everyone associated with your business based on their needs first. You will always have enough to go around.

Business Truth 3: Believe in your business. Work hard to love and serve. And at the beginning and end of each day, remind yourself that there are Work Positive resources converging that are beyond your ability to control or influence. You will succeed.

The wife read the results that her husband showed her, and thought for a while.  Then finally she said to her husband, “It’s because we have to repeat
everything we say.”

And her husband said, “What?”

Whether you’re a woman or a man, you sometimes fail to listen to the best of your ability, right?  And that means somebody has to do more talking to get their point across.  That somebody includes not only your spouse if you’re married, but your coworkers as well.  You say, “What?” to them sometimes, too.

Avoid just talking or waiting to talk while someone else speaks.  Say to someone like your spouse or coworker, “You talk first this morning” and listen
to your life.  Maybe both of you will use fewer words as you Live Positive.