Whistle While You Work

Sometimes the concept of trying to whistle while you work can seem nearly impossible. When life is stressful and schedules are jam-packed, it isn't easy to maintain a bright and cheerful disposition. However, a positive attitude and an optimistic outlook on life is something to strive for. I believe that the first step towards creating a positive mindset is being conscious of your internal dialogue. Is your inner voice as negative-or even more negative-than your external one? Most people who spew negativity at those they interact with are probably even harder on themselves-they may try to redirect their pessimism and despotic attitude onto others, but below the surface, such individuals are probably masking enormous amounts of self-doubt and insecurity.

I bet that many people have died before their time because they lived life focused on the negative. Why do placebos work? Because when you believe in something-whether it's real or not-you start to "feel it." When I was around seven years old, I could have sworn that I saw reindeers flying over my house when I was up late on Christmas Eve. I saw it because I wanted to see it. If you look for silver linings, you will find them anywhere, even in the most hopeless and tragic circumstances. Negative people see disaster where positive people see an opportunity to learn and experience personal growth.

I like the concept of "The Engaged Life" (Stober & Grant, 2006, p. 239). It has always been important to me to feel like I am living in the moment-not just moving mechanically through my days to achieve some down-the-line goal. I want to be happy now-I want to feel fulfilled now. When I am extremely stressed at work, and I feel like I am getting too frazzled to stay connected to what is going on, I start to lose it a little bit. I come home and try to convince my husband that I should quit my job and we should start living a life of subsistence on the land, just churning out babies and milking cows as we laze away our day's from the vantage point of a comfy hammock on our lawn. He laughs at me-and he knows that in a couple of days, I will have made a complete 180 and started talking about wanting to take over the company again or try my hand at something even more ambitious.

Positive psychology is a cornerstone of effective career satisfaction. As more research is conducted on the impact of positivity, measurable and tangible results could be produced--results that skeptics will have a hard time trying to refute and discredit as psychobabble mumbo jumbo. The authors of the "Evidence Based Coaching Handbook" have given the impression that there is considerable cynicism surrounding professional coaching, and it seems that some validation might come out of studying the observable impact of positive psychology on coaching clients.

Reference

Stober, D. R., & Grant, A. M. (2006). Evidence Based Coaching (1st ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc..