better business blog

Tips and stories to add value to you and your organisation

Do You Start Positively?

28 May 2012

Phew it’s hot! How lovely and about time that we had some sun and can remove woolly hats, thermal vests and ski-mitts. I like the sun and always feel chirpier and more bouncy on warm days. I’m not alone in this and splendid sunlight and heat always seems to bring out smiles from people and a happier can-do attitude.

However, although the weather can have an affect on our mood we have to accept the lion’s share of responsibility for our own disposition. We can make choices and decide if we’re going to be grumpy, or smiley, thoughtful, friendly and so on. We sow our energy out into the world and reap a harvest from that. Sow the world with smiles and you do get smiles back. I know – I’ve been having a do-lovely-things week and have enjoyed some brilliant conversations with a host of lovely people.

We can set ourselves up for success in business too. Last week I had a tough piece of negotiation to sort out and my opening comment was ‘I am going to sign this and just need to agree some changes in order to do so.’

I made it clear that I wasn’t going to waste the other person’s time and that the prize was there for us both to share …as long as we worked constructively.

This clear and positive starting point set the tone for a level-headed discussion that ended up with us both agreeing to move our position on a number of points. I set out to be positive and as a result we had a can-do conversation instead of a can’t-do one.

So, this week when will you start a difficult conversation with a positive attitude?

It could make all the difference.

As for me, I’m going to enjoy the sunshine and start preparing ideas for talks, because I’m continuing my work as an international speaker, having agreed a great deal with an international speakers bureau. Yippee!