Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Tag: attitude

  • Loving Monday: Good Weather Attitude Infection

    loving_mondayThe urban skyscape sparkles from being scrubbed clean. The incessant storming pausing to catch its breath. I want the freshness that is outside to infuse my work and infect my attitude.

    More of us are familiar with dreary weather leading to dreary feelings. What about good weather?!

    clearskiesI‘ve got to tell you, this is the morning to get outside if you’re anywhere near me in Southern California. Crisp, bright, bracing and fresh.

    Don’t even think of disappearing behind those solid walls or settling yourself underneath those oppressive florescent lights until you’ve had a deep breath of cold morning air and an invigorating walk outside.

    When struggling to get back to work on Mondays, we need all the help we can get. It can be difficult to leave the weekend behind. Instead of spending the first part of the day grieving its loss, we can give our attitudes a jump start by noticing and enjoying the special beauty bestowed by the recent rains.

    Give yourself the gift of a fresh start to the week. If the weather is on your side, embrace this fickle friend before it turns. May its freshness restore and renew your energies at work this week.

  • Loving Monday: Typical Monday Morning?

    loving_mondayTypical Monday morning.

    Feels like a fresh start, though nothing has changed.

    I‘ve changed.

    I’m rested. (This week.)

    I’m hopeful. (I’m more aware of my opportunities than my hurdles.)

    I’m in motion. (Out of bed, sitting at my computer.)

    Typical Monday morning. Or is it?

    Which is more significant? That the challenges around me remain or that I have changed?

    I suspect it is the change I observe in myself.

    Problems we will always have. Always. Some things never change.

    How we choose to engage them, though, holds no limit. Ever. Infinite variety of possibilities.

    So do you put your efforts into changing the circumstances of the day or the person experiencing those circumstances?

    Typical Monday morning?

    I think not.

  • Loving Monday: Splash of Cold Water

    loving_mondayEver had one of those Mondays where all of the positive self-talk in the world can’t get you out of your funk?

    You’ve got too much to do. The people around you are dragging you down. Life at home is rough. Nothing works like it’s supposed to. The week hasn’t even started and you feel behind the eight ball.

    Instead of psyching yourself up, beating yourself up or simply giving up, try a splash of cold water in the face. (Your own face, that is. (As rewarding as dousing that turkey down the hall would be.))

    You might call it a tangible if startling way to push the “reset” button.

    A way to start over yourself while acknowledging that all around you remains awful. A way to grab your own attention.

    Resistence, struggle and panic simply exasperate the situation when one is mired in quicksand. When about to be dragged under, we need to be alert, perceptive and clever. We need to awake to the possibilities that we cannot currently see. Alternatives that offer unexpected, unanticipated, or not yet envisioned options.

    Hence, a startling reset. A choice to to step away. A choice to do something simple. A choice to do something that awakens your senses.

    A splash of cold water.

  • Loving Monday: Bouncing Back Stronger

    The unexpected can knock us for a loop. We’re ready to make a great week for ourselves, and then, Wham!… out of nowhere and before we know what happened we find ourselves reeling.

    A deadline change, additional workload, a missing co-worker, technology down, office politics. The unexpected can take many forms.

    How do we bounce back when we get the wind knocked out of us?

    As important as it is to your busy schedule to get moving as soon as possible, to jump right back into your original plans as if nothing had happened would actually result in a bigger setback.

    Your best bet is to give yourself some space. Some space simply to acknowledge that you’ve been thrown for a loop. Take a walk. Get some air. Kick the tires of your car. Express the maddening frustration of going from the gravity-defying launch of a great week to the quicksand engulfing suffocation of yet another setback.

    Validating and venting the emotion will enable you to more quickly release it. Instead of squashing the feelings that are about to sabotage your week, you find a safe way to express them. (Who cares what the passing motorists think as they pass you waving your arms wildly and ranting to the air on your walk around the block.)

    Take a few deep breaths as you return to your office, and you’ll be in a much stronger position to make the necessary adjustments occasioned by whatever unexpected event interrupted your morning.

    You’ve got an important contribution to make this week. We need you to show up fully engaged. For your sake and ours, let’s find ways to build your repertoire of tools for bouncing back stronger.

    On  your side,

    – Karl

  • Loving Monday: Duty is Not a Four-Letter Word

    Somewhere along the line, “duty” became a four-letter word. A “bad” word. A negative word.

    Somewhere along the line we associated duty with responsibilities that no one would take on unless forced.

    I‘d like to suggest that “duty” and “privilege” are two sides of the same coin. I’d go so far as to promise that an attitude revolution is waiting for you if you can see your obligations as gifts. Gifts for which the most appropriate response is dedicated engagement.

    To commit to a duty is a promise to complete something out of dedicated engagement.

    Somewhere along the line, though, we lose the “dedicated engagement” part of the equation and end up with only the dry “promise.”

    “I get to” gets reduced to “I have to.” And so our experience is diminished into something no better than a coerced chore.

    In fact, though, we commit to tasks of value. We need a way to remind ourselves of the gift, the privilege, and the value underlying our promise to fulfill a particular duty.

    We need a way to engage with complicated, difficult or nasty components of our commitments that draws on our original rationale for making the commitment in the first place.

    An attitude revolution is waiting for you. Duty may be a four-letter word after all. G – I – F – T.

  • Loving Monday: Framed in Thankfulness

    I’m going to start this week off by saying thanks. In fact, I’m going to come up with seven (7) things I’m thankful for.

    I have a feeling that if this week proves as complicated as most, I’ll need to be prepared ahead of time. It’s just not that easy to remember what I’m thankful for after Wednesday.

    Starting each day on a note of thankfulness frames the day ahead in terms of life being a gift.

    We choose our mindset before events, people and the unexpected have a chance to suggest something different. We equip ourselves with a healthier starting point from which to confront the challenges that will inevitably arise.

    The gift of life I have been given includes:

    1. My wife and three kids
    2. Rose buds
    3. Accepting friends
    4. Rhythm and an occasional dance move
    5. An eye to see individual faces in every crowd
    6. Morning crunches (this one’s a stretch)
    7. Extended family support everywhere I look.

    What are seven gifts in your life that you can remember in thankfulness this week?

  • Question of the Week

    What attitude expectations do you have for your team, and how do you communicate and model these?

    The Question of the Week is offered to increase awareness of one’s personal leadership practices and encourage experimentation with creative alternatives.