Business Office Secret

Sometimes through just casual conversation, you can discover a new angle on a common theme.

First, we'll spend a moment on positive thinking. This is nothing more than putting a positive spin on anything that comes your way. It's not partly cloudy, it's partly sunny.

Even when a big deal goes sour, you can suffer or you can suffer a little bit and learn a lot. I always choose to go for the latter.

You should just train yourself, even if you blurt out a negative comment about something, take a moment to reflect on it and think of something that you could have said that would have had more of a positive slant.

This is especially important when being introduced to people and it does not matter if it is in a personal and casual environment or at an office function. They may have a hideous way of dressing in your opinion, but they have a great smile is what you pick up as a positive spin.

The guy is always late, but he comes to work everyday.

She is really a bad driver, but, hey, what a smart person.

These are just simple examples, but you can start with the small ones and work up to the bigger ones.

The government is really messing up, but you're happy to be in a country where you can voice a negative opinion about the government and not be taken out in the morning and shot, but you would not do that, because you're on the positive side of thinking.

A lot of positive thinking is just taking responsibility for what you do, what you have, what you're going to do, and what you're going to have, become, be remembered as, and who you really are right now.

You forge "you" in your mind, before anyone else gets a good look at you and the quicker you become more positive person, the more easily you'll be able to cope with all the things that we all know that are wrong with this world.

Look for and talk about things that you like about a person, topic, event, or encounter, rather than the easy negative response.

This brings us around to negative thinking and my response and immediate thoughts about hearing the phrase "negative thinking."

Negative thinking is not thinking at all, it's just making excuses and blaming others for things that you are too lazy to change or influence to change.

Think about that. When you make a negative comment, you are teasing someone down to make yourself look bigger, reacting in a jealous way, showing off how rude you can be, or you're just being stupid.

Add them up and they're a list of excuses.

1) Tearing someone down to make you look bigger. This is a common human trait. Someone is doing well and somebody else brings up that the family he comes from has money, rather than saying that he really knows how to leverage his resources.

I'm sure you've heard and sometimes have said sometime in your life, "Oh, I could have done that."

Well, why did not you? You see, it's a form of an excuse.

2) Reacting in a jealous way is very childish, so I'll use a childish example. Teacher's pet. Oh, look who's too cool with his new sunglasses. You see, just childish.

3) Showing off how rude you can be. Hey, Don Rickles is the champ at the rude comeback, not you. One is enough, "hockey puck." When Rickles casts a putdown, it's for laughs and entertainment value and done in jest, when you do it, it is just stupid and makes you look stupid, but the reality is, it's an excuse for your own miserable existence.

Read a book, because beer bottles have no educational value. You will be more intelligent and positive if you have more sources to draw from when making a comment about someone or something. All leaders are readers.

4) Some people are just stupid. Stupid is not an excuse, but remaining stupid, really is stupid, and an excuse.

Sorry, no sympathy for hard-luck stories here. We all can tell stories of problems and incidences in our lives that thread a wrench in the works on the path towards greatness.

I really do not want to hear them, but hey, those are great shoes you are wearing, where did you get them?