The Little Voice In Your Head

I heard a speaker today talk about how to lead a productive and happy life. He talked about the need to keep a positive and focused attitude. The angle for his speech was to explore what music is playing in your head. Is it a positive song with expectations for positive outcomes or is it a song of negative thoughts?

I had a friend tell me recently that the “little voice in his head” was nagging him to do something new with his life. Now if you knew my friend you would probably ask the same thing I did – are you sure that it is one voice or many? Because if “you are hearing voices in your head you may have a different problem.” So let me ask you this – what is the little voice in your head telling you? Are you one of those people that starts the day with a positive spin on life or do you tend to look at the negative possibilities.

I watched recently as a supervisor in a call center stood in the middle of the room as people arrived for the morning shift. She greeted each one with a positive comment and a great smile. I heard her say things like “this is gonna be your best day of the week….” and “are you ready for a great day?” The power of this simple act was reflected in the attitudes of the people who sat down to talk with customers and potential customers. I bet if you could look inside her head there is some great music playing – maybe some U2 or some Creed. She chooses to start the day with positive thoughts.

On a totally different subject, I have been on a mission lately to help supervisors, managers and leaders narrow their focus for success to three things. Asking questions like, “what are the top three things you want the agent to do when they talk with a customer?” or “What are the top three things you want the employee to do when they enter an office to make a repair of technology?” Defining these three things allows the employee to clearly understand your expectations. So with that in mind – here are the three things about that little voice in your head:

1. Be a moti-vator not a moti-sucker. Have you ever been around one of those people that are so negative that they just suck the air at out of the room? Don’t be that person. Start today trying to find the positive spin on things. Do the Tony Robbins thing and start out telling your self that you WILL be more POSITIVE today!
2. Compliment someone as the first task of the morning. Tell your kids how proud you are of them (I say this often to both my kids on their Facebook page – I use the direct message instead of the wall post - otherwise they would think it was not cool). Spend 10 minutes before 10am walking around the office telling someone that you appreciate their work.
3. Read something positive. Make time for yourself. I told a new supervisor last week that they should try to learn something every day that no one can ever take away.  Reading is like that. My recent amazon.com search showed that there are 2016 items about leadership and 530 about positive thinking. Pick one and invest in yourself.

And - the next time that little voice in your head starts to go negative - tell them you are not listening any more.