As business owners, employees and people in general we sometimes have to deal with people that are negative. They are either negative to us, about us or just negative around us and that brings us down. Negativity impacts our attitude, what we do and how we respond to others.
For The Back Story
I hadn’t realized the impact that the negativity from other people and situations in my life had been having on me and my business until it wasn’t there anymore.
The good news is once I got rid of the negativity, my productivity and sleepless nights, which had been going on for weeks finally returned to normal. The little black rain cloud that was hovering over me (ready with a lightning bolt at ANY SECOND) is gone. This new feeling is AMAZING! I want you to experience it to. Here is how I did it:
How to Move Beyond Negativity and Create Productivity
1. If you can, walk away.
If you can’t do so immediately, take some time to at least take a break. Change your scenery. Even a short break can help you step out of the negativity and reset into a more positive mind frame.
2. Start being aware of your own complaining and try to stop.
It’s not as simple as it sounds, but it’s very powerful. If you need a little help, visit this site. It is a great place to start.
3. Know when (and how) to say “No”.
Sure, there will be certain situations in your business life where that isn’t an option, but exercise your ability to call upon “No” when you can. However, be aware of when “Yes” is appropriate, as well.
4. Identify what is causing the negativity.
Be able to discern when the negativity is from an external source or when it comes from within. If you read an email or have a conversation and find yourself wondering about the tone, don’t assume that the other person was attempting to be critical. This is especially important with email, where tone is often determined by the reader, no matter what the writer intended.
While we’re talking about email, use it to your advantage. If you get an email and the tone is off-putting or triggers an emotional response, go ahead and write your response but DON’T SEND IT RIGHT AWAY. Take a break, decompress, re-read that original email and then edit your response. (Sometimes this takes 2 or 3 rounds…. and that’s ok).
5. Take a sabbatical.
Finally, especially with what’s in the news lately, consider taking a break from being up on breaking news all the time. Yes, it’s important to be informed, but a constant barrage of negative news isn’t helping anyone be more productive or positive. The reason I said sabbatical instead of just a break is because you might need to take a month off, not just a day.
If you apply the above, I’m pretty positive that you’ll find yourself in the lovely ‘negativity-free’ zone more often. When you get there it will have a positive impact on your productivity and overall happiness.
How do you purge the negativity from your life? Let me know in the comments.
