Written by Ari Greenbaum, co-founder of conXpros
I author this article at an unprecedented time in global history which affects every human on the planet, the covid-19 pandemic. Although it is a perfect time to share about the concept of perspective and the power of positivity, the message is universal to any time and any person. We are all constantly faced with choices. These choices can be simple and some can be more complex. Regardless of what side of the spectrum the choice falls on, each is directly related to our perspective. Are you someone that typically views things with the proverbial “half-empty “goggles, or do you strive to find the “half-full” viewpoint? How you choose to view what life throws our way will directly impact your mental status and general level of success. Typically, the ideas I share are targeted towards sales success and home improvement pros, but today’s message reaches far beyond those focuses.
For a large part of my life, I viewed the negative or “half-empty” in most of what I encountered. This approach impacted myself as well as the majority of people in my personal and business life. Emotions are contagious. I would infect my own thoughts with the negative mindset and contaminate those around me with the same. However, when I started to change the way I viewed choices, challenges, relationships, and essentially everything I encountered in my life to a positive or “half-full” mentality, the results were astounding. My personal mental health noticeably improved, business took an entirely new direction, and relationships blossomed. Essentially, life got better in every aspect! Over time, I started to go beyond looking for the “half” that was positive and developed the idea to search for even a droplet or tiny fraction of positivity in every encounter. My perspective has become more of a “one single drop full” mentality, and the rewards have been unprecedented. Just like the negative can infect, so to the positive infects. The key is understanding that we all have the power to chose how we view things and therefore the impact we will have on ourselves and the people and things surrounding us. As a father of teenagers and pre-teens, I also understand the challenges in helping people change their own perspective. But just like I do not give up with my own children because I know the consistent effort will help in the long run, you must understand that changing your perspective is the long game. Fortunately, there will be short term impacts that will keep you motivated and moving towards the long-term success.
I felt that offering some examples of real-life situations and the different perspectives we can have will help better understand just how simple this concept truly is. Here are some ideas that we all face and some others that are more specific to home improvement contractors, leads and sales:
- The covid-19 shelter in place order: The negative perspective is to focus on how restrictive, boring, financially impactful the situation is. But what about all the positives coming from this new “lifestyle” we are all forced to adapt to? This is an awesome opportunity to increase the amount of quality time we spend with our significant others and families. The extra time we all have to better ourselves through reading and self-improvement is a gift. The ability to spend more energies on the hobbies that bring us peace and joy. These are all positive things that we can choose to focus on as opposed to the restrictions and negativity
- Operating a business during the covid-19 pandemic: as a business owner one can focus on the impacts on revenue, growth and lack of “business as usual” comforts. Or we can see the opportunities to improve out client processes, leadership skills, seek out new ideas to help the business in the future, etc. We can focus on the fact that by operating our business in challenging times, we help others (our clients, employees and vendors) with their needs and maintain some normality.
- We did not close the deal with a potential customer: We can choose to beat ourselves up & dwell on what could have been. The alternative is to embrace the opportunity to take accountability and determine what we can do to improve in the future.
- A homeowner that submitted a contractor lead hires a different company: The easy choice is to focus on the “lost” money spent on the lead. Alternatively, there is a tremendous opportunity to analyze WHY the choice was to use a competitor, and use those findings to fuel improvements to your process and future success.
- A homeowner is a “no-show” for an appointment for an estimate: We can focus on the “wasted” time & money. Or, we can appreciate the extra travel time we had and took advantage of by listening to an audio book or making a call to a family member we don’t always have the time to talk to. We can analyze our appointment setting process to determine if improvements can be made to decrease the possibility of “no-shows” in the future.
- You are working from home and your dog barks the entire time the landscapers are in your yard: This case is happening right now! As I write this post from my home office due to shelter in place orders, my dog is making his voice heard (loudly). I can view it as a disturbance and something hurting my ability to focus and have clarity. Or I can choose to be grateful knowing that God forbid there was ever a real threat to my home, I have the loudest (and cutest) alarm system on the block.
The examples listed above are a wide variety of things we encounter and some are much bigger issues than others. However, the opportunity to view each with a positive and constructive mentality exists every time. This can be broken down to the simplest of concepts. If you get cut off on the road, you can get angry and affect your mental state, or perhaps it forced you to slow down and miss a speed trap and certain traffic ticket as a result. There is rarely a case that cannot be viewed from a positive perspective. Once this approach is adopted and becomes a routine part of your life, you will quickly see the impacts. These impacts are not only on yourself, but everyone you encounter and who are a part of your life. There is enough negativity in the world. Unfortunately, it surrounds all of us. We can choose to be a contributor to the negativity and pass the “disease” to others. Or choose to become a beacon of light and positivity that infects and inspires ourselves and those we encounter. We are taking great measures to protect ourselves and families from the potential harm of covid-19. In fact, we have completely altered the way we live and go about life in a matter of a few short weeks. I do not care what statistics are published with covid-19 or any disease, there is no greater killer than negative thought and perspective. Make the same conscious effort to protect yourself and loved ones from this disease. The good news is that we don’t need hand sanitizer, masks, gloves, social distancing, or shelter in place orders to make our lives better. All we need to do is swap out the goggles most of us wear for a pair that will help you see clearly the good in everything. Live your life the “half-full” way & you will soon find your glass is overflowing.
Life is good, as long as you choose to see it that way!