It’s 6:30 a.m. The birds are chirping; the sun is shining. It is going to be a great day—you can just feel it. You’re set up to finalize a contract on a huge new custom home. You have a date with your wife and daughter for lunch. You cleaned out your e-mail last night, and you are ready to start the day fresh, new, and full of possibilities.
Fast-forward to 7:00 a.m. You haven’t even had your first cup of coffee and your mobile phone is ringing non-stop. You check your e-mail, and it is jammed with complaints, including one from the person who’s supposed to sign that big contract later in the afternoon. Your assistant is on vacation and now your entire calendar for the day needs to be rescheduled. Your lead project manager just called to say he’s going to be late, and if you don’t get the big contract signed today cash flow isn’t exactly going to be flowing.
Suddenly, you feel beat down. Your positive outlook has gone to negative in just 30 minutes, and the day has barely begun. How do you keep circumstances from getting in the way of having a good day?
First, you have to stop beating yourself up. The only people who don’t have problems once in a while are people who aren’t doing anything. The more you are out in the world shaking things up the more negativity has a chance to take a shot at you.
Second, know that there isn’t a target on your back. Yes, there are days when it feels like the universe is conspiring against you, but don’t let negative circumstances turn your world upside down.
Take Control. Think about it this way: 80 percent of your life is great and 20 percent is a lot of hard work. You can either choose to live in the positive 80 percent of life that is fun and outrageous and deal as you must with the 20 percent or you can live in the 20 percent that’s hard, forget about the 80 percent that is fun, and be right about how difficult life is supposed to be. Which do you choose?
You can be much more effective when you do what you do with a smile, rather than a grumble. Negativity feeds off of negativity, and operating from a positive mind-set teaches others how to do the same. You have the power to perpetuate this cycle of negativity or you can stop it, and stopping it is much easier than you think.
When negativity is getting the best of you, take five minutes (more if you need it) to sit and write down all of things swirling around in your head—disappointment about having to cancel the lunch date with your family, worry over not making a much-needed sale, frustration with your team, and anything else that is in the way of your thinking clearly. Then simply wad the paper up and throw it away. When you acknowledge disappointments, you gain the upper hand.
This is crucial because as the owner of your custom building company, you are the leader. You create the energy for your team and how it will respond to circumstances throughout the day. So if you walk around stressed out, tired, and cranky, your team will respond to negative circumstances in much the same way, creating an increasingly negative compound effect on each and every aspect of your business. On the other hand, if you have a bounce in your step and a smile in your voice, you are laying the foundation for a positive work environment that will benefit your team, your customers, and your business.
Manage Negativity. No matter what complaints a customer might have, no matter what the nightly news or Wall Street has to say about the economy, you are the only person who has control over how your life and business turn out. You can complain about the attitudes of the people on your team. You can complain about market conditions and a negative cash flow. You can complain about blown-out knees. However, when negativity is flooding toward you and you’re faced with circumstances similar to those described in the opening paragraphs of this article, ask yourself: Who do I have to be in order to get that contract signed today? Who do I have to be in order to successfully deal with this pile of complaints and get the results that serve my interests best? What can I do to have this circumstance work out the way I need it to?
Bad days will always come your way. It is how you choose to react to negative circumstances that is important. Remember that there are some days when a positive attitude will be enough to swing the pendulum your way.
Former contractor Clay Nelson is a radio talk show host, speaker, and business coach to home builders nationwide. He can be reached at clay@claynelsonlifebalance.com.
