Positive Thinking Pays

BursaSnipers

Publish date: Sun, 08 Sep 2019, 01:50 PM

1 Rather than attaching your happiness to your goals, strive to be happy before you attain them. Positive thinking works.

That’s the advice of Vishen Lakhiani, author of “The Code Of The Extraordinary Mind: 10 Unconventional Laws to Redefine Your Life & Succeed On Your Own Terms.”

He says you’ll find attaining goals is much easier when you make the journey, not the destination, the key to your happiness.

Tips on consistently improving your outlook and that of your workforce:

› Find bliss. Ensure that your emotional state of bliss is your No. 1 discipline every day, Lakhiani says. “Understand that your PQ — positivity quotient — is rocket fuel for productivity,” he says. “Studies show that when you can live your day with more positive emotions than negative ones, you do significantly better at work.”

He cites this example: Optimistic doctors make 19% better diagnoses. Optimistic sales people have a 55% better closing rate.

› Understand true contentment. Differentiate between “means goals” and “end goals,” Lakhiani says. For example, work may be the means goals for some, which pays for an end goal such as extensive travel.

“End goals are things that bring us true human happiness,” he said. “We have to set end goals, not means goals.”

› Question the status quo. Many of us live life following the rules of generations past, Lakhiani points out.

Learn how to hack what is conventional and create new rules for our world, he suggests.

Lakhiani is also founder of Mindvalley, a 200-person company that creates digital education platforms.

“Our office culture is not traditional,” he said. “We celebrate all holidays, we don’t keep strict office hours, we have napping pods and we allow employees to shift around their positions so they are truly pursuing their passions. We truly focus on employee happiness, not just the bottom line. Happier employees work harder and more passionately.”

› Ditch rules. Instead of them, have standards or guardrails that are rooted in company values, says Kevin Kruse, author of “Great Leaders Have No Rules: Contrarian Leadership Principles to Transform Your Team and Business.”

Kruse says every time we bump into a rule, “it takes away a chance for us to make a choice or a decision. Rules crowd out conversation. Managers become rule enforcers instead of leaders. Rules are designed to protect the company from 1% of employees who might do stupid things, but it totally disengages the majority.”

Kruse is also the founder and CEO of LEADx, a firm that offers AI-powered executive coaching.

› Actively engage. Leaders should close their open door policies and open their calendars, Kruse says.

He cites Gallup research that indicates 70% of the variance in employee engagement is the result of the manager. “Yet, what most managers have been taught by leadership is now counterproductive in the new world of work which includes generational differences, remote teams, and always-connected technology.”

Research also shows that half of employees won’t proactively go through the open door with problems or ideas because of a lack of psychological safety.

“Recurring, weekly one-on-one meetings are a far better way to facilitate communication and solve problems before they get too big,” Kruse advises. “And pre-scheduled office hours — perhaps an hour each day — is the best way to facilitate timesensitive communication.”

› Do play favorites. Old school advice was that managers need to treat everyone the same, in order to be totally impartial and fair, Kruse says. “But it turns out that’s the most unfair thing we can do to people. And it’s the fastest way for you to lose top talent.”

Instead of treating everyone alike, “you need to learn to individualize your leadership approach,” he says. “You need to take the time to understand each of your team members when it comes to their talent, experience, attitudes, strengths, and goals.

“Then you play favorites, not based on who you like better, but based on who’s earned it.”

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