This month, something a bit different…….
As I write this article, it’s night-time, my dog Bobby is sleeping at my feet, I have a cold glass of soft drink (maybe – maybe not) within reach, and as I look out of my window, in the darkness all seems right with the world. It’s quiet and very tranquil. I could be mistaken for thinking how perfect the world is outside.
But I will soon be shaken back to reality the minute I wake in the morning. The television will be telling me about the next natural catastrophe, another major financial institution getting into difficulty and another politician’s personal problems becoming food for the public, another war escalating somewhere, and more job losses being announced. Need I go on?
Even as accountants, when we contact a client, it is usually because we’re sending bad news or we’re reproaching them for something or other: ‘You owe $$$ in taxes’, ‘You haven’t sent in the missing information we need to complete your financial statements and tax returns’, ‘you seem to have overlooked paying our invoice…’ and so on.
How would it feel if, just for one day, you only did positive things; wrote positive letters and emails and said positive things? If you only ate healthy food, parked as far away from the office as possible, took the stairs instead of the elevator, drank water for the day, smiled for no particular reason and looked for opportunities to give genuine praise to team members at work? What do you think it would do to your frame of mind, your interactions with staff, clients and even family members?
I would suggest, that it would have a very positive impact in both directions – how you saw the world and how the world saw you. It is in your power to do exactly that. Why not try it for a day and then come back and have a read of the rest of this article.
Welcome back – how was it?
Did you feel more ‘in control’ of your day? Did it feel good to offer sincere praise to someone when you were able to catch them doing something good at the office? How was your relationship with your partner? Did people start to go out of their way to help you with your objectives that day? Did good news arrive in the mail? Did you hear from a friend or good client that you hadn’t been in touch with for a while? In short, did you have a good day?
Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating that we should all pretend that everything is wonderful, because clearly it is not. But just imagine how your week would be if you tried to incorporate a little of this activity every day.
I compare this concept to what many great athletes employ in their everyday routine. Let’s look at professional golfers, for example.
Golf Professionals often envision themselves making the perfect swing and driving the ball into prime position on the fairway to approach the green, before their every shot. And just look at the results. It seems that they make it all so effortless!
Behind the scenes, though, they’ve all put in their 10,000 hours, and have practiced until they have become (almost) perfect. Talented? Sure. But hard workers? Absolutely. Indeed! Just as the professional golfer thinks through their shot before, they strike the ball, you too can put some positive mental energy out there in your firm.
Tony Robbins advocates that one should ‘act as if what you desire has already happened’ and subconsciously, you’ll find a way to actually make it happen. Indeed, he teaches some really complex, but also simple material.
For example, Tony says: “In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.”
If you stop and analyse that quote, and seek the true meaning, what I believe he’s saying is simply this: ‘If you want to be consistently happy, you need to act consistently happy!’ and thus he is also saying ‘If you want to be consistently unhappy, you need to act consistently unhappy!’
During 2022, which were you? Just ask your staff, maybe they would say you were the second alternative for the at least some of the time! But it doesn’t have to be that way.
What I’ve taken until now to say, is that if we can inject a little positive thinking into our day, it can make a big difference to not just ourselves, but to those around us too.
I think that the accounting industry gets a bad rap from the general public. They see us as boring, introverted, number-crunchers. I say it’s time to fight back. I say it’s time to show the world how exciting, professionally, and financially rewarding our profession can be.
Let’s start with a smile. It’s one of the most infectious things we can pass on to our clients and staff. And it’s free!
If you would like to find out about my Strategy Enabled Program, contact me to book a complimentary 45-minute complimentary assessment to find out what your firm needs to streamline for success.
