Cultivate Compassion for Negative Coworkers. People who are negative are that way for a reason. They may have difficulties you don’t know about. Try to be compassionate and non-judging. If you’re a manager, people still need to meet benchmarks, but you don’t have to dislike them if they are not cutting it. When you encounter a negative person, you have the choice to either be affected by the negativity or to be the one who influences the other person. It’s a decision. Choose to stay positive. Instead of saying (in your head or out loud) “Oh, that Suzy-Q! Her negativity always ruins my day,” try thinking “Poor Suzy-Q. She must have some difficulties. I wish her peace. In spite of her negativity I will try to be a positive influence around her.”

One way I “cultivate compassion for negative coworkers” is by picturing that person as a toddler.  Then all my potentially explosive anger melts into a nice, manageable little puddle.  I mean, how can you completely lose your temper with a toddler?

Some of you are probably thinking to yourself, “Obviously, she’s never had a toddler of her own,” and you would be correct.

How do YOU manage difficult co-workers and other difficult people you encounter throughout your day?

-MJ

Choose Happiness, Humor, Enthusiasm, Gratitude, Kindness, and a Positive Outlook. Being productive and competitive in business doesn’t mean that you have to be serious all the time. Smiling doesn’t mean you’re not working hard. Enthusiasm doesn’t mean you’re not competitive. Being positive doesn’t mean you’re blind to challenges. Choose to enjoy your time at work. Find others who are like this and spread good cheer. It’s contagious and it grows. Try to avoid gossip and negative chat. It can be tempting, but it doesn’t serve anyone well, including yourself.

This is great advice.  Whether you love or hate your job, you can always improve your work life by consciously deciding to have a good attitude about it.  When I’m overworked, frustrated, tired, or just grumpy, I constantly have to remind myself to take a deep breath, relax, and think of something positive.  Sometimes that positive thought is as simple as, “At least I’m learning from this miserable experience,” or “Thank goodness this will all be over soon,” but even simple thoughts work.

I believe that you too will find that if you actively develop the habit of thinking positively and avoid griping to yourself or others about your problems, you will become a happier, more productive person – and you’ll probably be a whole lot more fun to be around.

-MJ

PS -  SMILE!  Even when life sucks, and no one is looking.

Drop Unimportant Tasks. Delegate or delete the non-essential items from your to-do list. The best way to do this is to always do your most important things first. Somehow, miraculously, extraneous things will fall away.

Scratching things off my to-do list without even attempting to do them feels wonderful.   Delegation feels even better, because then the to-do is a to-done without my pinkie finger ever needing to lift.

-MJ

Planning. Establish a routine of planning your week and your day. This will allow you to have your most productive week all the time. Start your day an extra 15 minutes early to do this planning everyday. Write down the top 1-3 important things you must do that day. Plan your upcoming week on Sunday evening. The weekly plan doesn’t have to be extremely detailed. Just include the major items.

One of my favorite Butter Bee Happy users (he’s one of my favorites because he was an early adopter and posts such cheerful happy thoughts all the time), EddieStarr, once posted this happy thought:

Planning your activities, for both work and play, gives you a plan to follow and a goal to achieve.  You will also have something you can look forward to: either the completion of that activity or the activity itself will probably give you satisfaction.

Don’t forget to add a few question marks to your plan, to leave room for spontaneity.

-MJ