Time for a Reality Check?

Posted by:  Darlene Duncan CWDP, JSS, CCC, JCTC, JCDC

                  Training Coordinator

I was sitting at my desk thinking about what I should write about for the blog and it came to me, thinking would be a good topic.

I have a saying I strongly believe in that’s relevant to this issue. Our thoughts lead to our actions. Our actions create our reality, if you don’t like your reality change your thoughts.

Let me give you an example.

A young woman, we’ll call her Bess, presents a report to her boss. She thought the boss would be delighted with this report, especially since she got the report in before the deadline. The boss glances over the report and tells her she did a good job; however, he emailed her some data that needs to be added to the report. Bess heads back to her desk totally deflated. She’s decided that the boss hated her report and is probably looking for an excuse to fire her. Her thoughts are centered on the idea that she’s going to be fired. The thought that she’ll soon be fired begins to affect her work performance in a negative way and yes, eventually Bess’s poor work performance will lead to her being fired. In summary, her thoughts of being fired led her to not give her best effort and her lack of effort is what led to her being fired. It all started with her thinking she was going to get fired.

Our thoughts lead to our actions. Our actions create our reality, if you don’t like your reality change your thoughts.

 

 

 

Perception = Reality

Posted by: Darlene Duncan, CWDP, JSS, CCC, JCTC, JCDC
Training Coordinator

Some people disagree that someone’s perception of you is reality. However, each person’s perception of the world around them is THEIR reality. I agree that my perception of the world is not, necessarily, your reality. It is definitely my reality. Therefore, someone’s perception of you is their reality.

Think about your perception of the world. Are you a negative individual? Then it’s very likely the world is a very negative place, for you. Give this idea a try – for one month work at having a positive attitude. Every time you catch yourself being negative about anything. Stop and try to find a positive aspect of the issue. Find some part of the situation for which you can be thankful.

Even something as simple as getting caught by a red light can have its positive aspects. You’re sitting at a red light idling away the liquid gold your car runs on, so what is there to be thankful about? If your car has air conditioning, you could be thankful for that. If the air conditioning is broken or just non-existent, you could be thankful you have a car and you’re not walking.

I’m not saying that life will improve overnight. At the same time, being positive isn’t going to make matters worse and it might make things better. An old phrase I’ve heard many times comes to mind. I don’t know who said it first so I have no idea to whom I should give credit. “Fake it till you make it.”

Maybe you don’t really feel positive but if you fake it long enough, you may find that you’ve become a positive kind of person. And let’s face it no one wants to hire someone who’s always down, grumpy and just plain negative all the time.

Give it try. What have you got to lose?