Personally or professionally, you choose.

Early yesterday morning I found an article in a digital trade publication that caught my eye. It was actually a side-bar article within an article on being positive and surrounding yourself with positive people. The author’s name was familiar-I have an excellent customer that has spent tens of thousands of dollars sending family and employees to a retreat in Texas because he believes the message is too powerful not to share-and sure enough, it was the same person. The premise of the article was to be positive you need to surround yourself with like minded people. Negative people do nothing but drag you down and poison your attitude. It those people won’t change you need to divorce them from your life. Whether it is the nature of the individuals I associate with or the situation they find themselves in, I saw a lot of myself in the article.

It has become easy to blame others, the situation or just “the times” for a sour and increasingly negative disposition. Reading that article reminded me that I have a choice everyday which attitude to embrace; positive or not is entirely up to me. Pondering this causes me to confront another issue, am I strong enough to stay positive in this hostile environment or do I need to move on? My goal since coming back to this industry after a 7-year hiatus was to stay relevant. It is important (to me) to always be a source of current and necessary information for both my customers and colleagues and not just a warm body. Being in sales helps cull the heard so to speak because if you don’t perform you don’t eat-or keep your position.

This was the background sound in my head yesterday when a friend and respected co-worker called to ask if I had heard the news. He went on to explain that two of our co-workers with a combined work history of 40+ years with the company had just been laid off. These were not menial or low skilled people; they were the well compensated sales team for our distribution center that helped navigate the ordering and acquisition process for countless people and locations. As I continued thinking about it I realized they had become primarily order entry with a skill that was being replicated by computers. It is becoming a business of numbers with shrinking margins and unless you possess a talent that generates profit or has abilities no computer AI program can duplicate, you are in danger of going away.

Last night Lisa and I attended the Awards Banquet for Coldwell Banker. She has only been with them since September so this was our first time attending. The negative feelings I have carried the last several months evaporated as we walked in the door of the hotel. Attendees were dressed for a night out with hugs and handshakes a regular occurrence. As the crowds grew so did the energy level, no doubt encouraged by an open bar with free alcohol. At our table was a program showing the recipients of tonights awards including pictures. As I browsed through I was excited to find a picture of Lisa acknowledging her inclusion into the International Sterling Society. It was a proud moment for us both. The theme for the night was success, motivation, team-work, community and pride. It was such a departure from my normal day and felt good. I need “a” change or “to” change, because the negativity has to go.