Are You in the Mood for Success
Are You in the Mood for Success
Mood is the measure of what is possible. In fact, the English word "mood" stems from the Indo-European root "med," meaning "measure", and is closely allied with the root "me (IV)","the setting of time." Mood, then, is a inseparable from the context or setting in which we live and work.
Context mastery requires mastering mood, and mastering mood involves awareness, choice, and authenticity.
Awareness. We speak as if moods are something we have-but more often it is the moods that have us. (This is true of all aspects of context, for while we generate context by our choices, our context affects our interpretations, which in turn influence our choices.)
When a mood has us, we are unaware of and thus unable to shift it. For example, if you market your work in a mood of resignation ("I'm no good at this. This never works for me."), you will not be surprised when marketing fails to attract new clients (and I will not be surprised to hear that marketing never works for you).
If you are unaware of the mood in which you do business, you're unlikely to be very effective at shifting it. Instead, your failed efforts will cause your mood to deteriorate even further until you become discouraged and stop marketing altogether.
It doesn't have to be this way. You'll be astonished at how developing awareness of your moods invites the possibility of more generative ways to conduct business. Here's a deceptively simple practice to get set you on the path to mastery.
Set a timer to chime four times during your workday. When it rings, take a moment to check in. Note your posture, your facial expression, your breath. Jot this down along with a word or two that captures your mood. As with last week's practice, do not try to change your body or your mood-simply record what you notice.
(If your situation will not accommodate a timer, you can log your mood at the start of the day, just before any breaks or meals, and just before going home.)
Keep this log for a month. At the end of the first week, review your log, noticing the patterns that emerge. Are there certain moods that seem to recur at the same time each day, or with certain activities? As you continue to log your moods, bring an interested curiosity to the practice, wondering how these moods arise and how they are setting the stage for your business. Again, do not try to change anything, simply wonder and observe.
Week by week through this simple practice you will become more aware of the moods that pervade your work life. You will notice moods (and the body states that go with them) that make life easier and those that make everything seem like an effort. And that brings us to the other aspects of mood mastery: choice and authenticity.
I've heard people object that learning to choose their moods compromises their authenticity. Yet, authenticity has to do with being true to oneself, not with surrendering to moods that have more to do with habit or history than they do with an authentic self.
You're responsible for the mood in which you do business, and you're responsible for learning to generate the moods that will support success. What will success look like for you? What mood will set the stage for that result?
Note: The etymological information in this article is from Joseph T. Shipley's "The Origin of English Words." This is my favorite source for researching Indo-European roots for, though it is not exhaustive, it is highly readable, very entertaining, and erudite.
Copyright (c) Shaboom, Inc.™ 2002. All rights reserved.
U.S. Library of Congress ISSN: 1530-311X.
Are You in the Mood for Success - To learn more about this author, visit Molly Gordon's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
Mood pervades the context in which you do business, coloring the way you work and also the way your clients or customers experience your offers.
Mood is the measure of what is possible. In fact, the English word "mood" stems from the Indo-European root "med," meaning "measure", and is closely allied with the root "me (IV)","the setting of time." Mood, then, is a inseparable from the context or setting in which we live and work.
Context mastery requires mastering mood, and mastering mood involves awareness, choice, and authenticity.
Awareness. We speak as if moods are something we have-but more often it is the moods that have us. (This is true of all aspects of context, for while we generate context by our choices, our context affects our interpretations, which in turn influence our choices.)
When a mood has us, we are unaware of and thus unable to shift it. For example, if you market your work in a mood of resignation ("I'm no good at this. This never works for me."), you will not be surprised when marketing fails to attract new clients (and I will not be surprised to hear that marketing never works for you).
If you are unaware of the mood in which you do business, you're unlikely to be very effective at shifting it. Instead, your failed efforts will cause your mood to deteriorate even further until you become discouraged and stop marketing altogether.
It doesn't have to be this way. You'll be astonished at how developing awareness of your moods invites the possibility of more generative ways to conduct business. Here's a deceptively simple practice to get set you on the path to mastery.
Set a timer to chime four times during your workday. When it rings, take a moment to check in. Note your posture, your facial expression, your breath. Jot this down along with a word or two that captures your mood. As with last week's practice, do not try to change your body or your mood-simply record what you notice.
(If your situation will not accommodate a timer, you can log your mood at the start of the day, just before any breaks or meals, and just before going home.)
Keep this log for a month. At the end of the first week, review your log, noticing the patterns that emerge. Are there certain moods that seem to recur at the same time each day, or with certain activities? As you continue to log your moods, bring an interested curiosity to the practice, wondering how these moods arise and how they are setting the stage for your business. Again, do not try to change anything, simply wonder and observe.
Week by week through this simple practice you will become more aware of the moods that pervade your work life. You will notice moods (and the body states that go with them) that make life easier and those that make everything seem like an effort. And that brings us to the other aspects of mood mastery: choice and authenticity.
I've heard people object that learning to choose their moods compromises their authenticity. Yet, authenticity has to do with being true to oneself, not with surrendering to moods that have more to do with habit or history than they do with an authentic self.
You're responsible for the mood in which you do business, and you're responsible for learning to generate the moods that will support success. What will success look like for you? What mood will set the stage for that result?
Note: The etymological information in this article is from Joseph T. Shipley's "The Origin of English Words." This is my favorite source for researching Indo-European roots for, though it is not exhaustive, it is highly readable, very entertaining, and erudite.
Copyright (c) Shaboom, Inc.™ 2002. All rights reserved.
U.S. Library of Congress ISSN: 1530-311X.
Are You in the Mood for Success - To learn more about this author, visit Molly Gordon's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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