There was an interesting study conducted by DDI where they found that the average American spends 15 hours per month criticizing or complaining about their boss.

The obvious reaction to this if you are indeed part of the “15 hour gang” is to do something about it and recognize that it might be chewing up more hours of your life that it’s worth.

But what if you and the boss are cool?

I think it would be interesting to take a good, hard, look at your life, to see if you could identify another area, where you spend a lot of unnecessary mental energy . . .

Of the negative variety!

You might find 15 hours a month of negativity!

Perhaps there are other things you continually complain about or criticize?

Things you continually harp on or find yourself rehashing? You know, like that assh*le who hung up on you because you cold called them or that “sure thing” that suddenly went silent? And you know when this happens, you have to complain about it to another sales person, right?

How about office gossip? Actually, any type of gossip?

How about watching the news each day? You do realize that pretty much ever other word out of their mouths has to do with a murder, a war, a strike, a drive by, a protest, a hit and run and that’s just the more positive stuff!

The networks make money on negativity, YOU DON’T!

How about negative people that you allow to get your ear or worse yet, under your skin?

How about negative people you’re friends with on Facebook? Note: There’s a really cool feature on Facebook that allows you NOT to see the garbage others are posting without (God forbid) unfriending them. If you click on the offending party’s profile and look for where it says “Friends” (over on the left if you use the mobile app) Click on “Friends” and you’ll see an option to “Unfollow” them. This way you don’t have to hear their political rants and continual complaints about everyone with a pulse. Having said that, there are still some that you’d be better off without altogether.

Do you blog? If you do, do you spend an inordinate amount of time complaining and ranting?

Awareness Is The First Step

Just for the heck of it, going into your email sent file and review the emails you’ve been sending. Pay particular attention to your tone. Perhaps you’ve been a tad negative?

Look through your social networking profiles and pay particular attention to your tone and what you’ve been sharing in general.

You’ve heard about keeping a mirror on your desk during cold calls? How you look is typically how you come across. So while this is a great “cold calling tip” it can be quite helpful to see yourself, knee deep in your emotions throughout the day. A few years back, I decided to smile more throughout the day (especially when I’m sending an email so I convey the proper tone) You should give it a try.

Make a note to pay attention to how you feel and how you act throughout the day. Are you focusing on negative stuff? Do you feel negative, skeptical, like the eternal pessimist?

Are you exposed to negative people? If so, how much of your time (and thoughts) are being taken up by them?

Do you find yourself criticizing, complaining, being the eternal skeptic and looking at your glass as “half empty”

Awareness is Great . . . ACTION Is Better!

You know, there’s a funny thing about goals and “To Do” lists . . .

They rarely contain action items to help us find peace, make peace or otherwise take the proverbial chill.

Perhaps you could modify yours to contain things that keep you in a more positive state?

Back to That 15 Hours A Month Thing

I always knew it took a lot of energy to be pissy, but to see it in terms of how much time we lose on a monthly basis;

Well that’s just an opportunity to do something far more productive.

And even if you’re NOT spending 15 hours a month embracing negativity and negative people;

Surely there must be an opportunity to be more positive and eliminating some of the negativity that surrounds you?

Was This Helpful?

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