In yesterday’s post, the August edition of Ask Joy, Joy Vertz responded to a question about how she has been able to continue to run a successful business in a down economy. Her #1 response was “Have a positive attitude.” In fact, she said it may be the most important element in keeping maintaining and growing a business in a tough economy.
How to stay positive.
An easy way to help stay positive is to remember the good things in our lives and businesses. In church service on Sunday, we were challenged to list 5 things that were good in our lives. 5 things we could be thankful for.
I have so much that is good in my life. Things that are completely unrelated my business. Here’s my list of 5 things that are good in my life.
- I have a blessed wife.
- I have 4 healthy children.
- I have the skills and intelligence to create an income.
- God has been faithful to provide for my families every need.
- I have freedom.
I also have a lot about my business that is good – no matter the state of the economy. Here are 5 good things in my business.
- I have a growing list of followers.
- I am selling products to those followers.
- I have great friends who are willing to share on The Collective.
- The Collective was created fairly quickly and easily.
- I’m learning so much that I can apply both to The Collective and other businesses (mine and yours).
Take a moment and create a list of things that are good in your life. Things that you can be thankful for. Things that will help you keep a positive attitude in a down time.
Post them somewhere in your office space. Someplace you’ll look at when you are discouraged.
Stay positive.
This is a terrific post–and one that is particularly timely, as I recently challenged a friend to to engage in one email per day to each other, starting off: Today, I am grateful, and thanking God for–and then a list of 20 blessings in our lives.
That would be 20 things *I’m* grateful for–and 20 things *he’s* grateful for.
When you start off your day forcing yourself to list 20 “gratitudes”, it starts you off on the right foot…and helps you to work from an abundance mentality, rather than a scarcity mentality…and helps you to appreciate the world around you, that much more. (One of my favorite gratitudes is nasty looking grey cement sidewalks with mica in them…which become things of beauty, when it rains, and the mica sparkles like diamonds as you walk…)
My friend is finding this so helpful, that he challenged his Bible study class to try it for a month. 🙂
So…one of my gratitudes for today, will be your blog post for today! Thanks! 🙂
Wow 20 a day – that’s impressive. Of course the key is to change our mindset on how we look at our lives and what we’ve been given.
I’m thankful I don’t have to come up with 20 each day 😉
Absolutely!!! 🙂
(And finding 20 isn’t really that hard…when you start thinking “micro” AND “macro”–instead of always “macro”… 😉 Ie…staplers…the internet…ripe tomatoes…twilight…good customer service…Chapstick…Photoshop…a turkey-induced tryptophan haze…the smell of the top of a baby’s head… I bet you could look around whatever room you’re in right now, and find 20 blessings–I think most of us could–if we stop thinking that they have to be impressive, or make sense to others! Also–who says they have to be new everyday? God’s Son is a blessing I feel everyday–as is having the Bible easily accessible, in so many translations and sizes!)
Not that I have a strong opinion about how blessed I am, or anything! 😉
This has been a GREAT post–and I love seeing everyone listing their blessings here! It’s inspiring. 🙂
Thank you so much for this post and for others. This was the perfect post to make me stop in my tracks and reflect on the things that I’m really thankful for in my life that are positive attributes in my life. It could be the start of a daily prayer and most of the times is.
1. God and the promises we have in Him!
2. My awesome, loving, supportive wife.
3. Our two amazing children – major blessing from God!
4. Very blessed to provide for my family doing something I absolutely love.
5. A circle of positive friends and influences in my life – including family!
I could list more…but these are my top five!
I look forward to seeing new posts from The Collective in my RSS feeds! Thanks again for this post! Have a very blessed and positive week!
Clark –
Great list and thanks for sharing.
Glad you found were to comment 🙂
Love it! Here is my list:
5 things I’m happy about (non-business related):
– My family is amazing and kids rock my world.
– I’m able to do fun things with the people I love, like boat rides, hanging at the lake and day trips!
– My husband is amazing and treats me with respect
– My home, although a fixer-upper, is exactly what I dreamed of, and the evolution process to get it where it deserves to be will be a fun process.
– I’m close with my extended family
5 things I’m happy about (business related):
– My business is thriving and growing each year
– I feel like my clients truly appreciate me
– I’m respected in my career as a business person and community leader
– Clients trust me enough to share me with their friends
– I’m able to give back in small and large ways to help my community.
Joy –
Great list. Stay positive – all of us need you! 🙂
Always good to be reminded of our blessings ~ Thank you so much for sharing ~ If only everyone would do this, the world would be a better place ;>
My top 5 things for today ~
1. The fact that as soon as I saw this post, it reminded me of all my blessings and made my day better!
2. My health!
3. Family and friends who have believed, encouraged and supported me through many events in my life–couldn’t make it without them!
4. The ethics I have learned from all those family and friends to be a better person!
5. I have the best dog ever….her name is Zoe!!