Have you ever heard the saying that attitude is everything? While it can be difficult to be positive all the time, being an optimist has been linked to many things, including better health. Doctors often say patients who are optimistic about treatment are those that always recover faster than those who are pessimistic. When you are positive, you can accomplish things that some may have thought were unrealistic. A positive attitude can help you build strong relationships as well as create increased motivation. If you have a goal in mind that you are having a hard time finding motivation to meet, try having a positive attitude.

Although it may seem challenging at times, try some of these easy tips in order to be more positive each day.

Wake Up Nicer
Your whole day really starts with waking up. If you want to have a more positive attitude, make sure you can wake up in a calm environment. Do anything you can to make your morning a little easier. You will find that with the ease, you will be more apt to have a positive start to the day.

Wave at Your Neighbors
Although this seems a little old fashioned to some people, when you are leaving home, try to wave at your neighbors. Offering a little smile and a quick wave is a great way to spread your positive attitude to everyone around you.

Take Your Time
Be sure that you leave for work each morning in plenty of time to get to your destination. When people have to rush, they tend to become flustered. You will be more motivated in general if you give yourself enough time to accomplish tasks.

Eat Healthy
People who claim they are unmotivated are often those that eat poorly. When you are not taking care of yourself, it is difficult to stay positive and be motivated to do anything at all. Even the simplest tasks like laundry on the weekend can seem overwhelming. Be sure to eat healthy meals throughout the day and exercise whenever possible!

Socialize With Friends
Part of staying positive has to do with your personal relationships. If you are trying so hard to do as much as possible, then you probably have little time to socialize. Take the time to socialize with friends as much as you can. This will help you stay positive and help your motivation continue.

Limit Media Influence
As informative as it can be, watching or reading too much media news coverage can be harmful to a positive person. The tragedy of it all is that the news is typically filled with depressing and over-dramatized events. The news crews choose the most dramatic things to put on the air or in print. Therefore, you are only seeing the worst of the worst. Try limiting yourself to this type of influence and you will be more positive altogether.

Pretend To Be Happy
One key trick to staying positive is to act positive even when you are feeling down. By acting like you are positive, you will find that you can lift your own spirits faster than anything else. Although it may seem like you are faking it, chances are no one will even know. The next time you are feeling down and not motivated, take on a positive attitude role and your motivation will come naturally with your character.

There are many things you can do in order to keep a positive attitude throughout your days. These are minor changes in your day and in your attitude that can be done daily in order to train yourself to be a more positive person. When you are a more positive person you will be a more motivated person. This will all lead to a more successful life.

“It’s not what we do, it’s how we do it, big on the little things, delight starts with polite!”

Our days are jammed packed, on the go early, smart phones buzzing, emails, phone calls, social networks, busy freeways, the days fly by, never enough hours in the day. So when do find the time to enjoy a simple laugh?

As I get older I find myself spending more time reflecting on the past, recognizing how quickly the days pass. When we were younger we laughed a lot, life seemed simpler, less serious, less responsibility, and we enjoyed the simple things in life and laughed along the way.

I’m not saying I’m not happy, I’m very happy and very proud, I’ve raised two amazing young men, now in college living away from home and moving along nicely with their lives. But it seems like yesterday I was coaching their youth sports, attending school functions, and running off to the park with them on weekends, laughing and playing without interruption.

I’m married to a great woman, keeps me on my toes, we live, love and enjoy eating great food together. She’s raising three children, a wonderful, caring mother, always busy. Thanks to new technologies, we are always in communication with our children, love technology! We look forward to the day we are able to run off and see the world together.

I love my career and our team. Our business provides a great service to many, and the many challenges ahead as we grow keeps me stimulated.

But lately I find myself coming back to this, do we really spend enough time laughing, or are we so determined to push so hard to succeed in our careers and our personal lives that we forget to enjoy the simple things, a simple laugh.

How do we define success? Money? Material things? Or is it just finding peace of mind, with our friends and family, laughing.

Now I’m not saying to make light of our work, our lives, but adding more laughter to our day, every day, is a key ingredient to good health and a better life. Think about how good it feels when you have a good laugh. From head to toe you feel a euphoric feeling of satisfaction, of inner peace.

I spend many hours each week traveling the busy freeways of Southern California. For many years I listened to talk radio, or simply spent the time thinking, serious stuff, however as of late I’ve tuned into comedy podcasts, or the comedy channel, light hearted listening, and it’s not only made travel more enjoyable but lessened some of the day’s stress. I’m thinking clearer than ever before.

Work smart, maintain a healthy diet, take a walk on the beach and laugh. Take the time today, let go, be happy right now.

I’m a husband, a proud pop, a business coach/executive, a new blogger, a weekly traveler 200 miles back and forth to do my job of the past 5+ years, which I love, and at 52 years of age the years have become more precious with each passing day.  Life goes by fast and I understand now more than ever the importance of enjoying the ride. 

It’s a new year, resolutions?  Well sure, same ole same ole, be a better listener (especially to the wife), more time at the gym (yuck), drop 10+ pounds (much more fun putting it on!), eat healthier (buh bye In & Out), travel more (leisurely that is, should be at the top of the list!), and so much more.

It’s a new world.  I work in technology with an amazing team.  I love technology, can’t live without it, can’t get enough of it.  Our business like most was tested this year.  We learned a lot, less top line, more bottom line.  Truly an extraordinary economic time, and like all challenging periods in our lives we come away with a greater understanding and education of core values, in business and in life.

Technology is here to stay and growing faster than ever.  I recall attending a conference in Vegas in the early 80’s hearing Bill Gates say, “some day it will all be in the palm of our hands,” wow.  Quick side note, and final recession reference, Microsoft was started during a recession.

We live in a “drive thru” world where mobile communication devices are glued to our hips.  I can’t tell if people walking down the street are talking to themselves or on a mobile device.  I know when my brother, 200 miles away, is shopping, eating or having coffee.  And I personally go through painful withdrawals when my mobile device(s) are left behind.

I carry two devices, a BlackBerry for ease of email/phone communication,  and an iPhone for applications, to read my 5 newspapers each morning, to keep up with current news as I stalk Twitter and Facebook daily, Yammer with my team, listen to Rhapsody while I drive, navigate my travel turn by turn, review a restaurant, well, you know the drill.  And I can’t imagine my life without them!  Life without Google?

So I now find myself asking the question, what happened to the good old days and the old values?

As kids mom used to kick us out the door on a Saturday morning and told us to be home by dark thirty for dinner.  We always made it home safe and sound, mom didn’t have a means to communicate with us while away, no money in our pockets yet always found something to do.  We were active outdoors and we had lots of friends we saw face to face.  The simple things in life were precious.  We couldn’t wait for the time of the year The Wizard of Oz came on television and the only time we got up from the davenport (couch) was to turn up the volume, pop some jiffy pop or run to the bathroom during a commercial.  DVR?  We sat together, the only distraction was a phone tied to a cord and a jack in a wall, and no idea whatsoever who was calling when the phone rang (in every room of the house).  We listened to one another, laughed,  cried, and chatted (in person).

Now I’m not saying we’re so in touch in this day and age that we’re sometimes out of touch, or am I? Is your device in your pocket on vibrate when you’re at a movie?  Do you put it on the table when dining?  Are you texting/emailing or listening to music as you walk down the street, avoiding cars out of the corner of your eye?  Do you withdraw when driving several hours wondering who sent an email or text?  Are you frustrated when the person you are with is head down into their mobile device?  Are we so connected we’re becoming disconnected from what’s in front of us and losing touch with our core social values?

I ask these questions because I am as guilty as anyone.  What is proper social etiquette in this day and age?  Fact is technology is moving faster than ever and changing the world, and we’re not going to, nor do we want to, stop it.  However managing how we use it is another story.

I respect teachers today more than ever as they are challenged to not only educate but instruct and distinguish between proper spelling and punctuation in and out of new social media boundaries, wow!

I always said I’d never become my parents.  I love my parents but recognize how they truly allowed change to pass them by.  My two sons are in college and if not for a simple thing like text messaging, I’d not communicate with them as much as I do.  Honestly, I should be seeing them via Skype!

As the older guy, (amazing, seems like yesterday I was the younger guy) I take pride in trying very hard to keep up with change, but whatever the case, I will always be that guy that yearns for the hand shake, the hug, the face to face hello, the simple things in life, all the while my BlackBerry will continue to buzz away in my pocket as I read the latest tweet on my iPhone.

And so we march on to a new day, a new year, a new world, filled with promise and hope, new opportunities as a result of new technological advances, and this guy is hopeful to see the resurgence of some old school values.  Open a door for someone today, at a four way stop on the road let everyone else go first, hold your head up and say hello to a passer by, and have a Happy Healthy New Year.

Once again we approach the yearend holiday season and time for my annual “Dayenu.”   Let’s take a moment and reflect.  What is MIW?  Who is MIW?

MIW is YOU.  YOU make it happen.  YOU make the difference.  YOU know the drill, “never ordinary, not what we do but how we do it, big on the little things!”

It’s all about YOU TEAM, (T ogether E veryone A chieves M ore!).

• CRR’s answering the phones in an upbeat responsive fashion, providing good answers, juggling calendars to meet the demands of our customers, interacting with NTC’s to make certain they are properly guided/supported.  “Working together, YOU make the difference!”

• NTC’s showing up on time well groomed in a clean Mini, picking up the newspaper, shaking hands, eye contact, asking to remove your shoes, interacting at a level a customer appreciates/understands, fixing the problem and going that extra “WOW” mile, providing new ideas, selling an NSA not because you can sell but because you provided the customer with MIW quality value and they recognize they cannot live without YOU!  “Working together, YOU make the difference!”

• Delight team redelighting our not so satisfied customers, recognizing one such customer is too many!  “Working together, YOU make the difference!”

• Mini Manager (aka “Fleet Boss”) making certain you’re always driving in a safe vehicle and supporting your daily needs in a responsive fashion.  “Working together, YOU make the difference!”

• Coaching providing our field team with continuous education/training, driving our disciplined commitment to excellence in the field!  “Working together, YOU make the difference!”

• Clever providing us with deep thinking cool new ideas and educating our customer base on all we do!  “Working together you make the difference!”

• Accounting making certain our finances are in order!  “Working together, YOU make the difference!”

• And your dedicated management team, working around the clock always looking out for MIW’s best interests, focused on the future and building the coolest company on earth!

“Working together, WE ALL make the MIW difference!”

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we all have much to be thankful for, never take it for granted, strive for excellence, day after day after day!

“Launch to the Moon,” coming soon!  In the closing words of our visionary CEO, “TO THE MOON!” 

“The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.”  ~Coach Lombardi

The above said, each and every one of your all star efforts make us a better MIW.  “A” game, push to the next level, never allow satisfactory to be enough.  Look around you, outside MIW most are ok with satisfactory.  Commit and recommit to MIW excellence in all you do and the results will reflect accordingly.  One day at a time, one customer at a time, you ALL make the difference, shoot for the moon!   

Some Team responses….

“Hoo-ah!”

“On It, shooting for the moon!”

“All up ons Coach!”

“On It Coach!”

• The winner is always part of the answer.
• The loser is always part of the problem.
• The winner always has a program.
• The loser always has an excuse.
• The winner says “Let me do it for you!”
• The loser says “It’s not my responsibility.”
• The winner sees an answer to a problem.
• The loser sees a problem for every answer.
• The winner says “It may be difficult, but its possible!”
• The loser says “It may be possible, but its going to be difficult.”

MIW is a winner, losing never an option!

Another new week filled with new challenges.  Maybe just a smile, letting someone cut in front of you in line or letting a car go first will help make someone else’s day great.  Smile, laughter, treating others as we wished to be treated ourselves.  Think about it, we all need to do more of it, the simple things in life, enjoy the ride.