If you’re like me you LOVE networking and meeting people but you just aren’t in love with the negative people you inevitably run into. Every group, in every town, in every state has at least one Debbie Downer or Grumpy Greg hanging around spreading their negativity to anyone who will listen. Sadly, everyone avoids them and they’re the only one that doesn’t realize it. No matter how much time goes by they still seem to attract an incredible amount of downfalls and depressing life dilemmas and drama. They never seem to run out of things to complain about and they always want you to listen to ALL of it!

I’ll admit to my share of dodging in all my networking around town but what I wish I could do was pull them aside and “wake” them up. I’d like to let them know that EVERYONE has problems and the economy is hard on all of us. The reality is that complaining never solved anything for anyone… not that I’ve heard of anyway.

The truth is that we all have to check our attitude at the door and make sure that we are putting our best face and best foot forward, always. We have to leave our problems behind and embrace optimism and just have faith that everything is going to work out in the end. When I look at the people that impress me the most and make me “feel” like I want to do business with them I noticed something they all have in common: a positive, happy attitude.

No one said life was going to be easy but nothing great was ever accomplish by easy either. The best way to get great results out of networking is by letting the people that will refer us tomorrow see that we’re going to handle that referral with confidence and by doing our best. They need to see that we have everything under control and that even when the going gets tough we just get going and get the job done.

So the next time you’re feeling down and out and have a networking event or sales call to go on, remember to check your attitude at the door and smile anyway. Allow yourself to believe in yourself and know that many people have been where you are and made it out ok – that means you can too!

The gun fires suddenly and now you’re off and running fast, amazingly it’s the perfect start! You come around the first turn and you have a three person lead. “This is it”

you think to yourself, all the training is finally going to pay off…. If you can just keep this momentum going and the race is yours to win. The excitement is overwhelming, you’re on a high…

Then suddenly something unexpected happens, wait a minute – what’s going on? You start to hear the footsteps slowing down behind you. The crowd’s cheers slowly turn to whispers and you don’t understand. You look ahead and realize that the unthinkable has happened. Somewhere, somehow, someone forgot to put up the finish line. How can this be? Now what?

Who can keep up this momentum with no goal in sight? You already know the people behind you are quitting. It’s just a matter of time before you quit as well right? RIGHT!

Remember this story the next time you set a goal for yourself or your business without a finish line. You and your team will most likely lose your momentum after a while. Its easy coming out of the gate with enthusiasm and excitement the hard part is maintaining it. Usually what keeps us going is the vision of accomplishing our goals.

By Definition:  Goal setting is the process of deciding what you want to accomplish and devising a plan to achieve the result you desire.

This goal setting definition emphasizes that goal setting is a two part process. For effective goal setting, you need to do more than just decide what you want to do; you also have to work at accomplishing whatever goal you have set for yourself with the end result in mind.

For many people, it’s the second part of the goal setting definition that’s problematic. They know what they want to do but have trouble creating a plan to get there. Goals without action plans are just words. If you are not setting goals with clear action plans for yourself and your company now I suggest you start today.

After you have defined your goals and decided on a plan to get there, remember to always walk in the direction of your goals. You can’t get to California if you’re facing towards New York and going in that direction. Every now and then review your goal list and action plan. When it comes time to making an important decision ask yourself, will this take me closer to my goal or further away?

From a study done at Yale University in 1953 in which the graduating class were asked if they had clear, written goals. 3% of the students said they had written goals, 13% had goals they had not written down and 84% had no clear goals.

At the class reunion 20 years later, further investigation is said to have discovered that the 3% with written goals were worth more than the other 97% put together!

Yah! I think I’m setting some goals.

So how can we counter act some of this negative stuff that seems to randomly rain on us in our daily life?

Well, you’d be surprised… just the other day I was talking to my friend Monica who called to thank me for the sticky note I sent her in the mail. I just included it over a letter and wrote “Have a Super, Terrific Day” on it. It took me all of ten extra seconds and I did it without thinking about the long lasting effect it could have on her. That day she took my post it note and decided to put it on the edge of her computer monitor. At that moment she realized she’d been posting her “To Do” list on her monitor and she realized that constantly looking at everything she needed to do was stressing her out. So my post it note inspired her to replace all of the To Do notes with positive thoughts, quotes and sweet notes from her kids. Big difference in her daily life she says… I wonder what it could do for yours!

This reminded me of how simple it really is to just release the negative and focus on the good in our lives. Something so simple as posting positive post it notes where we can see them on a regular basis can help remind us to stay positive and keep walking in the direction of our goals. Sometimes people just lose sight of their dreams and that’s why they never actually realize them. I’m humbly reminded that it’s not what happens to us in life but rather how we choose to react to it. Sometimes just a smiley face on the rear view mirror is enough to keep us smiling instead of getting upset and cursing at the unappreciative driver. Sometimes the “You Can Do It” note on the wall can give us the extra push we need to finish that project and give it our all!

In our day to day we forget that people feel our attitude and then react to us. Smiles and positive thoughts really are contagious. Sometimes I come across people that I just want to do business with because every time I see them there’s a smile on their face and they just make me feel good with their presence.

So do me a favor… or better yet do YOUR SELF a favor, where ever you have stress in your life, simply place a sticky note to remind you to relax, focus on the good going on in your life and remember you have a choice to act from a positive perspective instead of reacting negatively to a challenging situation. Maybe for you it’s a smiley face in the rearview mirror. Maybe a positive post it note in the corner of your computer monitor. Maybe it’s a reminder on your calendar to just smile and be happy. Here is a great one for putting next to the phone – Put something funny on a piece of paper, for example maybe you can write: Hey I know you’re stressed but if it will make you feel better, you can wrinkle me up and throw me at the wall!

 See it works, I bet you’re smiling already.

Stick to these tips, they work! – No pun intended.