Walk into any office environment and you’ll find a few miserable faces that are anxious and stressed.
If you’re reading this, it’s likely that you do know some of those miserable faces.
At the same time, I also come across a few “Happy” faces. They always have a smile and confidence in their stride.
When I meet with their leadership teams, it’s always the same thing…
The poor miserable faces get all the blame and complaints in the world. Things like…
- He’s under-performing
- Bringing others down
- Not as good as promised
- Want to fire him
- And so on
The “happy, smiling” faces get all the appreciation and applause. Things like…
- He’s the best
- He’s so proactive
- Give him anything and he’ll have it done
- And so on
The happy faces are the ones that get the promotion, the special project abroad, along with a bunch of other perks.
The miserable faces are always left behind. Nobody seems to want them.
I have been studying both kinds of people for a while now. I asked myself, “What does the ‘happy face’ have that the ‘miserable face’ does not?
It’s not talent
It’s not a favorable manager (except for a few rare cases)
It’s not their education
It’s not their hard work. In fact, miserable faces work harder than the smiling ones
It’s just that the happy faces have mastered the secret to corporate nirvana. They have learned to be calm in the midst of the worst situations possible.
Working in the modern corporate workplace isn’t easy. There are plenty of stressful tasks that need you to push yourself.
It’s more like putting out fires.
The problem is… for every 3 fires that you put out, there are 5 more fires that crop up.
… And each one of them is fiercer and bigger than the other one.
So what happens to the fireman that’s busy putting them out?
He becomes anxious, loses his peace and turns compulsive.
With desperation, he puts out one fire after another without noticing that another fire has started to burn his pant.
And this is where the happy face wins.
The happy face has learned to maintain his cool in the midst of all kinds of calamities. He’s mastered the secret to corporate nirvana.
And these are his/her three secrets…
1) A powerful morning ritual:
The miserable face starts off his day by rushing through things.
It starts off with a loud, glaring alarm that’s snoozed a dozen times. And then, he either grabs a quick breakfast or skips it.
The happy face begins his day with absolute control over his day. He’s up early and spends the first hour of his morning centering himself.
He’s built tiny rituals to center him. Things like…
- Meditation
- Few minutes of exercise
- Yoga
- Run
None of these things are easy to do for him. But he recognizes their importance.
These are long-term investments. The 15 minutes of run that he completes is an investment that he makes today for a healthier, more attractive body 3 years from now.
2) Practices gratitude and focuses on constructive things:
Walk into any corporate corridor and you’ll come across a small group involved in a conversation.
Here’s what the conversation most likely will be about…
– How horrible their boss is
– Why they are not getting a promotion?
– How they all have to work like slaves
– Who’s dating who?
– How Flipkart is offering the latest mobile for the cheapest price and anyone would be stupid to not buy
– The latest Bollywood movie that’s a blockbuster
– And so on
And guess what? The entire group consists of miserable faces.
The happy face isn’t involved in these conversations. He knows that things at work are challenging and others are complaining about it.
But instead of complaining, he feels grateful for the opportunity to go through such challenges. And he ensures that he isn’t distracted by other gossip-like conversations.
He’s the perfect warrior.
… And when the weekend comes, he’s the one leaving work on time to BE with his family.
The miserable face needs to push himself for another few hours before he can say, “I’m done”.
3) Finds ways to cope with stress:
So the miserable face has pushed himself hard for a few hours and is now stressed. He’s had to skip on his sleep to meet the project deadline.
And now to unwind himself, he turns to…
– A few shots of alcohol
– Cigarettes
– Drugs
– TV
– Junk food
They all provide him temporary relief. But it’s back to square one the next week.
After returning home in busy traffic, our “happy face” feels stressed as well. He’s tired and exhausted too.
But he learns to manage the stress. He unwinds himself completely. You won’t find him watching TV for hours together.
You’ll rather find him doing things like…
– Playing in the park with his kids
– Going out for a movie with his family
– Reading a good book
– Getting some exercise
– And so on.
If you’re a Key Executive who does wants to transform your team of “miserable faces” to “happy faces”, go to the following page and get in touch with me:
https://satishrao.in/groupstrategy
If you’re one of those struggling miserable faces who wants to transform himself to a happy face, go here right now…
https://satishrao.in/strategy4
Talk Soon,
Satish Rao