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| Happy People Win Newsletter |
Volume 6, Issue 8
August 2012 | |
| NOTE: if you are using Outlook to view this and it has strange spaces, please click on "click here to view it in Web browser" at the top and it will look as it was intended to look. ☺ Thanks!! |
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So this month I am venting, educating and reminding you of something that I think is very important.
Smiling.
Yep, not so hard. YOU WOULD THINK.
Last week my mom brought her brother to a medical clinic for some tests. When the elevator door was closing a physician ran to get in. No eye contact, no smile. They were the only three in the elevator. Note that he is one of the owners of the practice. Yes, I understand that he might have been busy, preoccupied or even so Type A he didn't see them. BUT he should have. They are helping him make a living. A very good living, but that is beside the point.
One of the simplest ways to make someone feel good and welcome to your business is to simply smile. It shows you care. About the person, about your work, about your customers.
Customer service is not a department, it's an attitude!
Kristine Every says: "Customer satisfaction dramatically increases when they receive genuine smiles. Customers often indicate that they feel valued when they receive a smile. This is the first step in connecting with your customers. When you feel that you are just being processed, there is no connection, therefore no loyalty on the part of the customer."
When I enter a business and am greeted by a genuine smile, it makes me happy, it makes me feel valued and it makes want to return.
So remind yourself, and your employees, SMILE. And remember:
The shortest distance between two people is a smile.
Keep smiling. ☺
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Unhealthy Responses to Stress
-Harvard Health -
You probably have your own ways of dealing with stressful times. Some may be healthy, such as calling a friend, cooking a comforting dinner, or curling up in bed earlier than usual. Others may not be as harmless. All too often, people self-medicate or turn to other unhealthy behaviors in an attempt to relieve pressure they feel. They may do so in a variety of ways. For example:
- Watching endless hours of TV
- Withdrawing from friends or partners or, conversely jumping into a frenzied social
life to avoid facing problems - Overeating or weight gain
- Undereating or weight loss
- Sleeping too much
- Drinking too much alcohol
- Lashing out at others in emotionally or physically violent outbursts
- Taking up smoking or smoking more than usual
- Taking prescription or over-the-counter drugs that promise some form or relief, such as sleeping pills, muscle relaxants, or anti-anxiety pills
- Taking illegal or unsafe drugs
Becoming aware of how you typically handle stress can help you make healthy choices. If you normally reach for a sugary snack, for example, you might instead call a friend. Choosing to connect rather than consume can relieve your stress. Studies suggest that emphasizing social ties can provide definite health benefits - with no calories!
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Emotional WELLNESS
Morning Mood Booster
A recent study found that sipping a drink containing cocoa flavonols improved participants' moods and levels of alertness-even as they worked on a series of challenging math problems. So go ahead and savor some hot cocoa made with lowfat or skim milk and dark chocolate. The protein and carbs in the milk will help keep your blood sugar levels stable until lunch, which will help you hold on to your mood momentum. - Tori Rodriquez - |
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- Being YOU -
He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away. ~Raymond Hull
Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. ~Judy Garland
It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. ~e.e. cummings
I think of life itself now as a wonderful play that I've written for myself, and so my purpose is to have the utmost fun playing my part. ~Shirley MacLaine
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself. ~Harvey Fierstein |
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Something Happy People Do
It is interesting that many people I talk to are not happy, thinking it is something that magically happens if the "right" elements (people, places or things) are in alignment, resulting in happiness. This is called an "external locus of control." Wikipedia - A person's "locus" (Latin for "place" or "location") is conceptualized as either internal (the person believes they can control their life) or external (meaning they believe that their decisions and life are controlled by environmental factors which they cannot influence. Actually, you CAN do things that will make you happier. Yea!! So don't just sit around passively waiting for others will do the work for you. Here is one tidea you can try from Oprah's website:
DESIGN YOUR LIFE TO
BRING IN JOY
It may seem obvious, but "people don't devote enough time to thinking seriously about how they spend their life and how much of it they actually enjoy," says David Schkade, PhD, a psychologist and professor of management at the University of California San Diego. In a recent study, Schkade and colleagues asked more than 900 working women to write down everything they'd done the day before. Afterward, they reviewed their diaries and evaluated how they felt at each point. When the women saw how much time they spent on activities they didn't like, "some people had tears in their eyes," Schkade says. "They didn't realize their happiness was something they could design and have control over."
Analyzing one's life isn't necessarily easy and may require questioning long-held assumptions. A high-powered career might, in fact, turn out to be unfulfilling; a committed relationship once longed for could end up being irritating with all the compromising that comes with having a partner. Dreams can be hard to abandon, even when they've turned sour.
Fortunately, changes don't have to be big ones to tip the joy in your favor. Schkade says that if you transfer even an hour of your day from an activity you hate (commuting, scrubbing the bathroom) to one you like (reading, spending time with friends), you should see a significant improvement in your overall happiness. Taking action is key. Another recent study, at the University of Missouri, compared college students who made intentional changes (joining a club, upgrading their study habits) with others who passively experienced positive turns in their circumstances (receiving a scholarship, being relieved of a bad roommate). All the students were happier in the short term, but only the group who made deliberate changes stayed
that way.
Read more: Five Things Happy People Do
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Staff Blues - Constructive Complaining
- Judy Bee, Practice Performance Group -
On a consulting assignment this week, I listened to over 15 staff members complain about the management, their coworkers, and favoritism in the practice. It strikes me that no one has ever taught these well-intentioned workers how to complain constructively. After 35 minutes of "she drives me nuts, she doesn't like me, etc," I asked the employee, "So what?" She stared at me nonplussed. When I asked her what work problem that caused, she was still stuck.
So I gave her this fill-in the blank sentence: "I have a problem when the evil one calls me dummy under her breath as she walks by my desk because this is what happens____________________ (to the patients, my work production, the practice, the universe?)."
She could not fill in the blank. So I told her that this is not a work problem after all. She finally got it. Just because someone annoys you does not make management responsible for solving the problem.
She did have one issue that was a work problem. "I have a problem when the evil one keeps surgery charts in her desk. I spend too much time searching for the chart to put in the surgery pack for the physician to take to the OR, and I don't get my work done on time." Now I am interested.
If you have lots of what seem to be petty squabbles between employees, try the fill-in the blank test. If there is no work compromise, don't get into it. (Unless you're Dr. Phil).
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