A quick tip you won’t find in most business books:
Act a little happier than you feel.
Whether you are talking to a client or prospect, sending an email to your boss, or attending a networking event, make your disposition a little cheerier than you normally would. Smile a little more, be a little more animated, and when someone asks you how you’re doing, say “Great! Thanks for asking.”
Attitude Has Impact
Two things I want to point out. I’m saying act a little happier. I’m not saying that you should be inauthentic and Pollyannaish. But if you are having a bad day, it doesn’t mean you have to be completely gloomy and whiny.
How you behave is a choice. So if you’ve had a awful morning, you can choose to not respond as a Debbie Downer or Gloomy Gus. But that also doesn’t mean you should be bouncing off the walls. Simply move up the the “happiness spectrum” a bit. Again, the goal is to be genuine, but with a positive spin.
This is really important because I have yet to hear someone say, “I love working with that person, she’s is always so negative and dreary to be around”. You might laugh, but how pleasant are you to be around? We all have bad days, but that’s exactly it, we all have bad days. So the person you are talking to might be having a much worse day than you. Why add to it with your low-energy behavior? It won’t make you any more endearing to them.
You’ll find that if you work to be a little more positive in your interactions, lots of great things will happen. People will want to talk to you more, and your conversations will be more productive. You’ll get more support from your colleagues, find your clients are more open, and the opportunities more plentiful. And then, surprisingly, you’ll find that you actually are a little happier.