I feel like as if the negative attitude is built in us Finns. As if you are doing fine and you are positive that you would be lying and you are somehow unreliable. As if you are just pretending or bragging.
I have done an experiment on spreading positivity in my work environment.
I started working for my current employer three years ago. During the first year, I was completing my studies and besides getting my job done well, I did not do much for the community and team spirit at work. The second year came around and I graduated. I was working at a job in which I did everything mainly alone and I did not really need to work with others.
Third year was about to start and I applied for a new job, as I did not enjoy the alone working and the job was not giving me enough challenges. I got a new position, where just a small part of my work was to be done by myself and most of the work requires communication with my colleagues.
By this time, I had noticed that the environment we were working in was filled with negativity. Most people had the attitude that work is just work and you are not supposed to enjoy it. I still have a really long career ahead of me and for sure I do not want to become a negative complainer and not enjoy my work!
For sure the work itself is not always that fun and easy, and should not be. If there are no challenges you will not be able to learn or grow. But the people and the environment can still be positive and supportive. I decided that I was going to be more positive towards all my colleagues and speak positively about my job.
In just a couple of days the first people were contagious. A few days and the first colleagues started smiling more and instead of just “Hi” in the morning, they said “Good morning, what a nice sunny morning”.
It is the small things that keeps me happy throughout my workday. It is the smiles I get, the good mornings, the small personal questions and most of all the positive attitude that I see and face. There is no need to pretend or fake your positivity, but just forget the continuous negativity and try finding out more positive things from your life.
There are days when I fall to the negative side, I get frustrated easily and everything seems to be annoying and too difficult. But this is not every day for me, it is just some days. And that is better, I feel so much better when I am positive, I have more energy and I get more things done.
If you are having a hard time with finding positive things from your life, start writing a diary. Each night before bed, write down 3-5 positive things about that day. They can be anything, even just small things such as “I got the laundry done today”, it does not have to be anything that special. That is what got me going with the positive lifestyle.
@tarazkp also wrote about positivity today, but from a different perspective. I do not know if it the age that does the trick or the things he has seen. Maybe happy people have little affect, but for now, I do believe in positivity and I do believe that positive people can change the world if they want to.
Both and a few more things.
There are many things in the world to be positive over but the future remains unwritten (in my opinion) which means that if we want to create something better than we have now, we have to take life somewhat seriously. Of course, this can be done with a smile too but at times, it is going to require gritted teeth and a lot of sweat.
It is funny about the workplace. When I first came to Finland I started a 'Smile Finland' campaign in the office as people were largely sullen. Only an English guy joined. :D
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Of course life has to be taken seriously, but there is no need to be grumpy all time (like many are and how I used to be). And I have found my life to be much more fun now as I don’t get all negative if I didn’t have time to vacuum today or if I messed up with something that wasn’t a life or death kind of thing.
Might also be sex thing. As our office is mostly men, so might be that they are more likely to join my positivity campaign now, than if I was a male too. Who knows, just speculating:)
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I am pretty easy going with most things but when it comes to having discussions about complaints, rather than gloss over it, it is better to dive deeper.
Funnily enough, the English guy and I were the only two male trainers in the company of about 40 women.
I am grumpy a lot aren't I? ... :D
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Well that is pretty funny!
Can’t imagine you being grumpy... :)
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Great views on this one, i agree with it pretty much. We need more of those ppl who stay with the good attitude. Upvoted and followed :)
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