My daughter, grandson and I just returned from a trip to Europe, and while there we stayed in a wonderful hotel in Brussels. What I found (and find) interesting, is how hotels asked us what we were unhappy about, what could they have improved upon. Well immediately that made me start thinking of what I might have been unhappy about and didn’t even realize it at the time. In other words, I started thinking of what went badly instead of all the great experiences I had.
And have you ever seen the sign on the back of a truck: “How am I doing? Please report any poor driving—call this number.” Makes me start to watch for examples of poor driving.
We get what we look for and what we expect, so why not measure the positive? Catch people doing something right, pay attention if the hotel has surpassed your expectations or a driver was so good you want to report it.
Where can you start measuring a positive? What did employees do right on the last campaign? How many questions did your child get right on the exam? What went well today, regardless of all the things that did not?
Of course we’ll encounter challenges, that’s called life. And yet how we look at the challenges can have a strong influence on our personal and professional development. If indeed we get what we are looking for and focusing on, let’s measure—and focus on everything that’s going right, and inevitably that’s what we’ll get more of!
