Optimists live longer. Optimists have better relationships. Optimists have more promotions at work. Optimists get better job performance evaluations. Optimists get higher pay. Optimists literally see more and are more open to options and opportunities. And optimists have higher sales. All of this has been proven in the psychological research. Sounds great, right? So how can you get some of that action?

There is good news and bad news. The bad news is that about two-thirds of the human population is neurologically programmed to be pessimistic. Being a pessimist has great evolutionary advantages – it allows you to be critical, to foresee problems, to accurately assess crisis situations, all much better than optimists. However, it’s not so great when you are dealing with clients and creative processes. The good news is that you can learn these optimism cognitive skills, and bring them out in appropriate situations.

Here’s how.

According to Dr. Martin Seligman, pessimists explain bad events by saying, in essence, that bad events always happen, that they happen across different domains of life, and that they happen to ‘me’ personally. So let’s say that you wake up and fall out of bed. A pessimist would say something like, “Oh there I go again, being clumsy like always. Guess this is going to be another rotten day…” The pessimist takes the fall personally (“there I go again”) and permanently (“like always”) and sees that one bad event will ripple out pervasively to the rest of the day. An optimist would say something more like, “Whoops! The floor must be extra slippery today.” The optimist sees nothing personal in the bad event, and doesn’t extrapolate it to anything else. It’s just bad luck.

How does this apply to selling your business services? Consider how you talk to yourself when you get a call that some potential client has decided not to buy your services at this time. Do you catastrophize? Do you believe that their rejection says something about you personally? Do you let one bad call ruin your whole day, or even your whole business, believing, as a result of this one call, that you’re not cut out to do it any longer?

Feeling down when bad things happen is natural and part of being human. However, if your pessimistic thinking gets in the way of moving forward, it might be time to try something different: see the situation as isolated, a one-off occasion, and due to bad luck or unfortunate circumstances. You’ll be better off for it in the long run.

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Lisa Sansom is the Founder of LVS Consulting. A certified coach and positive psychology practitioner, Lisa helps businesses, teams and individuals be at their best. For more information, please visit LVS Consulting or email Lisa directly at lisa.sansom@gmail.com.

Networkers are continually making strides to differentiate their business cards. Everything from content (QR codes), to design (odd shapes, cut-outs, folds), to material (plastic, wood, fabric) has been manipulated to make one person’s card stand out from another’s.

But what if you’re someone like me that’s looking for a job? I don’t own a nice printer nor do I want to spend a lot of money on fancy cards. Another option is to order business cards online.

One company is even offering “free” business cards as long as you pay for shipping, which still costs less than ordering cards from a big box retailer. The drawback is you have to choose from a set of design templates.

While some may see limitations, I actually see an opportunity to get creative. Forego the standard designs and choose something with a seemingly irrelevant design and MAKE IT relevant. For example, one design features an air conditioner on the card and is probably intended for someone in air conditioning sales and service.

I’m searching for career opportunities in marketing. So, I made this design relevant to me and my goals by adding the phrase “need marketing help? Contact me! I create cool.” right beside the picture of the air conditioner. See the card at http://bit.ly/ffq8ZO

It can be risky, but in marketing, risk wins. This is the way to stand out and differentiate yourself in a crowded job market. This is the way to be top of mind when that person you networked with looks at the big pile of cards and decides to call you first.

John Paul de Silva is an MBA graduate seeking career opportunities in non-profit marketing while volunteering as a consultant for a Toronto non-profit. When not working on the 4P’s, he can be found at the gym, pool hall, rap record store, foodie place…or one day, a magical place with all those things rolled into one location. Follow him @jp9desilva

Like many freelancers, I think about money… a lot. I worry that I won’t make enough to pay my bills. I wonder how to balance doing work that I really love and am proud of with the necessity of pleasing clients and appealing to new potential clients. I look around at other people and manically suspect that they’ve discovered some magic secret for guaranteed income that I haven’t.

I’m pretty sure it’s not just me. In my business, I work with lots of other freelancers, solopreneurs, and creative professionals and all those pesky questions keep coming up: How do I set my prices? How should I pitch my services? How can I grow more business? We’re all looking for that magic bullet.

The other day, I saw a definition of Karma that started to challenge some of my thinking.

Karma says that skilful actions produce positive results while unskilful actions produce negative consequences. Actions are skilful to the degree that they are free from craving, delusion and resistance.

I started to think about how this might shape my work – and my marketing. How much does craving, delusion, and resistance taint my work and how much is that limiting how financially successful I could be?

Each term, of course, has a fairly specific definition.

Delusion is fundamentally a false belief in the separation of self and other, of dividing the world into me and everyone else – of us and them. How is us/them thinking limiting my options? Thinking about clients like the enemy (you know the clients I’m talking about)? Worrying about competition?

Likewise, craving goes beyond simple greed. Craving is fundamentally about attachment to a particular outcome. This can be a little tricky to grasp. Most of us wouldn’t bother doing anything if we didn’t desire a certain result from the action: I send in the proposal because I hope to get the job. The desire isn’t the problem; grasping attachment to one outcome is the problem: I’ll just die if I don’t get the job.

How is fixating on particular outcomes blinding me to other possibilities? How could my approach open up if I was more flexible about what success might look like in this particular instance?

Resistance is that pesky refusal to accept the world as it currently is. Like craving, it isn’t a problem to want to change the world, but we must start where we are, facing the world as we find it; as it is, not as we would have it be. So, where am I refusing to simply accept what is as it is – at least as a place to start?

I don’t think there are any simple answers to these questions. I don’t think there is a “5 ways to avoid craving, delusion, and resistance in business proposals.” And in the end, we all have to wrestle with prices, marketing, and business development. But I do think that taking a little time with these questions has the potential for interesting insights and the kind of transformation that can take my work and my life to a whole new level.

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Ben Kadel (rhymes with bottle) is a social psychologist who specializes in the emotional dynamics of work and work groups. He has spent the last 15 years or so figuring out what it takes to help people do work that is both personally fulfilling and materially successful. He is on a personal mission to convert all the energy that is currently wasted in fear, doubt, confusion and conflict into productive energy moving people towards goals that really matter. He has a PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and is a founding partner of Emotus Operandi. He is an engaging speaker, accomplished writer and snappy dresser – even if he does say so himself.  Website: emotusoperandi.com

At a recent conference, we had the honour of having Warren Bennis speak to us about his life and his insights into leadership. If you aren’t aware of Warren Bennis, then pick up a copy of any of his zillion books on leadership, or his recent memoir, aptly titled Still Surprised. I firmly believe that there are many lessons contained therein for entrepreneurs and creatives.

Bennis spoke to our group for over an hour, and I listened so intently that I didn’t take any notes except for one. At the end, when Bennis was open for some questions, an audience member asked him when he knew that he had finally clicked onto his rightful work path, working towards his life’s meaning.

Bennis put his face in his hands, carefully considering the question. And then he spoke about his mentors – how all along his path, he has had excellent mentors, including the great management guru Douglas Mcgregor (of Theory X and Theory Y fame). How, without these mentors, he doesn’t really know where he would be, and what he would be doing. Bennis concluded with this advice that he also gives his students: Stalk your mentors.

So who are your mentors? Sometimes this is referred to as your very own personal Board of Directors. When you think about who you are, what your business is about, your creative direction – where do you seek inspiration, support and direction? And who else would you want as a mentor? Bennis found mentorship and observed his mentors keenly and astutely, and formed the basis of his own work in leadership as a result. Through his own humility and hard work, seizing opportunities and helping others, he became great. But nothing would have been possible without his mentors.

Stalk your mentors. And, I would add, pay it forward – because someone is looking at you thinking that you should be on their personal Board of Directors. We all have something to share, and ever so much more to learn.

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Lisa Sansom is the Founder of LVS Consulting. A certified coach and positive psychology practitioner, Lisa helps businesses, teams and individuals be at their best. For more information, please visit LVS Consulting or email Lisa directly at lisa.sansom@gmail.com.

Do you have a lucky charm or a totem that you carry around with you? It doesn’t have to be the standard rabbit’s foot – it could be a lucky coin, a special token from a memorable place, a favourite piece of clothing that you wear to client meetings. The variety of these lucky items is enormous, and some people put great faith in them. However, others dismiss them as hocus-pocus and superstition. But if you have a lucky charm, chances are you wouldn’t give it up for anything.

Now, it seems that science is backing you up.

Research done by Lysann Damisch of the University of Cologne, and her colleagues Barbara Stoberock and Thomas Mussweiler, demonstrated that lucky charms actually do work – because they make the holder more confident and self-efficacious.

For more information on the research study, visit
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100713122846.htm

But the real question is: what does this mean for you?

Even highly successful superstars strike out occasionally and lose games. So will you. However, if you have a lucky charm that works for you, keep it! Polish it, love it, put it in your pocket. Superstitious rituals – like how you lace your shoes before an important meeting – work just as well.

Keep that edge – clients buy from a confident you, and whatever helps you keep that edge is worth having around. Just remember to wash it every once in a while.
Lisa Sansom is the Founder of LVS Consulting. A certified coach and positive psychology practitioner, Lisa helps businesses, teams and individuals be at their best. For more information, please visit LVS Consulting or email Lisa directly at lisa.sansom@gmail.com.

Do you love or hate networking events? Most people fall at one of the two extremes, and almost everyone has passionate opinion about the effectiveness of these occasions. Some people have stories about the “just right” confluence of time, place and people and that big project just magically happened. Other people have stories about attending event, after event, after event… and coming up completely and utterly dry.

So here are a few tips about networking and some new things to try at your next networking event, from the field of positive psychology:

Go in with positive emotions

The work of Barbara Fredrickson tells us that positive emotions “broaden and build”. People are more open to new ideas when they are in a positive frame of mind, as well as physically seeing more. They have better resilience and bounce back faster from disappointment. How does this help you in a networking situation? You will capture more of the conversation and see connections between you and the other person more readily. And how do you get yourself into a positive mood? Well there are many ways to do it – a brisk walk ahead of time in the sun, or seeing a funny movie, or listening to uplifting music of your choice.

Build positive relationships

Networking is all about relationships. How do you craft new relationships? Even though people tend to go into a networking session focused on themselves (do I look ok? I really need to find my next gig….), they key is to focus on the other person. What do they need? What brought them to this event? What problems do they have for which they are seeking solutions? By putting your focus and genuine interest onto them, you are starting to create a meaningful relationship.

Use your strengths

There are many different ways to work a room and you have to go with your strengths on this one. If you are more of an achiever, motivated by goals and lists of things to-do, then you might set yourself the goal of meeting X number of people or collecting Y number of business cards. If you prefer to interact with people one-on-one, then look for the quiet ones standing in the corner of the room and approach them first. If you are more of a strategist, spend some time observing the dynamics of the room and plan your approach accordingly.

Know your meaning

Ultimately, what do you want to get from this networking event? What will make it a success for you? You can’t control what happens as far as other people are involved (yes, it will be a success if you find that perfect client with the multi-million dollar contract that is tailored to your specific skill set…) but consider what it within your own control – that you will attend, initiate conversations with as many people as it takes to find one meaningful and relevant conversation, that you will stay until the end, and so on.

And if nothing else, try something new that you’ve never done before to improve your networking chances. New business cards, a new handshake, a new way of introducing yourself. Small changes can make a big difference – and you’ll learn from this event to prepare you for the next one.

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Lisa Sansom is the Founder of LVS Consulting. A certified coach and positive psychology practitioner, Lisa helps businesses, teams and individuals be at their best. For more information, please visit LVS Consulting or email Lisa directly at lisa.sansom@gmail.com

Following the delivery of a productivity workshop to the staff of a fast growth company last week, one topic that really resonated with most participants, was the ‘EAT first’ philosophy I shared. It links directly into procrastination and seeing that we covered business planning and goal setting last time, this makes for a great continuation to the theme.

But first let me ask you, what do YOU procrastinate on? Finances? Sales? Dealing with staff issues? Perhaps the sheer thought of a particular task is already boring you to tears. Or something seemingly insurmountable is freaking you out.

Some of the things the participants shared with me, were tasks they desperately needed to get done and had already failed to deliver in a timely manner. As a result they were disappointed in themselves, knew they were letting themselves and others down, whilst potentially ruining their credibility by not following through.

They stopped facing the situation head on and took on the ostrich mentality of hoping it will all go away if they only ignored it for long enough. Some of them felt intermediate relief for being able to shut out what they were supposed to be doing and replacing those things with meaningless tasks. But of course, no situation will ever resolve itself and still requires action. Continue reading →