Most of us focus first on the negative and there always seems to be a negative.  Perfection is rare.  We reflect and spend more time with the bad things or the bad people, often ignoring the positive.  Research indicates that the negative creates a much stronger pull on us than the positive.

When we are solely focused on solving the negative problem or dealing with the negative person, a great deal can be missed.  Don’t ignore the problems, but what about the other nine of ten things that are going well?  What about the other nine of ten team members that are kicking ass?

As a leader, it is critical to continuously elevate the positive experiences and the positive people along the way.  You’ll go nowhere in the long run without building momentum with the positive and with the positive people doing the work.

Building a business requires exponentially more focus on building incredible experiences with hundreds/thousands of positive customers and much less focus on spending inordinate amounts of time with the few unsatisfied ones.  In research from the University of Pennsylvania (Forrester), “There’s nine times more to gain by elevating positive customers than by eliminating negative ones.”  The revenue value per customer follows this research as well.  Invest in the positive.

The majority balance of your time should be invested in building from and with the positive.  The positively focused team and the highly-valued positive customers are the way.

“Constantly scanning the world for the negative comes with a great cost. It undercuts our creativity, raises our stress levels, and lowers our motivation and ability to accomplish goals.”    —  Shawn Achor  —  

MITM