We're less than a week into the New Year, and I've observed all sorts perceptions about what lies ahead. Consider the following comments that I heard within a couple of hours this week:

• When we couldn't get a breakfast reservation a week in advance for a nice-but-no-big-deal restaurant, my New York friend declared that it was a sign that more business is occurring.
• A colleague in South Carolina bleakly sees no end in sight for the recession.
• An associate in Chicago is swimming in real estate-related debt that he never expected to have on the books for so long.
• A white, male baby boomer successfully left one job for a new one at the start of the year in an industry that doesn't hire "old guys".

You can't draw a conclusion from these comments, because both the positive and negative outlooks are reality.

What you can do, though, is choose which view you will have for the year ahead.

If you think that you don't have a choice, you're wrong. You always have the opportunity to change how you perceive a particular situation.

If your view is positive, congratulations. Keep doing more of what you're already doing and stay on your path.

If your perspective is negative, what can you do to alter one or more variables to shift your outlook? You don't need to change everything; one or two small changes can make a big difference.

Here's to a more optimistic year ahead. Have a great week!

 

Copyright 2010 Lisa M. Aldisert

 

 

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