Saturday, July 25, 2009

It's the Context, Stupid!

How can two people be working side-by-side at the same company, doing the same job, reporting to the same boss, all the time experiencing diametrically opposed emotions and opinions about the same workday? Obviously they can. Happens all the time.

A little clue: It ain't the boss, ain't the work, ain't what they had for lunch, ain't nothing out there.
IT'S THE CONTEXT, STUPID!! That's the one thing we alone can control. And sometimes it feels like I have to spin my head 360 degrees to drop a context that is messing me up, and create one that gives me some juice, some power, some optimism. And it does take some work to create a context (a way of viewing a situation/person) that doesn't sugar-coat the circumstances. But I do it over and over and over because it's the proven source of my success.