You might recognize “Accentuate the Positive” as the song title of an old standard recorded by various artists, including Artie Shaw, Bing Crosby, Johnny Mercer, and The Andrews Sisters. It’s a catchy tune. The first part of the chorus goes like this:

“You've got to accentuate the positive

Eliminate the negative

And latch on to the affirmative

Don't mess with Mister In-Between.” ¹

The old song has an enduring quality about it. It was once a source of musical entertainment for the World War II generation; today it’s a great maxim for business leaders. There are very few leaders who manage to avoid the trap of negativity. In our workplaces and our lives, most of us spend most of our time focusing on what’s wrong, what needs to be fixed, and how we can be better. “Continuous improvement” is a noose around a perfectionist’s neck.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for progress. Where we derail ourselves is in failing to give ample time and energy to what’s working well as a way of achieving improved results. If what gets our attention is what tends to grow, we can either choose to invite problems to prosper by accentuating the negative, or watch our assets blossom by accentuating the positive. Hmmmmmm.

Why not do both, you ask? Good question. Because more often than not, when we try to do both we end up focusing only on the negative. It’s like quicksand, and very few of us have the mental and physical strength to get out of it – and keep out of it. Building quicksand resistance requires lots of positively oriented practice.

Here are 7 tips for accentuating the positive for better business results.

Build on your own strengths:

1. Keep track of your positives on a daily basis. Make lists. Record things you feel great about accomplishing during your day – and only what you feel great about. Even on my worst day I can always find something to note. It doesn’t have to be “big" to count. Everything positive counts. Note your positives in your PDA, your paper day timer, an electronic log, a personal journal, or the back of a business receipt – whatever is easy and convenient for you (bonus if you can refer back when you need a boost). Track them as you go. It only takes a moment or two. I choose to keep a weekly log that I update most evenings/mornings. Some of my own examples: Reading the Business section of the paper (sometimes I get behind on this); making a cold call (I avoid these like the plague); responding to a meeting request from xyz CEO (the one I’ve been courting for months); taking my vitamins (a habit I am trying to form). The range is broad! The point is I focus on the positive actions I took, not what I didn’t do. Never mind that I didn’t make two additional cold calls – I made one. And guess what: what I pat myself on the back for I tend to do more of. Positive action breeds more positive action.
2. Share your positives with a trusted colleague or friend. It’s great to be keeping track for yourself, and there’s an added benefit to actually going public with your list. My dear friend Kevin and I meet once a week to share our respective accomplishments. We say “Congratulations!” to each other and identify what from our lists we are going to carry forward into the next week. We give zero airtime to what we will do less of or do differently.
3. Ask others what positives they see in you. We all have blind spots – sometimes to our weaknesses and most often to our strengths. Ask a couple of trusted colleagues or friends what they experience of you that’s positive. Ask them to share only the positives for now (use caution when inquiring of a significant other – the temptation for them to focus elsewhere can be overwhelming). Write down what they say. Refer to it often.
4. Convene a meeting of your own Personal Board of Directors. A few weeks ago I got caught in the quicksand. In my mind, nothing was working in my life, especially my business life. Nothing was happening fast enough. I knew I was losing perspective on all the good things that I had going. (Note the quicksand trap appeared during the same week that my new web site had gone “live” – a big accomplishment that got virtually none of my attention.) So I asked for help from two friends/colleagues who were willing to work for food. We spent an evening looking over all the positive changes I had initiated in my life over the past two years, and all of the milestone events. It was a long list! Then we narrowed the list by identifying the positives that only required “maintenance” (for example, keeping my journal of positives) and those that required more focused energy to keep up.
5. Reward yourself. This is a tip that comes from Alan Weiss, a very talented consultant and mentor, who stepped in to help me with some great advice for getting out of the quicksand. When you accomplish something you feel especially good about (for me, a cold call would qualify), reward yourself. The reward doesn’t have to be “big” to count. Take a short afternoon break and treat yourself to your favorite coffee drink. Go see that movie you’ve been wanting to for weeks. Take the dog for an extra long walk on a beautiful evening. Whatever floats your boat. Make these rewards part of your weekly plan – build them right in!

Build on the strength of your organizations and teams:

1. Re-connect with your success stories. Invite your team to spend an hour telling stories from the past of what went right; what you did well; what individuals’ proudest moments were on the team or in the organization. Positively no “buts” allowed! Save the improvement part of the conversation for later. Or never. Once you’ve resurfaced the stories, talk about what made those successes possible. Discuss what you need to do as a group to recreate those conditions. Document the recipe so you can bake the cake again. Then identify 1 or 2 simple action items you can take to pre-heat the oven.
2. Regularly debrief on the positives. At the end of your meetings, spend five minutes on the following questions, “What did we do well at this meeting? What worked?” “How can we be sure to repeat this aspect of our experience?” Don’t follow-up with “What could we do better?” – not until you’ve boosted your quicksand immunity.

Remember:

“You've got to spread joy up to the maximum

Bring gloom down to the minimum

Have faith or pandemonium's

Liable to walk upon the scene.”

¹http://www.lyricsdepot.com/album/accentuate-the-positive.html