Here's a magic trick you didn't know you needed...

Would you say you’re someone who complains often? I’m asking because I’ve learned a powerful trick that skyrockets productivity, but first, we have to be aware enough to know that we need it. Often times, when I ask this question, people respond with “Oh, I don’t complain…” But I’ve found that this can even be happening in our minds, maybe coming from our own inner critics, even. I’ve said before, and even in my book, The Winning Tools: 3 Principles that Build Purpose, Respect and Success (link that to amazon!), that just because something is simple does not mean it’s easy. 

Well, my trick for you today is simple, but it’s certainly not easy to do. I’m talking about how to truly eliminate complaints that, if I had to guess, are killing your productivity and bringing down your energy level at the same time. 

We are going to start with your own complaints, because we have to understand how they’re affecting us before we can address them within our teams (so we’ll get to that next week!). 

So here’s the trick. Transform complaints into concerns. Here’s what I mean – I can say something like “I’m exhausted and have too much on my plate today.” That’s a complaint about your lack of energy and it creates a negative outlook on your day. 

Transforming that into a concern would look like: I’m concerned I won’t have enough time today to perform at my best. I wonder if there are things I could delegate from my calendar, or that could be moved to another time, so that I can give my best effort in the tasks that are left? 

Do you see the difference? The magic is in the solution. Concerns have a solution at the end. Complaints do not. When we choose to be curious about how we can solve the problems we are complaining about, we’ve given ourselves a pathway to positivity. 

Something to think on today: What was the last thing you complained about? What would it look like to transform that into a concern?