|
4/9/08: Killing Off Complaints |
|
|
|
Killing Off Complaints
When any fit of gloominess, or perversion of mind, lays hold upon you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaints.
~Samuel Johnson
How long can you go without complaining? I tried today and lasted about 20 minutes before I caught myself openly grumbling about a slow driver in front of me. It was only 10 minutes later when I caught myself moaning about my lower back problems.
I decided to try this exercise after I had Will Bowen, author of A Complaint Free World on my weekly radio show. Since writing the book, over 5 million people have committed to his 21-day challenge, which is to commit to not complaining for 21 days. He encourages people to put an elastic band (or his purple Complaint Free bracelet) around their wrist during the 21 days. Every time they complain, they must switch the wrist the bracelet is on. Throughout my first day, I was amazed at how often I had to stop what I was doing to move the band. I had to switch so much that at points throughout the day it looked like I was doing the Macarena.
Negative comments about the weather, sarcasm about my favorite college team’s (Kansas) chances of winning the big game, cynicism about a TV commentator…all forms of “complaining.” By training my mind to catch myself complaining however, I was able to discover that I was letting this poison into my head way too much throughout the day. And here is the simple fact…complaining ruins us, our companies and, heck, our world.
So here is what I am asking this week. As Will Bowen teaches, grab an elastic band, put it on your wrist and switch it every time you complain. Commit to not taking the band off until you go complaint-free for 21 days. And when you find you go several days without complaining, don’t be surprised if people around you stop complaining. By changing yourself, everyone around you will change. People will not complain around you because it will be uncomfortable for them to do so. By making yourself the example, you can help create a complaint-free workplace, a complaint-free home and maybe even a complaint-free world. Once the complaints leave our lips and minds, they make room for a whole lot of good—good that can make us all Top Performers!
To listen to Brian’s Complaint-Free radio interview with Will Bowen, go to www.preciseselling.com/Radio.htm
|
