One of my pet peevs is people perpetually whining. Don't get me wrong, I love a good whinge to vent every now and again about the joyous things that life throws at me but when it's the sort of whining that prompts inaction I dislike it immensely.
At the gym today I listened to an older lady talking about a motel they stayed at recently. Her and her partner were in the pool and although there was an "adults only" pool this lady had decided to swim in the other one. To her disgust children joined her and (how dare they) proceeded to have loud fun and jump into the water, disrupting her peach. She couldn't believe the parents didn't do anything and were over the other side enjoying a cocktail and was "forced" to move to the other pool to get away from all the fun. Now, as a parent of young children I have a completely different perspective. Those lucky parents. They've figured out how they can get a moment of peace and soak in the 10 minutes of their "holiday" that will feel slightly actually like a holiday. This lady could have done many things. She could have asked the children if they wouldn't mind jumping a little further away from her lane. She could have let the parents politely know that the noise was a little much for her. Instead she put up with it and moved on.
If you're in business there's plenty to whine about. The government's not doing enough, the competition is playing dirty, technology is changing too fast blah blah. Here's the thing. When you whine in business, you've locked onto a problem. And that problem may well be an opportunity in disguise.
When you next whine about something try the following three steps to turn the situation around and look at it with a better, more proactive attitude
1. Can you control this situation?
Quite often the answer is "no" but sometimes you might find that yes, you can do something about it to change the course of life. Amazing.
2. Can I learn anything from this?
If your competitors are kicking ass - find out how. And figure out what it is you need to do or learn to get back in front.
3. Take some freaking action!
Do something about this problem you've identified. Sometimes it's as simple as letting it go and deciding it's not worth your energy worrying about ever again. But more often I find that within a whine there's a silver lining somewhere.
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