Norman Vincent Peale wrote many years ago about the Power of Positive Thinking.  Growing up, my mother quoted this book to me many, many times.  I grew up always aiming for the positive thought, but I have not always been successful.

I listen to motivational cd's in my car during most of my driving time.  I get so much from Zig Ziglar and Deepak Chopra.  They keep me moving in the right direction.  But even they cannot put a dent in my bad humor when I have had difficult dealings with another agent, or a client, or a lender.  Add to that the fact that I have two teenaged girls (14 and 15) still at home and I think you can understand the stress.

One thing that I have found that really helps me is to speak positively.  When I find myself complaining to someone or myself and visualizing only negativity, I try to catch myself and couch my thoughts in positive terms.  Instead of telling myself that "I hate teenagers"  I try to tell myself "I am so blessed to have healthy, normal teenagers who have minds of their own."  I used to get all worked up in the mornings trying to get them out of bed.  I would say things like "I have been trying to get you up for fiftten minutes, get your lazy butt out of bed."  Now I try to say things like "good morning sunshine, time to roll your gorgeous self out of bed." 

Instead of complaining to the other agents in the office about agents not returning my call, I try to think about all of the positives about that agent or the situation.  Maybe my client was not meant to have that property and another better deal is just around the corner for them.  Instead of being frustrated with the situations that we all face every day, my goal is to speak positively. 

We all know that we get better service when we are complimentary to the wait staff.  The same thing goes for everyone we come in contact with every day.  When you tell someone "thank you for being so wonderful" or "you are a rock star" you are much more likely to get what you want and leave someone else feeling better than you found them.