Communication 101 . . . in 2011

Biggest communication firestorm so far this year? Easy. The Jay Cutler injury diagnosis/character annihilation via Twitter on Sunday. This piece in the Chicago Sun-Times recaps the blizzard of negative comments.

Our Positively Writing view of all this, not surprisingly, is how immediacy of communication increases the need for more thoughtful, precise language. If your thoughts are going to fly around the world as soon as your synapses finish firing, you'd better be accurate.

But several NFL players were decidedly not accurate when they accused Cutler of wimping out without having any—ANY—information about his injury. They couldn't possibly be accurate without medical information. They made judgments based entirely on what they saw. So they made poor judgments.

Cutler was in fact hurt, though by (admittedly surreal) NFL standards not severely. The Twitter squad real-time reacted to Cutler's behavior on the sidelines. And without question he looked uninterested, unenthusiastic, and displayed no sense of leadership. Our Positively Writing opinion is that he absolutely oozed negative energy.

When we write negatively without supporting facts we risk receiving the negative input we send out to others. If just one of the players who blasted Cutler had Tweeted "Don't kno how badly Jay is hurt, but needs to pump up his mates," that Tweeter would be viewed far more positively. So, "you get what you give" applies once again. As ever.

Take a second or two—literally just a couple of seconds—and you're far more likely to create a more thoughtful communication. Don't be a knee-jerk accuser; we seem to have far, far too many of those these days. Focus on facts . . . then integrate those facts into your opinion. Skip the facts and subject yourself to lowered universal opinion.

Your choice.

"There Is No FInish Line"

The American obsession with winning threatens to rob us of a massively important fact: getting to "done" is just as important as actually being done. 

One of our brightest and most insightful friends gave us the five words in our title, above. (Thanks JM.) Those words are amazingly important. Because when we focus on doing, and we stay in the moment, we not only increase the likelihood of performing our task more effectively, we achieve something else that's pretty important.

We're happier. 

It's fact. As reported in a study published in the journal Science, a big predictor of who's happy (and who's not) is how often peoples' minds wander, says study author Matthew Killingsworth, a doctoral candidate in psychology at Harvard University. "The more often they take themselves out of the present moment, the less happy they are."

(A cool additional fact: The researchers used a novel approach to get real-time snapshots of what the 2,250 study participants were thinking and how they felt throughout the day. They developed a free iPhone app that buzzed volunteers, whose average age was 34, several times a day asking them how they were feeling.)

So it's clear. Stay focused and you'll do a better job . . . and you'll do a better job of being happy. And try to start off your day with this in mind: Research also suggests that those who practice a little mindfulness in the morning have a better ability to stay focused throughout the day. 

Remembering to not focus on the end result will enable us to focus better on performing the task. Now, is the end result important? Yes; often vitally important. But the outcome is dictated by the effectiveness of performance. So focusing there—right there—seems like your best bet. Doesn't it.

Now, overlay the happiness benefit. And it doesn't just seem like your best bet. It's your only bet.

We here at Positively Writing are confirmed advocates in approaching every task in a positive way. And we're now just as clear about the importance of appreciating the value of simply performing that task. Our advice: make the "finish line" your second (or third or fourth . . ) priority. Make the moment your first.

Now You're Talkin' . . .

For those of us in the advertising business, The New York Times provides this exceptionally positive start to the year:  After Two Slow Years, an Industry Rebound Begins.

Yes, music to the ears of many of us. But perhaps an even bigger gift is the simple, positive statement about the state of our business . . . rather that a "Good Riddance" story about the exceptionally difficult 2010 (and 2009) business conditions we've endured. 

We here at Positively Writing completely understand the inclination to view things through a negative prism after such an overwhelmingly widespread, difficult period. But here's a great example of focusing on the good to come . . . and not on the bad that's gone.

And that's our short, sweet initial post of 2011 . . .