Scientific Reasons to SMILE by Helen Macdonald

Experts in the medical field are now telling us that smiling is actually good for our immune system. Smiling for as little as 8 minutes a day (only 0.5% of the time!) raises the level of a number of the chemicals which protect our systems from germ attack.

The Optimism Factor by Helen Macdonald

Imagine a force that can increase your business effectiveness, improve customer satisfaction and drive up profitability without huge expenditure or massive implementation strategies. Imagine having a workforce that wants to come to work, is actively engaged in a constant search for better ways to do things, and which makes better choices with your customers, inside and outside the business.

The good news is that this force exists and is easy to access and make a permanent part of your business and personal life. It's called "The Optimism Factor" and recent research has shown that it can become a "force for good" in any business. Defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "an inclination to hopefulness and confidence", optimism has been shown to have a massive impact on all the critical business measures, from productivity to profitability. After all, wouldn't you like your staff to be confident and hopeful about their jobs and your business?

"Employers who actively sustain a positive environment could experience
up to 25% improvements in efficiency and customer satisfaction"
- Journal of Applied Psychology

The "Optimism Factor" is based on five principles, which make up the word S.M.I.L.E. While there are numerous elements in each step, some examples include:

"High morale in workplaces leads to decreased stress levels and
illness-related time off, as well as stimulating productivity"
- Australian Psychological Society

Optimism is not a "magic bullet", and creating a positive environment will not happen overnight, however by taking the simple steps listed above, and implementing the rest of the principles, we can all improve our personal optimism level and that of our team members. So find reasons to S.M.I.L.E. at work. Set and achieve individual & team goals around creating a positive, optimistic approach. Look for reasons to celebrate success. Optimism is good for your business and makes work a better place to be!

Helen Macdonald, the Corporate Optimist, specializes in Staff Retention, helping her clients get macsimum results from happy, productive employees. As a speaker, author & master facilitator, she works with companies large and small throughout the Asia Pacific region. This is an extract from her second book, "The Optimism Factor", due for release in March 2004. Her message is that optimism is a powerful force in business which will help you attract more customers, more profit and more success! For more information, call 03 9533 4568, email info@macsresults.com or visit www.helenmacdonald.com

Mining for Happiness Nuggets! by Helen Macdonald

Consider for a moment the process involved in mining for gold. While we all love the end result, we seldom consider the effort and the refining that goes into them. Gold mining is a difficult, challenging, sometimes dangerous business where failure occurs more often than success, and in which you have to work your way through enormous amounts of dirt to get to the good stuff.

Imagine being a miner in the gold fields in the early parts of the last century. They crouched beside a stream and poured hundreds of shovel loads of dirt into their screening pans, staring determinedly into the sludge in the hope of a glimmer of gold! Some of them were fantastically successful, discovering huge nuggets and creating instant wealth. Most struggled to keep food on the table as they continued to search for the elusive rewards.

It's a bit the same with our search for happiness. Sometimes we have to sort through lots of sludge to find the nuggets of good stuff. Sometimes we have to dig deep to locate them.

Happiness doesn't depend on how much you have to enjoy,
but on how much you enjoy what you have. Ziggy

We tend to keep an eye on our physical and financial assets, but it is our emotional assets that will make the difference to our lives. One of these is our "store house" of happiness. It can be very beneficial to regularly assess what it is in your life that makes you happy. This will help you to identify the priority of things in your life, but it can also operate like a flotation vest on low days. It's the kind of asset register that can pick you up when you are feeling down and lift you out of the fog on dreary days.

Take a few moments each day to write down ten good things that happened in that day. Of course, some days this is easier than others - birthdays, promotions, good times, good news - easy!! The challenge is to make it to ten on the bad days. Sometimes, we need to look for the smaller items to find the happy glow. A conversation with a friend; a smile from a stranger; a safe home; food on your table; a bed to sleep in - small pleasures and important nuggets of happiness.

At a deeper level, we need to look at a more complete list of happiness assets. In her book, "Simple Abundance" Sarah Ban Breathnach suggests that we locate 100 things in our life that make us happy. This is a great exercise because it forces you to go mining for happiness nuggets. Once you've found them, and brought them up to the surface, it is easy to polish them and increase their glow and their value - just like our old-fashioned miner friends!!

Part of this asset evaluation process includes being grateful for the small "nuggets" of happiness that you are able to dig out. To develop an attitude of gratitude, you need to constantly be mining for opportunities. Seek out the good in people; look for the learning in challenges; search for the light in the darkest of times. While sometimes this feels impossible, it is sometimes in the most unlikely places or situations that you will find the best happiness treasures.

It is sometimes through adversity that we have the greatest chance to grow. We should also be grateful for the difficulties that we overcome, and search for the learning that is usually buried within them - occasionally buried very deeply and every now and then, hidden completely.

Helen Macdonald gets macsimum results for her clients through happy, productive employees and satisfied, loyal customers. As a speaker, author and master facilitator, she has worked with companies large and small throughout the Asia Pacific region. This is an extract from her first book, "SM.I.L.E. your way to Success!". Her message is that happiness is a magnet which will help you attract more of what you want - more customers; profit and success - in your business and your life! For more information, call 03 9533 4568 or visit www.helenmacdonald.com.

The Power of Perspective by Helen Macdonald

Have you ever had a day when you felt like you were sinking under the weight of a million little burdens? Everything is conspiring against you so that even getting the simplest job done seems impossible? At times like this, it's easy to blow things out of perspective, and to start feeling like you'll never get your head above water again!

We learned the importance of perspective on a trip to India some years ago. Before we left, we were confident that we had seen it all. We were not unfamiliar with the challenges of travelling in Asia, and we had seen all kinds of sights.

India has a way of showing visitors that they should be grateful for what they have. That certainly applied to us. Coming from a western environment, we expect that we will have fresh food and water; a roof over our head and a safe place to live.

Seeing whole families living in the major cities of Mombai (Bombay) and Delhi, with the roof over their head being a hessian sack tied to a wall made us realise just how much we take for granted. These people would see our home environment as a version of paradise - constant clean water; electric light; a multi-burner gas stove.

All of a sudden, our minor concerns seem ridiculous and excessive. Just being born in a country where the air and water is clean and food plentiful, means that we have effectively won the lottery. Everything else is a bonus! How easy it then is to find reasons to be happy, when basic survival is a given.

Another example from India is the attitude to traffic. Next time you are sitting in a traffic jam, moaning about the behaviour of other drivers and worrying about being late for your next appointment, just be glad that you are not driving in India. Indian drivers never let their petrol tanks get below one quarter full, because they can be caught in traffic for two hours, and it is easy to run out of fuel while you are in the middle of a traffic jam that covers multiple city blocks.

Interestingly though, the Indian drivers do not experience road rage. Everybody pays their taxes, so they have the same rights as me to use the road. Therefore, there's no point in getting angry with other drivers. So, while we often saw manouveurs that in Australia would result in torrents of abuse, in India the drivers just adjusted.

So next time things are getting a little out of control, take a deep breath and, just for a moment, focus on all the good things that are in your life. Ask yourself "what's the worst that could happen?" and see if that helps you find a better way of looking at the situation - a way of accessing the power of perspective.

Helen Macdonald gets macsimum results for her clients through happy, productive employees and satisfied, loyal customers. As a speaker, author and master facilitator, she has worked with companies large and small throughout the Asia Pacific region. This is an extract from her first book, "SM.I.L.E. your way to Success!". Her message is that happiness is a magnet which will help you attract more of what you want - more customers; profit and success - in your business and your life! For more information, call 03 9533 4568 or visit www.helenmacdonald.com.

S.M.I.L.E. - 5 Steps to Happiness by Helen Macdonald

I have a strong memory of the day that I introduced my grand daughter to the joys of running through autumn leaves. As we walked down the sidewalk, I showed her what a great noise the leaves made if you stepped on them or kicked them. She was delighted!! She tried it for herself and discovered that she could do the same! How exciting!! We spent the rest of the walk to the shops (and back as it turned out!) finding as many piles of leaves as we could. We finally returned to the house, cheeks aglow and giggles continuing.

She didn't need to be reminded to be happy! Take her out to a park and if happiness was a power source, you could run a large town from her output! She becomes fully focused on her activities - concentrating, living in the moment; delighted by little things.

As adults, we get busy and forget how important it is to create happy memories, or we decide that we are now "grown-up" and that these sorts of behaviours are childish, or that this sort of element in our lives is no longer important.

A friend of mine is a classic example. He had always dreamed of owning a Ducati motor bike. Finally, after many years of buying magazines and drooling over the pictures, he took the big step to make the purchase. He had an absolute ball with his new toy. Even the fact that it had a nasty habit of stalling in the wet, many miles from home, so that he often ended up walking it home through driving rain, did not dampen his enthusiasm.

Having to "grow up" did, though. Sensible married men did not risk life and limb driving around on foreign-made, sports-designed motor bikes. Married men drove station wagons and had family picnics. He held out for a while, but it became harder and harder to justify the time to take the machine out for a whirl.

I still remember the look of resignation on his face when he announced that the bike had been sold. I know that he is still happily married, now with two beautiful children, but I wonder whether there are times when a small clear voice inside his head asks him where the Ducati is?

To help us stay focused on looking for happiness and working on creating more of it in our lives, I've developed a five-step reminder systemJ. To make it easier to remember, it makes up the word smile - S.M.I.L.E.!

S is for Smile - the importance of plastering a smile on your face cannot be over-emphasised!

M is for Mind - switching on the power of your thoughts to prepare yourself for happy experiences and to expect that you will have more of them.

I is for Insides - It is hard to maintain a happy demeanour, if your body is not functioning in an optimum manner, so we need to work towards good general health and well-being.

L is for Learning - which is really an acknowledgement that life is an ongoing journey that requires regular additional input, so that we can create more happiness on a daily basis.

E is for Enthusiasm - an attitude of positivity and optimism which links right back to step one.

Put the five together and we have a source of new levels of energy and vigour, leading to a happier approach to the world…and to more smiles!

Helen Macdonald gets macsimum results for her clients through happy, productive employees and satisfied, loyal customers. As a speaker, author and master facilitator, she has worked with companies large and small throughout the Asia Pacific region. This is an extract from her first book, "SM.I.L.E. your way to Success!". Her message is that happiness is a magnet which will help you attract more of what you want - more customers; profit and success - in your business and your life! For more information, call 03 9533 4568 or visit www.helenmacdonald.com.

Developing the Habit of Happiness by Helen Macdonald

Think back. When was the last time you were truly, deeply happy?