‘You can do it!’

Although there is a plethora of books and websites about ‘staying positive’ and ‘positive thinking’, there are still a number of people who do not believe that ‘positive statements’ can help them. Take my friend for example, Heather, she never believed in such things. In fact, she was cynical and suspicious and I remember she used to say to me, ‘how can you believe that if you say something positive to yourself that something positive will happen!’ By taking this stance, she had already put up resistance to allow herself to think positively.

The other day, she rang me and I noticed a chirpiness about her voice that was different. It did not sound like her normal, cynical tone. For example, if anyone wished her ‘good morning’ she would always reply with a question, ‘what’s good about this morning?’ or ‘may be it is good for you, but not for me’, or more sarcastically, ‘Oh great, how many good mornings do you have?’ Some people did feel offended by her replies.

Anyway, when she wished me ‘good morning’ with such a happy tone of voice on the phone, I was taken aback to the point where I thought, ‘here comes the next bit, so what’s good about this morning?’ Within nanoseconds, she added, “well, aren’t you going to ask me what’s ‘good’ about this morning?” I kept an open-mind, anything can happen here and calmly replied, ‘well, okay, I am listening, so tell me, what’s good about this morning?’ Heather shouted out, ‘Guess what? I got the job!’ I knew she was going to apply for the senior leader’s position in her company. The other day, reluctantly, she came to me for some quick tips and I could not resist saying to her, ‘think positively, above all, say positive things to yourself, you can do it!’ ‘Ho, hum’, was her reply, as she did not believe in positive statements or self-talk.

So this was brilliant news indeed, and I congratulated her and felt so happy that she got the job! Heather went on to tell me that there was a moment during the #interview where she was nervous and her mind just went blank, she could not answer when she was asked: ‘describe one important leadership skill that you personally have?’ This was the turning point and a life-changing moment for her. She said to me she tried to visualise in her mind all the things I have been trying to say to her, things that she did not give any attention to, such as, ‘think positively’, ‘you can do it’, ‘take a moment to think before you answer’, ‘ask your inner voice to help you and it will come to your rescue’.

Heather described the moment how she gathered up courage and said this one positive statement to herself: ‘You can do it!’ She then answered in a calm manner, ‘I have the skill of positive thinking and I believe that as a leader I will be able to pass this on to my team, keep my team motivated and encourage each member of my team to believe in themselves.’ She went onto explain to the board members how she believed that #positive thinking can change a person’s attitude to work, help them to take better decisions and interact positively with other members of the organisation.

She laughed on the phone, as she said ‘For a moment, I just mirrored everything you said to me, but at the end I believed every word of what I said’. It resulted in high level of #self-esteem and #self-confidence and she genuinely felt that she could bring these tremendous values as a #leader to the organisation. All along she had a nonchalant attitude to the job ‘I will apply for the job, if I get it, I get it, if I don’t, I don’t, who cares?’ But, she did care. It was only during the last five minutes of the interview that she believed that she could actually get this job and be an excellent leader. For some people this can be very challenging, especially for those who do not believe in the power of positive thinking and had never muttered one #positive statement to themselves about themselves.

For Heather, positive statement did have a most positive impact, even though it came at the end bit of the interview, but she made it to the top!

Thank you for reading, until the next Huq Post ….

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© Copyright Article and Photograph Dr Rozana Ahmad Huq, July 2015

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Dr Rozana Huq
Organisational Behaviourist
http://www.rozanahuq.com
Motivational Speaker, Leadership Educator, Management Author, Life Coach.

Book written by Dr Rozana A Huq.
“Employee Empowerment the rhetoric & reality”, (2010). Triarchy Press, Devon, UK.

This book is a useful tool for managers, leaders and EFQM trainers. It helps to open up discussion regarding issues between management and non-management. In this book, the author also describes the kind of leadership style employees want in an empowered organisation.