A JOB AID TO IMPROVE YOUR ATTITUDE . . .

• Remove passive-aggressive whining from your repertoire of behaviors
• Change the climate in your personal ecosphere
• Generate whine-free fallout that will spread indiscriminately

Prework:  Grab a small notepad and a pen or pencil.

1.    Appreciate

• Take an intentional mental inventory of your possessions—tangible and intangible. (If you’re reading this on an electronic device in a building with a roof, indoor plumbing, an unlocked door and one or more unlocked windows, your list will be impressive by historic and global standards.)
• Pick any one of the items in your personal inventory. Write it down; then list the ways you particularly enjoy it.
• For that same item, note how how many ways you would miss it, and how different your life would be without it.
• Thank God for it. Appreciate what’s good; that’s the first antidote to whining.

2.  Contribute

• Form a mental picture of a person whose life you touch every day:  family member, best friend, neighbor, colleague, or the clerk at the local 7-Eleven..
• Write down one positive thing you can do for him or her. (If you know her well, that won’t be a problem. If you aren’t really sure, ask.  “What would make your day today?”
• Figure out what you can do to contribute toward her greatly improved day. Be creative.
• Make it happen.

3.   Take charge

• Recall  an ambition, a project, a dream from one of your “perfect day” reveries.
• Take charge of that project; write down one thing you can do today to move toward realizing that dream, reaching that goal .
• Tackle that one thing; do the work.

Remember:

Quiet passive-aggressive whining in the corner is both annoying and ineffective. (Seth Godin)