You’re lost. You’re travelling along, you think you know the way, and then all of a sudden you look around and you don’t recognize anything. What do you do? You turn on your GPS and instantly you know the direction you’re supposed to travel. It may sound like it, but I’m actually not talking about a road trip; I’m talking about your life. In life, GPS doesn’t stand for Global Positioning System, it’s actually an acronym for Gratitude, Play (living in the moment), and Surprise.
While attending the IMEX America conference in Las Vegas, I sat in on a session lead by Scott Friedman of San Francisco Travel titled, “The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Create it.” While passing out $2 bills to the crowd, Friedman taught us all that the key to a happy future is focusing on a celebration mentality.
When surveyed, 84% of people said they don’t celebrate enough, especially in a corporate setting. Friedman is setting out to change that. Celebration in corporations is currently failing because it has become institutionalized. Below we’ve listed some of the best, out-of-the-box ways to incorporate celebrations (and the GPS system) into your company.
1. Change the word ‘deadline’ to ‘finish line.’ That way, people will be excited to cross things off and feel more accomplished when they do.
2. Start of meetings with a Best of the Best activity. Have everyone go around the room and share the best thing that has happened that day, week, month, etc.
3. Ask yourself in the morning: “What am I thankful for today?” It can be something as simple as your favorite song coming on the radio, just as long as it increases your positivity.
4. Hold a Gratitude Circle. Anyone can share a moment of gratitude with anyone else in the group.
5. Sing Your Complaints – they sound a lot less serious when sung to the tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”
6. Host a Toss it Tuesday: Everyone brings an ingredient that would work well in a salad, combine, and you have a fun new teambuilding ritual!
7. Hold a Positive Party Funded by Negative People. Designate a certain space of the office for complaining. If anyone is heard complaining outside of that area, they have to pay $2 for a party at the end of the month. Or donate that money to a local charity – either way, it is a great way to cut back on negative attitude spreading through the office.
8. Inspire Innovation. Have a monthly meeting where everyone shares their biggest mistake that month and the biggest lesson they learned. The person that learned the biggest lesson receives a $50 reward.
9. Surprise your employees and coworkers to show them you care. Tap into what makes them the happiest, pay attention, ask the right questions and put forth the effort. Follow those four steps and you’ll pull off a flawless surprise.
Every company is different so some of these ideas might not work for everyone, but the key to a successful future is a successful celebration mentality; and the key to a successful celebration mentality is to always practice GPS!
