| Everybody needs a cheerleader |
|
By: by DR. MARK KESTNER
|
|
 Email  Print
|
As I watched a football game last week, I spent a few minutes thinking about the role of all the event participants that didn’t happen to be football players. The stadium staff that arrive hours before we do to make sure the facility is ready and properly operational, the law enforcement and other emergency personnel that ensure our safety. The talented and hard-working band members that entertain us and provide motivating music, and of course, the cheerleaders.
I watched as the cheerleaders continually urged the fans to make noise and cheer the team. They had their regular routines for scores and first downs. Like all cheerleaders they also seemed to be adlibbing, simply looking for any opportunity to cheer for our team.
It occurred to me that we all could appreciate a team of cheerleaders. Wouldn’t it be great to have about half-a-dozen people hanging out with us all day to enthusiastically congratulate us for all the things we do right during the day.
Just think how you would feel getting a cheer every time you handle a phone call from a customer well. A pat on the back every time you anticipate a problem and handle it before it erupts. Maybe someone could do a flip for you for changing the toner in the office printer or handling three customers at once without losing your Southern charm.
It would be great at home, too. When you make a great meal in record time and still manage to direct your sixth-grader’s attention to his history homework, while you keep your toddler out of harm’s way… someone leaps out from the hallway with arms stretched high and shouts, “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Team!”
We all need cheerleaders. Motivation makes such a difference in our attitudes. We feel better, work harder, and enjoy life more when we think that others are appreciative of what we do. Just notice what happens the next time you take a moment to sincerely compliment a co-worker on the way they handled a seemingly routine aspect of her job. Or see what transpires when you stop in the middle of a normal activity and tell your child how proud you are of them and specifically mention several reasons why.
For some reason, it is much easier for us to praise a dog just for sitting than it is to offer genuine praise to our spouses, friends or coworkers. Maybe if people wagged their tails we would praise them more.
We go through our lives everyday and hundreds of people put forth effort to make our lives easier, safer, healthier, or more fulfilling. It takes only a minute to occasionally replace the habitual “Thank you”, with a comment of why you actually appreciate that person and their efforts.
Cheerleaders do more than congratulate us for doing something right. They also help us get back on track when something has gone wrong. One thing that is important in any sport is to help athletes move on after blowing a play and get their attention on the future instead of the past. You can’t change what just happened; all you can do is focus more intently on doing things right in the future to overcome the setback.
We all tend to spend too much time on regret and worry about things that didn’t turn out the way we would have wanted instead of on how to succeed from this point on. We didn’t begin life thinking like this. Think about a toddler learning to walk. He doesn’t sit there and brood every time he lands on his rear, he just starts working to get to his feet again. There’s a lesson for us. We will enjoy much more success in life if we focus on where we are going and forget about the setbacks. Being a cheerleader also means helping others overcome disappointments.
Next week marks the one-year anniversary of this great newspaper. If you have enjoyed reading it, take moment to let Publisher Mike Pirtle and Editor Mike West know about it. Even newspapermen (and columnists) need cheerleaders!
Dr. Mark Kestner
mkestner@DrKestner.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
Login and voice your opinion!
|
Digg
Facebook
MySpace
Yahoo!