Ten attitudes that can increase professional effectiveness

We all know proactive, constructive and dynamic professionals, as well as those who are passive, ineffectual and chronic complainers. What determines whether you yourself belong in the former or

latter group?

While external factors can have an impact on our motivation levels at work, the attitude we bring each day is self-determined. Attitude explains how someone who lost multiple elections might become president of the United States and how someone fired from his own company might then become a business icon.

A paper by Pablo Maella, a lecturer and consultant at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa at the University of Navarra in Spain, recommends 10 behaviours and attitudes to increase both your personal welfare and your professional effectiveness.

Accept reality and others as they are

Self-motivation begins with having realistic and appropriate expectations of work and of those around you. Instead of demanding that circumstances conform to your wishes, accept them as they are and, from that point, find room for improvement.

Know your strengths and weaknesses

Sometimes we seem to think that making a mistake is intolerable in a good professional and that it leads to disaster. If we don’t come to terms with our own fallibility, we end up piling on frustration and missing out on opportunities for improvement.

Being aware of your own strengths and weaknesses allows you to be more effective and may save you from a downward spiral of low self-esteem. Acknowledge your mistakes, but also appreciate your successes.

Don’t complain

Imagine that you own a fast-food franchise and a bad batch of meat is discovered in another location of the same chain. You’ve done nothing wrong, but your business will be affected. In this situation a franchise owner could either complain about the stroke of bad luck or be proactive and establish concrete measures to minimise the negative impact of the news.

Complaining solves nothing while focusing our attention on that which we can’t control.

Appreciate what you have and be grateful

“Psychological hedonism” is a mental mechanism by which we accustom ourselves with astonishing ease to the progress of our work and then no longer appreciate this progress. We must make a pointed effort to pay attention to the positive, to what is working well.

When we emphasise what we lack rather than what we have, we can end up discouraged.

Bring a positive attitude to your task

A business study suggested that positive, optimistic salespeople billed 90% more than those saddled with negativity. That is because the attitude with which we handle a situation or task influences the final result.

In other words, if you go to a party thinking that it will be boring, you probably won’t have much fun, because your initial attitude will make it more difficult.

Of course, don’t confuse positivity with naiveté or a lack of realism.

Set relevant goals and challenges

According to the goal-setting theory of Edwin Locke, we are motivated when we perceive that our goals can be achieved and will involve considerable effort. Also, we are more motivated by more relevant goals.

Therefore important goals, ones that provide something of value to others, are more inspiring than an intrinsic objective, such as professional development, or an extrinsic one such as a raise or promotion.

Imbue what you do with meaning

Given the same task, one worker may simply carry stones while another helps build a building. Going to work each morning to get paid is not the same as going to serve the community and develop personally.

It’s about finding important motives for doing what we do and giving our best to the task. A full life is not dependent on our occupation, but our ability to make our actions matter.

Be proactive

When we take decisive action at work, rather than sit back as spectators, we take on more ownership and feel more motivated.

Raise hopes and rely on responsibility

The key to motivation is not so much doing exactly what we like, but instead pouring the most possible enthusiasm into what we have to do. When enthusiasm fades, take responsibility to carry on.

Be persistent and persevere

If we give up when faced with obstacles, we head into a negative feedback loop: Being discouraged and lacking enthusiasm makes us less likely to achieve our goals. Trying to overcome obstacles is, in itself, a motivating force. Determination and perseverance in tough times are the way to rekindle motivation.

Lacking determination or perseverance, Abraham Lincoln would not have run for the presidency after his earlier election defeats. Steve Jobs would not have gotten over his 1985 dismissal from Apple to return a few years later and turn the company into the worldwide success it is today.