3 (easy) office tips to enhance your influence

Managers share a cup of coffee. This simple act can enhance your influence.

Influence. In a word, it’s what the social world is really made of and a critical part of our everyday lives. What if you knew some decorative, office tips to enhance your influence without others even knowing what you’re doing? The work of psychology provides numerous examples of how you can improve your odds at influencing others. Here I provide a few tips to enhance your influence, specifically your likability.

Research has shown that people make extremely quick assessments of whether you are a “threat or a friend.” In fact, this happens BEFORE you are even consciously aware of the others’ true intent or character. This is the result of years of evolution, directly related to the “Fight or Flight” phenomenon. Before we’re even aware of what we’re confronting, we have a sense of “I’m OK”, or “I’m not OK”. Subconscious activity is faster than conscious activity.

What if there were some way to instill a particular thought in someone’s mind before you even say a word? Good news: There is!

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My Favorite Attitude

Happy vs. sad face

Attitudes at work are simply personal orientations toward a particular person or thing. But some are bigger than others. (By “bigger” I am specifically referring to attitudes at work and their corresponding behavioral impact. This may be different from other characteristics of attitudes at work that could be considered “big” (i.e., more emotional, more common, more difficult to elicit, etc.) One in particular has reigned as my favorite attitude much longer than most “favorites” (i.e., food, song, place, etc.).

Optimism.

Why Optimism?

For one, it’s a very strong predictor.

Optimism is a near pre-requisite for achievement. And the opposite is also true. To state it bluntly,

I’ve never met a pessimistic over achiever.

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3 Surprising Motivation Killers

More people are out of work or in jobs for which they feel unfuifilled. Career guidance is usually part of the solution. But a career coach is a better option for mid-career professionals considering a change.

You know the saying, “Performance is one half inspiration and one half perspiration.” What happens when your “inspiration” is cut in half? Suddenly a perfectly good, or even great effort is sacked by a 50% collapse in personal commitment.

Let’s take a look at 3 surprising motivation killers at work:

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