Imagine yourself walking into your workplace right now. Now, the first face you see smiles and says, “Good morning, [First Name]!” You walk through the halls, and you’re greeted by people who are genuinely happy to see you. People ask about your family or your volleyball game last night. They ask how your weekend was or what your plans for the holidays are. They care about you, as a person. Sounds pretty amazing, huh?

Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen very often. Not many workplaces make people feel like they’re MORE than just another cog in the wheel or just another worker bee. Whether you work in an office, a store, a restaurant or your own home, every person, above all, is a human being. And every human being wants and needs to feel special and important.

Can you imagine if you walked into your workplace every day and it was bright, honoring, encouraging and cheerful? Picture your workplace as an environment you actually enjoyed! After all, you spend a the majority of your waking hours in this place, so shouldn’t it be somewhere you want to be?

The good news is, even if your workplace is currently not a fun place to be, YOU can transform it!

Imagine being the one responsible for starting a total shift in the environment. YOU could be the one who brightens everyone’s day and creates the kind of workplace people are excited to be a part of every day.

There’s a really simple way to do this! In fact, it’s so simple, you’ll probably think it won’t work. But I promise you, doing this one tiny thing will make a massive difference! What is it? Smile!

When you walk into a room or when you’re in any kind of meeting, whether it’s 1-on-1 or in a group, with a coworker, a prospect or the CEO, always remember to smile! Anywhere there are other human beings, smile!

If you’ve been to First Steps To Success, you’ve heard me talk about this, but you and I cannot be reminded about this enough! Even if you don’t like the person you’re talking with… smile!

When you don’t smile, you could be pushing some of the wrong buttons inside that other person. It doesn’t improve your reputation. It doesn’t make you look good. It doesn’t invite others to approach you. And it certainly doesn’t make the other person want to be with you or listen to you.

Again, I don’t care if you like the person or not! It doesn’t matter if you and this person have an extraordinarily bad history together. Smile anyway! This isn’t about you! This is about honoring the people around you.

Here’s another thing to focus on: if something bad happened over the weekend or the day before, do not carry whatever is was with you into work. You will look incredibly immature and give the appearance of poor leadership qualities.

Your performance at work is exactly that – a performance. It’s just like an Olympic gold medalist competing for a gold medal, or a professional performer singing for the audience. Your behavior at work very day is your performance. So you must choose to leave your problems and bad attitudes at the door, so they don’t affect your performance.

A good place to start would be to create a checklist to review every day before you go to work and every time you go into any kind of meeting or presentation. You’ll want to remind yourself of the important things you need to do. And at the top of that list – SMILE!

This is a huge step toward growing up and maturing. Smile in every meeting and every presentation. Smile, even at the people you don’t like! You will transform your workplace environment into a place where people love to be. When you make other people feel special and important, they will feel safe around you. This raises your value through the roof!

Another thing that will actually help to raise your value is to simply share this message with your coworkers, business partners, family and friends! This one simple thing can completely transform an office and a home, so you’ll definitely want everyone you know to read this. Let me know how you will take this tip into your workplace in the comments below… I can’t wait to read them! And don’t forget to put on that smile today!

Then, join me today for The Dani Johnson Show, when we discuss more tips and strategies that will benefit you – and those around you! You can tune in on your TV and radio or you can always stream today’s show right here on our website.

In great faith,

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