This week's Pep Talk: "No Piling On"

I am wonderfully blessed with two great kids, a 21-year-old son and his younger sister, 14. But let’s be honest, parenting ain’t an easy job, right? I like to joke, but it’s the truth, “I’ve been a 14-year-old boy; father of a 14-year-old boy, but never the father of a 14-year-old girl, I need some help!”

I’m inexperienced in raising a teenage daughter, determined to improve and have been reading, The 10 Greatest Gifts I Give My Children, in trying to become superior to my former self.

I recently digested many pages on a flight home to Denver from Las Vegas where I had spoken to employees, of Mitch Murch’s Maintenance Management (MMMM), at their annual operations, sales and awards meeting. MMMM is a St. Louis-based facilities management company led impressively by Tim Murch, a college buddy. In our two hours together, the discussion focused on, especially in challenging times, keeping the faith, leading by example and caring for others, including our selves.

In modern-day America, integrity-based corporate leaders like Murch – he learned well from his dad, the company founder - would love to fret more about expansion of business and less about expansion of employee’s waistlines. Our economy is contracting but our bodies are expanding along with the challenging byproducts: high blood pressure, heart ailments and diabetes, to name just a few.

MMMM is dedicated to providing world-class services to its employees, clients and communities. This team is united, but if the employees, which MMMM calls Team Members, don’t have their health, it’s tough to serve others, isn’t it?

As the plane began its descent into the Mile High City I was reading about the importance of, when talking with kids, using “forward-thinking” words and emphasizing the positive. The thinking being if we want to encourage healthy and productive decision-making from kids – and employees for that matter – it’s wise to focus on what they’re doing right, not wrong.

The author’s reminder of that truth took me back to a short conversation I had, the night before, with one of MMMM’s star employees as they patted their protruding belly: “I have been with this company for almost 30 years and have expanded along with it.”

Focusing on the negative is really counterproductive. Whether it’s a Team Member who knows it’s time to lose some weight or a parent who can’t resist criticizing a child, do your best to avoid it. Take the author’s advice and utilize a forward-thinking, positive outlook.

Quit beating yourself up, okay? Life, with its tendency to throw unexpected, and unwanted, twists and turns our way does a fine job by itself. We don’t, through negative self-talk, need to pile it on.