Bring Love to the Workplace

Love. I think we should bring love to the workplace. Now, before you call HR and report a sexual harassment violation read my entire post!

Some of you are already bringing love to the workplace.

Some workplaces allow you to bring your dog.

What are you bringing when you bring your dog? Love. Pure and unconditional. If you bring your dog to work you've brought a living, breathing soul that loooooooves you. No matter what.

And, if you're bringing your dog to work, you're bringing a living, breathing soul that YOU love unconditionally.

You might not always LIKE what your dog DOES but you still love your dog, right?

What if you left the dog at home but STILL brought THAT kind of love? That, I-respect-your-humanity-and-want-to-make-our-time-together-pleasant kind of LOVE?

I know, some of you are thinking,

"This chick has gone off the deep end. She's gone cra-ay-azy."

Please hear me out.

I just started reading "The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts" by Gary Chapman.

This is a book for married couples but -always an improviser- everything I learn is filed away in my internal catalog and I always think about different ways to apply what I've learned.

In this book, Mr. Chapman suggests learning to "speak" your spouse's "love language" and thereby achieving more happiness because you both feel appreciated and loved.

What if we expanded that concept to the workplace and did our best to speak "love languages" with our leaders, direct reports and co-workers?

Crazy!


Think about the folks at work.

Each person is different but, if you can utilize the improviser's skill set of deep observation and watch how your co-workers interact with others, I'll bet you can quickly learn to "speak" their language and bring a little more empathy (love) to the relationship.

Remember, you can LOVE someone but not LIKE everything they do!

NOTE: It takes a extreme self-confidence and a genuine desire to create better relationships with your co-workers to put aside your own preferences and "speak" the language of another person. 


You can easily start with communication styles.

Some folks want to talk on the phone. Some like email. Some drop by your desk to speak in person.

If you're trying to speak their language, return the communication in the way they reached out to you.

Instead of complaining about that co-worker who leaves you voice mails but never answers your emails why not pick up the phone and interact with that co-worker in their preferred method. If you do this, you're now speaking their "language".

If you are a get 'er done type of person and you have a co-worker who always wants to chit chat -would it hurt you to TRY speaking the language of chit chat for a few minutes BEFORE bombarding them with a work request?

Instead of hurting, I think it would improve your relationship.

Can you do it? Can you bring a little LOVE to your workplace today?

I double-dog dare you!

This is What a Dream Come True Looks Like

This marquee.

This represents a dream come true.

A dream come true that continues to come true.

In November of 2008, after only 5 rehearsals, my "Nephew" Aaron and I brought our show to the stage.

And we've been going strong ever since (and plan to keep going strong.) The show featured in this marquee was our 5th anniversary show and our 60th show together, too. I love it when things synch up like that.

Pastor Steven Furtick says, "The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel."

This marquee is our highlight reel. A few other pieces of our highlight reel include:

• Being chosen for King County 4Culture's Touring Arts Roster of juried acts
• Performing all over the Pacific NW and two trips to perform at Breakthrough Theatre of Winter Park, FL
• Newspaper articles written
• Magazine articles written
• Parade appearances
• Performing for hundreds of people at a time

What was behind-the-scenes was:

• Late nights spent writing jokes, poring over music, listening to music, choosing music, creating a website, Facebook presence, Twitter presence and Instagram presence
• Hours of rehearsal together and separately on all the pieces of the show
• Hours of rehearsing and performing PRIOR to joining forces and creating a show (We both, separately have OVER the amount of hours that according to Malcolm Gladwell would put us into the "outlier" category.)
• Emails to potential venues that were never answered
• Checks that bounced from venues where we performed
• Hours of texts and phone calls
• Hundreds of dollars spent on costumes, props, music, etc
• Shows where only 9 people showed up
• Sore feet, sore voices, sore backs

And it was ALL worth it. Your dream is worth it, too! Keep going friends, keep going!

Stop Copying

Being unique is a choice.

It's a risky choice that many people don't want to take.

Isn't it funny, though, that when someone DOES make that risky choice, others follow suit. The copycats come out. They want to dress like; look like; or create a product like that successful NEW thing. They want a little part of the creativity and innovation.

Today, I challenge you to get out of a copying mindset and get in to a creating mindset.

Baby steps are easy:

• Instead of reading the bestseller that everyone else is reading, find an obscure writer and see if there's something there that intrigues.
• Instead of seeing that blockbuster, find an indy film.
• Instead of wearing the latest fashion trend, wear something that you LOVE.
• Instead of brainstorming to create something LIKE another something that's popular right now, brainstorm to create something that fills a NEED.

Let's Get Critical

Face it. Critics are EVERYWHERE. No matter what you do, you will be criticized by SOMEONE. If you are doing something new, something different, something CREATIVE -at some point, you are going to be criticized. It is all part of putting yourself OUT there.

I wish I could remember WHO it was that gave me this piece of advice when I was a new-ish performer, but, this person said something so wise that the ADVICE has stuck with me for years, this person said, "Michele, if you believe the GOOD reviews, you're going to have to believe the BAD reviews, too. The truth is somewhere in the middle."

How do you handle criticism? Does it push you further? Or do you give up? Does it make you angry? Does it make you pull away? Does it make you sad? Does it hurt your feelings?

I'll be honest, criticism can -and has- caused me to do and feel ANY and ALL of those things!

Some days, we are stronger than other days. But, the one thing we can do is KNOW that we will be attacked by criticism at some point.

My advice?

Brace yourself . . . Figure out how you are going to cope BEFORE the criticism happens. Figure out the best way for YOU to fill your "BANK" of love an acceptance. When you need to, go to your bank and make a withdrawal.

Some things I do, I keep a file of all the nice emails that people have sent me about my work. I write down in my calendar any nice words that people say to me. I "pin" inspirational, motivational quotes that mean something to me to my Pinterest account. When I'm low, when I need to re-charge -I look at those things in my personal bank and it makes me feel better, it uplifts me.

But, my secret weapon is to I go out and fill OTHER people's banks. When I am feeling the MOST criticized (or am criticizing MYSELF) I reach out to others and write a note of encouragement or praise. It instantly stops me from getting wrapped up in my own personal junk and focusing on loving and praising others.

How do YOU  handle criticism? What techniques do you have that could help others?