Fear of the Positive

Last night I was reading about human behaviors and this article mentioned that we tend to default to the negative.  This made me reflect on what kind of person I was both personally and professionally.  Usually I am a pretty positive person.  BUT - often I do default to the negative. Personally I often have self doubt or fear that has me being negative.  Professionally I find myself looking at all that is wrong in the world and how we need to fix it quick.

The negative can be a motivator, but is it as strong as the positive?  There are two sides to every coin, so I thought about how to approach some of my sustainability work with a positive perspective instead.  (Note, this was not as simple as one would think.)
In trying to "sell" sustainability to companies and clients I rely on some pretty negative tactics - things like risk, fear, government regulations, losing consumer trust, or inefficiencies.  I get some takers, but it has been limited. So I started working on the positive sides to the work that I do.  It felt strange, kinda fluffy in language - but strangely it hit a cord within me that said "this feels better".

So for instance - we were struggling at one company I work with to come up with something for Earthday which is this Friday.  We ended up doing a celebration of everything we already do, using the stories from all of the employees to inspire each other.
Another project for another organization has been focusing on all the positive impacts of the work that they do, again to inspire engagement and involvement.

The positive taps into a part of us that makes our work meaningful, that makes us feel significant.  I need to remember this more, personally and professionally being more positive is just another way of approaching a challenge or subject, but a lot more fun.