Complaining is an insidious habit.  It steals joy, productivity, and happiness.  I know this…and I have even written about it before.  And yet, sometimes, I find myself falling back into the trap of complaining.

I don’t even know I am doing it, and then all of a sudden, I am doing it all the time!  That’s why it’s insidious.  Complaining creates a habit loop in your brain.  Something happens that you are not thrilled about, you get triggered, and you start complaining.

That is why the idea of “never complaining” is challenging.   It’s hard to change a behavior like this overnight.  So I created a new rule for myself to help.

No complaining today.

When I realized the other day, that I had fallen into a habit of complaining, I wanted to stop.  It was affecting my mood and my output.  (Yes…those are almost always tied together).

I was actually frustrated with myself at first.  “You know better!” I scolded myself.  But that didn’t help.  So I decided that I would just start small.  “No complaining today.”

If you have ever tried to change a behavior, you know it wasn’t that easy.  Things that could force me to complain were everywhere.  On the bright side though, with these fresh eyes, I caught myself early and often.

I even went so far as to tell my team that I was working on “not complaining today.”  That helped.  Why?  Because those things that we might have normally commiserated on (codename: complaining), got brought up less often.  And when we did, we looked for positive solutions.

I can’t say that this is the ultimate solution.  But what I can say is that I was happier and more productive…that day.  And my friends, that is a great start.

New rule.  No complaining today.

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