Okay, I’ll admit, this may be because Annie was my favorite movie as a child, but I’m of the opinion that you’re “never fully dressed without a smile.” This dawned on me when I was writing an employee handbook and the subject of dress code came up. Of course, at work we should be neat and presentable, but shouldn’t we also be positive and happy? So, I threw in a line about smiling!
I tested my theory years ago on a client who was really unhappy at work. She came to me because she hated her job, and wanted to explore new possibilities. She didn’t know what she wanted to do, so she wasn’t exactly in the position to quit tomorrow. It could take months or years to tackle career change, but she was MISERABLE at work. She said her co-workers were nasty and it was causing her a lot of stress. I suggested smiling more at work until she was ready to begin her new business venture. Why spend the next year miserable, right?
She thought I was nuts. “Smile, more? How can I smile when I hate it there?” But, desperate to get out of her funk, she decided to take my advice. Within a few weeks, her attitude toward work had done a complete 180! Her work relationships improved, and she was also assigned a new project that she was really excited about.
Why does a simple smile matter? Well, to be honest, I started thinking about the “smile factor” again when I was writing this handbook, and realized that without fail, every time something was going well in my life, I was smiling. And every time something went awry, I was not. This is true for every aspect of our lives: work, relationships, wellness. You name it, and the “smile factor” plays a role.
For example, think about the dreaded word “diet.” Most people can’t say it and smile at the same time. As a matter of fact, most diets I’ve tried have failed simply because I hated being on them! Wellness works for me because I enjoy living well without being bound by the “on” or “off” chains of dieting. And I smile more when I’m not running to the scale.
