I am not sure if this applies to entrepreneurship as much as life itself, but here it goes.  I was at the gym yesterday, and the woman on the treadmill next to me was clearly cranking some Phillip Phillips in her headset.

Her squeaky, ear warping, horrible voice was singing “cause I am going to make this place your home.”  Her singing was miserable. Her voice was ugly.  She was distracting.  And my inner voice started to hate her and her crow voice.

As a mini-rage started to consume me I noticed that I started to lose my running gate.  I stumbled.  Isn’t it funny, when we put our focus on what we don’t like that the wheels start coming off the cart on everything else?

The good news is that for some reason, I caught myself in my mini-rage negativity. I did an attitude of gratitude flip, using a process that you too can use the next time negative energy starts to consume you:

1. Acknowledge What You Don’t Like – For me this was super obvious, it was that woman’s nasty voice.

2. What Is The Exact Opposite Of What You Don’t Like – This was an easy one for me too: Silence.

3. Look For Instances Of The Opposite –  I looked around to see if there was silence. Sure enough about twenty people, who were also running, weren’t making a peep (expect for the usual grunts and gasps).

4. Consider Too Much Of A Good Thing –  I asked myself if life only had the one thing I wanted (silence) and never anything else, how would it feel?  I thought that would kinda suck.  Silence forever sounds good for a moment, but about 3 days into it I suspect it becomes a major drag.

5. What Brings Balance? I asked myself what would bring balance to too much silence. A squeaky, ear warping voice may suit that situation.  And with that, all of a sudden, that signing wasn’t so bad after all.