Nat

We flew to Phoenix on Southwest Airlines yesterday, and it’s the first flight I’ve had in 3 months that didn’t involve a lengthy delay in the airport or on the ground. They run an outstanding business, and it’s largely because their customer service is so good.

For example, the plane was oversold, and as airlines do, they worked hard to convince passengers with seats to volunteer to take a later plane in exchange for a small travel voucher and a hotel. It is not a very generous offer for most people, and they had no takers. But the gate agents handled it very well. Mostly one young man joked his way through the many reasons anyone should be glad to take the deal. “Does anyone like to visit their family at Christmas?” he asked at one point, and that led to several good reasons to take travel vouchers. Ultimately a few people took the deal, but I don’t think the appeal was any more successful than airlines usually are in that circumstance.

What struck me most–and it always does on Southwest–is that the staff handles everything with as much humor as possible. And this attitude is very contagious, invariably carrying over to the passengers, who took it very well on a 6-hour flight with every seat full. Children laughed and played with their parents. Strangers swapped stories.

We should all learn from this how much better everything is when we make an effort to enjoy the mundane routines and activities we pursue.

I have two entire weeks in the office for the first time in two months. What a blessing and a relief it is to sit at my desk and pull together work that I promised customers.

I’ve always loved the feeling of completing tasks, but I always have so many things to do that I can go for weeks and not finish anything of consequence. At the moment my job allows me some freedom to prioritize, and my boss is very patient about reviewing my priorities with me.

This week I’ve been sending out emails, presentations, outlines, and other recommendations, and it’s true what your mother tells you, “Everyone loves it when you finish something you promised to do.” Simple to know, hard to pull off, at least for me.

So I’m proud I’ve been working on this and look forward to building on the habit. Just do something, almost anything. It fulfills that old law of physics, “Objects at rest tend to stay at rest. Objects in motion tend to stay in motion.” Whee.

This week I received several compliments at the office, including one from my boss’s boss. I’m fortunate that my boss is often complimentary, in fact, she goes out of her way to make me feel appreciated.

I should be beyond compliments by now, should be capable of judging my own efforts and achievement. Still, a sincere compliment is a gift. It makes you feel noticed and appreciated, and these states of mind help you perform with joy and purpose.

Naturally, if this is how compliments make you feel, think how easy it is to pay some yourself and to pass that feeling along to others whom you admire. My sister and I had a babysitter when we were young, Mary Allen. Mary loved to say, “You’re so smart.” That was her highest praise.

Try that tomorrow. Tell someone they’re smart. Watch them smile.

Flo has a great post on “before and after” today. Like her, I love the whole concept of before and after.

I had a before and after experience today, and it reminded me of a simple lesson I enjoy learning over and over. I had a day without meetings. As crazy as that sounds, it’s tremendously rare for me. So I stayed in my office working all day long. I love my office. It’s the perfect size, like a really big library study carrel. There’s a nice L-shaped desk with a computer in the corner, and there’s a little table where I can sit and read if I need a break from the computer.

I’ve had a simple writing assignment hanging over me for weeks, so I put on my iPod and pounded it out. It took several hours, but I was pleased with the outcome, and I got to cross it off my list.

So, before and after. This morning the assignment was on my to do list for the 63rd day in a row. This afternoon, it was crossed off.

In the car on the way home, I felt peaceful and ecstatic, all at once. It really made me happy.

What’s your before and after?

So I’ve been listening to another tape, the point of which is that when you are in a state of “flow” you realize that you can perform at the highest level. It’s a combination of joy, concentration, and self-confidence.

I’ve been in that state before, sometimes when writing, sometimes when skiing, rarely at work. That’s my ambition for this year: to be in a flow state while working much of the time. It starts with spending longer chunks of time concentrating on one task. I tend to move around a lot, to break up the day into lots of small periods of work.

The most productive workers, I’ve read recently, spend longer periods on fewer tasks, and I see that among some of my peers. I’ve tried closing the door. I need to try shutting the email program.

Isolation can breed concentration. Seems pretty simple. How do you manage it?

Today I made my first customer presentation in a new job, and it was a fantastic experience. My colleagues spent a lot of time giving me background on the customer and the purpose of the discussion, and they stayed late at the office last night to rehearse with me for 2 hours. Then one of them took me to a great dinner at the chain Asian restaurant Big Bowl, which has fantastic pot stickers and home made ginger ale.

The presentation this morning was the kind I really like, a group around a table sharing a conversation. The talking flowed naturally out of the presentation that my colleague and I gave. I’ve always loved public speaking, and it’s great to have the chance to take an experience you already enjoy and apply it to a new situation.

I feel fortunate (blessed really) today to have this new job. Challenging work makes the day seem worthwhile. It gives us a sense of purpose.

I’m finding it hard not to be trite the last few days. Fatigue makes me timid.

So here’s the challenge: how to share enough from my experience to help others find greater happiness when there are days I am not happy. Two years ago, Michael and I started talking about how to be happier. Naturally, there are systems people hold out to you as a path to happiness. There are also activities like meditation, prayer, service to others. They bring you a sense of purpose and well being.

What we promise is honesty. We will tell you what we try and what works, and we will look for help from other sources.

Tonight I had a great time at dinner with some friends from work. It was simple fun. A little rehash of the day’s events and some story telling. I’m a fan of appreciating the good things that happen to me. Tonight it was remembering how much I enjoy the company of my coworkers.

What does this have to do with determination? Just that last night I wasn’t thinking beyond the burden of driving late night through a snow storm to get to my hotel. Tonight I was sitting with friends in a warm restaurant. I just needed to hang in there for a few hours while things took a turn for the better.

It was worth the wait.