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22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness
David ZingerHow not to be grumpy at work
(or in the rest of your life)
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
2
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness
grump·y •grəm-pē : easily annoyed or angered : having a bad temper or
complaining often : sulky, bad-tempered, crabby, ill-tempered, short-tempered,
crotchety, tetchy, testy.
This book was illustrated and designed by John Junson
Some people have told me that I’m grumpy;
it’s not something that I’m aware of. It’s not
like I walk around poking children in the eye...
not very small ones, anyway.
~Dylan Moran
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
3
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Why you should read this book
Because grumpiness is a downer for everyone, especially for
you. It is not an endearing trait. It sucks the energy and life
out of work. The 22 tips in this book will bring life back into
your work and wellbeing back into your life.
Reading Time for the Book = 9 minutes, 30 seconds.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
4
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Find your G-spots
Your G-spots are the spots, interactions,
thoughts and triggers that make you
grumpy. Perhaps it is being thwarted in
an action or maybe being snubbed or not
getting enough sleep. Catch your triggers
before they catch you and cause you to
sink into a grumpy funk.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
5
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Be mindful of
grumpiness
Grumpiness does something to you and
it also does something for you. What is
the benefit of being grumpy? What is the
source of being grumpy? Does getting to
the source of your grumpiness offer you
insight or perspective on constructive
actions you can take? Rather than being
triggered into grumpiness, use the
experience of being grumpy as a
trigger to take constructive action
to address the source.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
6
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Assume the best intentions
Before you create a negative melodrama at work
about what she said or what he did, start by
assuming the best intentions about the behavior of
others. Just because you start with good intentions
does not mean that you have to stay there but
begin with good intentions and ask questions or
hold a conversation to check out other people’s
behavior. Assuming best intentions will stop a
downward grumpy spiral and pave the pathway
to constructive action.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
7
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Pause for 90 seconds
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain researcher who studied her own
stroke from the inside out, suggested that the shelf life of an
emotion is 90 seconds. Yet many of us hold on to an emotion for
years, if not the rest of our lives. Give yourself 90 seconds from
the moment you feel grumpy before you act on that emotion.
Also know that you must feed your grumpiness every 90 seconds
to keep it alive. We feed it with fragments of tragic stories,
feelings of being wronged, and a multitude of tiny, almost
unconscious mechanisms, to keep being grumpy. If you remain
grumpy ninety seconds after the initial emotion it is essential to
ask yourself: “How am I feeding my grumpiness to keep it alive?”
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
8
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Drop your entitlement
You are not entitled. When you think
you are entitled and you do not receive
the expected entitlements it creates
grumpiness. I don’t care if you have been
working 30 years or you have a big office
or you are a new hire with exaggerated
expectations…drop the sense of
entitlement and watch your grumpy
meter fall.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
9
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Steer clear of
energy suckers
Grumpiness can be a staff infection.
Avoid Debbie Downer and Negative Nellie.
Who you hang out with can kindle and
ignite your grumpiness or add fuel to the
fire of your negative state. Ensure that
you don’t become one of those energy
suckers. When you are inflicted with the
grumpy staff infection, experience and
express it in isolation to lessen the
contamination to others.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
10
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Help someone else
Grumpiness tends to be a self-absorbed state of mind.
Get out of your self-focused shell and do something for
someone else, especially when you don’t feel like it.
Emotions and attitudes follow behavior so don’t
wait to feel altruistic to act altruistically. You will find
that your grumpiness is diminished after an act of
kindness.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
11
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Work with not for
We often feel useless when we believe we are at the bottom
of the pyramid. Our language around upper management,
front lines, and report up, create and sustain a sense of being
subservient. We are equal in our humanity within the
organization and there is no “real” up or down, top or bottom.
Stop believing that you work for someone or for an organization.
Make yourself a partner by knowing and acting in ways that
demonstrate that you work with others not for them.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
12
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Fixate for 15 minutes
Stop the internal chatter and external
negative behavior that swirls around being
grumpy. Find a task and work with full
focus on it for the next 15 minutes.
Set a timer, on your phone or watch, for 15
minutes. When the timer chimes after 15
minutes check back into your grumpiness.
You will be amazed how often it has
dissipated, if not disappeared.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
13
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Stop simplistic
characterizations
Avoid the miserable mental gymnastics
of seeing people as good guys, bad guys,
or helpless pawns. You are not a victim,
there are few real villains at work, and
stop pretending there is nothing you can
do about your situation, beyond feeling
grumpy and ranting incessantly about
how bad everything is.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
14
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Seize the moment
Ask yourself what you can do in the next
moment to stop being grumpy. You don’t
have to be happy just transition from
reverse into neutral.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
15
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Neutralize the neural
almond brothers
The amygdalae are two almond shaped parts of the brain that
are the source of emotion and drive. When you are grouchy the
amygdalae are running the brain. These “almond brothers” are
unreliable drivers for your work. Because the amygdalae is not
a language center you can remove them from the driver’s seat
by asking yourself a question. There are good questions and bad
questions. A bad question is: “What’s wrong with those people?”
A good question is: “How can I look at this differently to short
circuit my grouchiness?”
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
16
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Expect setbacks
Teresa Amabile, and her husband, Steven Kramer,
demonstrated that the biggest source of daily
disengagement is setbacks. We need to expect the
inevitability of setbacks while not sinking into grouchiness when they
occur. A setback does not in and of itself create upset. We can learn
from setbacks, we can experience the loss without getting grumpy, we
can bond with other, and resolve to keep going. Watch professional
tennis players like Serena Williams or Novak Djokvic bounce back
after a bad call or a double fault. It is inspiring to watch a figure
skater fall at the Olympics and get right back on her feet and land
a quad.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
17
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Grow out of a fixed mindset
The gestalt of grumpiness is based on mindset.
Carol Dweck encourages us to distinguish between
a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. Know that
being right all the time is wrong even if you are
right. In the fixed mindset, every situation calls for
a confirmation of your intelligence, personality, or
character. The growth mindset focuses on the
belief that you can change and grow through effort
and experience. To fix a grumpy mindset you need
to believe you can grow out of it.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
18
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
See what you can do
When my youngest son was an 8-year old hockey goalie, he aced the
idea of being neutral. He knew he would get scored on and it would
never bother him or be a source of post game grumpiness. I asked
him how he mentally prepared to go into the net before each game
and he told me he just said to himself, “I’ll see what I can do.” I loved
his statement; it was neutral, open, curious, and constructive.
Tomorrow when you go to work I encourage you to just go in to “see
what you can do.” Of course, watch out if someone shoots a puck at
you!
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
19
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Don’t let skeptical
become cynical
I like skeptics. They are the best people to conduct experiments. But
there is a fine line between being a healthy skeptic and a grumpy cynic. I
believe that a cynic is often locked into a negative view and is not open to
having their grouchy beliefs and declarations disputed. Here is the short
test to determine if you have moved from skeptic to cynic: Can you be
skeptical about your cynicism?
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
20
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Drop your security blanket
Being grouchy for an extended period begins to feel like a toxic
security blanket. It feels familiar and it may even feel safe. But what
this toxic security blanket often covers are your fears. Fear is one of
the primary causes of grumpiness. Do you fear being wrong,
being left behind, not belonging, unable to handle setbacks and
challenges, being successful, failing at your work, interacting with
someone in authority, or a host of other fears? It is helpful to
have a friend, family member, coach, or counsellor help you uncover
the fears masked by grumpiness. Dr. David Martin taught that the only
way to overcome a fear is to experience it while also feeling safe. The
safety found in a supportive relationship was the mechanism that
extinguished the fear.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
21
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Transform grumpiness
into engaged working
It takes a lot of energy to be grumpy. Unfortunately it is a
constant energy drain for yourself and others. Energy is the raw
material of employee engagement. If you let go of some of the
grumpiness you may be left with energy to engage more fully in your
work. This use of energy often results in an energy gain as opposed
to an energy drain and as you learn to fully engage in work you may
also fully experience how work makes us well.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
22
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Empathy cracks up grumpiness
Empathy is our ability to fully understand others. It is not an
expression of mushy emotion, it is the courage to leave our own views
and perspectives behind. For grumpy people, empathy is a rare
commodity. Empathy cracks the hard and brittle shell of grumpiness.
Leonard Cohen sang, “there is a crack, a crack in everything, that’s
how the light gets in.”
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
23
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Develop gritty, real and
authentic optimism
We confuse optimism with shallow positive think-
ing. Martin Seligman taught that optimists see bad
events, they are not naive and superficial thinkers.
After a bad event, rather than gravitate
towards grumpy, optimistic people view the
bad event as temporary, specific, and they
don’t blame themselves for what occurred.
They recover. They are resilient.
They bounce back. Embrace a sense of
impermanence after a bad event and you
move from grumpiness to equanimity.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
24
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Give yourself fully to one
grumpy day
Take one day a year to get fully into grumpiness.
Exaggerate it. Find and wear an Oscar the Grouch
costume and let your expressions of grumpiness
permeate each moment and every relationship. You
will find it a challenge to be grumpy all day as you
get exhausted continually cursing others and your
fate. You might see the humor of it. Those who
laugh can’t make grumpiness last. A Chinese
beatitude states: blessed are those who can
laugh at themselves they shall never cease
to be entertained.
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
25
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Other people will not avoid you by ducking into the
nearest cubicle when they spot you walking towards
them. You will have stronger relationships at work
and at home. Your team will be stronger and
accomplish more. You will look forward to work
with anticipation rather than dread. You will show
up to each moment with more energy, awareness,
connection, and caring. You won’t bring the
nastiness of work home with you.
Realize the benefits of being
grumpy free
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
26
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
Let your harrumph become a heartfelt hurrah. If you
choose to dwell in grumpiness know that you will never
fully experience the possibility that work can make you
well. When you decide to stop being grumpy you will
experience more space in your life for real joy, happiness,
and well-being. Bad does not have to trump good when we
master the 22 tools to overcome grumpiness. Overcoming
grumpiness will transform your last harrumph into your
first hurrah!
The last harrumph
Now you’re ready to make the journey from harrumph to hurrah!
The
Employee
Engagement
Network
27
22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger
David Zinger is an employee engagement speaker and
expert from Canada who works around the world on
leadership, management, engagement, well-being, and
work. He has encountered many grumpy people during
his sixty years. David is firm in his resolve to not become
a grumpy old man while also helping others use the 22
tools to overcome their downward fall into grumpiness.
If you would like David’s assistance on employee engagement,
engaged well-being or overcoming grumpiness contact him at:
david@davidzinger.com
Phone: 204 254 2130
Website: www.davidzinger.com
This book was designed and illustrated by John Junson
jbjunson@gmail.com

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22 tools to overcome grumpiness book

  • 1. 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness David ZingerHow not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life)
  • 2. The Employee Engagement Network 2 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness grump·y •grəm-pē : easily annoyed or angered : having a bad temper or complaining often : sulky, bad-tempered, crabby, ill-tempered, short-tempered, crotchety, tetchy, testy. This book was illustrated and designed by John Junson Some people have told me that I’m grumpy; it’s not something that I’m aware of. It’s not like I walk around poking children in the eye... not very small ones, anyway. ~Dylan Moran
  • 3. The Employee Engagement Network 3 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Why you should read this book Because grumpiness is a downer for everyone, especially for you. It is not an endearing trait. It sucks the energy and life out of work. The 22 tips in this book will bring life back into your work and wellbeing back into your life. Reading Time for the Book = 9 minutes, 30 seconds.
  • 4. The Employee Engagement Network 4 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Find your G-spots Your G-spots are the spots, interactions, thoughts and triggers that make you grumpy. Perhaps it is being thwarted in an action or maybe being snubbed or not getting enough sleep. Catch your triggers before they catch you and cause you to sink into a grumpy funk.
  • 5. The Employee Engagement Network 5 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Be mindful of grumpiness Grumpiness does something to you and it also does something for you. What is the benefit of being grumpy? What is the source of being grumpy? Does getting to the source of your grumpiness offer you insight or perspective on constructive actions you can take? Rather than being triggered into grumpiness, use the experience of being grumpy as a trigger to take constructive action to address the source.
  • 6. The Employee Engagement Network 6 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Assume the best intentions Before you create a negative melodrama at work about what she said or what he did, start by assuming the best intentions about the behavior of others. Just because you start with good intentions does not mean that you have to stay there but begin with good intentions and ask questions or hold a conversation to check out other people’s behavior. Assuming best intentions will stop a downward grumpy spiral and pave the pathway to constructive action.
  • 7. The Employee Engagement Network 7 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Pause for 90 seconds Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain researcher who studied her own stroke from the inside out, suggested that the shelf life of an emotion is 90 seconds. Yet many of us hold on to an emotion for years, if not the rest of our lives. Give yourself 90 seconds from the moment you feel grumpy before you act on that emotion. Also know that you must feed your grumpiness every 90 seconds to keep it alive. We feed it with fragments of tragic stories, feelings of being wronged, and a multitude of tiny, almost unconscious mechanisms, to keep being grumpy. If you remain grumpy ninety seconds after the initial emotion it is essential to ask yourself: “How am I feeding my grumpiness to keep it alive?”
  • 8. The Employee Engagement Network 8 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Drop your entitlement You are not entitled. When you think you are entitled and you do not receive the expected entitlements it creates grumpiness. I don’t care if you have been working 30 years or you have a big office or you are a new hire with exaggerated expectations…drop the sense of entitlement and watch your grumpy meter fall.
  • 9. The Employee Engagement Network 9 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Steer clear of energy suckers Grumpiness can be a staff infection. Avoid Debbie Downer and Negative Nellie. Who you hang out with can kindle and ignite your grumpiness or add fuel to the fire of your negative state. Ensure that you don’t become one of those energy suckers. When you are inflicted with the grumpy staff infection, experience and express it in isolation to lessen the contamination to others.
  • 10. The Employee Engagement Network 10 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Help someone else Grumpiness tends to be a self-absorbed state of mind. Get out of your self-focused shell and do something for someone else, especially when you don’t feel like it. Emotions and attitudes follow behavior so don’t wait to feel altruistic to act altruistically. You will find that your grumpiness is diminished after an act of kindness.
  • 11. The Employee Engagement Network 11 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Work with not for We often feel useless when we believe we are at the bottom of the pyramid. Our language around upper management, front lines, and report up, create and sustain a sense of being subservient. We are equal in our humanity within the organization and there is no “real” up or down, top or bottom. Stop believing that you work for someone or for an organization. Make yourself a partner by knowing and acting in ways that demonstrate that you work with others not for them.
  • 12. The Employee Engagement Network 12 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Fixate for 15 minutes Stop the internal chatter and external negative behavior that swirls around being grumpy. Find a task and work with full focus on it for the next 15 minutes. Set a timer, on your phone or watch, for 15 minutes. When the timer chimes after 15 minutes check back into your grumpiness. You will be amazed how often it has dissipated, if not disappeared.
  • 13. The Employee Engagement Network 13 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Stop simplistic characterizations Avoid the miserable mental gymnastics of seeing people as good guys, bad guys, or helpless pawns. You are not a victim, there are few real villains at work, and stop pretending there is nothing you can do about your situation, beyond feeling grumpy and ranting incessantly about how bad everything is.
  • 14. The Employee Engagement Network 14 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Seize the moment Ask yourself what you can do in the next moment to stop being grumpy. You don’t have to be happy just transition from reverse into neutral.
  • 15. The Employee Engagement Network 15 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Neutralize the neural almond brothers The amygdalae are two almond shaped parts of the brain that are the source of emotion and drive. When you are grouchy the amygdalae are running the brain. These “almond brothers” are unreliable drivers for your work. Because the amygdalae is not a language center you can remove them from the driver’s seat by asking yourself a question. There are good questions and bad questions. A bad question is: “What’s wrong with those people?” A good question is: “How can I look at this differently to short circuit my grouchiness?”
  • 16. The Employee Engagement Network 16 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Expect setbacks Teresa Amabile, and her husband, Steven Kramer, demonstrated that the biggest source of daily disengagement is setbacks. We need to expect the inevitability of setbacks while not sinking into grouchiness when they occur. A setback does not in and of itself create upset. We can learn from setbacks, we can experience the loss without getting grumpy, we can bond with other, and resolve to keep going. Watch professional tennis players like Serena Williams or Novak Djokvic bounce back after a bad call or a double fault. It is inspiring to watch a figure skater fall at the Olympics and get right back on her feet and land a quad.
  • 17. The Employee Engagement Network 17 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Grow out of a fixed mindset The gestalt of grumpiness is based on mindset. Carol Dweck encourages us to distinguish between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. Know that being right all the time is wrong even if you are right. In the fixed mindset, every situation calls for a confirmation of your intelligence, personality, or character. The growth mindset focuses on the belief that you can change and grow through effort and experience. To fix a grumpy mindset you need to believe you can grow out of it.
  • 18. The Employee Engagement Network 18 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger See what you can do When my youngest son was an 8-year old hockey goalie, he aced the idea of being neutral. He knew he would get scored on and it would never bother him or be a source of post game grumpiness. I asked him how he mentally prepared to go into the net before each game and he told me he just said to himself, “I’ll see what I can do.” I loved his statement; it was neutral, open, curious, and constructive. Tomorrow when you go to work I encourage you to just go in to “see what you can do.” Of course, watch out if someone shoots a puck at you!
  • 19. The Employee Engagement Network 19 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Don’t let skeptical become cynical I like skeptics. They are the best people to conduct experiments. But there is a fine line between being a healthy skeptic and a grumpy cynic. I believe that a cynic is often locked into a negative view and is not open to having their grouchy beliefs and declarations disputed. Here is the short test to determine if you have moved from skeptic to cynic: Can you be skeptical about your cynicism?
  • 20. The Employee Engagement Network 20 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Drop your security blanket Being grouchy for an extended period begins to feel like a toxic security blanket. It feels familiar and it may even feel safe. But what this toxic security blanket often covers are your fears. Fear is one of the primary causes of grumpiness. Do you fear being wrong, being left behind, not belonging, unable to handle setbacks and challenges, being successful, failing at your work, interacting with someone in authority, or a host of other fears? It is helpful to have a friend, family member, coach, or counsellor help you uncover the fears masked by grumpiness. Dr. David Martin taught that the only way to overcome a fear is to experience it while also feeling safe. The safety found in a supportive relationship was the mechanism that extinguished the fear.
  • 21. The Employee Engagement Network 21 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Transform grumpiness into engaged working It takes a lot of energy to be grumpy. Unfortunately it is a constant energy drain for yourself and others. Energy is the raw material of employee engagement. If you let go of some of the grumpiness you may be left with energy to engage more fully in your work. This use of energy often results in an energy gain as opposed to an energy drain and as you learn to fully engage in work you may also fully experience how work makes us well.
  • 22. The Employee Engagement Network 22 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Empathy cracks up grumpiness Empathy is our ability to fully understand others. It is not an expression of mushy emotion, it is the courage to leave our own views and perspectives behind. For grumpy people, empathy is a rare commodity. Empathy cracks the hard and brittle shell of grumpiness. Leonard Cohen sang, “there is a crack, a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”
  • 23. The Employee Engagement Network 23 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Develop gritty, real and authentic optimism We confuse optimism with shallow positive think- ing. Martin Seligman taught that optimists see bad events, they are not naive and superficial thinkers. After a bad event, rather than gravitate towards grumpy, optimistic people view the bad event as temporary, specific, and they don’t blame themselves for what occurred. They recover. They are resilient. They bounce back. Embrace a sense of impermanence after a bad event and you move from grumpiness to equanimity.
  • 24. The Employee Engagement Network 24 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Give yourself fully to one grumpy day Take one day a year to get fully into grumpiness. Exaggerate it. Find and wear an Oscar the Grouch costume and let your expressions of grumpiness permeate each moment and every relationship. You will find it a challenge to be grumpy all day as you get exhausted continually cursing others and your fate. You might see the humor of it. Those who laugh can’t make grumpiness last. A Chinese beatitude states: blessed are those who can laugh at themselves they shall never cease to be entertained.
  • 25. The Employee Engagement Network 25 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Other people will not avoid you by ducking into the nearest cubicle when they spot you walking towards them. You will have stronger relationships at work and at home. Your team will be stronger and accomplish more. You will look forward to work with anticipation rather than dread. You will show up to each moment with more energy, awareness, connection, and caring. You won’t bring the nastiness of work home with you. Realize the benefits of being grumpy free
  • 26. The Employee Engagement Network 26 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger Let your harrumph become a heartfelt hurrah. If you choose to dwell in grumpiness know that you will never fully experience the possibility that work can make you well. When you decide to stop being grumpy you will experience more space in your life for real joy, happiness, and well-being. Bad does not have to trump good when we master the 22 tools to overcome grumpiness. Overcoming grumpiness will transform your last harrumph into your first hurrah! The last harrumph Now you’re ready to make the journey from harrumph to hurrah!
  • 27. The Employee Engagement Network 27 22 Tools to Overcome Grumpiness - How not to be grumpy at work (or in the rest of your life) by David Zinger David Zinger is an employee engagement speaker and expert from Canada who works around the world on leadership, management, engagement, well-being, and work. He has encountered many grumpy people during his sixty years. David is firm in his resolve to not become a grumpy old man while also helping others use the 22 tools to overcome their downward fall into grumpiness. If you would like David’s assistance on employee engagement, engaged well-being or overcoming grumpiness contact him at: david@davidzinger.com Phone: 204 254 2130 Website: www.davidzinger.com This book was designed and illustrated by John Junson jbjunson@gmail.com