Today, in our monthly team meeting, Kim Berube, Milady’s Marketing Manager gave our team an update on the recent AACS event in Washington D.C.  She shared the story of an attendee who had told her that it was always so nice to see the Milady team because they always seemed so happy, positive and fun.

Kim continued explaining that she has recently seen a quote by former First Lady Barbara Bush.   Mrs. Bush was quoted as saying “You have two choices in life:  You can like what you do, or you can dislike it.  I have chosen to like it.”

Kim told the team that she felt the reason we always seem so happy is that we all like what we do!  And it is so true.  We have a full team of individuals who like what they do.  Sure, we get stressed, we deal with deadlines and sometimes things don’t always go the way we want, but at the end of the day, everyone on the team makes a choice to like what they are doing.

I think everyone in the school business can relate. We really like what we do, but some days can be downright stressful.  We have accreditation issues, financial issues, student behavioral problems, satisfactory progress problems, cell phone problems and the list could go on and on.   And too often we let these challenges set our mood for the day.

So, I would like to challenge you to try something.  Each day as you first arrive at school, before the stress of the day gets you down, do something that reminds you of how much you love what you do.  Make a choice!

• Greet every student at the door and tell them how happy you are to see them today!
• Have an upbeat, high energy song blasting through the school and encourage everyone to join in singing and dancing.
• Have a motivational quote written in the classroom to review first, ask them what that quote means to them.
• Find an inspirational video on YouTube and start class with the video.
• Have everyone take five minutes and look through social media sites for something awesome to share with the class from an industry icon.

If you start your day reminding yourself and others why you love what you do, it sets the tone for the day.  And this will become contagious.  As the staff of the school starts to share more and more with the students about how much they like what they do, students, in turn, might start doing the same.  Can you imagine how great your school atmosphere will be if each day staff and students alike make a choice that day to do what they like?  How fun would it be to work there?