As most of the things we do are mundane and repetitious, many people will say that their work is boring. In fact, any work can be boring to the person who has to do it more than once. “Fish!” is a book written by Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul and John Christensen to boost our morale and improve results at work. Here are the Fish Philosophy taken from the book for us to learn.

(1) Choose Your Attitude

There is always a choice about the way we do our work, even if there is no choice about the work itself. We can always choose the attitude we bring to our work.

• By choosing our attitude, we demonstrate a level of personal accountability and pro-activity.
• Choosing our attitude will bring ourselves to work and to love the work we do.
• Choosing our attitude will bring the best qualities to our work as this is the choice we have chosen.
• We can bring a moody attitude to work and have a depressing day.
• We can bring a grouchy attitude to work and irritate our customers.
• We can bring a sunny, playful, cheerful attitude to work and have a great day.
• We can always quit our job, but this might not be a smart thing to do given our responsibilities and other factors.
• Since we are going to work, we might as well have the best day we can have.

(2) Play

Have fun while we work is good as fun is energising. There are many benefits for us to play while we work.

• Fun leads to creativity.
• Having a good time is healthy.
• Happy people treat others well.
• Time passes quickly while we play.
• Work becomes a reward and not just a way to reward.
• Having fun at work creates an innovative and accountable working environment.

(3) Make Their Day

Try to engage our customers in ways that will create energy and goodwill. The benefits of making our customers their day are:

• It is good for the organisation.
• It will focus our attention and get us away from our problems.
• It is healthy, we will feel good, and will unleash even more energy.
• Serving our customers well will give us satisfaction.

(4) Be Present

Be present when we are with our customers. Talk to our customers as if they are our long lost friends.

• Be fully engage in our work.
• Don’t daydream while we are working.
• Interact with our customers when they are with us.
• Be committed to being fully present when discussing an issue.
• Be present when our customers and team members most need us.
• When we are present with others we show consideration for the other people.

Source: Fish! by Stephen C. Lundin, Ph.D., Harry Paul, and John Christensen. Published by Hyperion, USA.