We recommend people take a bit of time to ‘register’ how they are feeling while at work.

 

We keep things simple with our 1st rule: there are only two types of feelings – good feelings and bad feelings. Good feelings are positive…Plus. Bad feelings are negative…Minus. Often, that’s all a person needs to consider: do I feel good or do I feel bad?

 

Of course, every person wants to spend more time feeling good and less time feeling bad…everybody wants that! 

 

But…how do we do that?

 

The first step is to attend to our feelings…register them…and measure them.

 

We use a Minus10-to-Plus10 Scale to measure feelings.

 

The worst bad [Minus] feelings such as terror and hatred score Minus10, or very close to it. The best good [Plus] feelings such as passion and utter joy score Plus10, or very close to it.

 

A number of experts, psychologists and self-development gurus, have described and ranked ‘feelings’…so, you can use their descriptions and rankings or you can generate your own.

 

Here is an example of how you could go about generating your own measurement scale…

 

I get a kick out of listening to Eckhart Tolle. He is a crusader for ‘living in the now’. I like to describe ‘living in the now’ or ‘being present’ this way: ‘being present’ is experiencing the present moment rather than using the present moment to agonize over past things or worry about future things.

 

Eckhart Tolle talks about the modalities of ‘being present’, they are:

 

0-4      Acceptance
5-7      Enjoyment
8-10    Enthusiasm

 

I am thinking of adopting these ‘modalities’ as the next layer of detail in our Minus10-to-Plus10 Scale. I will quickly describe what I mean when I say ‘the next layer of detail’:

 

Layer 1: people will do better at business if they take the time to measure their feelings

 

Layer 2: the 1st rule – there are 2 types of feelings: good [Plus] feelings and bad [Minus] feelings

 

Layer 3: you can use our Minus10-to-Plus10 Scale as a tool for measuring your feelings

 

Layer 4: you could adopt, with a slight adjustment, Eckhart Tolle’s modality descriptions and use them as the 3 major types of good [Plus] feelings:

 

If you do this then your Minus10-to-Plus10 Scale would contain:

 

Plus1–Plus4 “Acceptance”…while I cannot say I am enjoying this task, I feel this work serves a useful purpose…I am heading in the right direction

 

Plus5–Plus7 “Enjoyment”…this task is pleasant…it aligns with my talents and strengths

 

Plus8–Plus10 “Enthusiasm”…this task really turns my crank

 

 

We are talking about your feelings. We understand the huge significance of this topic. Here, in this Thought Post, we are offering suggestions. You can choose whatever scale, descriptions, and rankings you want…we are not trying to direct those choices. We are illustrating suggestions. Our major message is: we recommend people take note of and measure how they feel while they are doing various tasks at work…and we recommend measurement of people’s overall feelings about work. Is work a Plus in their life…or a Minus? Are changes-for-the-better required?