be enthusiastic

It’s not always easy to be cheerful and enthusiastic, but I’ve come face-to-face with what happens when you become a Sad Sack.

There’s a guy I know in town who I’ve always liked. He’s smarter than a lot of people in this business, and he works for a competing company, but he’s always dragging. Maybe I feel sorry for him.

Anyway, when I mentioned this guy to my new boss, she called him an “Eeyore” and said she’d never hire him because of his attitude.

I ran into the guy this morning and we talked about my new job. He said he was hoping some of the people who’ve jumped from his company to my new company would help get him a job here, but they “let me down,” he said. I didn’t have the heart to tell him it wasn’t his friends who’ve abandoned him, but the boss here just doesn’t like his attitude.

It just reinforced in me the need to be enthusiastic about what I do. And I consider myself very lucky that I am very enthusiastic about this new job. I’d been with my previous employer for 14 years, and I could do that job in my sleep. Some might say I was. I’m very grateful for this new opportunity, and want to make sure I show it.

A few months ago my boss asked me to move my desk from a remote corner of the office to an empty space in a cubicle group with 7 other people. I wasn’t really sure it would be a good thing, if for no other reason that I couldn’t play around on the internet and places like 43Things as much.

(Moving ended up being something of a non-factor in my 43T time, because right about then the company put in a proxy server that logs where you surf. And not that there’s anything wrong with 43T, but the amount of time I was spending here would have upset my bosses if they knew.)

I’m really starting to enjoy my new work home and the people I sit with (with one minor exception) . All but one of them are at least a decade younger than me, and I’ve had a lot of fun being a bit of a mentor and teacher.