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Monday, August 9, 2021
VĚSTNÍK
From the Desk of SPJST Vice President Delisle L. Doherty
It’s Your Life
The Power of Positivity The last year and a half has been very challenging for many of us. This pandemic has caused us to make many life changes. We were stuck inside for a long time; we were told what we can do and what we can’t do. Some of us lost our jobs and struggled with our health and the health of friends and families. Our married life was tested. Our children and grandchildren were struggling without their friends. Everything changed, and with that, our attitudes started changing, too. It became all too easy to focus on the negative and forget about all the positives around us. “I can’t do this” . . . “They won’t let me do that.” . . . “I shouldn’t go there.” . . . “It wouldn’t be right to do this.” . . . “I couldn’t get this done.” All these “not” words created an environment where we looked at the negative first. The negative became a pandemic in itself. Each one of us started feeding off the other’s negative, and soon we forgot how fortunate we really are. If you spend your time looking at the negatives, after a while, you will look for the negatives. Look at the positives, and you find yourself looking for the positives. During this pandemic, I realized how blessed I really am. 1. I have lost friends to the Covid, but I had those friends in the first place. 2. If you lost relatives to Covid, cherish the times you had with them not the time without them. 3. When everything was locked down, I could still talk to my relatives through Zoom or phone and email. I still have my voice to talk to them and my ears to listen to them.
4. I have a wife to worry about. 5. I have children that worry about me. 6. I have grandchildren who are happy to see me. 7. I get up every morning and put two feet on the floor. 8. My son-in-law lost his job, but he still had a wife and kids to wake up to and a family to support him. 9. I get to see the sun, feel the rain, hear the thunder, and smell the flowers. 10. If I lost my job today, my life would still be good. I will still have my life, God, family, and friends. They are still there, even if the job isn’t. The negative can be just as debilitating as a disease. The positive can be just as therapeutic as a prescription. Wake up every morning and thank God you are about to experience life - good or bad, you have a life to experience. When I took this position, I took it knowing there is nothing I had to do to make my money, except to show up every day. My job was secure. It didn’t matter if I did a bad job; it was still secure. I listened to committee after committee telling us how bad everything is . . . telling us to cut this, cut that, take this away, take that away. I saw a team of people looking for the negative and finding it. I didn’t fall into that trap. My job is to look at the 360-degree view. I know if we look at the positive, we can make the moves to eliminate the negative. It’s never about cutting expenses. It’s about the cost to cut that expense. It doesn’t help to save $5,000 if it costs $6,000 to do it. But if we can make shifts in efficiency, that allows us to make $10,000 when we make that $5,000 cut, it becomes a positive. If
we have to spend a million dollars to get a system that will help us save $500,000 and make $2 million at the same time, then that is a positive. It’s time to leave the negative behind and focus on the power of positivity. Every move we have made this year has been for the positive. If we saw negative effects, we stopped. Every move has one question attached—how does it affect the 360degree view? If it’s positive, we move forward. As we go into the 33rd Convention this week, and SPJST starts to enter a new era, let’s focus on the positive. If you are reading this article, you know I believe we should leave the past in the past and move forward. We move forward by looking for the positive. SPJST is as strong as ever. We are improving our systems - not to spend money - but to bring value and growth. Every dollar spent is being looked at for the value it can bring. Nothing is being spent just to spend. We are looking to change our governance to make the leaders accountable. Today, I can kick my feet up on the desk and do nothing and still have my job (until you vote me out). I am confident that next month, you will not allow me to do that. And, that is a good thing. Some think this governance is taking away their control over the leadership. That’s looking at the negative. Looking at the positive, it is giving you more con-
trol. If I’m doing a bad job, you can get the District Directors to make the President/CEO act to eliminate me and get someone in before I create bigger problems. You don’t have to wait four years to vote me out. Do you know how much damage a person can do in four years if they are not qualified? And at the same time, you are paying them to mess up the system. I like job security, but I am okay with someone holding me accountable. If you see the positive, you will see good things coming. If you see good things coming, you will see more positive. It’s time to leave the negative behind with COVID-19 and start looking for the positive. I look forward to the Convention and the new era of positivity. Some people say the glass is half full; some say it’s half empty. I say, “I feel blessed there is something in the glass.” My door is always open, figuratively and literally. Always be blessed! Delisle L. Doherty 832-232-2049 Note: This article is the opinion of Delisle L. Doherty and does not necessarily reflect those of the officers and directors (although I think it does). —SPJST—
