Tell me if this sounds familiar:

You show up to work with your lunch and ambitions of a smooth, stress-free day. You start to make your way to the kitchen and before you even get the chance to play fridge Tetris with your lunch, you’ve already identified a bunch of fires that need to be put out (metaphorically I hope). Your tasty ambitions from 2 minutes ago… crushed. Your morale… shrinking rapidly. Your lunch… jammed into place so when the next person opens the fridge – POP – they get a Jack-In-The-Box surprise and your lunch will most likely be leaking, squished or mistakenly stolen.

Deep breaths…

You’re not alone. In fact, you’re probably in the majority!

Often when times are tough, I find solace and motivation from inspirational figures. After all, they’ve faced adversity, struggles and challenges just like you and me.

Let’s take a look at some lessons Property Managers could apply to their daily grind that will hopefully help. If nothing else it’s fun to tie these things together, feel free to comment if you have some other lessons learned from famous figures.

We’ll start deep, and end with the comical. Ready? Here we go!

Lesson 1:

“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.  Happiness never decreases by being shared.” – Buddha

There is a lot to digest there, but the biggest take-away is obvious. Happiness is contagious!

Look for ways to improve your work environment simply by a shift in attitude. Granted, you can’t please everyone all the time, but I bet you’ll start to feel better and you’ll notice people around you joining in as well.

Your Happiness = Tenant Happiness = Management Happiness

Lesson 2:

“Computers are useless. They only give you answers.” – Pablo Picasso

Very true, it’s up to US to ask the right questions and utilize them properly!

How can I best utilize technology to make my daily work tasks easier? What technology solutions can be used by building operations employees and tenants alike (Hint: I hear Building Engines does this…)? Am I overusing technology in certain areas?  Am I getting the most out of the technology I have?

If you’re like me, you have a slew of tools to use, but I find myself using the same ones repeatedly. I’m all for new technology, but I want to make sure it will make things less complicated for myself and anyone else it may impact.

Lesson 3:

“The status quo sucks.” – George Carlin

I filtered through endless quotes about challenging the status quo and I kept coming back to this gem from George Carlin. It encapsulates what he stood for and resulted in some amazing comedy. The point: don’t be afraid to be different and think independently. Your parents, teachers, peers and mentors have taught you many valuable lessons that you apply on a daily basis, but it is up to you to pave your own path.

Tomorrow is a new day, try applying some of these lessons and see if you find a happier you!

[Tip] Put your lunch in one of the produce drawers, an often forgotten section of the work fridge.