Friday, June 19, 2015

HELLO: Bookshelf Finds - FISH!

Hi all! Hope you all have been doing well. I've dedicated myself to do some summer reading, like I've always been telling myself. I decided to just browse the little collection that I had and went from there. Fish! is a great book that lifts your spirit and gets you all energize on not just your job but your life. Written by Stephen C. Lundin, Ph.D., Harry Paul, and John Christensen, it has sold more than 2 million copies and I'm sure it's still counting!


I was actually given this book by an advisor of mine from my Ambassador organization because our organization uses a lot of their ideology and
positive examples when we give tours to perspective students, parents, and school groups.

Fish! is an amazing book if you're looking to boost morale in your organization, workplace, team or just life itself. Have you heard of the FISH Philosophy? It goes like this:

Choose your attitude, play, make their day, and be present.

Choose your attitude:

You can choose to be angry, bitter, and sad or you can choose to be happy, energetic, and supportive. Even if someone did cause you to be late, cut you off in traffic, gave you a hard time, you have the power to choose how you feel, right? It's all about how you choose your attitude. I love this section in  the book where I believe it's a valuable example:

   Steve raised his hand. When Mary Jane nodded to him, he said, "Suppose I'm driving my car and some idiot cuts me off in traffic. That causes me to get upset and I may honk or even make gesture, if you know what I mean, What's with the choice thing? I didn't do it; it was done to me. I didn't have a choice."
   "Let me ask you something, Steve. If you were in a tough part of town, would you have used that gesture?"
   Steve smile. "No way! You can get hurt doing that."
   "So you can choose your response in a tough part of town, but you have no choice in the suburbs?...You couldn't have asked a better question, Steve. We can't control the way other people drive, but we can control how we respond."

Play:

If fish guys can have fun selling fish, we can too! Whatever you do, put some fun in it. Bring life and energy. If you're going to work where you are now, why not make it enjoyable? You know that quote, "Do what you love, love what you do." Don't love it? Then change it. Remember you have the attitude and you can choose it. Trust me, positive vibes are contagious. If you're in a good mood, it'll catch on to everyone else.

I love what the book list on the benefits of "Play" and how to implement it. I'll list a few:

   "Benefits of Play: happy people treat others well, fun leads to creativity, work becomes a reward and not just a way to rewards.
   "Implementing Play: start a joke-of-the-month contest, add more color and make the environment more interesting, a designated creativity area called the Sand Box."

Make their day:

When you engage with others, you create positive energy and goodwill. Not only will they have fun, but you'll have fun as well. When I was an Ambassador, I even get the quite ones to eventually talk to me by the end of the tour. Making people laugh is always a great connection! The best thing I love the most are when I have a student stopping me in the hallway, remembering me as their tour guide or being helpful at their Open House. I love that feeling knowing that I helped them made a big decision in their life to select what college to go to. It definitely makes my day.

Be present:

Be aware of your now situation and life. Many great stories were shared in the book. A story I'll share is about how a father lost his relationship with his daughter because he was too focused on work. She eventually grew up and didn't want to do the things she wanted to do when she was younger, such as going to the park. He knows he can't change the past but now he's dedicated himself to be there more for his family. "Being present helped him recover something he wasn't aware he'd lost." Be fully present, look around, and interact. Here's another famous quote that I'm sure all of you have heard:
   "The past is history,
   The future is a mystery,
   Today is a gift,
   That is why we call it the present."

That's all I have for you, folks! Thanks for reading! Let me know on your thoughts and what you thought about this book. It's such an inspirational book and its message can be transcend in so many ways. If you have never read it yet, go read it!

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