BE CONTAGIOUS--IN A POSITIVE WAY

Your boasting is not good.  Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? (I Corinthians 5:6).

I found another article in the 4-13 issue of Psychology Today by Ron Friedman called Motivation is Contagious that I thought was important.  Essentially the article speaks about how motivation is contagious--both positively and negatively.  University of Rochester research has shown that when highly motivated employees are grouped with lesser motivated employees the performance of all the employees was enhanced.  It also worked the other way as well.  When an employee was paired with a less motivated employee, "their inspiration dwindled and their performance dropped, too."  When participants in the study were asked if they had been influenced by the other person they said, 'absolutely not.'  They did not personally recognize an influence of the other on their own performance.

There are some lessons here: 1. Though you may not have a choice in a tough job market, choose to work around the most positive people you can because the people you work around have a huge effect on you.  2.  Be the one who is positively contagious.  Sometimes we don't have the choice, we have to have a job.  Determine to be positive, put on a happy face, to look for the good in every desperate situation because, for the Christian, God works together for good in everything for those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose (See Romans 8:28).  3. We do not recognize how others are affecting us, that is why we need to hang around the most positive person there is, Jesus Christ.  Praise, prayer, reading the Word, the Lord's Supper celebration, intentional fellowship with the most positive people, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Our Father's Blessings,
Tom