Freaking real estate agents.
Renting a house means dealing with these devils. When I did so, recently, things got bad. The agent changed the contract from 6 to 12 months and then said I signed for 12.
They wouldn’t answer their phone so I couldn’t get the keys. They wouldn’t respond to any maintenance requests for big things like the garage door not closing. As the weeks went on a foul mood built up.
One Wednesday I flipped out.
I googled the landlord. I found out where she worked. I tried to get through. No luck. So I guessed her email address.
I got it right. I emailed. No response. But the out of office had her bosses’ contact details, so I emailed him. Minutes later the landlord calls. I tell her.
Things get crazy. Words are said. Legal terms get thrown around. I become the hammer looking for a nail to smash.
Within 48 hours everything gets fixed. But I had to ruin my mood and go without sleep for days because of it. When I’m in a foul mood, I leave a trail of devastation that takes years to repair.
Managing your mood is one of the most important life skills.
Why bother to improve your mood?
Investor Anthony Pompliano says “Consistently being in a good mood is a competitive advantage in life.”
People that are in a good mood are irresistible because it’s so rare.
We want to be around them because we hope some of their good vibes rub off on us. Often, the attraction is unconscious and we don’t even know we’re secretly searching for a person in a killer mood.
What’s rare becomes an unfair advantage. Manifesting good moods at will can make you unstoppable.
A mood is a decision. Quit blaming external factors.
The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood — Voltaire
Most people blame their bad mood on an event or person, but that’s lazy. We are in control of how we act. And how we act creates our mood.
If we act like an angry troll we’re going to feel enraged by every little thing. No doubt a bad mood will follow.
The trick is to own your mood. Decide to be in a good mood, even if you’re outside in a freshly ironed suit and it’s pissing down rain all over it.
If you outsource your mood, you won’t be in control of it — that’s the definition of insanity. Blame is a lame game.
Be the owner of your mood. Guard it with your life.
Execution creates the mood
Choosing your mood is one solution to boost it. Another is to do what writer Joyce Carol Oates says:
One must be pitiless about this matter of “mood.” In a sense, the writing will create the mood. …
I have forced myself to begin writing when I’ve been utterly exhausted, when I’ve felt my soul as thin as a playing card, when nothing has seemed worth enduring for another five minutes … and somehow the activity of writing changes everything.
Or as podcaster Rich Roll says: Mood follows action.
You’re unproductive in a sh*tty mood
In the drunken rage I got myself into with a lame real estate agent hungry for another selfish commission, I destroyed my productivity.
All I could think about was the situation. The bad mood wrote over all my writing ideas for that week. It changed the course of those weeks forever.
My friend Clyde says we went from task management 20 years ago, to time management 10 years ago, to energy management since March 2020. I say we’ve hit another phase of productivity: mood management.
The best employees manage their mood so work from home doesn’t feel like a prison.
Productivity writer and bestselling author Eric Barker has caught on to mood management, too. He says “think a little less about managing the work and a little more about managing your moods” to succeed in life.
The upside of a bad mood
Not all bad moods need to be cured.
Tochukwu on Twitter taught me that the mood you’re in flavors what you write about. For a writer like me this is extremely interesting.
Writing when you’re depressed feels different to the reader than when you’re happy. Writing when you’re demotivated feels different to when you’re anxious or impatient.
All of these moods create different types of writing. And all emotions in writing inspire the reader in helpful ways. You don’t have to be a writer, either. The mood you’re in can affect how you communicate in any situation.
Some of the best chats I ever had with my former boss were when I was frustrated. That frustration helped me get to the point and drive fast changes.
Use different moods to let different emotions do the talking for you.
Boost your mood like a badass
It’s easy.
Put things into perspective
The way you think of a situation determines how it will feel. How you feel creates your mood.
Remember this: before you start working on a problem it feels like a giant boulder. When you start working on it the boulder turns into a stone as tall as you. After a while of working on it, the stone becomes a few tiny pebbles you can juggle in your hands.
Image Credit-@AlexMaeseJ via Twitter
You can handle anything once you start working on it. Make the problem smaller in your mind than it feels like.
Turn on vibes
While studying sound engineering I learned to manufacture moods so the recording artists could deliver their best performances.
I used mood lighting and lava lamps. I’d often play background music before they’d record and on breaks to put them secretly in the right mood.
I use music before I write to create the right mood for whatever the story is I’m planning to tell. Creative vibes get destroyed by distractions though.
Throw phones in the other room and turn off notifications.
Avoid these mood killers
Fitness coach Dan Go says most bad moods are caused by:
- Lack of sleep
- Insufficient amounts of exercise
- Not drinking enough water
These three things create your daily energy levels. If you energy sucks your mood will suck.
That’s why Karen in HR is so cranky. Now you know.
Final Thought
The goal in life is to protect your vibe.
Don’t outsource your mood to a bunch of drunken crazies on the internet in the comments section.
With a phenomenal mood you get an unfair advantage. That’s how the best in the world change the world.
