It seems that we are in a never-ending cycle of crisis management these days. I have caught myself on more than one occasion telling myself “ok, we are at the bottom. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, only to find that the light is a freight train headed straight for me.

My wife had an uncle, I would venture to say her favorite uncle, who, if he didn’t have bad luck he would not have had any luck at all. I could fill multiple stories of the various mishaps, misadventures, and crazy bad coincidence that seemed to follow him around. The thing is, he never flinched. He never stopped smiling. His attitude was contagious and there is not a soul who met him that didn’t instantly endear themselves to him. I know I did.

My mother says that it is always better to laugh than cry, and that has become a sort of mantra for me, and believe me, there have been plenty of times I have felt like shredding up a box of tissue.

The challenge with this is that others see it. Others rely on you, whether you like it or not. I don’t care if you are the CEO of a Fortune 50 or the guy working the drive-through at Taco Doodle, your co-workers, clients, customers, bosses, subordinates, family, friends, and dogs (your cats don’t care) are relying on you. Getting hung up on the bad juju that is going down isn’t going to help them. On the contrary, keeping your head high will only help them with their own crap.

I don’t know if having a positive outlook makes you a better leader or if it helps your self-esteem or if it makes you more confident. I do know that it makes you more approachable, and I cannot think of a scenario where this isn’t good for you and your career (unless you hate people), which may be the case, but if so, why in the hell are you reading this blog?