A couple days ago I ran into an article in The Huffington Post about positive psychology that helped me make sense of a situation I had encountered the night before. I found that the techniques and methods I have unconsciously been practicing actually come from positive psychology.

The other day a friend of mine who I hadn’t seen in a long time invited my wife and I to dinner with him and his wife. We chose the restaurant because we hadn’t seen each other in a long time, and we wanted to catch up over a wonderful night out.

The ambiance at the restaurant was wonderful. The music, the light, and the people were all just right. The host directed us to our table, which was facing the ocean. We couldn’t have asked for a better table.

Then our waitress greeted us and took our drink order. When the drinks arrived at our table they were all wrong, but I didn’t care because I was prepared to enjoy the evening. My friend’s attitude however, began changing, and I could tell he was dissatisfied. After catching up and talking about our kids for a while, we were ready to place our dinner order. When our food arrived, it was also wrong.

In my opinion the evening was perfect. We accomplished our goal of spending time with friends that we hadn’t seen for a long time, and we shared a good moment.

The next day in the morning I received a call from my friend, who kept talking about how terrible the service was, and this was the only part he remembered about our night out. On the other hand, I remembered everything about our kids, the time we were young, the neighborhood, and our experiences.

Then I felt bad for him, because he let a small thing affect his entire night. He forgot that life is formed by many small memories, and it depends on you whether the memories will be good or bad.

My lesson was, don’t let one small thing ruin your day, your night, or your entire life.

In the article I had read in The Huffington Post, Jason Wahler had interviewed Sophia Silva regarding this new field of positive psychology. Sophia is a positive psychologist who focuses on how different people achieve things in their lives, and how their attitude makes all the difference. This helped reinforce my belief that it is always better to look for the positive in every situation instead of dwelling on the negative. After all, life is made up of small moments, and I want to remember these small moments as good moments. I highly recommend visiting her site for motivation and inspiration.

How does Coca Cola access the most inaccessible corners of the World where there are no trains, no roads, no cars, no airports, and no phones? They use the entrepreneurial spirit of the local people to distribute the product, because it doesn’t matter what country they’re from, what their social status is, or what their ethnicity is, there are always those who want to succeed. Coca Cola helps these ambitious people get started, and instead of trying to use big rigs on dirt roads they use the knowledge of the locals, who know their own people, to distribute the product on bicycles, on foot, on camels, on horses, or however they wish. Therefore, any person who wants to be successful can always find an opportunity. Consequently, any business that helps their own people get ahead and achieve their goals will also produce higher quality work, because quality in any product or service can be achieved when people are proud to be part of an organization that takes care of them.

The Coca Cola mentality will help your company be healthier and stronger while also helping your team live a better life. This ownership gives people a sense of purpose and pride that they will strive to uphold. We all want to do something meaningful with our lives, so why not utilize this desire to create meaningful jobs, build more effective companies, contribute to society, and create a win win situation for everybody.

Always think positive.