Skill 1: Identify your current motivational outlook. As she worked through the first skill, Elaine realized her sense of well-being was undermined just thinking about the event. She described herself as a no-nonsense, high-energy, get-it-done type of person: “I was getting the job done and gritting my teeth through the entire experience.” It became obvious to Elaine that she was working from an imposed motivational outlook –– resentful that she was stuck with a highly unreasonable timeline with no input on the dates. That’s when a flood of emotion hit her. She suddenly got in touch with how her negative attitude was infecting her entire team –– not only the people she needed to do the job well but also the people she cared about. “Everything I touched was tainted by my suboptimal motivational outlook.”