You are creating your own circumstances by giving energy to what you believe will be the outcome.  If you fear something - like getting stopped at all the red lights, then you'll bring it on.  And that works in reverse too.  If you are optimistic, then things will generally go well.  The Optimist clubs are founded on that principle.  I once belonged to a "laughter yoga" club where we laughed away our stresses - they weren't allowed to accumulate and interestingly, because of the positive attitude it fostered, less stress showed up in my life.  I prefer to view the glass as being "half full" rather than "half empty".  I focus on what I have - opportunities, etc., not on what I don't have. 

Here's a little test you can give yourself to see if you are a "half empty" or a "half full" sort of person.  Have a friend array 3 objects that belong to you in front of you (e.g.: your car keys, your shoes, your wallet).  Sit across from her (or him) and offer you an opportunity to take any one of the three objects.  Then have her take one of those objects away from in front of you just before you reach out to grab one.  Notice your reaction.  If you focus on the object she took, then you are a "glass half empty" person - you focus on what you don't have.  You are giving power to the negatives in your life and you probably experience more red lights, more bad days, etc. than others.  If you bet on a lottery you probably don't expect to ever win - and then you don't.  Your thoughts and especially your words, give power away.

You can get that energy working for you.  Focus on what you have - the two objects left in front of you, and forget the one that's gone.  Don't expect bad things to happen just because one already has.  View the glass as "half full" and mean it.  This must come from inside. 

I'll bet that by now, some of you reading this probably think I'm a bit nuts.  And I'll also bet that you are most likely one of those "glass half empty" folks, pessimistic and convinced that life sucks.  That's a perfectly valid choice and I certainly respect it, but realize that you don't have to stick with it.  You can change your choices at any moment.  You always have that power to choose. 

One word of caution.  Your old choices may still be in play.  If you've been pessimistic in your outlook, chances are that you've given a lot of power to those "bad" things that you don't want to happen.  When you change your outlook, your perspective, your energy, you do it from that moment onwards.  Don't be surprised though if some of your old choices still come up and bite you.  I have always had a tendency to expect things to go my way, but not until the last possible moment.  Over the years I've given a lot of power to that concept and that's what's manifested in my life.  I've shifted that to a realization that good things can happen all the time and that I don't have to wait until the last moment for it to happen.  That doesn't mean that my old choice won't still manifest itself.  I've given power to that concept for a long time and in some cases it is still in effect.  While choices can be changed the energy you've sent out, the power you've given to old choices, is still out there and still in play.  It takes a while to dissipate.

So what has this to do with Physical Asset Management? 

With many clients I'm used to hearing excuses.  Reasons for not doing something new.  Reasons for not investing a bit more in training or in someone's development.  All sorts of reasons for not moving forward.  Their glass is half empty.  They are giving power to what they don't have rather than figuring out what to do with what they do have.  As a consequence the negative is perpetuated and things don't change.  By using resources and money that you do have in a positive way, focusing on what you have, you create positive movement and change. 

Maintainers and their managers tend to be poor second cousins in the corporate world.  We are an expense - something to be minimized.  We don't produce therefore we don't generate revenue or sales.  The entire company would rather not have us at all.  That thinking is entirely self defeating.  You can bet that the finance and the operations / production folks don't think that way. 

Give this some thought - stop giving your power away.  You are the creator of your own existence.  Create what you want, not what you don't want!