Make it a great day…I’ve certainly received a lot of comments about that phrase over the years! I started using this as a way to close my emails a little more than five years ago, shortly after my father started using it. I’m not 100% sure where he originally came across the idea but I know it came out of some research he had been doing about positive mindsets. I spoke with him about it at length and eventually asked for permission to use it myself, I love it.
To me the mindset change from the usual “have a great day” to actually “making” it great is really a life-changing shift. The more conventional version is a nice sounding idea, I mean who wouldn’t like to ‘have’ a great day?!? However, the problem here is that merely “having” a great day is a passive act, it implies that the person involved really has no control; we might as well say “good luck with your day!” BUT, if we change this just ever so slightly the implication becomes a mindset shift of epic proportions. “Make it a great day” implies that this day is yours for the taking, you can make it whatever you’d like. How you approach each situation, each interaction, will impact how your day goes. You don’t need to sit back and cross your fingers that today is going to be great, you can go out and take control of the day and make it great!
Not only can you influence how your day is going to go based on how you approach it but you can very easily change the direction of anyone’s (especially a student’s) day with the way you approach them. There is lots of research that shows that students who receive more positive interactions throughout the day do better in everything. They show increased academic results, better decision making ability, less behavior problems, more positive interactions with their peers, higher self-worth, and an overall higher level of happiness. It’s amazing how much of an impact one person can have on those around them, especially if it is a teacher in a classroom full of middle school students!!
We have an extremely positive atmosphere here at SCIS and you (our teachers) play a HUGE part in that. A few weeks ago I attached a video about the Science of Happiness and a number of you wrote to me with some great feedback. This week I’ll attach a couple good articles about the impact of positive interactions with students that include some great examples of how to build those relationships.
http://www.jongordon.com/blog/the-power-of-positive-interactions/
Enjoy your weekend and of course…
Make it a great day,
Bret Olson
Pushing Forward 
I remember talking at great length about the concept of “making” it a great day and how it does make people think about what they can do, but giving permission must have been implied, like everything else I own, my son ( and daughters ) believe is theirs.
Oh, by the way Make It a Great Day.