A philosopher was sitting in the shade of a tree next to a beautiful small lake when a troubled young man approached and introduced himself: “Sir, my name is Ben, and I’m miserable all the time. I’ve been searching far and wide for a wise person who can tell me why I’m always so unhappy. Can you help me?”

The older man paused, and then asked his visitor to fill a cup with water from the lake.

Ben filled the cup. The philosopher then took a handful of salt from his bag and sprinkled it in the water. “Drink this, and tell me how it tastes,” he instructed. Ben managed only a sip and exclaimed, “That tastes terrible!”

Then the philosopher led Ben down to the lakeshore. He dropped a handful of salt into the water, waited a moment and then told Ben to drink from the lake.

“Do you taste the salt?”

“No,” Ben said, “it dissolved in the water.”

The philosopher nodded. “The pain of life is like salt. It tastes the same no matter what, but how strong it tastes depends on what we put it into. To ease your pain, learn to expand yourself. Don’t be the cup -- be the lake.”

Shaking a bad mood is important to functioning at your best. The worst thing you can do when you’re in a bad mood is wallow in it, according to Psychology Today.

Bad moods usually come from tension and low energy, according to the magazine. A short, brisk walk or some other exercise can increase your energy, reduce your stress and improve your mood. Listening to music may prompt you to remember a former good mood or good time and produce a conditioned response that makes you feel better.

Most people can manage to do one or both of those things. At least it’s a starting point.

If that’s not enough to bring about an attitude adjustment, here are some other ways to beat a bad mood. Take up a new interest. Sign up for a class in something you’ve always been interested in, but don’t know much about. Start a new hobby or get out and volunteer for a cause you care about. Getting active will help you move beyond your present mood and connect you to new people and interests.

My favorite way to lift my mood is to be around people who are happy. I love spending time with friends who are experts at seeing the silver lining in tarnished situations. One of those friends shared this marvelous story of a restaurant owner named Jerry.

Jerry is always in a good mood. When someone asks him how he’s doing, he always replies, “If I were any better, I’d be twins!”

Jerry is a natural motivator. His staff knows he will always be there for them. My friend even challenged him one day, asking how he manages to stay so positive.

His reply was classic: “Each morning, I wake up and say to myself: 'I have two choices today. I can choose to be in a good mood, or I can choose to be in a bad mood. I always choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim, or I can choose to learn from it. I always choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining, or I can point out the positive side of life. I always choose the positive side of life.”

Jerry’s philosophy was put to the test one evening when he accidentally left the back door of his restaurant unlocked. He was robbed by three armed men, who forced him to open the restaurant's safe. As he tried to open it, the robbers panicked and shot him.

The paramedics who rushed him to the hospital were encouraging, but when he saw the faces of the emergency room staff, he realized how dire his situation was. The admitting nurse asked him if he was allergic to anything. “Bullets!” Jerry told them. “I’m choosing to live! Please operate on me as if I’m alive, not dead!”

Hearing Jerry’s story puts your bad days in perspective, doesn’t it? Every day you have two choices: You can enjoy your day or you can hate it. Take charge of your attitude, and everything in life becomes much easier.

Mackay’s Moral: Don’t let your mood turn into your doom.

In 1788, Edward Gibbon set forth in his famous multi-volume work, “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” his ideas about why that great civilization withered and died. Surprisingly, it involves moral decay, both societal and individual, just as much as it does political dysfunction.

While most of us have little control over the global situation, we do have some control over our personal lives, starting at home and moving on to the workplace. Studies have consistently shown that salary is not the most important factor when considering where one works -- it’s corporate culture.

Maybe this is why corporate culture is one of the hottest topics in business today. People want to work for businesses that focus on terrific employee culture.

What is corporate culture?

Corporate culture is what we call the pervasive values, beliefs and attitudes that characterize a company and guide its practices. To some extent, a company's internal culture may be articulated in its mission or vision statements. Elements of corporate culture include a company's physical environment, human resources practices and the staff itself. Corporate culture is also reflected in the degree of emphasis placed on various defining elements such as hierarchy, process, innovation, collaboration, competition, community involvement and social engagement.

It’s no surprise that Fortune’s Best Companies happen to be many of the same companies listed as the best places to work. Companies that are concentrating on culture are seeing the biggest payoffs because they are putting their employees first.

I’ve always said if you take care of your people, they will take care of your customers. And your company will thrive.

According to an article in Forbes magazine, traditional companies like Aetna are now heavily focused on culture. Last year, The New York Times published an article about Aetna's CEO, Mark Bertolini. He has raised wages, improved health benefits and introduced yoga and mindfulness training to his entire company to improve staff retention and culture in the call centers. Their $100 million-plus employee turnover problem is rapidly going away, and he claims to have already improved the bottom line by 3 to 4 percent.

Corporate culture is consistently listed as an important factor in retaining employees at every level, but perhaps most significantly, the millennial generation. In a nutshell, while making money is important, the potential to make a life that matters is even more important. In other words, no one wants to check their personal values at the company door.

Do you know your organization’s culture? Management expert Richard Hagberg on www.leader-values.com asks the question and says that many managers, particularly senior managers and the CEO, often base their views on hope rather than objective fact.

In order to ground your assessment of your workplace culture in reality, he suggests you ask these questions:

-- What 10 words would you use to describe your company?

-- Around here what’s really important?

-- Around here who gets promoted?

-- Around here what behaviors get rewarded?

-- Around here who fits in and who doesn’t?

Hagberg says the reality is that whatever management pays attention to and rewards are pretty strong indicators of the culture. Do you profess to care about quality, but is your real mentality more about “getting it out the door”? Brutally honest inquiry should be a first step to gather insight as to what your workplace culture truly is. Sometimes it’s nowhere close to what management set out to create.

Strong leadership is central to engendering a positive cultural environment. If you are in charge of a team that is not functioning properly, it’s probably your fault. You need to take a good hard look at yourself and take responsibility for the situation so that you can repair it.

Corporate culture extends far beyond employees. Your customers, vendors and competitors are watching too. Who wants to do business with an organization that can’t be trusted or respected? I’ll tell you who -- no one. Your public face reflects your internal face. The mirror doesn’t lie.

Mackay’s Moral: Your corporate culture is like a petri dish -- make sure only the good stuff grows.

Everyone is in sales. To me, job titles don’t matter; every employee must think about sales. It’s the only way any company can stay in business.

There are no jobs if you don’t bring the business through the front door. That’s why I have a sign on my office door that reads: “If you know where you can get us some business, come on in.”

At our company, a sales mindset is a requirement. From the factory floor to the reception desk to the boardroom, figuring out what the customer wants and finding a way to deliver it must be at the forefront of every job. Whether you are selling a product, services or a corporate image, you are in sales.

A while back, I received an email from a loyal reader who used to be in sales, but switched to information technology as a help desk technician. Even though he was now on the side of delivering service rather than sales, he understands the personalized approach with customers, be it computer operators, network administrators or engineers.

He wrote: “When it comes to identifying and resolving technical issues, it's important to remember the human side of technology. I only have the phone to work with, but quite often those little or long pauses while waiting for a procedure to cycle through or a test result to return can be used to build rapport, ease tension or otherwise get to know the other person(s) on the line.

“The important thing to keep in mind here in taking advantage of these opportunities is that these people talk to the people who ultimately buy the company's services. If the service they receive at any point along the line is poor, or if the vendors' techs are impersonal or worse, abrasive or condescending, the salesperson talking with the decision maker is going to have a rough time of it when it comes to renewing the contract.”

So, you can see how having a sales mindset -- no matter what role in the company -- can have an impact on sales.

From the moment we get up in the morning to the time we go to bed, we are negotiating, communicating, persuading and influencing. If we aren’t selling products or services, we are selling ideas.

If you want to be successful in sales, remember the four Ws and the H.

-- WHO? Know your customers. Get into the mind of your buyer -- what does he or she really want? What do they really need? Sometimes, those two options are not the same, so be prepared to guide him or her to the best solution for the situation.

-- WHAT? Target a clear outcome. Before approaching a customer, be certain of what you want to achieve. In some cases, you may not be seeking an immediate sale, but more information about what the customer wants. Walk in with a clear plan and backup options, so you aren’t wasting their time or yours.

-- WHY? Listen to people. Successful selling isn’t about talking to customers, but listening to their needs so you can find out how your product or service can help. Asking questions is critical, as is paying attention to the other person’s problems before offering your solution.

-- WHEN? Get to the point quickly. Once you determine that you have what the customer needs, resist the urge to launch into a lengthy lecture about what you have to offer. Pick one or two of the customer’s most important needs and briefly demonstrate how you can help. Customers buy on their schedule, not yours. Contact them frequently (without getting annoying) so they learn to think of you when they have a problem you can help them solve.

-- HOW? Solve customers’ problems. Address their needs, large and small, and show how you can help them. And here’s some advice that some might consider heresy: If you can’t help them, refer them to someone who can. There will be times when your product or service isn’t the best fit, and your customer will appreciate your willingness to put their needs first.

Don’t forget to measure your results. Keep track of successes and failures. Analyze what helped you succeed and where you may have slipped up. Identify some best practices that have led to success, and incorporate them into every customer interaction. Keeping track of your record can help you stay motivated and productive during dry spells and reinvigorate you when you’re doing well.

Mackay’s Moral: Selling isn’t rocket science -- it’s people science.