I always try to start my day at work with something fun. It can be a really stupid story on Facebook. I love biz cartoons. And I get a real buzz checking the reports after my team has won…….at last.

The point is that as a business coach and mentor, I regularly see the link between good moods and top productivity.

Take one of my clients as a case study. They run a factory in the centre of Israel. The sales just ain’t been rolling in. There has been tension in the air for a long time. Whenever I would go there, I am greeted by sour faces.

In the past, I would deliberately set out to make the team loosen up, looking to engender smiles. And when that happened, they became more responsive to suggestions for change, rapidly.

This morning, I returned for the first time after the summer holidays. Yes, the cash flow still is not yet stable. And yet, something has changed. They are smiling. It is as if Mary Poppins has just whisked through the shop floor. By the way, sales are beginning to creep upwards.

It is amazing how many people are simply so afraid of allowing themselves to be happy, especially at work. David Levy has written an interesting post on the subject. “Happiness in both your business and personal life is sometimes a matter of subtraction, not addition.”

In other words, in order to become happy, all you have to do is cease from a ‘negative action’ or at least reduce it. However, just acknowledging that need to stop something, let alone being brave enough to enforce it, can be overwhelming. The person prefers sadness to change.

Which is where the biz mentor can come in.