A friend just posted this quote from Zig Ziglar on her LinkedIn profile:
“You cannot tailor make the situations in life, but you can tailor make the attitudes to fit those situations before they arise.”
This has been a tremendous learning for me, and I have to say, I’m still not totally there. Often an event happens I react (as I always have done), then I have a conscious “attitude check” – which goes something along the lines of “OK Fiona, you know you can choose how you react to xyz, pull yourself together, what would be a helpful way to react to turn this into a positive…… brain cogs turning….. and turning some more…… ahhhhhh”. Now, this process only takes a moment, and that moment can make all the difference between a tiny event turning my day into one I’d rather forget or that same tiny event being “mastered” by me and quickly turned into something good.
For example a week ago a friend forgot to turn up for a coffee meeting in town, I’d already missed the train and had to get the bus into town, so things had not got off to a good start. When she texted me to tell me she wasn’t going to make it, I got cross, started running through a blame framework (blaming myself and the friend)….. and then I stopped and reframed the whole event….. “Hey, I’m in town on my own, I can check out the bookshop, have a peaceful coffee on my own (usually I have the kids with me and it’s anything but peaceful) and recharge my batteries.” I did all of this, had a fabulous time, cleared my mind and had a great day.
I’m still practising the great attitude in advance….. I know what it should be and with more practice it will no doubt hard wire into my system.
Go easy on yourself, and have a great day 😉
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I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you can change your attitude and the knock on effects this has had for you.