I just returned from a church service on the Saturday prior to Mother’s Day and my mind is racing. During the service, a short 3 minute video clip featuring Nick Vujicic, a 30 year old man born with no arms or legs, was shown. What an inspiration he and his life story have been to so many people and how his life has affected mine today. If anyone has a right to complain and be discouraged, it is Nick. But he never complains.
I have discovered that I have fallen into one of the pitfalls that I constantly train my teams against which causes most of the bad decisions made both personally and professionally for each of us. I am kicking myself, thinking things like “How could you have not been aware of what is going on?” or “Man, that was a dumb thing to do?
What, you may be asking, is the pitfall that is so terrible and dreaded that it is responsible for all the evil in the world today, for goodness sake??!! Well, you may not agree with me completely, but it is ATTITIUDE. Attitude sets apart the winners from the whiners, the positive from the negative and the courageous from the discouraged. Attitude is more important than talent or preparation. Without a proper attitude, failure is almost always a certainty. With it, even the impossible is possible.
What have I had a bad attitude about lately you may be asking? Simply this: I miss my wife and it is Mother’s Day and she is gone and I am now both mother and father to our two children. Sometimes during the past several months I have wished that I were with her instead of here and I have become angry and it is has been difficult to get up and face another day.
But today during the short clip featuring Nick, a light bulb went off in my brain. The same one that has occurred at various moments throughout my life’s photo album in which a major cross roads is navigated and life goes on for the better. I have had a “Woe is me attitude”. That ended tonight. I am no longer going to miss out on life. I am moving on and I will not miss the special moments each day has to offer. I will no longer negatively affect people around me. I will bring them up; I will make them and their lives better. And I will honor the memory of my dear Angela by living my life to the fullest and making a difference in this world I live in, no matter how small a difference it may seem to be. It may not always be easy, but it will be worth it.
We all face attitudinal pitfalls during the course of our lives. How we handle them will not only affect our lives, but the lives of the countless people whose lives surround our own.