The Super Bowl happened over a week ago – and what a weird one it was.
The Ravens were way ahead and looked like they were going to run away with it.
Then the power went out in the stadium. It took about 35 minutes to get it back on and resume the game. Once the power was back on, the 49ers got it together. They came back hard and almost won the game. For a while, the Ravens were sleepwalking. It seemed as if they had a hard time coping with the distraction of the power outage.
Two teams with two different reactions to an unexpected event. Reminds me of the career advice in Tweet 39 in Success Tweets. “While other people and events have an impact on our life, they don’t shape it. You get to choose how you react to people and events.” You can download a free copy of Success Tweets by going to http://budurl.com/STExpl.
When I reflect on choosing how you react to people and events, a quote from Viktor Frankl always comes to mind…
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.”
Victor Frankl survived the Nazi death camps in WWII. He lost his wife, mother and father in those camps. His experience with the Nazis led him to conclude that even in the most absurd, painful and dehumanized situation, we can still choose how we respond. He chronicled his experiences in the camps and what he learned from them in his famous book, Man’s Search for Meaning. In 1991, the US Library of Congress designated it as one of the ten most influential books in the United States. It has sold over 10 million copies and been translated into 24 languages.
One of his famous quotes always brings tears to my eyes…
“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offered sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
You saw how choosing your attitude played out on Super Bowl Sunday. The 49ers and Ravens responded differently to the same event. Fortunately (if you’re a Ravens fan) the Ravens were able to gradually turn around their response and attitude.
Speaking of attitude, an old issue SUCCESS Magazine has a great article by John Maxwell called, “Attitude Is the Difference Maker.” John says, “Attitude isn’t everything, but it’s the main difference maker.”
Choosing your attitude – in a football game, a death camp, or in your career — is choosing your own way. As a human being, you get to choose how you respond to the people and events in your life. You can choose to have a positive, optimistic attitude and respond to difficult people and events in a constructive manner. Or, you can choose to have a negative attitude and respond to difficult people and events in a self-destructive manner. Your attitude is the difference maker between a successful, rewarding life and career, and an unsuccessful and unfulfilling life and career.
We all get to choose how we respond to every person we meet and everything that happens to us. Our moment of choice comes in between the stimulus and your response. This can be a small space, but it is a space that exists. Your attitude has a big impact on what you choose in these moments of choice.
John Maxwell says, “Your attitude makes a difference in how you face challenges. Successful people don’t have fewer problems than unsuccessful people – they just have a different mindset.” That bears repeating – “Successful people don’t have fewer problems than unsuccessful people – they just have a different mindset.”
We all have our problems and challenges. The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is simple.
Successful people choose to respond to problems in a positive, proactive manner. They choose to take personal responsibility for themselves, their actions and their life and career success. They choose to see problems as challenges – and they meet the challenges they encounter.
“Choose” is the important word here. We human beings have free will. We can choose how we respond to the things that happen to us. We can choose our attitude. Successful people choose to respond positively to the negative people and events in their lives. Successful people choose to have a positive attitude.
John Maxwell quotes Chuck Swindoll on the “Power of Attitude”…
“I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it; and so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitude.”
Or as Viktor Frankl says…
“Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.”
The common sense career success coach point here is simple. Your attitude is the difference maker.
A positive attitude leads to positive results and career success. A negative attitude leads to negative results. The good thing is that you can choose your attitude. Remember the career advice and wisdom in Tweet 39 in Success Tweets. “While other people and events have an impact on our life, they don’t shape it. You get to choose how you react to people and events.” Use your free will — to win a football game or create your life and career success. Choose a positive attitude. Choose to respond positively to the negative people and events in your life. Empower yourself to make the right choices, the positive choices, when you encounter negative people and events.
Read more posts by Bud Bilanich, Ed.D., The Common Sense Guy, a career success coach, leadership consultant, motivational speaker, bestselling author and influential blogger.
