Tags
bad days, Charles R Swindoll, Compassion, Empathy, motivation, Reaction, Resilient, slight-proof, Slights
Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.
This quote is so true. Have you ever reacted to a potential slight that just wrecked your day? Maybe someone cut you off in traffic on your morning commute. Maybe you had a voicemail that rubbed you wrong. The point is that many times we are slighted by something and the other person is totally unaware of what they did. But we know, right? Then we are fuming and pissed off the whole day, and what was supposed to be a productive day turns into a mediocre one at best.
Motivation is a fickle thing. When you’re on fire, there’s nothing you can’t do or get done. When something happens that throws us for a loop, that motivation dissipates. I realize it is hard to ignore a slight or some other bad thing that occurs, but if we practice staying level-headed, these occurrences will have less impact.
Think about all the people you know. I’ll bet there’s one in there whose motivation is impacted by the weather, the office coffee machine being down, or their pen doesn’t work. The slightest thing will throw these people out of whack. You have empathize with them, but man, why let something so small destroy your whole day.
Believe it or not, I use video games to work on a whole host of things. Two of the most important are anger and patience. I am a sore loser. I admit it. I love to win. I hate to lose. There’s an option at the end of each game to give a thumbs up to the your opponents if they won. I give a thumbs up to all three of the top players in the game because it helps me get the ego out of the way and be decent human being. Patience comes into play when I am working on game challenges or weapon camouflages. It takes time, daily effort, and focus to get a weapon from gold to diamond.
You could find some similar tricks to bolster your defense against these small annoyances. Give the other person the benefit of the doubt? Maybe they didn’t see you in traffic. Perhaps the person leaving that voicemail has a loaded schedule and they could not wordcraft it the way they really wanted to. There are numerous reasons why people slight us and are ignorant of what they did. So give them the benefit of the doubt and shrug it off. You’ll find if you can be more resilient or slight-proof, you’re motivation will remain high, and you’ll tackle the day as you planned.
Well, that’s it for today, folks. I hope you have a great Monday!
Until next time…
Dave