Attitude is everything.
It's been said many different ways before and I'm sure most of you would agree with this statement;
attitude is everything.
It's the old life is 10% what happens and 90% how you react to it. This is why we can read stories about people who seem to have nothing yet feel like they have it all. Sure we know on some level this to be true but why is it so few of us actually act on this principle?
John Milton, a famous poet once said;
A mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven a Hell, a Hell a Heaven.
I would like to share a story.
I recently went through an attitude transformation - the change was so simple yet it's impact was enormous. I work from home, I run a small company out of my house and 12 months ago our first daughter was born. We made the decision to try and keep her at home (avoiding daycare) and as a result it was my duty to watch her Monday and Tuesdays.
Like most small business owner, I typically work 7 days a week. But as a B2B (business to business) company, the majority of my customers interact between the typical 9-5, M-F. Mondays (as is the case for a lot of businesses) is always the craziest. People are back at it after the weekend - e-mails are pouring in from every which way, clients are calling, potential sales are calling - yet here I was stuck with my newborn daughter. At first I was able to manage because she was small and would sleep all day. But as she grew, her demand for attention (and the need to watch her for safety) grew immensely. So yeah like I said; I was stuck.
Now I use the word stuck because that was truly my mindset at the time. Here I was trying to manage customers, employees, sales calls - basically run a business all while doing my best to also be a good parent. And eventually it became clear it was impossible to do. For the better part of 6 months I battled every Monday/Tuesday to do both and as a result I became stressed out, angry and genuinely overwhelmed. Not only was my business struggling because of it - I wasn't even enjoying the time with my daughter because I was always so damn stressed.
Then the most amazing thing happened - one day my attitude changed.
Finally one day I got so tired of the juggling act between being a parent & a business owner I snapped and just said "fuck it!" It was so clear I wasn't able to do both at the same time that I decided to commit 100% to enjoying my father/daughter time while I have the opportunity.
So what happened with my work? Well there are 168 hours in a given week and I decided the work will just have to get done some other time. Funny thing is, this happened about 2 months ago and since then everything has been amazing. I won't bore you with the logistics of how things now operate but I will say my Mondays & Tuesdays went from being my most stressful, chaotic days of the week to my favorite. Looking back on it now what amazes me most is that the solution was so simple. I don't work more or less, I didn't have to find someone else to watch my daughter - simply changing my attitude and adjusting a few things during my 7 day week has given me a completely new outlook on life and I feel so grateful I was able to make this change.
A mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven a Hell, a Hell a Heaven.
As John Milton once said; the mind is its own place. I wish there was some way we could all have this awakening and realize we have the power right now to change. I appreciate you taking some time today to read my story and I would challenge all of you out there to identify something in your life that you despise, dread, never look forward to - and ask yourself "how can I change my attitude and make this something I enjoy?" I assure you it can be done. What will amaze you most about this transformation is that it will seem way more difficult to change then it actually really is.
Thanks for reading!