A Positive Attitude and Extraordinary Results

“Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life.  A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes.  It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results.” 

Wade Boggs

I received an email not too long ago that contained this quote and I loved it.  I was having a great day - I’m sure you know the kind of day I’m talking about.  One of those days where not a single thing goes wrong, or if it does, for some reason you don’t notice because you feel so good.  When I saw the email I was like “Yes!  This is so true!  I’m going to save this, print it out, hang it on my bulletin board and use it.”

I did all those things – I saved it, printed it out, and hung it on my bulletin board.  I even used it – I shared it with friends.  It was great, it is great.  It’s an amazing quote and every word of it is true.

Then I had a really crappy day – one of those days where nothing goes right and even if it does, for some reason you don’t notice because you’re too busy feeling sorry for yourself or being mad at yourself (or maybe someone else).  It was the end of the day and I was feeling about as morose and beat down as it’s possible for one human to feel.  To top it off I’d read a post about a young boy who committed suicide that brought me to tears.  Could a day get any worse?

I still had some work to do, after all, I’d declared with my coach (yes, coaches have coaches!) that I’d get a blog written and posted by the end of the week. It was already Friday and I had only written two sentences that had nothing to do with one another.  As I was sitting at my desk staring at these two sentences and trying to form a coherent plan for how to work them into a blog post – while also feeling sorry for myself and really angry at the world – I looked up and saw Wade’s quote.

I realized that I had spent almost 24 hours convinced that my life – at least that day - was the result of what had happened to me, the crummy things that life was bringing to me, and that my attitude sucked!  It literally could not have been any worse.   

I couldn’t call my coach – it was late in the evening – but I knew that I needed some good old-fashioned coaching.  So, I got curious with myself – I started asking myself questions.  What had I gained today from allowing life to happen to me?  At what point in the day, could I have made a different choice?  What would that choice have looked like?  What would have been the result of making a different choice? 

These questions got me thinking and led me back to Wade’s amazing quote.  He couldn’t have been more, right when he said that “a positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes.  It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results.”  My change in attitude that resulted from sitting down and asking myself those crucial questions led me to the realization that I hadn’t been intentional at all the entire day.  I had let life live me, rather than me living life and the result had been rather dismal. 

This recognition allowed me to adjust my attitude to one that was positive and truly served me and my intentions.  The result was that I decided to sit down and just write about my experience.  Typically, I do a ton of research in preparation for a blog post – after all, it’s my goal to write something brilliant that will hopefully leave you, my dear reader, thinking OMG, what an amazing person? 

Today I realized that this isn’t my goal – I don’t need you to think I’m amazing.  What I do need is to show up as an authentic human and take a stand for you because I care about you and your success.  I believe that my willingness to be vulnerable and real will make me a better coach for you.  I can be a better coach and take a stand for you in myriad ways – by sometimes writing thought-provoking pieces that lead you to question things, by writing “how to’s” like I’ve done in the past, and by sometimes writing about my personal experiences. 

The important thing isn’t what I write, it’s how you receive it.  My hope for today is that you receive this post as it was intended – as a reminder that we have the option to hit restart at any moment in our day, week, or year and to make intentional choices that just might result in a “spark that creates extraordinary results.”

Here’s to you and your extraordinary results!