Attitude is a choice, you get to choose!
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Attitude
Jerry is the kind of guy some people love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!” He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant.
The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?” Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.
I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.
“Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested. “Yes, it is,” Jerry said. “Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live life.”
I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gun point by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.
I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, “If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?” I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door,” Jerry replied. “Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to live.”
“Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked. Jerry continued, “…the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read ‘he’s a dead man.’
I knew I needed to take action.” “What did you do?” I asked. “Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Jerry. “She asked if I was allergic to anything.’Yes,’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Bullets!’ Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.’”
Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.
Author Unknown
Remember Jerry when you make your choices. You can choose to live or not. A good Attitude is going to get you through life.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Giovanna, this is a FANTASTIC article. This is one of the best “power to choose” blog articles I’ve ever read. It was incredibly inspiring. Thank you so much.
Great job Giovanna,
Jerry had a great system to his thinking. Choose one or the other. He choose the positive. We should think about this more every day. Thank you for this good and uplifting story.
Dan and Deanna “Marketing Unscrambled”
Hi Stephen
Wow, thank you for the kind words. I am glad you enjoyed this post.
Thanks for your comment and support.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Aciton
Hi Deanna
We can all thinking about what kind of choices we make everyday.
Thanks for your comment and sharing your thoughts.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Aciton
Hi Gio .. that’s a great parable ..I choose ..
Thanks .. today I can more easily - things have got better for me .. one major challenge out of the way ..
Have a good weekend .. no Claret Jugs!
Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters
So beautiful, dear Giovanna
Yeah, it’s me, Sebastian, Sooty’s friend, alias “Papa Djembé” on Facebook:
Guess what?! - Soon after I got unemployed at the end of March this year, I decided to start my own business as a freelance translator, musician and drum maker, so I choose to live and to make the best of life that’s possible - like Jerry.
Thanks for this beautiful blog you posted - take care, my dear friend
Big hugs by Sebastian alias “Papa Djembé”
Hi Giovanna,
Allergic to Bullets! LOL!! We love it!!
Yes, our attitude is EVERYTHING!! We may not have control of some of the things that happen to us in life, but we surely ALWAYS have control over our attitude. It’s our choice. If we want to be Happy, just Be.
We can’t remember the quote verbatim but it goes something like this….”It’s not about what happens to us that matters, it’s about what we do about it that matters most.” Keeping a positive outlook on life is what matters most!
You’re the Greatest! Thank you for the Inspiration!
Many Blessings….
Roxanne and Hugo
Believe Achieve
Additude is definitely a choice and it’s so important to try to choose a positive attitude whenever we can. Attitude is EVERYTHING!
Good story and this reminds me of the survivor mindset. There’s a lot of evidence how some people have a way better survivor mindset than others and that it actually does make a difference.
Hi Hilary
I am glad you had a smooth day
Yes… the good old Claret Jugs…
Thanks for your comment and sharing your thought.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Dear Papa Djemb’e
How are you my facebook friend?! I am so happy to hear from you and knowing that you are living your life to the fullest. That is so wonderful!
Keep living out your passion, my friend that is what it is all about.
Thanks for your comment and stay in touch.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Hi Positively Present
You got it sister, Attitude is everthing!!
Thanks for your comment and sharing your thought.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Hi J.D.
Yes, survivor mindset is all about the attitude. The right attitude can save their lives.
Thanks for your comment and sharing your thoughts.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Great article Giovanna. I agree, attitude is everything! You may not be able to choose what happens to you in life, good or bad, but you can choose your attitude about it. Next time things aren’t going my way or I’m having a bad day hopefully I’ll remember this story and remember I have two choices; to be in a good mood or to be in a bad mood. Hopefully I’ll choose to be in a good mood :). Thanks!
HI Tanya
Thanks for your comment and support.
Keep making good choices for yourself.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Aciton
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wow very inspiring ..in my case i can say that choose wisely and be + always