It Matters a WHOLE Lot

Many years ago, I met a woman who worked in an adoption agency.

During the course of one of our conversations, she unknowingly gifted me with some of the most powerful insight regarding the importance of our attitude.

One of the cases she was managing involved the open adoption of twin baby girls. At birth, the girls were placed in two separate homes; part of the open adoption agreement stated that the agency was to provide the birth mom with regular reports about the girls.

When the twins were three years old, both sets of adoptive parents were contacted and presented with a series of questions. One of the questions concerned their daughters' appetite.

When asked about her daughter's eating habits, the first mom readily expressed her distress: meals, she said, were always a struggle and created much family tension. The little girl would not eat anything, no matter how she prepared it - unless it had cinnamon in it. This made everyday life very difficult and she could not seem to "break" her child out of the strange habit. She felt powerless and frustrated.

Presented with the same question, the second mom stated that her little girl was a joy to feed. Mealtimes were usually pleasant as all the mom had to do was sprinkle a little bit of cinnamon on her daughter's food in order for her to eat pretty much anything. That little quirk, she said, really made life easy.

Ha.

My friend was in awe of the parallel between the twins' choice of food.

I, also, was touched by the connection.

Yet, you see, what struck me the most - and still affects me today - was the drastic contrast in the two moms' reaction to their child's preferences. Presented with the same set of circumstances, one woman was able to view it as a benefit and a way to make life easy whereas the other one saw it as a stressful challenge to be overcome. Same exact situation, drastically different outlook and totally opposed result.

Can you see how this relates to us, business owners? If you are anything like me, I bet you do.

In a way, it comes down to deciding whether things are really a big deal. It comes down to taking a fresh look at a situation and deciding whether the energy we are putting into "fighting" it, is really worth it. Also, it asks us to take a look at our control habits and to decide whether they serve us or get in our way.

I believe without a doubt that we are presented with such choices several times daily and that we almost always DO get to pick the way we respond to them. It starts when we get up in the morning and it goes on throughout the day; it definitely continues until we go to bed, at night. It is in every interaction we have with our family, with our staff, our associates, with our clients. Those personal and ongoing decisions are very, very important ones as they greatly affect our well-being, physical and mental health as well as those of our family.

Not to mention our businesses.