Some of you know I’ve been house sitting up in Sydney this past week. I took a position looking after two small dogs at a home about fifteen minutes’ walk from where my father lives.
He’s 91 years old and lives on his own.
My sister who lives about 10-15 minutes’ drive away from him is there most days to care for him and visit him.
I’m not sure whether he remembers how many times I’ve visited, but he sure enjoys my visits and that means the most to me.
On Saturday morning, while I was walking across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and back, as I’ve done most mornings, I passed a man with one leg walking with crutches [the wrist kind, not the armpit kind].
I was inspired…
By the way he was moving [quickly], I figured that he had been moving himself around like this for some time.
And good luck to him.
For whatever reason that this man had lost one leg, he was not letting that get in the way of him getting out and about “under his own steam” as much as he could.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is about one mile across for pedestrians. If this man was crossing the bridge for work, or for business, he certainly could have taken a less exhausting means of transportation, via a ferry or a train, or a taxi.
My point is…
The point I’m making is that for some reasons that seem totally unjust and unfair, when things happen to some people they might choose to hunker down and submit, while others will pick themselves up and regather their thoughts, and work out a way that keeps them on track.
How do you react when something doesn’t go according to the way that you thought it would?
How do you respond when you see something that in your mind appears to be unfair?
Do you walk away?
Do you give up?
Or do you offer assistance?
Do you accept assistance?
Do you adapt?
Do you learn?
Do you get better?
Sometimes the lessons…
Sometimes the lessons that you experience aren’t as brutal as the loss of a limb.
Sometimes the lesson might be that a friend has let you down?.
Or a customer has let you down?
Or a co-worker has let you down?
What do you do in one of those situations?
Do you give up?
Or do you resolve to adapt?
And do you learn from this lesson?
And do you commit to improving yourself and getting better?
As Harry Callahan said:
“Well, do you?”
Do you commit to getting better?
When the world serves you lemons, do you accept it?
Or do you find a way to make lemonade…
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Dr. David Moffet BDS FPFA CSP is a certified CX Experience coach. David works with his wife Jayne Bandy to help SME businesses improve their Customer Service Systems to create memorable World Class experiences for their valued clients and customers. Click here to find out how David and Jayne can help your business