Change your perspective
Make three choices consistently to improve your life
By Jim Huling
April 2008
I had decided it was a bad
day long before I arrived at
the airport that Sunday night. Not only had I spent
two hours hopelessly mired in
traffic because of rain, but I
had left the warm comfort of
my home, my family and our
Sunday evening meal — a
favorite weekly ritual — just
to make this flight.
Thanks to the rain, I now sat
in the waiting area drinking
coffee and listening to the
flight attendant announce a
two-hour delay in my departure. I was truly miserable and
with every negative thought, I
spiraled downward, hating
every aspect of being stuck in
an airport on Sunday night.
Suddenly, a whirling blur of
pink and white flew past me,
knocking the coffee out of
my hand and spilling the hot
liquid into my shoe. I had
been struck by a girl about
8 years old who was turning cartwheels through the
waiting area.
“Cathy!” her mother
called, running after her
child while also apologizing. “Come tell this man
you’re sorry.”
Hand in hand, the mother
and daughter walked over to
me as I tried to blot the liquid
in my shoe with a napkin.
“I’m sorry,” Cathy said, with
her lower lip protruding. “But
I just had to do cartwheels
because I’m so happy.”
“You’re happy to be at the
airport?” I asked, so incredulous that I forgot I was talking to an 8-year-old.
“Oh yes,” she said, her face
breaking into a smile. “This is
the coolest place in the world.
There are lots of different people and stuff to eat and shops,
and, best of all, everybody
here is going on an airplane!”
Sometimes, a miracle can
be as simple as a change in
perspective, and a miracle is
what I experienced that night.
Sitting in that airport waiting
area, I realized that Cathy and
I were looking at exactly the
same circumstances, but we
had chosen to see them completely differently. While I
chose a perspective that filled
me with begrudging misery,
her choice had brought joy
so great she had to turn cartwheels to express it.
In the weeks that followed,
I began to apply what I
learned that night to other
areas of my life.
When my morning commute was slow, instead of
becoming angry, I focused
on the opportunity it gave
me to call an old friend and
found myself smiling
through the entire drive.
When I faced a challenging
problem at work, instead of
resenting it, I focused on
how grateful I was for my
talented team, and before
long, we found a solution
together. And when my hot
water heater exploded,
flooding my basement, I
focused on how grateful I
was to have a home and the
money for repairs, even as I
stood ankle deep in water.
Over time, I realized that
my entire life was changing
simply because I was choosing to see things differently. I
not only began to experience
greater results, I also began
to have a consistent joy that
improved my performance, my relationships and my
health.
If you want to experience
this same miraculous change
in perspective, then you
must learn to make three
choices consistently.
Look for the possibilities. Every challenge you face
also brings opportunity, but
if you focus only on the difficulties, you will miss the
chance to grow. Train yourself to look for the good that
could come from a crisis,
and one day, you may see
that your best moments
came from your greatest
challenges.
Visualize success and
expect it to happen. If you
constantly envision the worst
possible outcome, it’s likely to
happen. Instead, expect the
best. See yourself being successful and replay that scene
over and over in your mind.
Also, make sure that the
words you speak affirm your
belief in yourself and you will
see your confidence grow.
Fill your heart with
gratitude. Gratitude is the
ultimate antidote to fear and
depression. When you’re
caught in a downward spiral,
simply begin to name all the
things for which you are
grateful. Within a few
moments, you will feel a lift
in your spirit that is more
powerful than any drug.
JIM HULING is CEO of MATRIX Resources Inc., an IT services company that has achieved industry-leading financial growth while receiving numerous national, regional and local awards for its values-based
culture and other work-life balance programs. The company was recently named one of the 25 Best Small
Companies to Work for in America for the third year in a row by the Great Place to Work Institute and the
Society for Human Resource Management. Huling is also the author of “Choose Your Life!” — a powerful,
proven method for creating the life you want. Reach him at Jim_Huling@MatrixResources.com.
