Rolling with the punches - Attitude is everything

When Life Throws Curveballs: A Lesson in Attitude

You know those weeks where the universe seems to be testing your patience? I just had a string of them, and they taught me something valuable about handling life's little chaos moments.

Picture this: I'm flying to LA for what should be a simple one-hour meeting. Thanks to flight schedules, I'm forced to take this crack-of-dawn flight, leaving me with hours to kill before the actual meeting. No big deal, right? Well, when we finally arrive at the office, ready to go, no one shows up. Five minutes pass. Then ten. Fifteen minutes later, we get that dreaded email – wrong building, folks! It's actually ten minutes away.

So we rush over, only to find... another empty room. Plot twist: the location had changed. Again.

But wait, there's more! Fast forward to Miami, where I'm hosting a client workshop about improving customer experience through wearables and IoT. The irony of what happened next is just chef's kiss. At 8:30 AM, with a 9 AM start time, we request our car from valet. Minutes tick by. 8:35... 8:40... 8:50... Still no car. When it finally appears at 8:52, we're looking at a 15-minute drive to make a meeting that starts in 8 minutes.

Here's where it gets interesting. Instead of letting frustration take the wheel, I walked into that meeting and immediately turned our valet adventure into a joke: "Well, folks, we just experienced exactly the kind of customer experience problems we're here to solve!" The client laughed. The tension dissolved. The workshop was a hit.

Why am I sharing these stories? Because they perfectly illustrate something my mom always emphasized: Attitude is everything.

I could have chosen anger. Stress. Frustration. Instead, I opted for humor and flexibility. The result? Not only did both meetings succeed, but the universe threw some unexpected perks my way – a free earlier flight home from LA (saving me three hours!) and a first-class upgrade in Miami.

But wait – the universe wasn't done testing this philosophy. Right after filming my original take on this story, my Miami flight got delayed. Not by one hour. Not by two. SEVEN HOURS. The terminal was a pressure cooker of frustrated passengers. Being who I am, I tried to lighten the mood, circulating among my fellow travelers with jokes and conversation. Some people weren't having it – they actually took their frustration out on me! (My heart really went out to the flight staff dealing with everyone's anger.)

The end result? I eventually made it home, scored another free flight, and enjoyed complimentary drinks throughout the journey. Talk about turning lemons into slightly tipsy lemonade!

Here's the real takeaway: in life's chaos, there's exactly one thing you can control – your reaction. That's it. That's your superpower. You can't control flight delays, mixed-up meeting locations, or slow valets. But you can control how you respond to these situations.

When you choose positivity and flexibility, you're not just making things easier for others – you're doing yourself the biggest favor. Because at the end of the day, stress and anger only hurt one person: you.

So next time life throws you a curveball (and trust me, it will), remember: your reaction is your choice. Choose wisely, and maybe – just maybe – you'll end up with a first-class upgrade of your own.