This is my addition post in the SMS category and it's about Attitude! Ergo what is Attitude? The question flash like a blaze light in everyone mind. Be it,Sachin Tendulkar's contemporary record scoring double century against South Africa or Sourav Ganguly's drop (personally, I am a great fan of Sourav!) as a team member by the selectors committee, it relates with Attitude. Given the time, energy, and opportunity, both the players are masters in their own world! Remember, there were controversies circling both the players, like Sachin's brokenness performance and Sourav's belligerent conduct along with lack of respective for the senior players in the Indian Team.
Having said this, Sachin marched ahead of the time and went on to break the 13 year old record. Alternatively, Sourav(still considered as one of the successful captain produced by the Indian team) is struggling to retain his position as captain in the recent IPL 20-20 games!
I am definitely not a seasoned commentator like Harsha Boghle or neither cricket expert to analyze them. The point here is clear. It's their individual patients, persistent, perseverance and mental-strength that made huge difference between them and where they stand today. And that is what Attitude is all about.
I recently read a short story received through an email chain which best relates what I am trying to explain. I am sharing this with you all below...
Story starts
...Jack is the kind of guy you 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 Jack was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jack 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 Jack and asked him, I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Jack replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to me, Jack, 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," Jack 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 Jack 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 Jack 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, Jack was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jack was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.
I saw Jack about 6 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," Jack 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. Jack 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 Jack. "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.'" Jack 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.
... the story ends…
Remember, 'if Talent can take you to Sky, then your Attitude shall take you to the Stars!'
* I thank my wife, Arundhathi for sharing this wonderful story.
Happy Weekend...
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