Sometimes the best lessons can be learned (or re-leared) from the most unlikely places.
I’ll tell you this story of how my 3 year old daughter gave me a piece of wisdom one morning that I think about every day now to keep me in a positive mindset in life, and as an entrepreneur.
But first, I want to address the biggest single thing that causes people to be very happy and fulfilled in life… or that causes people to be negative, sad, and unfulfilled in life.
This one thing is something that we all experience… but the difference is in how we choose to deal with it.
This thing is in my mind, the single biggest cause of people not making that leap from “working for the man” to chasing their dreams and starting their own company. And one step further… it’s the single biggest reason so many startups fail in the first year.
What is this one thing?
It’s… how you look at the world… your attitude.
Were you expecting something more profound?
The funny thing with success in business and life is… usually we’re always looking for this “magic bullet” solution that is this huge, profound, game changing idea that’ll help you break through the things that are holding you back in life or business. But over and over, I’ve found that it’s the simplest things… things that we often already have heard… that tend to make the biggest difference in our success. We usually know what we need to do to get what we want in life. Want to lose weight? Eat better and exercise. Want to make more sales in your business? Go out and make more offers to potential customers. But it’s our outlook on life and our attitude that can empower us or stop us from doing those things we know will lead to a better (not easier, better) life.
So back to the story about my daughter.
One morning we were walking out of the house to my truck on our way to her school… and when I was putting that little girl into her seat… she had the biggest smile on her face. Then she looked me in the eyes with the happiest, most pure look… and said, “Daddy! It’s a nice day today”.
Now, that by itself isn’t a big deal. It’s what she said next that got me.
I was having a rushed morning that morning and was in a bit of a mindset funk and said in my most endearing but ‘teaching’ voice… “It is? It’s not that nice of a day. It’s all gray and cloudy out. We can’t see any blue sky little girl”.
Then she didn’t miss a beat, with the same enthusiasm, same happiness, and same twinkle in her eye… “Well, it’s a nice day for clouds today daddy!”.
I thought… “You know what, it IS a nice day for clouds today.” Thats some powerful wisdom from a 25 pound little girl.
That simple mindset shift changed my entire day. Rather than looking at what’s wrong in your situation… and why things won’t work… flip it around and find the reasons why things WILL work and what’s right with the situation to help you be happier and more successful.
We’re lucky to be alive. Yes, it’s easy to love the blue sky and easy to have a great attitude when the weather is great. But it’s during those cloudy days… when you can see the positives in the things most people see as negatives that really make the difference in our happiness in life and business.
So, when you start to feel those thoughts of doubt and negativity seeping into your attitude… say, “It’s a nice day for clouds today” and see the beauty in those clouds.