At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly landed on a lady who started screaming in fear.
With a panicked face and trembling voice, he began to jump up, both hands desperately trying to get away from the cockroach. Her reaction was contagious as everyone in her group panicked and started screaming as well. She eventually managed to get rid of him only for him to land on another lady in another group.
Now it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama and the waiter rushed to their rescue. With one of the lady’s sudden movements, the cockroach lands on the waiter. He stood firm and calm and stood to observe the behavior of the cockroach on the shirt. After a few seconds in which the cockroach calmed down, the waiter grabbed it with his fingers and put it on the ground outside the restaurant.
Watching the fun, I began to wonder if the cockroach was responsible for their behavior? And if so, then why wasn’t the waiter bothered? It worked perfectly without any problem. And then maybe not the cockroach, but the inability of those people to deal with the disturbance of the situation caused by the cockroach, generated the behavior of the ladies.
I realized that it wasn’t the heated discussions with my parents, my peers or the people around me that bothered me, but my inability to deal with the disturbances caused by these discussions. It’s not the traffic incidents that bother me, it’s my inability to deal with the inconvenience of the traffic jam that has the negative effect. It’s not that there are only 24 hours in a day that’s the problem, it’s how I use those hours. It is not the lack of balance between personal life and professional life that is the problem, but the criterion by which I prioritize my activities.
That it is not the uncertainty of the future that causes anxiety but the fact that I need to focus more on the present. As J.K. Rowling said: if you worry about the future you will suffer twice. That I can’t control the situations around me, maximum influence and that it’s ok. More than the problem, it is my reaction to the problem that creates stress and chaos in my life. Lessons learned from the story:
– I understood that I should never react impulsively.
· I must always answer correctly.
The difference is that the women reacted, while the waiter responded. Reactions are always instinctive, immediate and impulsive, while responses are always calm and well thought out.
And I find that to be a beautiful way of understanding life. The calm and happy person is not like that because everything is right and good in his life. He is so because his attitude towards everything in his life is right.
If you find that it inspired you, drop me a line and let’s discuss how we can transform your business.