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Issue #67 |
To Your Success |
June 2011 |
“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” ----- Winston Churchill
WHERE'S THE PONY? Hello,
I could certainly empathize because there have been times over the years when I’ve felt the same way about important people in my own life and career. With the benefit of hindsight however I’ve come to realize the value of such experiences, even though I may not have appreciated them at the time. Allow me to detour slightly for just a moment to retell a joke you’ve probably heard before that ties in to our topic today. It was made famous by former United States President Ronald Reagan. You know the joke, it’s about young twin boys whose parents had become worried about their extreme personalities - one was a total pessimist and the other a total optimist - and so took them to see a psychiatrist. First the psychiatrist treated the pessimist. Trying to brighten his outlook, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with brand new toys. Instead of squealing with delight however the little boy burst into tears. “What’s the matter?” asked the baffled psychiatrist. “Don’t you want to play with all of these toys?” “Yes,” bawled the little boy, “but if I did I’d only break them.” Next the psychiatrist set out to treat the optimist. Trying to dampen his outlook the psychiatrist took him to a room piled high to the ceiling with horse manure. Instead of wrinkling his nose with disgust however the optimist let out a yelp of delight much like the psychiatrist had been hoping to hear from his brother. He then clambered up to the top of the pile, dropped to his knees and began gleefully digging out scoop after scoop with his bare hands. “What are you doing?” asked the psychiatrist, just as baffled by this behavior as he had been by the pessimist’s. “Well, with all this manure,” the little optimist replied, beaming, “there must be a pony in here somewhere!” Few of us are anywhere near as pessimistic or optimistic as these two boys but it certainly doesn’t hurt to remind ourselves occasionally that we do get to choose which approach we take. After all, there is negative to be found in virtually every person and situation, just as there is positive, and so what we look for we will inevitably find. With the benefit of hindsight I now recognize that there were many, many people that influenced me over the years and helped me to clarify and decide upon who I aspired to be, both personally and professionally. Some of these people demonstrated, through their doing and being, traits, characteristics and qualities that I wanted to emulate and make mine. And others demonstrated, also through their doing and being, the opposite. Upon reflection however I’ve come to realize that none of these individuals was completely this or that. All of them had both positive and negative aspects to their make up, which I’m sure is true for each of us also. Some for sure were far more heavily weighted on the desirable side and some more so on the undesirable but looking back I recognize that each in their own way was a powerful teacher and example to me of either who to be, or who not to be ... and I learned valuable lessons from all. Hopefully my friend will recognize this in her current situation as well and keep digging to find her pony. I believe she will, and at least at a subconscious level maybe already has. She’s an amazing human being with an incredibly bright future and while this experience has exposed flaws in this other person, at least in terms of successfully fulfilling this particular role, it is also helping my friend clarify who she herself will be as she steps into a similar role moving forward. And how about you? Is there a pony buried in a pile somewhere in your life just waiting for you to uncover it? To your success, Reg "Optimists are right. So are pessimists. It's up to you to choose which you will be." ----- Harvey Mackay WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE FOR YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE?
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