This is one of the most important things I've learned in my whole career. It really does have the power to change your life.

No matter what happens or how bad things get, you choose how to react to something. Once you realise this you then become aware of yourself doing it. Once you are aware of it, you can make the decision to change how you react to something. 

An example

One morning I was driving to work on my usual route, I wanted to change lanes to come off at the next exit. The car in the left lane decided to speed up and not let me in, but the car behind me didn't wait for me to move over to the left so they forced me over. I was between the two cars on the white line between the lanes. This made me very angry and I was shouting and swearing, even though neither of them could hear me. Not long after that incident, when I was at work, I had a bad migraine which stopped me from working that day. I've heard before that migraines can be linked to blood pressure.

Where did I go wrong?

I had caused my blood pressure to rise because of how I chose to react in the car earlier. If I had chosen to remain calm and been grateful that there wasn't an accident and if I chose not to shout and swear at the drivers who couldn't hear me, my blood pressure would have been fine. I wouldn't have brought on a migraine and I would have been able to put it behind me and move on, with a clear head at work. My choices caused me to have a bad day.

I choose not to react to bad drivers like that any more. I let them go ahead of me and I stay calm and relaxed.

Where to start

Think about it during your day. Look for scenarios where you would normally react in a negative way, experiment by choosing to remain positive and calm. Notice how good it feels. Notice how much more in control you feel. 

Remember

You don't have bad days... you choose not to.

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