Hi all,

I get lots of email of this sort of thing, and don't relay it. This one I decided it need to be posted.

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Lesson in Leadership!

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and

al ways 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 natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, John 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 and asked

him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time.

How do you do it?"

He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, 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," he 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 affect your mood.

You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your

choice how you live your life."

I reflected on what he said. Soon after, I left the Tower 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 he was involved in a serious accident,

falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from

the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him about six 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 I did ask him what had gone through hi s

mind as the accident took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my

soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, 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. He

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 John. "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, 'Gravity'."

Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me

as if I am alive, not dead."

He 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.