subject: Attitude – Lessons from the Happy Barista [print this page] This post tells the story of how a positive attitiude leads to a positive outcome wear your Friday attitude!
Yesterday afternoon while heading downtown to a showing, I stoppped off for a coffee at my favourite (independent) coffee shop here in Kitsilano. The Barista greeted me with a huge, warm smile and asked "How can I help you today sir?". I asked for a small medium blend drip coffee and then couldn't help but compliment her on her pleasant, positive demeanour and ask whether something unusually nice had happened to her that morning.
Her response was beautiful, she said, "No, nothing unusually good happened to me this morning, I just make a habit of wearing my Friday attitude every day of the week". We laughed again and off I went.
Ten minutes later I was stuck in grid-lock traffic down on Burrard street. Since that chemical spill problem in the Electra building has kept Nelson Street closed, vehicle commuting downtown has been a nightmare. Drivers were upset, everyone running late for something. The guy next to me was losing it, flipping off everyone around him and swearing constantly under his breath.
I thought of my encounter with the happy barista, phoned my clients and calmy explained I'd be ten munites late. I then sat back, cranked up 103.5FM (yes, soft rock) and laughed in pity at all the poor angry souls around me taking the grid lock personally.
The lesson is one about attitude, your outlook on life at any point in time will directly reflect lifes inlook' on you.
I have attached a quote on positive attitude by Charles Swindall;
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company a church a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you we are in charge of our Attitudes."
