Who Can I Blame?
All day I’ve been blaming Comcast for my grumpy and sour mood. I’ve been telling myself it’s their fault. Today was one of the rare times I had paid for a webinar. Scheduled for 9am, I was up bright and early at 8:55 leaving me plenty of time to wake up my computer, log on, and begin taking notes. To my dismay, when I clicked the webinar link, I saw the dreaded message we’re all too familiar with: “Cannot connect to the internet at this time.” What? No!I quickly dialed 1-800-Comcast and spent the next 25 minutes pushing every button combination possible, and calling back three more times before I was able to speak with a live person. I finally was connected to John after I told the automated system to “Cancel my service.” Miraculously, my call went right through! Hint to customer service: work to keep me happy all the time rather than trying to save my business at the last minute.
“We’re doing some maintenance in your area so the Internet is down,” was the explanation. “Is that something that had to happen at 9am on a business day?” I asked. As we went round and round in a conversation that was obviously going nowhere, I began to get frustrated and mad. I didn’t blame John, but explained that his company just screwed me out of my webinar. What were they going to do about it? Nothing.
I hung up in a grumpy mood and carried that weight around for a good part of the day. This afternoon, gazing at the beauty of San Francisco bay, I recognized how silly I was being and began to laugh at, and kick myself. Why would I let something as unimportant as this ruin my day? It wasn’t John’s or Comcast’s fault I was grumpy. It was mine.
We can’t always predict or control circumstances or events. The only thing we can control is how we react to them. My reaction was up to me and there was no one else to blame. I caused my grumpy day and, as I have many times before, re-learned that my attitude is all up to me. So go ahead Comcast, Best Buy, Verizon, and all the rest, bring it on. You can’t make me grumpy anymore!
What about you? Are you letting other people or circumstances dictate how your day goes? As William Henley said, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”
Here’s to the captain in each of you,
Larry Jacobson
Your Retirement Life-Style Design Coach
Larry Jacobson is America’s #1 trusted authority on non-fiscal retirement life-style planning. He is the creator of the Award-Winning “Sail Into Retirement” life-style design program; developed based on his own Retirement Transformation Experience. He retired early and sailed around the world… in 6 years. Larry is a two-time TEDx speaker, and a regular speaker at Retirement and Life-Style Planning events. Larry believes only in teaching what he knows, and he loves helping his clients turn their passion into their dream retirement. If you’d like to explore inviting Larry to speak at your organization’s next event; or if you’d like to be coached by Larry, Click HERE to contact him!
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