ATTITUDE AND INFLUENCE

The quality of your life is directly related to the quality of your attitude. Why is it that two people, given virtually identical circumstances can experience such vastly different results in their lives? The difference is attitude. We can choose to have a positive or a negative attitude.

I'm reminded of a story of two boys who went to visit their grandfather's farm for the summer, expecting to have a great time riding ponies. Now as anyone who has spent time around a farm knows, animals are a great deal of work, and on their first morning there, Grandpa handed them each a shovel and said, "Boys, before you get to ride the pony you've got to muck out this stable."

Well, both boys set to work but before long the first boy started complaining dragging his heels at the thought of all the work to be done. The second boy continued working cheerfully, even whistling a tune while he shoveled the manure. The first boy grew irritated and finally asked the second boy, "How can you be so happy while we have to shovel all this muck?" The second boy looked up at him and smiled and said, "Well, with all this manure, there HAS to be a pony in here somewhere!"

Our attitude is greatly shaped by the influence of and association with the people in our lives. Be careful who you spend your time with. You can afford to spend a few minutes with some people, but not a few hours. Don't join an easy crowd - you won't grow. Go where the expectations and the demands to perform are high. Get around people who have something of value to share with you. Their impact will continue to have a significant effect on your life long after they have departed.

You must constantly ask yourself these questions: Who am I around? What are they doing to me? What do they have me reading? What have they got me saying? Where do they have me going? What do they have me thinking? And most important, what do they have me becoming? Then ask yourself the big question: Is that right for me? This is called influence and just like a word that begins similarly -influenza, you could catch something you don't want from these people.

Now there are two things to remember about influence: First, influence is powerful; and second, influence is subtle. We can all recognize a powerful negative influence, but we often let the subtle ones in without thinking. You wouldn't let someone push you off course, but you might let someone nudge you off course and not even realize it.

Peer pressure is especially powerful because it is so subtle. We allow people to keep nudging us off course a little at a time until we find ourselves one day saying, "How did I get here?" We need to pay attention to these influences if we want our lives to turn into something wonderful.

It is easy to just dismiss the things that influence our lives, but remember, everything counts! Some things matter more than others, but there are no unimportant matters. We must be
vigilant to see which way our scales are tipping, toward the negative or toward the positive.

Finally, what does all this have to do with bujutsu? If you cannot yet answer this, you need
more training.

Thanks to Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar and Miyamoto Musashi for the inspiration for this post.