Jeff was the kind of guy you'd love to hate. He was always in a good
mood and always had 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 unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed
him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters
followed Jeff was his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an
employee was having a bad day, Jeff 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 to Jeff and asked him, "I don't
get it! You can't be a positive person all the time. How do you do it?"Jeff 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," Jeff 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 will affect your mood.
You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your
choice how you live life." I reflected on what Jeff said.Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant 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 Jeff did something you are never supposed to do in a
restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning, and was
held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the
safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination.
The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jeff was found relatively
quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery
and weeks of intensive care, Jeff was released from the hospital with
fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jeff about six months
after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he said, "If I were any
better, I'd be twins, Wanna see my scars?" I declined to see his wounds,
but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took
place."The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked
the back door", Jeff replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, 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. Jeff
continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going
to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room 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
Jeff. "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, "BULLETS!" Over their laughter, I told them, "I
am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead." Jeff
lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his
amazing attitude. I learned from him that everyday we have the choice to
live fully.Attitude, after all, is everything.
Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching.
author unknown 
