Zig Ziglar writes how that a few years ago when He was doing an early-morning seminar, He greeted the young woman who was guarding the backstage door with a cheerful “Good morning, how are you doing?” She said, “I’m not doing well. I hate this job.” I confidently, cheerfully and arrogantly said to her, “Well, think about it this way. There are some people who don’t have any kind of job doing any thing, so maybe you’ll feel better with that thought.” The young woman looked at me and said, “Look, I’m not ready for any of your ‘positive thinking.’ I’m having an extremely tough time.” As I walked away I thought to myself, “Boy! What a lousy attitude!” However, as I pondered it during the next few minutes I realized that what she needed was some empathy, somebody to say, “Is there anything I can do?” or, “I’m sorry things are not going your way.”
I went back at my earliest possible moment to apologize to the young woman. Unfortunately, she was gone. That’s one of the reasons today I talk a great deal more about the right attitude in addition to having a positive attitude. In that particular incident, my relationship with that young woman, and the possibility of giving her any real encouragement later, was destroyed because I was so intent on saying what I had to say and not really empathetic to her problem. Relationships are built on putting yourself in the other person’s position and trying to relate; as the old Indian adage says, “You won’t know another person until you’ve walked in his moccasins at least one day.” Try to imagine how he or she must feel, and you will be able to deal with them more effectively and get along with them far better – and feel better about yourself in the process.
Zig Ziglar-Having A Right Mental Attitude
