What is your Perspective?

I had the opportunity last night to be the guest speaker on a training call that my company has on a weekly basis. It's actually a very big honor to be asked to speak on this call so I was very happy to do so. The topic was perspective. I chose it because its something I am consistently aware of in my daily life. We just got back from an incredible trip to Cancun. Yes, I had a blast, got a great tan, swam with Dolphins, and ate tons of guacamole. AND, I had the pleasure of bringing my Dad with my on vacation. ( He is joining the business soon himself!). But I also gained a LOT from the content of the conference I was there to attend. One of the themes that seems to come up a lot is what are we focusing our energy on. When something doesn't go your way, do you obsess about it or do you stay focused on your goal, and push through any perceived obstacle in your way? I'll give you a real life example that happened to me today. I am training for the 1/2 Ironman coming up May6th, (See www.ericturiansky.com) and I had a 10 mile run to do today. Well, for those here in Sunny Southern California, we discovered it can rain like there is no tomorrow! I got into my car to drive to a hilly section of town since my race is very hilly. And as I am driving, I can't believe I am about to spend 1.5 hrs in the pouring rain. I was cranky, stressed about all the things I want to get done in my day, and wasnt in the mood to be drenched. And that was my perspective for the moment. Then as I was getting closer, my Dad called and we chatted for a few minutes. We talked about the success I'm having with my business and when I told him how much I've made the last few months, he told me how amazing it was and he was so excited for me. His perspective was that I was making a lot of money. MY perspective was different. I have extremely high goals for myself so unless I am making $50k/month, I won't be close to being satisfied. At any rate, I arrived at my destination, got out of my car, and started running. Within 3 minutes I was completely soaked to the bone. I had jumped into 3 puddles and my socks were sopping wet. And in that moment I chose a new perspective. I chose to enjoy this run. I was going to get as wet as I possibly could and I was going to love it. And I spent the next 10 miles running with a huge grin on my face. And the bigger the rivers of water flowing down the street at me, the happier I became. I was laughing out loud. It was truly exhilarating. Now I COULD have been miserable, unhappy, depressed, frustrated. But what or who would that have served? I chose a perspective on things that assisted me toward my goals. How are YOU viewing your current situation? David Neagle was a guesrt speaker last week at our conference. He said something I take to heart. He said that you can look at ALL things in a positive light, even what most would consider negative things. You just have to look for the lessons or the positive in things in order to find them. I always look at my failures and obstacles and see how I can learn from them. Its part of being human. Its sure a lot easier to celebrate wins! But if you go into each day with an attitude of gratitude with whatever gets presented to you in your day, you are certain to have more wins.