
Discover the 90/10 Principle. I received this forwarded email from a friend and I find it pretty interesting. Anything to do with life improvements are eye-opening.
It will change your life (at least the way how you react to situations).
So what is this principle? 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react. What does this mean though? Maybe some of you have heard about this already.
We really have no control of what happens to us. We cannot stop the car from breaking down. The plane will be arriving late, which throws our whole schedule off. A driver may cut us off in traffic. Etc.
We have no control over this 10%, however the 90% is different. You determine the other 90%. How? By your reaction.
You cannot control the red light, but you can control your reaction. Don't let people fool you; YOU can control how you react.
Here's an example.
You are eating breakfast with your family. Your daughter knocks over a cup of coffee onto your business shirt. You have no control over what just happened. What happens next will be determined by how you react.
You cursed. Harshly scold your daughter for her carelessness. She breaks down in tears. After scolding her, you turn to your spouse and criticize her for placing the cup too close to the edge of the table. A short verbal battle follows.
You storm upstairs and changed your shirt. Back downstairs, you find your daughter has been too busy crying to finish breakfast and get ready for school. Thus she misses the bus.
Your spouse must leave immediately for work. You rush to the car and drive your daughter to school. Because you are late, you drive 40miles an hour in a 30 mph speed limit.
After 15-minute delay and $60 traffic fine, you arrive at school. Your daughter runs into the building without saying goodbye. After arriving at the office 20-minutes late, you forgot your briefcase. Your day has started terribly. As it continues, it seems to get worse and worse. You look forward to coming home.
When you return home, you find a small wedge in your relationship with your spouse and daughter. Why? Because of how you reacted in the morning.
Why did you have a bad day?
A) Did the coffee cause it?
B) Did your daughter cause it?
C) Did the traffic policeman cause it?
D) Did you cause it?
You had no control over what happened with the coffee, but how you reacted in those 5seconds is what caused your bad day.
Here is what should have happened.
Coffee splashes over you, your daughter is about to cry. You gently say, "Its ok honey, just be careful next time." Get upstairs and changed, grabbed your briefcase and come back down in time to see your child getting on the school bus. She turns and waves. You reached office 5minutes early and cheerfully greet the staff. Your boss comments on how good the day you are having.
Two different scenarios. Both started the same, but ended differently.
If someone says something negative about you, let it roll off like water on glass. React properly and it will not ruin the rest of your day. A wrong reaction could result in losing a friend, being fired, getting stressed etc.
You are told that you lost your job. Why lose sleep and get irritated? Use your worrying energy and time into finding another job. It will work out eventually.
The plane is delayed; it is going to disrupt your schedule for the day. Why outpour the frustration on the flight attendant? She has no control over what is going on.
Use your time to relax, get to know other passengers. Why stress out? It will just make things worse.
Millions of people are suffering from undeserved stress, trials, problems and heartache. We should understand and apply the 90/10 principle. You do not have anything to lose if you try it.
Talking about life improvements!
Posted at 02:24 pm by csaypet
Permalink