Life Is 10% What Happens To Me

If life is 10% what happens to me, then what's the other 90%?

 The other 90% is *how I react to it*. The whole and original quote is "Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it", discovered through lifehacker.com. Although, lifehacker has a short quotable article on it, I couldn't help but feel compelled to write about it here. It's a reminder to myself that attitude determines whether a situation can go down badly, a deal can be closed, a connection made, a friendship developed, an enemy discovered, or even the start of a business idea!

Often times when we fail or perform poorly we allow ourselves to be consumed by our critical self. We also allow undesirable outcomes to affect our decision-making, our spirit and motivation. Regardless of whether the outcome was in one's control or not, there's almost always something we can learn from it.


Traffic
 Most people hate sitting in traffic, especially for long periods of time. Actually, most people hate waiting for anything in general (like Zimbardo stated in his Time paradox). However, instead of being so cranky or snappy at other drivers or yourself, just enjoy the music on the radio, listen to the news, observe the number of cars and the drivers around you. If it really bothers you that much, perhaps you should take the next exit and take an inside road to get home. Inside roads tend to have more traffic lights and speed limits are much lower, but the wheels tend to roll at a steady rate than bumper-to-bumper traffic on the highway.

Shifting our Attitude
Recently, I have been trying to change my attitude towards common, micro-situations that would usually cause distress, anxiety, or irritation by viewing it as joke, but in most cases ... apathy. Trying to think that I don't really care helps me recognize that some things are out of my control or that it was my fault to start out with so I should figure where I went wrong. Our attitudes towards a situation or event is a reflection of how we feel at the moment of the situation, and thus further influencing our behavior in that particular direction. It's our attitude that either turns a bad situation right side up, or a big conflict into no conflict. Our attitude will ultimately determine how successful we become. By changing our attitude, we allow ourselves to view the world through a new set of lenses, enabling us to see the beauty and opportunities that we would otherwise miss.


Sources:
http://lifehacker.com/5873131/life-is-10-of-what-happens-to-me-and-90-of-how-i-react-to-it?tag=quotables


"We are always getting ready to live, but never living"

-The Social Nerd