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While I have learned much from great managers and mentors, the first bit of career advice I actually discovered on my own.  When I was a teenager, I worked as a grocery store cashier in in the small village where I grew up.  One customer came in regularly.   This dreary woman never smiled and I (and my fellow teenaged cashiers) thought she was a “grumpy old woman.” 

I don’t know why, but one day I decided to do something different when she came through my line.   I smiled brightly at her and said that I admired the tulips in her front garden.   She was surprized and hesitantly said that she liked them too.   No smile from her, but at least a response.   The next time she came in I smiled and asked about her garden again.   This time she smiled back and told me about some other flowers in her garden that were yet to bloom.  As time went by, this “grumpy old woman” waited patiently in my line even when other cashiers were free.  I learned that her husband had died recently (no wonder she was “grumpy”) and they had planted the tulips many years ago.   

I noticed her transformation to a bright and smiling person asking me about my life, and my school, and I looked forward to seeing her.  I discovered that “I have the POWER to change another person, by changing my own attitude!”

This lesson has been useful throughout my career (and life) and it is amazing to see how the world and people in it blossom because of it! 

So tell me –  What is your power of attitude story?   Please share it.

Brighten the day with your smile,   Joanne