Welcome to Episode 306 of the Wildly Successful Lifestyle podcast! I have a cute kind of fun story to start out with and it actually applies to my topic which is fun, I was in yoga this morning and our teacher Becca is truly one of those yoga teachers you always want, fun, always just so kind and comes with a positive message anytime you see her. So, we are in class at Lifetime fitness which has gyms all over the country, the class was pretty full and we are about 20 minutes in so we are definitely in the flow when the door to the yoga room cracks open and we see her go over to the door to sort of check what’s up because it’s a little late for someone to be joining but anyway there is a man just kind of looking in, and so she in a split second had to decide what to do because it looked like he needed something so she said “you can come in and with that he walks right in shoes and all, which is a big no no, you could see her trying to decide if she should ask him to remove his shoes because he had on all black with a huge silver buckle but his shoes were this neon blue so they just sort of announced themselves, but she simply just says well welcome in, what is your name and he smiles and says “My name is Bahram, Im the CEO of Lifetime and I just wanted to say hello” he was visiting his gyms all around the country for the new year, I guess. with that we all laughed because of course then we recognized him immediately from the magazine, with his big silver belt buckle. And then he said you are all looking lovely blew us a kiss and turned around and walked out. Becca turns around and says oh my goodness! Im so glad I was so friendly! I almost asked him to remove his shoes!! Her consistent and genuine welcoming attitude served her very well. So just food for thought, to always be kind, you never know, right? Ok I just loved that story and it actually applies to the topic, I’ll tell you how in a minute.
Ok, My husband, Eric has said since I met him that he always likes to “leave things better than he found them”. This saying has played out in my head probably every day since he told me that. And he really lives it. I’m not sure if it was innate or if the military trained it into him but we can be on a run or a walk and he will see a piece of trash on our street and he just picks it up and takes it and puts it in the trash. He does it all the time. Now me. IF I saw it and that’s a big if because I tend to not notice things like that, but if I saw it I may have a thought that I don’t like seeing it but my first reaction or thought would not be to pick it up. I guess Somebody else would have to do it.
But when you’re around someone long enough you generally pick up their habits, at least some of them. And this is one of them that I’ve really worked on.
Every single time I go into a public bathroom my thought is to leave it better than I found it. It doesn’t matter that they have people cleaning, I personally want to leave it better for the next person because what’s the alternative? You just leave it a mess for the next person to deal with? I’ve had that thought and that’s not how I want to live my life. When I’m going into a public bathroom and it’s packed and you’re waiting for the next stall, I don’t want to go in after someone who looks slovenly or dirty because I imagine that’s how they left it, do you ever do that? You imagine if someone is neat and clean, that’s probably how they left the bathroom, neat and clean.
How you do one thing is how you do everything. Remember? That’s why the little things matter. Yeah, it may be somebody else’s job but how much better do you feel when you’ve left it better than it was for the next person?
I’m not a person who wants to live in a mess so I better become a person who takes action when there is a mess regardless of who made it. Now I certainly don’t seek these types of things out where Im cleaning up messes all the time but if I notice something, and it’s within my power to do something about it, I do.
It’s been quite windy in the last week or so and last week my neighbors recycle bin blew over with bottles and boxes just everywhere. I had a choice. It wasn’t my job to clean it up, nobody else was around to see me not clean it up but it’s a lot easier for me to clean it up than for my 70 year old neighbor to do it. And I want to be a person that leaves things better than they found it. So I cleaned it up and it felt good, for the rest of the day, it felt good. It took me 3 minutes, literally, but the benefits lasted all day.
I was getting a handful of walnuts in our pantry and one fell somewhere not easily found, my initial reaction was to leave it because it would be a hassle to pull everything out to find one walnut, but that’s not how I want to show up so I pull out the waters and the waffle iron and the toaster, oh wait, the toaster, yep, there it was in the toaster, now had I just left it, the next time we put something in the toaster, we would have had a roasted walnut, not a big problem by itself, but is that me leaving things in a better place? Nope. Im happy I found it. I tore a paper towel off the roll and a little corner came off and flew on the floor, Mayra is coming later, I’ll just let her get it, no, it’s my mess, I noticed it, so I’m gonna clean it up. The little things we do matter.
And it doesn’t end there. How about the people you come in contact with every single day? From your partner to the cashier at the gas station. Are you leaving them better than before they encountered you? That’s really something to think about. Did I wake up on the wrong side of the bed and make my husband wish I had stayed in bed? Good question. Becca taught everyone in that yoga class a valuable lesson, welcoming a guy in 20 minutes late, before she ever knew he was her big boss. That’s how she treats everyone, she leaves them better for having encountered her. How about you? Have you ever been having a bad day and someone made your day just by smiling at you? I have. Have you ever been having a bad day and in turn made sure someone else was just as miserable? Ive done that too.
But on a regular general basis, are people better off for having run into you? I hope so.
My challenge to you this week is to ask yourself “Am I leaving this space or this person in a better place because Ive been here?” Be really honest, and if you don’t like the answer just decide, like me, to work on it. I love you guys, I’ll talk to you in a few days.
