Are You A "Grumpy Gus?" I Know I Am!

My wife and I fly a lot. Before Amanda joined the family business full-time she worked for a graphic design firm which required a substantial amount of travel. For the past few years she has qualified for companion pass with Southwest Airlines which allows me (her companion) to fly for FREE! This is the best airline incentive on the market for sure and we do our very best every year to keep up the pass.

We now travel together speaking to businesses, schools and organization all across the country and have established a routine. Park the car, go through security, check the monitor to confirm the departing gate, you know the drill. We have OUR routine and we like it. Now, anytime our routine gets off track albeit traffic, airplane delays, left behind wallet (that was no fun!) it can put us in not so nice of mood. Have you ever experienced that before? The routine you have come to know and stick to, gets disrupted and you turn in to a Grumpy Gus! Welcome to the club, you’re officially human! 

What if you could control Grumpy Gus?

Murphy’s law states that if something has the ability to go wrong, it will. When there are a lot of moving parts, the chance of something not working, or functioning properly skyrockets. I have found success in preparing for the unexpected. What I mean by that is if the unexpected happens, well, then I will roll with the punches. I don’t have to agree with it nor do I have to mask my frustration – these are normal human functions. Instead of letting unexpected events control my attitude, I control my attitude.

Dr. Stephen Covey, in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, talks about learning how to “press pause” between the stimulus and the response. In my terminology, when your routine is destroyed, you can pause, and instead of letting Grumpy Gus out of the hat, simply shoo him away! Okay, enough with the names and crazy metaphors, I think you get my point. It takes a level of maturity to pause after the cause, but before the effect. Here is the cool thing, you control the effect. How you respond is up to you!

Now give it a try the next time things go awry.

Johnny Quinn is a professional speaker and travels the globe to inspire
audiences by delivering thought-provoking and action-packed messages on leadership, teamwork, motivation, faith and social media. He is a United States Olympian in the sport of bobsled and competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Johnny is also a former professional football player spending time with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, Green Bay Packers and Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL. He is one of three people to have played in the NFL and competed in the Winter Olympics.

For more information, please visit: www.JohnnyQuinnUSA.com