Today I had to make a trek to one of those dreaded places, the DMV. You see, I had just recently sold an old car that we had sitting in our garage for over a year. Finally, gave it to a family that really needed it and that was great, but of course you have paperwork that accompanies that.
Now, I was watching our son, our young son Bodhi, when my wife was coaching one of her coaching clients. So I decided to throw Bodhi in the car with me and head down to the DMV. I though we’d whip right in, whip right out because it was early in the day and most people don’t have the Author of You Own Story lifestyle, so they were stuck in a cubicle somewhere while we’d be able to zip in and zip out.
Well, we got there to find the DMV was understaffed. What a nightmare, right? Not a big deal. Here I am, carrying my son on my arm and just waiting. Got our number, number 99, and they were serving number 90.
Meanwhile, a lady comes out. Short in stature, but with a very big personality. She started yelling at some of the DMV staff, “What are you doing? Get over there. Go check VIN numbers.” Then went right immediately to the first person in line and said, “What number are you? Face forward. You want to make sure you hear.” She was giving commands.
And a woman to my right … and we’re standing in the back. You got to understand, we just kind of got there, and I knew we weren’t in line yet and was going to wait, and had to keep my son entertained. A woman to my right goes, “Jeez, wow, that lady’s just in a bad mood. She’s mean. Look, I’m sure she’s going to get fired soon.” And I just smiled and decided not to engage in the conversation.
And then as we walked around a little bit, the woman kept on barking orders not only to her staff, but she was barking orders to the people at the DMV. “What’s your paperwork about? Do you have it filled out right?” She just went on and on and on.
And again, as I circle around the DMV, as you can imagine as I’m holding my son, he’s got this cute little outfit on because it’s cool outside. People are watching him, waving to him back and forth, and I’m trying to keep him entertained.
I circle back around the building to the spot where I originally was, and again there’s a woman standing next to me and she says, “Wow, this woman’s amazing. I can’t believe. I’m a little scared.” I was like, I just turned to her and said, “Hey, she’s probably just having a bad day.” And then the woman looked at me and said, “You know what? Some people like that are always having a bad day.” I thought that’s an interesting conversation, one I could jump into or not. And I elected not to.
So as the time went on, the woman walked up to me, saw my child and smiled and she said, “Hey, what are you here for?” And she was really gruff. I just smiled at her, looked her in the eyes and said, “Hey, thank you so much for coming over here. I just sold my vehicle and I just want to drop off this paperwork.” She paused, looked at me like I was a leprechaun or something, something crazy, because I was the only person responding to her gruffness with love and sincerity.
And she looked at me and just smiled and she said, “Hey, you know what? Why don’t I take this paperwork for you and I’ll take care of it, and you just go have a great day.” And I turned around, I smiled, thanked her and turned around and walked away.
Now see, the point of the story is, in the past I may have been just as aggressive back to her and be like, “Don’t talk to me this way. I don’t deserve this,” or I might have been, in my early days I probably would have tried to coach her. As an early coach in my 20s, I probably would have said, “Hey, I can help this woman. I can make her day better.”
Now, over time what I’ve learned is, if I’m standing in my own power, I’m able to just be myself and just exude love, love back. I don’t know what’s happened to her. Maybe she has had a bad day. Maybe every day is a bad day because she’s got a loved one going through a traumatic experience, or something else is happening in her life. I don’t know her story, but I do know my story, and my story is about helping people and leading with love, so that’s exactly what I did.
Her energy had nothing to do with me, had no effect on me because I just was myself. But by being myself and being strong and authentic in myself, I was able to penetrate her and change her frame of reference, and also her attitude. Now, I don’t know for sure, but my guess is the next person she talked to, she had a slightly lighter tone and possibly a smile to her face.
And this is just a recollection for all of us, a way for us to remember that when we’re ourselves, our genuine, joyful selves, leading with love with people, we can affect the people around us, even the woman at the DMV who I’ll probably never see again, but I’m able to share my story about her with you.
So my question for you is, where in your Five to Thrive are you not leading with your authentic self? Where are you? Is it in your business? Is it in your soul? Is it in your relationships? Is it in your body, or in your mind? Are you not leading authentically, kind of like this woman wasn’t? And where can you lead a little bit more? Where can you be in your own power?
Stand up, learn those tricks and techniques, re-practice them time and time again, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, so it becomes automatic. So when the woman at DMV steps up to you in a gruff attitude and is making everyone else there angry and upset, you’re able to bring light into the situation, and hopefully pay that forward.
That’s it from me today. As always, go over to authorofyourownstory.com, make sure you get on that newsletter. And when you get that newsletter, I’m going to ask you two questions, two questions that I hope to hear from you. For those of you that have shared that with me, yes, I do respond each and every time, and I’ve loved the conversations that we’ve had, and I want the rest of you to have that opportunity as well. And I want to get to know you. I really, really want to know how I can help you move forward on your journey.
You deserve to have it all. A lot of times there’s just one little thing that’s stopping you, one little thing, and it’s hidden, it’s with blinders, it’s right over here outside of your peripheral view. And I want you to have that.
So, go over there, get on the newsletter. Again, you can always unsubscribe if you don’t see the value in it. And then also share this with at least three people, so you can have conversations that matter. Hey, you may even know the lady at the DMV and just by forwarding this off to her, you could change her whole outlook and possibly her life as well.
I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a great day. And remember, go inspire someone simply by being the author of your own story.
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