Every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

Read this and let it really sink in...then choose

how to start your day tomorrow...

Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. 
He is always in a good mood and always has 
something positive to say.

When someone would ask him how he was 
doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, 
I would be twins!"

He was a natural motivator. If an employee 
was having a bad day, Michael was there 
telling the employee how to look on the 
positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, 
so one day I went up to Michael and asked 
him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive

person  all of the time. How do you do it?"

Michael replied, "Each morning I wake up 
and say to myself, 'Mike, you have two choices 
today. You can choose to be in a good mood 
or you can choose to be in a bad mood.'

 I choose to be in a good mood.

"Each time something bad happens, I can 
choose to be a victim or I can choose to 
learn from it. I choose to learn from it.

"Every time someone comes to me 
complaining, I can choose to accept their 
complaining or I can point out the positive 
side of life. I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it isn't that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," Michael said. Life is all about 
choices. When you cut away all the junk, 
every situation is a choice. You choose 
how you react to situations.

You choose how people will affect your 
mood. You choose to be in a good mood 
or bad mood. "The bottom line is: It's your 
choice how you live life."

I reflected on what Michael said. Soon 
thereafter, I left the tower industry to start 
my own business. We lost touch, but I often 
thought about him when I made a choice 
about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Michael 
was involved in a serious accident, falling  
some 60 feet from a communications tower. 
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks  of 
intensive care, Michael was released from 
the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw Michael about six months after the 
accident. When I asked  him how he was,  
he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins.

Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask 
him what had gone through his mind as the 
accident took place. "The first thing that 
went through my mind was the well being 
of my soon-to-be-born daughter," Michael 
replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I 
remembered that I had two choices: I could 
choose to live or I could choose to die. 
I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose 
consciousness?" I asked.Michael continued, 
"The paramedics were great.They kept

telling me I was going to be fine. But when 
they wheeled me into the OT and I saw the 
expressions on the faces of the doctors and 
nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, 
I read 'He's a dead man.' I knew I needed 
to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there 
was a big burly nurse shouting questions 
at me," said Michael. "She asked if I was

allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The 
doctors and nurses stopped working as 
they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath 
and yelled, 'Gravity.' Over their laughter, I 
told them, ' I am choosing to live. Operate 
on me as if I am alive, not dead'."

Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his 
doctors, but also because of his amazing 
attitude. I learned from him that every day 
we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, 
after all, is everything.