I would like to thank everyone who posted a comment to my first blog. I’ve received many phone calls and emails in the past few days, as well. This experience is definitely emotionally uplifting and mentally liberating due to your support. I am amazed at how many people have had a similar “bad teacher” experience and have worked or are working to overcome it. As a result of my Mindset Shift™ I have discovered that if you unblock one area of your life, it frees up other areas. What’s your experience with this? Have you found it to be true as well?
Keep those Mindset Shift™ stories coming! A client of mine shared this one with me recently.
His teenage daughter worked at a cookie store at the mall. While her co-worker was on a break,
a senior citizen had come into the shop. This woman was taking her time making her selection and as a result a long line stated to form.
The young sales lady as well as the other customers were becoming frustrated and impatient with the delay and some of the customers walked off in a huff. Finally the elderly woman completed her order. She said, “I want to thank you for your patience. I wanted to be sure that I picked my son’s favorite cookies. He leaves tomorrow for Iraq.”
What was the mindset of the teenager and the other customers now? Embarrassment? Shame? Compassion? Empathy? How long did it take to make a Mindset Shift™ from frustration and impatience to shame and compassion? Seconds!
Keep your Mindset Shift™ stories coming and thank you for your support.
#1 by Jade Gritzfeld - May 19th, 2009 at 11:56
I’m always amazed when you discount your writing ability. “Mindset Shift” is very cool. I have every confidence that Ed Tate, the writer will surprise himself with how the blog evolves. Congratulations on a great blogging start. I love the rules too. Now I’m pondering my Mindset Shift for today. Thanks.
#2 by Ravi Moosad - May 24th, 2009 at 01:16
Its really nice see you blogging.
I went through multiple mindset shifts recently.
1. I am Toastmaster for the last one year and a big fan of you and Darren. After watching ‘One of those Days’ and ‘OUCH’, I had a feeling that ‘great speakers are born, not made’. I am from Abu Dhabi and had the privilage of attending few training sessions by you and Darren.These sessions really changed my way of thinking. Now I realize the great effort behind your success. Whatever people ‘PLAN TO DO’ to become a great speakers, you people already DID. I know that I can’t be you or Darren. But I feel that, definitely I can be ME.
2. I was a humorous contestant in Toastmasters District 79 conferece @ Abu Dhabi. I never concentrated on International Speech Contests since I dont have a good command over English (the language). In fact I could not grasp much of the subtle humor from you and Darren (like many others among the audience). My wife translated your humor from American English to Indian English for me
. I enjoyed them, though there was a 2 minute gap between your joke and my laugh. After years of inferiority complex over bad language, I recently started writing, listening and practicing in order to improve it.
Thanks for the blog. Waiting for new posts.
#3 by Master Motivator - May 25th, 2009 at 08:57
Greetings Mr. Tate!!
Great to see you extending yourself past what you believed you were capable of
It’s funny you should share the story about the lady in the cookie store. Just yesterday, I was sharing with my wife a similar story. A friend of mine was going through cancer treatment and lost all of her hair. We encouraged her to go to a bar with us and have some fun. She was apprehensive, but decided to get past it.
In the bar, I noticed a fella staring at her bald head. He kept staring and as he stated, my blood pressure began to rise. Finally, I decided I was going to have a talk with him. I approached, asked a stern question with superlatives, and he said “I was watching your friend because my sister recently died of cancer and I miss her” WOW! I stuffed my whole boot in my mouth. Apologized for my perception and bought him a beer and introduced him to Cathy.
That night, I learned there just might be more to the story than what we perceive to be.
Looking forward to more blogs Ed!!
Christopher
#4 by Gayathri - May 27th, 2009 at 04:37
Hi there Ed!
It is great to see your blog. Your stories on mindset shift made me remember something that happened to me when I was a little girl. I had this dance teacher, and I was taking lessons from her during lunch break. I missed a couple of lessons, and when I came back, I couldn’t keep up with the other students. So the teacher declared in front of the whole batch that I was a horrible dancer. And sure enough, I decided that since the teacher said so, it must be true! I dropped out of the dance class and never had the courage to dance again in school or college. But now that I think about it, I feel that it is not necessarily true! And that possibility has liberated me very much. Thank you for that!
Cheers,
Gayathri.
#5 by Vinella Garcia - May 28th, 2009 at 03:02
Hi Ed,
This is my first time replying to a blog. I normally only read them. I’m still not sure what the difference between blogging and emailing to more than one person except that all can be seen on the Internet in a blog. Both your story and Christopher’s story reminded me of when I was in third grade (1960). I had caught lice and the medicine didn’t seem to be working so my father shaved my head. For a while I was allowed to wear a hat (not normally allowed in school). Once day the nurse called me into her office. You know that gut feeling? Well, when she asked me, “How’s your head?” instead of “How are you?” – I had that gut feelinig. I couldn’t answer and in less than a minute, without any another word, she grabbed my hat off my head and threw my hat on the top of her cabinet. I couldn’t react – I was frozen. She told me I could go back to class. I didn’t, couldn’t move. She took my hand and led me back to class. When she opened the door, some of my classmates gasped. I heard someone say, “She’s not a girl, she’s a boy!” I was already shy, having trouble relearning English, but I went even further into my shell. It took a very long time to get over those kind of experiences but now people that meet me can’t even imagine that I was ever shy.