I don’t have 100% control over my posture every day, but just as I remember putting on my pants, I focus on my posture all day long. I’ve caught myself on incredibly difficult clients, falling short with them, tightening my body, getting defensive. I pause to calm down and take a deep breath. My response can make this interaction worse or change it for the better. My father used to say, “You get more bees with honey than with vinegar.” Isn’t that the truth?
I started in this industry when I was 6 years old and picked up leftovers with my dad and watched him install. He would take me anywhere. Not every day, but if he could. I never realized how much I absorbed, just being with him, observing his interactions, his work ethic, his attitude. He would point out things that have stayed with me since his death. I remember one time he pointed to a man near the house where we were going to work next. He asked me what I saw. I described the man. He had messy hair, dirty overalls, holes in his clothes. He didn’t look like he’d been showering for a while. My father told me about this man and how he was a hard worker, very smart and one of the richest people in this city. I was shocked.
The lesson he taught me was not to judge people by their appearance. I’ve kept that in mind when customers come into the store to show them what would work best for their home based on qualifying questions – not based on assumptions about what I think they can or can’t afford.
Now that I’ve successfully run my business and had a record year like many other retailers in the past year, I’ve been thinking about the tidbits my dad taught me while not realizing I was learning and observing and absorbing everything. The one that stands out most is that even in spite of his impending death from terminal cancer, he did his best to be happy, laugh, and enjoy the moments. His legacy was his attitude.
So, tomorrow, when you wake up, thinking about the tasks of the day, ask yourself, Is my attitude on that list? How will I handle the day? With fear and concern or with the firm belief that today is going to be the best day I can make? And remember this too. Our attitude towards others determines their attitude towards us.
Good and bad things will happen during the day; it is your attitude that will determine the outcome.
Typhannie Watson is the owner of Carpeting by Mike, a floor covering store in Somerset, Wisconsin founded by her late father Mike.
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