Feedback Form
Home Features Mastermind Videos About Advertise Blog Network Contact
   

Have A Suggestion?
Toronto Salsa Classes / Toronto Salsa Lessons Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
Have A Suggestion?

Featured Ebook


ebook Famous Entrepreneurs - Modern Empire Builders


Featured Ebook

More Evan Carmichael
Have A Suggestion?

Sales Lessons From Starbucks And Dell

The Attitude of Gratitude



The Attitude of Gratitude
   

The other day a client sat nervously in my office, dismissing her "silly" feelings preemptively with a wave of her hand. “Please explain,” I encouraged.

She pulled a tissue out of the box and dabbed her eyes, looking at the carpet as she spoke. “I’ve had a lot of health problems recently. I don’t want to be a complainer but it’s been a push just to get up in the morning and go to work. Yesterday, my boss just left a stack of work on my desk and walked away without a word.” With that, her voice broke.

“What does that mean to you?” I asked.

“I'm not important to him except for what I can do to make his life easier. He doesn't even see me as a person. The part that really hurts is that he didn't even ask me how I was feeling."

My heart ached. I thought of so many times where I’ve felt that what I did for someone mattered more than who I am, that without having something to offer, I wasn’t worthy. For most of us, the need to heal that one often presents itself at inopportune times and in painful ways. I took her hand. “You can use this as evidence that your boss doesn’t value you or you can tell him how you felt.”

“I’m afraid he’ll just get defensive or think I'm stupid.”

“But it's already what you think he thinks. So what do you have to lose?” As I write about in my book, Enough Is Enough, I believe that what we fear, we project and get mirrored back to us. But we often need a reminder of this so that we can consciously choose to move through our fear and take a stand on our own behalf.

She looked me in the eye as she said, "What I'm really afraid of is that I'm expendable in his eyes. But you're right. If I already feel expendable, what else is there to fear by telling him?"

She could no longer hide behind hurt or confusion anymore; the decision to stay or to leave a working environment that didn’t uphold her worthiness was her responsibility to make. Perhaps the hardest decision she would have to face was how much she was willing to risk in order to value herself.

The woman who walked into my office the next week looked very different. Her shoulders were straighter and she had the confidence that comes with having just met fear with courage. I wondered what I would hear. Had she been fired? Quit?

“He admitted that he’d been a jerk. He said that I was right to be upset. Then he said that he respected me for speaking up. I must have looked pretty skeptical,” she said, “because then he asked how he could prove it to me.”

“What did you say?”

She smiled slowly, “I said, ‘I will just know.'"

“And?”

“The next day he dropped another stack of papers on my desk. But this time he stopped to say good morning and he asked how I felt. I told him fine and, for once, I really meant it. Regardless of the ups and downs of my physical health, my well being is intact."






The Attitude of Gratitude - To learn more about this author, visit Jane Straus's Website.

Like this article? Share it with your friends
[Get Copyright Permissions] E-Mail | Print | More  


Related Articles Related Articles
Gratitude is Attitude
  The magic of gratitude is the more thanks you give the more you will receive to be thankful for.
Can You Change Your Destiny?
  Anyone can make great strides towards advancing in the direction of their destiny – but it takes a definite shift in attitude, a definite shift in action, and a bit of courage…
How Salespeople Can Develop An Attitude Of Gratitude
  Don't ever be too busy to show your appreciation to your customers. Read this article to discover the two most powerful words in sales.
The Power of Being Grateful
  In this session, we are going to talk about applying the seventh principle in our lives. In my business coaching we have seven principles that can change companies life to connect with their employee’s. My coac...
Celebrate Your Victories and Give Thanks
  Research has shown over and over again that the more you acknowledge your past successes, the more confident you become in taking on, and successfully accomplishing, new ones.

Related Forum Posts Related Forum Posts
YOUR POSITIVE ATTITUDE! YOUR POSITIVE ATTITUDE!
Rre No degree no job?? Rre No degree no job??
Re: No degree no job?? Re: No degree no job??
My reading log My reading log

 
About the Author


Jane Straus
(Visit Jane's Website)
Jane Straus is a trusted life coach, dynamic keynote speaker, and the author of Enough Is Enough! Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life. With humor and grace, Jane offers her clients and seminar participants insights and exercises to ensure that the next chapter of their lives is about thriving as the unique individuals they have always been and the extraordinary ones they are still becoming. She serves clients worldwide and invites you to visit her site, www.stopendu ring.com. Here you will find excerpts from her book, more articles, TV and radio interviews, and clips from her presentations. She is also the author of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation, www.grammarbo ok.com, an award-winning online resource and workbook with easy-to-understand rules, real-world examples, and fun quizzes. Contact Jane at Jane@Jan eStraus.com.
Have A Suggestion?

View Author's Blog
Become An Author

View Author's Video
Straus' Life Keys Part 1 - A MyPathTV Exclusive! Author and EvanCarmichael.com expert Jane Straus speaks about her '10 Keys to Creating Your Extraordinary Life'.
Become An Author

Free Downloads


Jane Straus's

Complete
List Of
Work-Life
Articles

First Name
Last Name
Email
 
If you enjoyed this article, get Jane Straus's Complete List of Work-Life Articles For FREE!

More Jane Straus
Questions About Personality Profiling
Feeling Ignored
The Art of Tweaking Tips for Thriving in Todays World
The Value of Your Word
Life is Like Coffee
The Key to Keeping Your New Years Resolutions
Spotting a UOF
What Is A Life Coach
Are You Fulfilled
Entering 2008 Thriving not Just Enduring
Become An Author