I got home around 3am this morning.  I was supposed to be home at 10:40pm last night.  After two days in Chicago, I arrived at O'Hare around 6pm Sunday night for a 7:40pm flight to RDU.  Since I HATE drama, I will spare you the details but after a couple of hours on the tarmac waiting to take off, we were informed that our route had been changed to avoid thunderstorm activity but that we did not have enough fuel for the re-routing.  Kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it? I mean how much re-routing could it have been?  I don't like coasting into my driveway on fumes much less flying into RDU on them. 

Anyhow, at approximately 10:55pm we were told we were taxing back to our gate to refuel, and that we would have to deplane while the refueling was taking place.  I watched our luggage being unloaded from the plane and did not think that was a very good sign.  Was pretty sure we'd be spending the night at O'Hare.

We got off the plane and by this time it was 11:30pm.  Most everything was closed, even at O'Hare so I grabbed some pistachios and a diet coke and waited optimistically to reboard.  The talk among my fellow passengers in the lobby was less than positive.  I mean could I really blame them?  It was a pretty miserable couple of hours on a small regional jet on the tarmac.  There was little if any communication about what was going on.  And people had rental cars to get, hotels to get to and work to be done first thing Monday.

It was hard not to get SUCKED into all the negative energy around me.  People were drained, frustrated and down-right tired.  But really?  What could we do about it?  Nothing.  That's what Training Your Brain is all about.  Controlling your response to what you can't control and making up your mind you will be the champion, not the victim.

I was surprisingly peaceful and decided to cocoon myself from all the negative talk.  This one woman would not stop talking about how bad it was.  Can't say that i could really argue with anything she had to say, but again, what good did it do to dwell on it?

So i decided to take a THANK YOU walk.  What was I thankful for?  I started listing all of my thank-yous in my head and it started to change my mood from negative to positive, and that changed my actions, and voila!  Behavior can be linked to bottom-line results.

1. I was on my way home and did not have a presentation to give first thing the next morning (rather challenging to be perky at 8am when you've been flying all night, although I have pulled that off before).
2. My car was at the RDU airport, so I would not need a cab or a rental car at the late hour I knew we would be getting in.
3.  I'd rather be stuck on the tarmac in a lightning storm than getting struck by lightning at 30,000 feet.
4.  I'd rather we be told we need fuel while still on the tarmac than over the ocean (and yes I actually survived that scenario once upon a time on my way back from Puerto Rico.  We circled for so long to land in Miami that we had to make an unscheduled landing on "some" island to refuel).
5.  I had changed out of my suit and into comfortable clothing BEFORE I boarded my flight and sat for nearly two hours on the tarmac.
6.  I had seat 16A.  On a regional jet that means I had a seat by myself.  At least i wasn't sitting beside the woman with the poison ivy all down her arm (that was my seat partner on my way TO Chicago).
7.  I was on my way home, not to a funeral, or to a hospital.  All I had to do when I got home was crawl into my bed and snuggle up with my husband.  Not a bad life at all.

I could go on and on but you get the picture.  Really - what could we complain about?  A thunderstorm?  Have you ever tried to control Mother Nature?  Train Your Brain and focus on what you can control, instead of what you can't!  Find the good in your situation and take a thank you walk every now and then! 

The attitude of gratitude is powerful.

And remember - TRAIN YOUR BRAIN.  If you don't, someone or something else will be glad to do it for you.

See you Sunday morning on the radio!  8:06am on Rush Radio 106.1 WRDU!

Greetings from Peachtree City, Georgia. I have been here since Sunday for a leadership retreat. Learning and reaffirming life lessons for this Sunday's show, one of which resonated with me this morning: If you aren't having fun, it may be time to re-evaluate who you are, what you're doing and who you are doing it with. Are you the right person in the right place doing the right thing at this time in your life? As one of the VPs of the Atlanta Region of the company that I am working for said this morning, "I don't want to lose you but if you're not having fun, I don't want to keep you."

Self-management is key. Don't wait for someone to ask you what's wrong or how it could be better. Go to your leader. Explain, but don't complain. Maybe it's time someone recast the vision for you, or you recast the vision for yourself. 

Rededicate and BELIEVE. And if you can't believe, it may be time to prune the tree and bear fruit elsewhere.

Heading to downtown Atlanta next. About 45 minutes from here. Will be working with a group of managers and specifically my Train Your Brain Series for personal development and professional growth all day Wed. and Thur.

Definitely mixing in a little FUN with my work, too. My daughter, parents and I are having dinner at The American Girl Store tonight and will be going to see Little House on the Prairie at the Fox Theatre Wed night.  

Thursday we catch a 6pm flight to get home in time for my son's high school football team's team building COOKOUT at OUR HOUSE!! A full week indeed and I LOVE IT!

See you on the radio this Sunday morning at 8:06 right after the top of the hour news, and remember WE GET to go to work instead of WE HAVE to go to work.  TRAIN YOUR BRAIN because if you don't someone or something else will do it for you!

- Susan