How you respond to any situation is totally in your control.
I was looking through the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People this week and thought that this was a good subject to talk about.
Responsibility is defined as “you having the ability to decide what your response is going to be to something.”
“response-ability”
- You can decide to “respond” in a negative way or a positive way to just about anything.
- Being professional or unprofessional is a choice that you make when you respond to a situation.
- “Responding in a defensive way or in a way that shows flexibility is a choice.”
- Some people get into a bad mood and use that as the excuse for how they responded, and this is a choice, as it is all in your mind.
If your personal value is always to be positive and professional, then you won’t find yourself in negative territory very often with negative responses.
Remember as I have said to you often: Be careful what you say and do as they are watching everything you do and everything you say and judging you.”
Be responsible and pick the right “response,” because you are the only one who has the ability to be responsible for what choices you make, and those choices can take your life either up or down. You are in the driver’s seat—show others what “response-ability” looks like. . . . Lee
This is such a tremendous gift. With a day of deadly blizzards and tornadoes, your entry on thinking before responding was a great reminder that the one element we can control is how we choose to respond. Today, for me, it is with gratitude. Thank you, Lee.
This is so true as a parent as well.
Sometimes I just need to take a deep
breathe and count to five while I
consider my options rather than saying
the first thing that comes to mind. I
think responsibility is probably one of
the most important things we can
model for our children (or staff).
“Think Before You Respond…Be Responsible”
I am somewhat surprised that no one tossed in e-communication to this discussion — so I will. Quick, unthinking e-responses may lead to cyberbullying. I see in my own e-inbox several quick responses that are discourtious and even rude.
When I have an issue that may require a ‘strong’ response, I send my e-message to Marty S. for his comments. This does two things: he has no emotion in the situation and may temper my agressiveness and time passes so I have less reactive instincts.
Once again I agree with your fundamental premise, Lee — let’s think before we respond electronically as well as face-to-face.
Jim