What's Your First Response?

If you’re from Burlington, North Carolina, you know what it means when you’ve parked downtown and find a little orange ticket underneath your windshield wiper: you’ve got a parking ticket. If you’re not from Burlington, you may have had a similar experience in your city. Those little orange tickets are not my friend. In the past few years, I’ve paid….well…more than my share of parking ticket fines.  And every time, I kick myself for throwing money down the drain.  (I mean, it’s $10 a pop; $30, if you forget to pay on time.)

So, I decided this year was going to be different. Very different. Not only did I vow to decrease the amount of money I’m throwing away on those little orange beasts, but I promised myself: No more parking tickets! Period.  (Besides, all that wasted money could have bought me a TON of chocolate!)

Let me tell you, it’s been a challenge. Especially on cold, rainy days where I REALLY didn’t want to walk the few blocks from the parking lot to the office. So, yesterday evening, I walked to my car, in the all day parking lot, and what did I see? You guessed it. The dreaded orange beast, tucked beneath the windshield wiper. Ugg!

My first thought was…..well….I can’t say that word out loud. I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I mean, it was like the meter maid had gone crazy. (I’m sure there’s a more appropriate—and modern—term than ‘meter maid’ but you get the picture.) And it wasn’t just me.  As far as the eye could see, there were parking tickets on every car! In a lot that was designated for all day parking. What?

Have you ever had a moment when things weren’t exactly what they seemed? Well, this was one of those moments. As I swiped the dreaded thing off the windshield, I realized, it wasn’t a ticket at all. Instead, it was an advertisement. What a relief!

I turned over the piece of paper to find this:

Then I realized that I had let my first response color my attitude. Even for a brief moment. I had reacted to what I thought was true before looking more closely to see the real truth. (Of course, looking at that little slip of paper, I'm just glad ALL the cars had them; I might have been a little offended if they had singled me out!)

I learned a lesson yesterday, and it’s summed up in this quote by Stedman Graham, a businessman: “People who let events and circumstances dictate their lives are living reactively. That means they don’t act on life, they only react to it.”

Today, I’ve made another promise to myself. Oh yeah, I’m still going to live out 2013 without any parking tickets. But, going forward, I’m also going to “act on life” rather than react. My first response will be well thought out before I respond.

·         Have you ever reacted to a situation that turned out to be different than it first seemed?
·         What can you do, starting now, to eliminate knee-jerk reactions?
·         If you’re parking in downtown Burlington, watch out for those little orange beasts!

No-more-reactively yours, 

Jean