About a month ago, we were driving up to the beautiful mountains here in Colorado for the weekend and we ran into road congestion on the way up.  For those of you who are not familiar with the I-70 corridor in Colorado, the wrong timing, an accident, or construction can turn a two hour trip into three or four very quickly.  As the red brake lights started to appear in front of us and I slowed the car almost to a stop, I let out a groan of frustration.  My daughter, Adelynn, asked, “Daddy, what’s wrong?” To which I replied that we were in stop and go traffic and the drive was going to be much longer than we anticipated.  And she had the best response.  She said, “Daddy - feel the good hopes! It’s only red for a little bit” as she pointed to the navigation system on our console.  I instantly chuckled at the word choice she used and my mood immediately shifted.  I thought, “Ya, Feel The Good Hopes!”

 I don’t think we can ever be reminded enough that we can always choose to be optimistic.  No matter how difficult the situation is, there is always something we can be grateful for or that we can look forward to.  Shifting our mindset gets us out of a narrow focus on negative circumstances and broadens our perspective.  Seeing the bigger picture allows us to absorb positive aspects of our situation and overall life, and our frustrations no longer seem as monumental as they did in that immediate moment.

One of my favorite weekly reads is the 3-2-1 Newsletter by James Clear, author of Atomic Habits.  It was fitting that last week he highlighted this passage from the book Thinking Fast and Slow by psychologist and Nobel Prize winner, Daniel Kahneman.

"If you are allowed one wish for your child, seriously consider wishing him or her optimism. Optimists are normally cheerful and happy, and therefore popular; they are resilient in adapting to failures and hardships, their chances of clinical depression are reduced, their immune system is stronger, they take better care of their health, they feel healthier than others and are in fact likely to live longer.

Optimistic individuals play a disproportionate role in shaping our lives. Their decisions make a difference; they are the inventors, the entrepreneurs, the political and military leaders – not average people. They got to where they are by seeking challenges and taking risks. They are talented and they have been lucky, almost certainly luckier than they acknowledge... the people who have the greatest influence on the lives of others are likely to be optimistic and overconfident, and to take more risks than they realize."

While optimism may come easier for some people, I believe it is a trait that can be fostered and enhanced with practice.  It takes discipline to reframe a situation, and when we do it makes the ride of life that much more enjoyable.  I know for our car ride, we turned the frustrating delay into fun family game time for the rest of the drive.  Wishing you a great week and that you are able to “Feel The Good Hopes” even when things get tough.  And if you want more inspiration from Adelynn, she is already working on her speech for the 2025 MIBE Summit so sign up now!

MIBE Awards are open!  In addition to Heart Leaders of the Year, Best Employee Recognition Program, and Best Activation of Mission or Core Values - we also have Best Internal Company Event.  We want to hear about the awesome events you are putting on for your team, so make sure to gather those photos and submit, you might just be up on stage receiving an award at our annual MIBE Summit in January!