A wise man sat in an audience and cracked a joke. Everybody laughed like crazy. After a moment he cracked the same joke again. This time, less people laughed. He cracked the same joke again and again. When there was no laughter in the crowd, he smiled and said, “You can’t laugh at the same joke again and again, so why do you keep crying over the same thing over and over again?”

I read this little tale recently and thought this is a great reminder to focus my energy and attention on things I have a say over or can control, instead of wasting my time and productivity on those things I have little or no control over.

My first coach used to share that life will hand me the same lesson over and over again until I learn to deal with it. I’ve since added that life will also hand you the same person over and over again until you figure out a strategy to deal with them as well.

A great commitment for you this year is to finally get over whatever it is in your business and your life that you keep crying about both literally and figuratively. Instead, focus your energy on creating processes and strategies to get over or work around your perceived obstacles.

In the workplace, stop complaining about the people and resources you do not have and start better utilizing those people and resources you do have. Time to start fixing the problem instead of fixing the blame.

I’m quite certain that anyone and everyone has situations and circumstances that would qualify as good reasons to get stuck, complain, not move forward, procrastinate on starting your goals or simply not set any goals.

A crucial, and often the primary or only, difference between those who accomplish amazing things and have massive success and everybody else is that those who achieve success do not allow those situations and circumstances to define them or keep them from moving forward.

Success is a choice you get to make every single day, so make the right choice.

Every time you catch yourself whining or complaining about something, ask yourself the following:

Do I have any control over this person or event I am complaining about?

– If the answer is yes, then what is my plan or strategy to get a better result?

– If the answer is no, then how much longer am I going to throw this pity party and waste my valuable time and energy focusing on something that is beyond my control?

What is the lesson I seem to keep learning over and over again in my business or in my life?

Is this the year I’m finally willing to commit to fixing the problem instead of the blame.

Where am I going to eliminate a source of headache and stress for myself this week?

Thoughts for the week:

Everyone wants to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down. –Oprah Winfrey

Sometimes things have to go wrong in order to go right. –Sherrilyn Kenyon

Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that afterward we see ourselves as we really are, and not merely as we might like to be. – Arthur Golden

You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you. –Mary Tyler Moore

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. – Anne Bradstreet

Looking forward to our next conversation