Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good
mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would
ask him how he was doing, would reply, "If I were any better, I
would be twins!" He was a natural motivator. If an employee was
having a bad day, Michael was there telling the employee how to look
on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made
me curious, so one day I went up to Michael and asked him, "I don't
get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you
do it?"

Michael replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have
two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you
can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each
time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can
choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time
someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their
complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I
choose the positive side of life.

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested. "Yes, it is,"
Michael said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the
junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to
situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be
in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how
you live your life. I reflected on what Michael said. Soon
thereafter, I left the Tower Cable company to start my own business.
We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice
about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a serious
accident at work where he fell on his back from a high cable tower.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was
released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw
Michael about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he
was, he replied. "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my
scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had
gone through his mind as the accident took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my
soon to be born daughter," Michael replied. "Then, as I lay on the
ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live
or... I could choose to die. I chose to live." "Weren't you scared?
Did you lose consciousness? " I asked. Michael continued, "...the
paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine.
But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on
the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their
eyes, I read "he's a dead man. I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big burly nurse
shouting questions at me," said Michael. "She asked if I was
allergic to anything. "Yes, I replied." The doctors and nurses
stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath
and yelled, "Gravity." Over their laughter, I told them, "I am
choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.

"Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because
of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have
the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.