Change your perspective

Today I was meeting a friend for breakfast who doesn’t live in the city. I suggested a cool place near Potrero Hill and the Mission called The Universal Cafe. It’s a great place on a Sunday morning and the weather has been so wonderful. As I started driving out there, I got completely caught in Carnival traffic. Oops! After living here so many years, the events in the city sometimes become cumbersome as traffic clogs up and all the tourists are in town.

Carnival is California’s largest multi-cultural celebration of the year.  It is one of San Francisco’s most spectacular traditions as it showcases the Latin America and Caribbean cultures and traditions. it happens in the Mission District every Memorial weekend.

I wasn’t planning on going to Carnival. I was planning on meeting my buddy for breakfast so I found myself starting to stress out about traffic, parking, breakfast, making the wrong decision about where to meet and what Plan B should be.  Every corner I turned the street was closed off to traffic because the carnival dancers were practicing and lining up for the event.

Change your perspective- that’s my self-talk these days. There is always a better way to look at something that can just throw us off. I started looking around and thinking about how lucky I was to live in such a culturally rich city that attracts people from all over the world. The beauty, color, spirit of this city is so alive.

In sales, we can wind ourselves down about having a bad territory, annoying field partners we have to support, a toxic sales manager who makes our lives miserable and a company that doesn’t have great messaging. Take a minute to change your perspective about negative things you may sound off on- it helps open up new opportunities.