You First

You probably hear a lot of people complaining about the world (and the other people in it). People are too mean, too greedy, too lazy, too nice, too soft, too fat, too slow, too fast, and too serious.

I must have 3 or 4 people come up to me every day to complain about someone else — and if I’m being truthful, I have to admit that I’m complaining about other people more than I’d like.

It’s easy to complain about the person driving too slow (or too fast) or the person who cut you off in traffic or the person who stopped at the yellow light (like a psycho!) instead of rushing through it like any normal person would (right???).

You complain about other people…
I complain about other people…
Other people complain about other people…

It’s a vicious circle.
You know how to fix it?

You start by working on improving yourself instead of complaining about how much everybody else needs to improve.

You make sure that you are showing up to work on time and bringing your A-game everyday. You make sure to focus on doing your job to the best of your ability (not gossiping about co-workers, what time they showed up to work, and how much time they spend playing games on their phone when they should be working).

You can’t do anything to change them.
But you do have total control over your own actions — and your own reactions.

Instead of letting other people’s idiosyncrasies and idiocy drive you crazy, turn your focus inward. Identify the things that you want to improve and change about yourself and work on improving the most important person in the world first — You.

It’s okay to want to change the world.
You just have to go first.

Perhaps if the other people see the positive change that has come over you, they’ll step up their own game as well.