In the past, I was never a big fan of surprise parties. They were deemed out of my control. “OMG,” he yelped, “not that.”

In addition, I didn’t like someone else being in charge of the people I spent my birthday with – another cry for control.

Then it dawned on me a couple of weeks ago, when I sent my friend, Jerry Stocking a birthday email, that every day, birthday or not, is a surprise.

Every day is an adventure into the land of the unknown – a virtual surprise party.

We state that we fear the unknown, yet we have so much experience with it every day.

The biggest waste of energy for me was attempting to control the unknown. I had a daily plan to capture it in a box and bend it to my whims. The only person who got bent was me.

It didn’t come as an “Ah-Ha” moment but snuck up on me over time, that I have control over nothing or no one.

You would think that discovery was scary. It wasn’t. It was freeing and worth celebrating.

It’s what’s out of your view (Reality) that has the most control over you.

For example, every quarterback in football has a blind side when they pivot to pass the ball. If they pivot to the right to throw, they can’t see who may be charging at them from the left. Most rookie quarterbacks are worried about being hit from their blind side when attempting to throw the ball. This keeps their full attention away from passing, causing them to throw incomplete passes and interceptions.

A veteran quarterback learns to trust his linemen to protect his blind side so he can focus his full attention on throwing complete passes and touchdowns.

If you keep looking for or worrying about a blind side hit every day, you’re not going to function even close to your capacity.

There are surprises every day – ones that can knock you over or lift you up. If you’re running continually scared, you need to find something to put your trust in, and here’s what I’m suggesting – your response.

When life says, “Surprise” there is not a pat answer that works. It’s at this point that you have to trust your response.

A response always comes from a deeper place than a reaction and oftentimes presents more options.

A reaction gets you to re-act the same scene over and over again – one of you frozen by fear.

Trusting that there is a part of you that knows how to respond will laser your focus on the moment you’re in, causing your completion percentage to go up.

Every day is a surprise party. Make sure the first gift you open is marked “Response.”

All the best,

John

P.S. Who wants to be the next person to:

LOSE WEIGHT & KEEP IT OFF
STOP SMOKING FOREVER
SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT EVERY NIGHT
IMPROVE YOUR SELF CONFIDENCE
RELAX IN 2 MINUTES