I saw two men running through town yesterday. I do not know them and, likely, won’t ever meet them. Yet, I know that one of them probably embraces his life with a great attitude.
How do I know this?
Because of what I saw when they didn’t know I was watching.
I came across the men separately while I was driving home from aerobics class. The first man appeared to be laboring as he ran. He was head down with shoulders rounded and arms barely moving. His gait was more plodding than running. He appeared out of gas. As I drove by, I hoped that he was nearing the end of his run, for his own wellbeing.
The second man appeared to also have been running a while. His face was red and I could see sweat soaked through his T-shirt. In spite of the heat, this man was running with his chin up, face forward and he was air-boxing as he ran! There was an interesting and contagious energy emanating from him. I wondered how far he had run compared to the first runner.
If I had to choose one of these runners to follow, I would definitely choose the one who looked like he was enjoying himself, finding a way to make a boring street run a little more interesting.
Think about what people see when they are watching you.
Does your demeanor invite others to an exciting journey or to an uncomfortable struggle? Do people see enthusiasm or dread in your actions? Are you as motivated in the middle of your day as you are at the beginning? Are you head down looking at now or are you chin up looking toward the future?
If people didn’t know anything about you except what they see, would they want to follow you?
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Photo by Patrik Nygren, Creative Commons license.
