I used to love those multiple-choice tests in school. It meant that I had at least a 25% chance of getting it right.
So anyway…
The other day, I got off a plane, walked up the jet bridge, and a man ran up to me in the terminal.
"You're Jesse, right?"
"Yeah, that's me."
"You're the guy who runs all the time, right?"
I nodded, saying, "Yes, I run a lot."
"Yeah—yeah, I was just telling my wife, I never understood how a guy that runs so much can look that unathletic."
Pop Quiz! I had a choice of how to react.
A) Look him up and down and walk away without saying a word.
B) Explain to him that perception and reality don’t always align.
C) Ask him why he’s so rude.
D) Laugh and say thank you.
I chose D.
You see, in a world where so much is out of our control, we should hold onto one of the few things we can control—our reactions.
My guess is that the guy wasn’t trying to be mean. He just blurted it out. Whatever, right?
In life, we're presented with a lot of multiple choice scenarios and it's our responses that determine whether we get it right or not.
