How to Save Ninety Percent of Your Life

Are you aware that our behavior towards the events that happen to us in our daily life affects the rest of the day, sometimes even for a longer period of time?

In psychology, this is called the 90/10 rule: 10% of what happens in our lives happens out of our control, and 90% of the time, we are behind the wheel.

Let’s go through an example:

You will go to the meeting. You have half an hour of free time before the meeting and you have decided to have coffee in a coffee shop that you are a regular customer. While you were browsing through your meeting notes, the new waiter bumped into someone bringing your coffee and your coffee spilled on the floor. You started shouting at the waiter with your tension built up with the stress of the meeting. The waiter said he would bring a new one right away, but you ignored him and kept shouting.

Then the owner of the coffee shop came and got angry with the waiter, he fired him because he pissed off his regular customers. You got out of there angrily and got into your car. You sped up to catch the meeting, but you were caught by the police and paid a traffic ticket, so you were late for the meeting. Since you left in a negative mood, your meeting was not very productive either. When you went home, you were angry with the people in the house and you broke their hearts too. Your whole day has been messed up.

You have always blamed others while all this is happening, but if you put your head on the pillow and think calmly, you will see that there is only one responsible for your bad day: YOU.

At first, you would calmly accept the waiter’s mistake and drink your coffee that he brought back. Thus, the waiter would not have been fired. You would be able to get out of there on time and catch the meeting, so you wouldn’t have to pay a traffic ticket. You would perform well in the meeting you went with your coffee with your calmed mood and you would get positive results. You would be happy for the rest of the day and it would make those around you happy too.

As you can see, your reaction to an event chains what you experience during the day. A positive approach to events that happen independently of you can bring flowers to your soul and your day. So before you react suddenly in such a situation, briefly review what will happen and save 90% of your life.