Make sure if your story ever gets into someone’s book that it’s used as an example and not as a warning. ~ Jim Rohn
It was still hours until daylight when the airport shuttle picked me up at my hotel. The driver apologized for being late and assured me that he wouldn’t speed since he’d been a policeman for eighteen years and had enough of fast cars.
We drove to an apartment complex that looked like a charming village to fetch the next passenger. He was chatty, too, and introduced himself as Rueben. I commented that his neighborhood looked nice.
“Oh,” he scoffed, “it’s like living in prison.” He gave us a long list of his complaints including the fact that the management had no tolerance for bounced checks.
He told us he’d always lived in houses in California and this was his first apartment experience. “What brought you to Dallas?” I innocently asked.
“A mistake,” he snapped back. I decided he was a professional malcontent and ceased listening.
At the next stop, a younger man bounced into the van and plunked down beside me. “Hi,” he said, extending his hand. “I’m Grant.”
When I asked him what brought him to Dallas he told us he was starting a new Internet business and had come for a meeting and training. Grant lived in Maui where he’d relocated from Washington.
“What brought you to Maui?” I asked. (Okay, it hadn’t worked with Rueben, but I really wanted to know.)
Grant said he’d gone there on vacation, fell in love with the place, had gone home and liquidated his business in Washington and then set up a new one in Hawaii.
Rueben then told us that he’d lived in Hawaii for a time himself, “Before they ruined it,” he pointed out.
By this time, I was far more interested in hearing what the cheerful Grant had to say. “So you’re an entrepreneur,” I said.
“Yup,” he replied. “I’ve had employees since I was 23. But I really want to get this new business running and I’ll be a one-person enterprise. No employees is my goal.”
“Ah, a man after my own heart,” I said. “I have a one-person business too.”
At this point, Rueben joined the conversation again telling us how lazy people are and how hard it is to get decent employees. Rueben wasn’t about to be left out of this conversation since he, too, owned his own business.
I couldn’t imagine being locked up with him for an entire day, but was polite enough not to point out that the problem might not be with the people he hired—who all seemed to quit rather quickly.
On the flight home, I pondered the Ruebens of this world. Do they not notice, I wondered, that their critical behavior is influencing the outcomes they receive?
I’m certain that Rueben is convinced that the way he sees things is the way things are. On the other hand, Grant is open, excited and receptive, exploring as he goes.
Care to predict whose life will be filled with success?
So true, Barbara, and often the saddest part is the people who are always so negative seem completely blind to how devastating it is to them and to how people around them react. I know that as I continue working on my dreams and interests, I no longer have time for people who endlessly complain or see nothing but problems in life — especially when they also don’t offer any ideas on what could be improved.
Maybe someday someone will help Rueben see how self-destructive his attitude is.
As an aside, there’s something fitting the name “Rueben” — to rue is to regret.