This one decision impacts everyone around you

You are eating at a busy restaurant one evening. You observe the waiters working diligently to serve everyone despite the challenges that come with a full room of hungry guests. Suddenly, you notice a server dropping a plate while walking toward the kitchen.

Two things can happen in that moment: someone runs to help the server and pick up the remains of the plate, and the energy in the room remains high or goes even higher; or resentment builds up and the energy declines.

Either outcome is significantly dictated by the sense of belonging and the culture of the servers and the restaurant, and the outcome impacts the rest of the service staff and, by consequence, the whole restaurant, including the guests.

source (around the 25 minute mark)

This applies to situations of all kinds, both involving others and no one else but you. When you meet someone you hadn’t met in a long time; when you are queuing up at the cash register; when there’s disagreement between you and someone else; when you notice a behavior that causes a burst of anger within you; when you are working on something and you procrastinate in all possible ways; when there’s a fork in the road of your life to make difficult choices; when you didn’t sleep enough last night and a plate dropped on the floor appears irritating and borderline disastrous.

There is a choice each time something happens — leaning toward the challenge or away from it. This choice has effects on yourself and everyone else around you. Your choice, your life.

---