“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
— Viktor Frankl
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Grandma’s Life Hack
This week’s story comes straight from my upcoming book, What’s Your Juice?—a book about the energy we choose and the influence it creates. In it, I share lessons from history, sports, science, and my own life. Today’s story is about my grandmother and the simple phrase she lived by that can change the way all of us approach challenges.
“Well, isn’t that something!”
She didn’t have much in terms of material wealth, but you’d never know it. To her, everything she had was the best. A simple house? The best place in town. A worn-out couch? Better than any davenport money could buy.
What I remember most wasn’t her pride in things, but her ability to meet everything—good or bad—with the same steady energy. Whenever news came, whether life-changing or heartbreaking, she’d pause, smile, and simply say: “Well, isn’t that something!”
Her words weren’t dismissive. They were grounding. She accepted life as it came, refused to spiral into negativity, and believed things could be the best, even when they clearly weren’t perfect. (Especially her family!)
That mindset is one of life’s greatest hacks: what we believe about our situation determines the energy we bring to it. Bad things will happen, but we always get to choose our response.
If we believe the world is against us, our energy follows. But if we believe, like my grandmother did, that “this is the best thing ever” (even when it’s not), we enrich our lives and influence those around us. It’s not about ignoring struggles; it’s about understanding that our beliefs dictate our juice. And our juice determines our reality.
So next time life throws you a curveball, pause. Take a breath. And ask yourself: “Well, isn’t that something?” Then choose your response … intentionally.
“Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.”
— Steve Maraboli
Connecting this quote to the story. My grandmother met life with a steady “Well, isn’t that something” approach. Happiness isn’t about avoiding hardship, but about meeting every moment with calm energy and choosing how to handle it.
This week’s Chasing Influence tip: Don’t let circumstances choose your energy—choose it yourself.
If you enjoyed this story, a series of three Chasing Influence workbooks is available. Stories are accompanied by discussion questions and answers. Each workbook contains 33 lessons to use with any team.
Updates on Chasing Influence
Chasing Influence: Transformational Coaching to Build Champions for Life is available in Kindle, softcover, hardcover, and audiobook editions.
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