Gratitude is just Great Attitude morphed into 1 word!

This last week was difficult at best. I've been busy closing down the last of my Circuit City stores, been dealing with the instability that was created prior to my taking over my new group. With all the changes my location group changed from Fort Myers to Naples to Sarasota to Naples. Two of my new locations had one manager, the furthest north had another one. This means that there's a bit of an adjustment that needs to happen with management style changes and team visions.

I've been working long hours closing down my last Circuit, which meant I couldn't do all the visits that I wanted to do this week. I worked several 12 hour shifts closing down one location, then spent the rest of the week trying to gauge my new team member's knowledge and skill set levels.

In exchange for all my hard work my manager called me to the carpet for the numbers of my newly formed team of 1.5 weeks. He didn't feel our key performance indicators were good enough and he wanted instant change. Never mind that we were killing it in our activations/upgrade numbers overall. His concern was that some of the other stuff wasn't fixed overnight. (My team had always been good at these categories) Because of our "lack of performance" in this area he chose to get on the phone with me and tell me that he had concerns about our performance (hinting at my ability, etc). He wanted me to go home that evening and think long and hard at myself and my team and write him an action plan on what I was going to do for the rest of the month to improve this number. He also wanted me write down what areas I needed his and his floating manager's help in. He said it all in a very negative and condescending way. It was insulting...but not nearly as insulting as him telling me that he was going to be sending his floating manager down to shadow me for the next week to see what it is I do on a daily basis and critique my every move. It was a slap in my face and the ultimate in micromanaging.

Needless to say I was furious at first. Tears of impotent rage in my eyes. But I knew I was of no use to my team in that condition so I took some deep breaths. I calmed myself. I prayed. And then I remembered that later that evening I had a facial set up with my old friend, Shannon, for Mary Kay.

I came home and started preparing, much to Kirk's surprise. He knew that I was in a snit. He figured I'd probably want to reschedule or just curl up in a ball for a while. He knows me well. Much as I wanted to just hide and lick my wounds somewhere I knew it wasn't the right thing to do.

So I got dressed up, I packed up my gear and I went to Shannon's house. In my CD player I listened to one of my training CD's from Lisa Madson's Pacesetter's call and let it fill me up with positive thoughts and reinforcements. I looked forward to seeing my old friend and hearing about how her new baby was doing! I had some cool things to show her and I was being given an opportunity to pamper her and help her look and feel good!

When I got to Shannon's I gave her a big hug. We sat down and did her facial. I showed her how to get a great "Dash Out The Door" look and showed her how proper skin care could help improve the signs of aging around her mouth and eyes! She loved it! She bought a bunch of product from me and scheduled an appointment for her "advanced glamour" look where she planned on inviting a couple of friends!

As I got back into my car I began to think about my day and how my Mary Kay appointment really turned it around. When I left for Shannon's house I had a huge knot behind my shoulder blade and felt like a punching bag for my boss, leaving me feeling a bit out of sorts and without control. But after being at Shannon's and sharing Mary Kay with her and taking time to watch her videos of baby Tony, I felt GREAT!

I realized one thing then and there. As much as I love my job, I don't really love my boss. I'd prefer to be my own boss, control my own destiny. It seems to me that the more time I spend learning about the Mary Kay opportunity, the more it seems God is pointing me in this direction. As long as I keep working my business I'll be able to supplement my income until I can match what I make at my current career. My goal is to make this work the way I've made my other careers work so that I'm successful enough to be able to leave my other job...something I never thought I'd consider doing.

In the end, it comes down to what I've always told my team...the only thing I can control is my attitude. So for now I'm going to give 100% to my job and 100% to my Mary Kay career when I'm not working. And I'm going to continue to ask for God's guidance and direction and plan my wedding!

There's something about Mary Kay's Golden Rule motto along with her "God First, Family Second and Career Third" that really speaks to me. It's helped me realize that I'm glad and grateful to have the job I have even when I'm not thrilled with my boss because it's motivation to do great things with the Mary Kay business I own so that I can leave soon...and on my own terms!

Hey, God really DOES help those who help themselves!