The Law of the Garbage Truck

How often do you let other people's nonsense change
your mood?
Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss, or
an insensitive employee
ruin your day? Unless you're the Terminator, for an
instant you're probably
set back on your heels. However, the mark of a
successful person is how
quickly she can get back her focus on what's
important.

Learned it in the back of a Harare City taxi cab.
Here's what happened...
I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Westgate. We
were driving
when all of a sudden a black car jumped out of a
parking space right
in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his
breaks, skidded,
and m issed the other car's back end by just inches!
Here's what happened next...

The driver of the other car, the guy who almost
caused a big accident, whipped his head around and
he started yelling bad
words at us. How do I know? Ask any Zimbabwean, some
words in Harare come
with a special face.
Now, here's what blew me away...
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the
guy. And I mean he was friendly. So, I said, "Why
did you just do that?
This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the
hospital!"

And this is
when my taxi driver told me what I now call, "The
Law of the Garbage
Truck."
Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around
full of garbage, full
of frustration, full of anger, and full of
disappointment. As their
garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. And
if you let them,
they'll dump it on you. When someone wants to dump
on you, don't take it
personally. You just smile, wave, wish them well,
and move on. You'll be
happy you did. I guarantee it.
So this was it: The "Law of the Garbage Truck."

I
started thinking, how
often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And
how often do I take
their garbage and spread it to other people: at
work, at home, on the
streets? It was that day I said, "I'm not going to
do it anymore."
I began to see garbage trucks. I
see the load they're carrying. I see them coming to
drop it off. And like
my Taxi Driver, I don't make it a personal thing; I
just smile, wave, wish
them well, and I move on.
The bottom line is that successful people do not let
Garbage Trucks take
over their day. What about you? What would happen in
your life, starting
today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by?
Here's my bet. You'll be happier.