Patience

Being positive requires another "p" word: patience. Setting goals and getting enthused is all great until one comes upon a roadblock or just the press of everyone else trying to get to the same place on an otherwise perfectly fine road. Patience for me requires having a margin in place - some wiggle room to deal with the unexpected. It's inevitable, but my habit has always been to make my plans based on the best-case scenario. This seems odd from a self-professed negative person. But the best-case rarely happens and so out of positive intent, negativity explodes as frustration reigns. Others base their plans on the worst-case. In the case of folks like Danny Divito ("What's the worst that could happen?") it can be freeing. For others it's a non-starting quagmire. I'm thinking the best course is to plan for the best case, expect the best and often you'll achieve it. But build in margins. Back off from maximum expectation. Have a plan B in place. Take something to read in case you have to wait. Leave some hours and some days in your schedule with nothing planned. If they end up being truly empty times, which will rarely happen, then fill them with something spontaneous and fun. Look to your list of things you've been waiting to do until things calm down and do one of them. This sounds like preaching, but it's to myself. I'm trying to learn to live this way. And quell that nasty feeling in my gut when I come around the bend to see a long string of bright brake lights ahead.