Mother, Daughter and the Observation Mindset!

Several weeks ago, I went shopping with my wife at a huge, crowded department store that had lots of cash points at the checkout.

While placing our products on the counter of the congested, noisy checkout point, I couldn’t help but overhear a mother negotiating with her young daughter. She was telling her which products they must return so that she could pay the bill with the money that she had on hand.

The  little girl was unwilling to accept returning any products, so the mother then asked the cashier if he could wait until she called her friend at a  nearby store to bring her the additional cash needed to clear the bill.

Her friend was  about 10-15 minutes away, and therefore it was impossible for the cashier to accept having to wait that long, due to the long queues.

Observing all of this, I quickly stepped in and offered to settle the bill, which the mother gladly accepted.

My wife was next to me throughout this whole exchange, and she was quite shocked that I was able to observe their conversation while placing our products on the counter, while simultaneously coming up with a solution that made both mother and child  very happy, not to mention the rest of the customers that were waiting in the queue.

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Now you are probably wondering what’s the moral of my story, correct?

Well, while putting in the hundreds of hours of research for my book, The Drive to Aim High: Seven Powerful Mindsets Proven to Guarantee Your Success, I came across many studies that demonstrated that we are all born with so many talents and abilities that we neglect to use later in our lives as adults.

One of these abilities is observing. We fail to observe as adults because we accept the chaotic surroundings and media intrusion into our lives which can impact and derail our observation mindset.

We often too easily let go of our ability to observe, and that’s a shame. The observation mindset enables us to use our learnings to enrich our lives. It can also help make us a better person, a stronger leader, a more caring and understanding spouse, father or mother.

Well, as your Servant Leader, I’m inviting you TODAY to take your first step toward  being more mindful. I am inviting you to take  One Day of Social Media Hiatus. Simply release and let go of all your social media activities for a day.

Yes, I am aware of the difficulties. But let me tell you something that you already know – you weren’t born with Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, and Messenger clutched in your tiny hands.

This  means that you can easily go for a day without them and observe yourself, your family and loved ones.

While you are at it, don’t forget to share your experience and learnings with someone dear to you, and also invite them to do the same.

Here are some rituals that you could quickly implement during your One Day of Social Media Hiatus:

1. Tune into nature. Observe the birds, flowers any other creatures you find around you. If you need to travel to a park or similar environment to enjoy these things, by all means do so. Give yourself the opportunity to absolutely enjoy your natural surroundings without having the distraction of your phone interrupt your focus. Get back in touch with your five senses.
2. Increase your self-awareness. Consider not surfing the Internet, watching, reading or listening to the news for the day. Give yourself the gift of a more quiet, peaceful, positive day without the intrusion of constant bombardment of heavy, negative reports.
3. Observe your family and loved ones. If you have children in your life, go on a nature walk with them and observe how THEY observe the world around them. Your inner child will be awakened by this, and your natural curiosity about things will become sharper and more focused.

I truly hope that you will use your Observation Mindset to transform the way you think, work, live and serve.