A (3:48)

Definitely.

B (3:49)

Yeah. Well, I've seen it in employment. I've seen it in BNI chapters. Positive attitude creates psychological safety. It creates trust. It creates a willingness to collaborate. It creates an energy to refer proactively. Negative attitude creates defensive listening. Withheld referrals, short term thinking, exit interviews. Attitude's a choice. It's not a personality trait. This is where I want to bring in a quote that I've loved for years and years. And I gave this to my kids and, and I'm happy to say one of them at least put it up on a wall in their house. And I'm so proud of her for having done it. It's the Charles Swindle quote. I'm sure you've probably heard it, Priscilla, but I'm going to read this quote. It's kind of long. It's about attitude. And Swindoll says, the longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more than. It's more than facts. It's more important than the past, than education, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It's more important than appearance, than giftedness or skill. It'll make or break a company, community or home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and this is our attitude. He said, I'm convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes. I read this years ago, Priscilla.

A (5:46)

That's a great, wonderful piece of writing.

B (5:49)

It's fantastic. And it's so true. It is so true. You know, when I was. I hadn't planned on mentioning this, but when I was diagnosed with cancer, I was horrified. I was shocked, I was surprised. And as I had a long drive after I got the diagnosis, almost a two hour drive to get down to my family who were staying down in a different part while they were staying down in San Diego, and I was driving down to them and I thought, okay, okay, all right, this is horrible. What possible positive outcomes could I get from this cancer diagnosis? And I wrote a list of the possible positive outcomes that I could have from a cancer diagnosis. And I can tell you, and I, and I may have done a podcast on this. I think I came up with seven or eight things. And Priscilla, all, all of them, 100% came true.

A (6:42)

Wow. Do you remember any of them?

B (6:44)

Yeah, I do. One was, I was going through a lot of. It was when BNI Connect was being developed and, you know, people wanted to draw and quarter me. He was so mad at me. They were just furious with me. And I thought, well, they'll cut me some slack at least. Well, he's got cancer, we'll leave him alone. And it was true. It absolutely happened. People kind of backed off for their anger. As BNI Connect was being developed, another one was, hey, I'll lose that, I'll lose that weight that I've been gaining over the years, which I also did.

A (7:22)

Yeah.

B (7:22)

And one of the things was that I, you know, it'll draw me closer to, to my wife, to Elizabeth. And it did that as well. And so every single one of the things that I wrote down in my car as I was driving down in the parking lot, you know, called the California freeways, every one of them came true. And this was on my mind. Life is 10 what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so I wanted to react to it in a way that had a potential positive spin. And to me, this isn't. This isn't optimism, it's ownership of how one shows up in the world. And in bni, that kind of ownership matters. You don't control the weather. You don't control the economy. You don't control whether your visitor shows up or not. You don't control whether someone passes your referral this week. But you do control how you show up. You do control how you speak about your chapter and your fellow members. You do control how you react when things don't go your way. If you're listening to this podcast and if you think for one Second, that things have gone my way most of the time. You're delusional. I have had many things not go my way, and it's how I reacted to them that made a difference, not the fact that they didn't go my way. So positive attitude builds trust faster than credentials, in my opinion. And here's something that people rarely talk about. Before someone trusts your competence, they assess your emotional reliability. Ask yourself, do people feel better after talking to me or do they feel heavier? That's really an important question. Do they feel better when they talk to you? In networking, trust is emotional before it's logical. That's why in the survey that we did, and I'll have the survey posted in this podcast, the survey that we did, positive attitude ranked higher than trustworthiness. Can you believe that? It ranked higher than trustworthiness. In networking, it it ranked higher than followup. It ranked higher than expertise. Not because those aren't important, but because attitude amplifies everything else. Attitude amplifies everything else. Positive attitude fuels givers gain. Let's connect to this kind of givers gain. Giving is not just about actions. It's about intent. People give more referrals to people who appreciate them, celebrate others, stay constructive during challenges. Positive attitude signals I'm safe to invest in, and referrals are investments. What positive attitude is and is not is this. I mean, let's be clear. Positive attitude does not mean pretending problems don't exist. It doesn't mean avoiding hard conversations or smiling through dysfunction. Positive attitude means focusing on solutions, not blame asking, how do we fix this? Instead of who caused this. It's about believing progress is possible. It's realism with hope attached. I love this phrase. It's realism with hope attached. I need to turn that into an Ivanism. For the record.

A (10:54)

Yeah.

B (10:55)

Okay, so Dana, who. Who does all of my. She does all the transcripts. Dana, turn this into an Ivanism. Realism is hope. Positive attitude is realism with hope attached. It's the chapter multiplier effect. So here's a final, final thought. Every BNI chapter has a tone setter. Sometimes it's the present. Sometimes it's a veteran member. Sometimes it's the person who speaks. Right after the education coordinator, that person's attitude multiplies. So ask yourself, what am I multiplying in my chapter? Energy or erosion, momentum or maintenance? Positive attitude isn't about being cheerful. It's about constructive, resilient, and intentional. It's why the data supports it. It's why it's a core value in BNI and It's why the strongest chapters don't just track referrals. They. They protect the culture. Because when attitude is right, everything else has a better chance of going right, too. That's it for today, Priscilla.

A (12:03)

I love that. Thank you so much, Ivan. That was great.

B (12:07)

So I. I went on a different rant this week than last week.

A (12:13)

Well, it's all useful. It really is good. Okay, well, I think that's it for this week. Thank you so much for that great information. This podcast is sponsored by MeisnerAudioPrograms.com these audio programs will provide you with the tools and the inspiration to powerfully enhance your B and I experience. So check out the great material available to you@meisneraudioprograms.com and then use the promo code Ivan.5 0 for 50% off of everything. All of the proceeds go to the B and I Foundation. Thank you so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we look forward to having you join us again next week for another exciting episode of the official BNI podcast.