Maple Syrup, Pee, and the Power of Perspective

This morning I woke up to this:

Yesterday, it was a maple syrup bottle covered in ants.

The day before? School bags scraping the inside of the car door.

Or sometimes... it’s just the drips of pee on the bathroom floor.

There are many moments in a working parent’s day where we’re invited to react... and in doing so, we can lose sight of the bigger picture.

I almost went there this morning...

Choosing What You See

Instead of focusing on the mess in the kitchen, I reminded myself: my child is making his own breakfast... not just leaving the open ingredients on the bench again.

Instead of sighing at the new marks on the car door, I focused on the joy of a child bounding off to school, and reminded myself that this is a child-friendly car — which means it’s also likely to be messy and marked.

And as for the bathroom? It does currently smell like a urinal. That’s where I draw the line. That will be addressed ASAP.

Master Your Focus, Master Your Energy

“Energy flows where attention goes.”

In her book The Happiness Track, Emma Seppälä writes about the science behind Remembering the Bigger Picture. She says research shows that when we focus on the why — rather than the how or what — of a task, we reconnect to our values... and restore our energy.

As a working parent, energy efficiency is one of the greatest leadership skills we can develop. Because we can’t control everything... but we can choose where our focus goes.

So, where are you placing your attention today?

To bring more calm, clarity and energy into your day — even when the maple syrup and ants show up, explore the Stressed to Best Parent Method. It is the transformational program for the modern day parent.