VOICES

More than just attitude of gratitude

She worked hard on her presentation and had practiced several times before she had to stand in front of a large audience and share her thoughts and insights. She even woke up extra early to be at the venue hours before she would be speaking. She had asked the audio/video technician to meet with her to make sure everything would be perfect before she took the stage. Before she left, she took the time to sincerely thank the technician for coming in early to meet with her. As the technician received her gratitude, he smiled and nodded in appreciation.

His smile wasn’t just any smile, and his nod just not any nod, there was something heartfelt in his body language. So, she asked him if he was OK. He looked at her and said that he has been an audio/video technician for many years, and he has worked behind the scenes for many speakers including some very big and well-known names. He also shared that he loved the work that he did as it brought him great joy to know he was responsible for people receiving a powerful message, training or motivation. But he also shared that very few, hardly any, even took the time to thank him in such a sincere way as she had. After her presentation she went backstage to remove the microphone and collect her things. As she turned to leave, she found the technician and said, “Thank you again, the videos I shared were fl awless and the sound levels were just perfect. You helped make sure that everything I said and shared were received, and hopefully a few people walked out having learned something.” His eyes glistened as he smiled warmly, nodding with appreciation while patting his hand gently against his heart.

Two words, “Thank you,” make all the difference, don’t they? Is the story I shared above our story? Do we say thank you enough? How many times do we simply take for granted that it is someone’s job to serve us or help us, and we forget to tell them how important they are and just how grateful we are for their service? If we thought about it, probably too many.

I learned the concept of the attitude of gratitude from my mentor and boss Zig Ziglar. One of Zig’s many famous quotes is this, “It’s your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your altitude.” And we all know he was the master motivator, the greatest provider of hope and encouragement, and just an allaround amazing man. For Zig, it was always more than just the words he spoke or that he wrote in his books, it was more than just having a positive mental attitude, it was about living out that attitude of gratitude.

As we go through these times of change in our country, economy and in business, and as we try and hold on to the talented people on our team, so they do not wish to leave, allow me to share a lesson that I learned from Zig Ziglar when it came to appreciating the people in the company. When Zig wasn’t traveling, he would come to the offi ce, and he would walk around and check on all of us. And I will always remember that he would stop by someone’s cubicle or offi ce and say, “Thank you for all you do for our company, I appreciate you so very much. With your skills and talents, you could have gone to work for anyone else, I am so very grateful you chose to work here.” I can share that employee turnover was minimal.

As we go through this Thanksgiving week, there is no better time to do a self-assessment when it comes to our own attitude of gratitude. And more than just having an attitude of gratitude, recognizing how we are demonstrating our appreciation for others in our lives. I would love to hear your gratitude story at gotonorton@gmail.com, and when we remember to always give a sincere, “Thank you,” it really will be a better than good life.

WINNING WORDS

Michael Norton

Michael Norton is an author, a personal and professional coach, consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator of individuals and businesses, working with organizations and associations across multiple industries.

Investments in climate change are good for all of us

You have probably heard about the Infl ation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Both were passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden.

Hidden beneath the ongoing analysis and clunky bill titles is this simple truth: These investments are going to improve the health of each and every one of us in both large and small ways. That’s a big statement to make, I know.

Federal policy makers who supported these signifi cant pieces of legislation should be commended. These lawmakers have done what has not been done to date. These acts will bend the curve of climate change and create a healthier environment. These acts are the fi rst to acknowledge a direct connection between climate health and the individual health of all Americans.

As a doctor, I see the impacts of climate change on my patients happening right now. Increased rates of asthma, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a host of other ailments are linked directly to worsening air quality and increasing temperatures. Future generations are also directly impacted by these changes in many ways including an increase in preterm birth rates that is a consequence of our climate crisis. To be clear, these health impacts are part of our everyday lives here in Colorado - not in some distant part of our world or felt solely in certain populations. You only have to live through one of our recent explosive fi re seasons to know that air quality challenges are not just impacting those with underlying health conditions. Many of us experienced one or more days where going outside was unhealthy and unsafe.

What might be harder to observe are the real world, everyday, benefi ts that the investments built into these new federal acts will create for our communities. As you consider the benefi ts outlined here, you must consider both the immediate and long term benefi ts to us as individuals and to lessening the harms of climate change in general. In the absence of investment like these, the negative public health impacts of our climate crisis will grow exponentially - through poorer air quality and its related health issues, through increasing temperatures and related health effects and through increasing storm severity which also carries serious health impacts.

As a result of the new investments, Colorado’s working families will lower their energy costs and help fi ght climate change. The federal action directs funding rebates of up to 100 percent for home repairs that increase home energy effi ciency. In Colorado, these rebates will fund up to 120,000 rooftop solar projects. These rebates will also allow working families to switch out old ineffi cient appliances for new effi cient ones. The effort also provides funding to help further electrify homes which has an immediate benefi t to a family’s health as burning fossil fuels in furnaces, boilers and stovetops is linked to chronic health issues. These home repairs can be coupled with discounts for electric vehicles that will allow a family to save at the gas pump while eliminating one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas - vehicle exhaust.

These changes also direct federal investments in clean energy job creation that will directly help Coloradans. As of last year, more than 61,000 Coloradans worked in the clean energy sector. With an additional $13 billion investment in our state’s large-scale clean power generation, job creation will expand. We know that better health is linked to a family’s affl uence. More high-wage jobs for Coloradans ultimately means healthier Colorado families. These new initiatives will create a total investment nationally of $1.2 trillion that is anticipated to save 13.4 million lost work days, avoid over 2.7 million asthma attacks in children and save about 110,000 lives due to the clean air impacts alone.

If you are beginning to see the compounding benefi t of these investments, I’m glad. That’s exactly my intent. Americans have a long way to go to reverse course on our climate catastrophe and its disastrous health impacts. The Infl ation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provide meaningful and timely investment that will have immediate and long term positive effects for our climate health and for the health of all Coloradoans.

GUEST COLUMN

Dr. Sheila Mahnke

Dr. Sheela Mahnke is a pediatrician working in Thornton. She works with Healthy Air and Water Colorado on the intersection of public health and climate change. She is also an American Academy of Pediatrics Colorado Climate Advocate.

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