Keep Your Attitude Upbeat During Your Commute
How you arrive at work is set by your attitude during your commute. I live in the DC metro area, rated the third (?) highest traffic-jam metropolitan area in the USA. I cannot imagine how many people arrive at work in a crappy mood just because of their drive into work. Yes, we have public transportation and work-at-home arrangements, but not enough of either.
Our attitude directly affects our behavior, and our behavior affects other people's attitudes, thereby affecting their behavior. There is a phenomenon called the attitude-behavior-reaction loop that explains this. Therefore, our attitude after commuting directly affects our behavior in the workplace which affects our sales, customer service, leadership, management, communication, and more.
I just finished reading an article in the Washington Post about how being stuck in traffic does not have to be boring. THIS ARTICLE was written by a reader rather than one of the journalists. It offers ways in which to keep our commutes more interesting…some tongue-in-cheek; some serious. The primary means mentioned in the article for keeping our interest during heavy traffic and bringing us a laugh here and there is reading – and trying to interpret – custom license plates. I read somewhere that the DC area (Virginia, especially) has one of the highest numbers of custom license plates in the country. We've got plenty of reading on the road!
I'm sharing, here, some of the plate I've seen around town. These are just a few. What custom plates have you seen that make you laugh and make your commute more interesting? KEEP IT CLEAN!!!!
- OOOOOO (High-end sports car)
- FST PONY (Ford Mustang)
- B CREFUL (A car with a "Fraternal Order of Police" sticker also on it)
- RETIRED (Chevy Corvette)
- NFRNTVU (In front of you)
- 1MPG (Hummer)
- DTH STAR (All-black sedan)
- DR WHO
- IM1RU12 (I am one. Are you one, too?)
- WITH HIM
- WITH HER (Yes, the two cars were parked side-by-side in a driveway)
- BRAIN DOC (Psychaitrist?)
There are so many, many more! Next time you're stuck in heavy traffic, you have the choice of finding humor in the situation or being miserable. Choose humor. Your colleagues will appreciate it!