In this YouTube short, the speaker shares two recent personal experiences—a neighborhood fiber‑optic installation that cut his home’s internet cable and a long, rainy drive to Tampa with a delayed fast‑food order—to illustrate how staying aware of one’s thoughts and extending small acts of kindness can transform a frustrating day. He describes the bureaucratic hurdles of contacting AT&T, the helpfulness of a cable‑company technician who patches the line, and the courteous fast‑food staff who remain pleasant despite a 50‑minute wait. Throughout, he reflects on his internal reaction, choosing not to let irritation dictate his behavior, and emphasizes two take‑aways: (1) monitor and manage your internal dialogue, and (2) practice kindness toward others, as even minor goodwill can have a disproportionate positive impact. He concludes with an invitation to be kind, care for one another, and have a good day.
Chapters
Good morning, everyone. Here is your moment of yes for Wednesday, March 16th. Today's moment of yes is all about how a little bit of kindness can go a long way. So was it yesterday, Monday? No, Tuesday. Yeah, yesterday I drove to Tampa and back. Woo! A lot of driving. Monday, when I got home, Hollister told me that the internet was down. And then as I was driving into our house, I noticed that our neighborhood—they're digging up all of the. They're digging up and installing new fiber optic lines for a different service that we use. So they're digging up everybody's yard. It's a huge mess. And as they were digging up our yard, they cut our cable cord or our internet cord cable. And again, this is for a different service, a different company. And so they cut our cord. You know, we find the guys and the guys are like, oh, you know, like, hey, sorry. You have to talk to our foreman, right? I immediately got on the phone with AT&T. They're like, hey, we can't get someone out until Wednesday, which is actually this morning. They still haven't been there. And, um, and Hollister and I, obviously we work from home and, you know, it's kind of important. And so we're like, okay, shoot, what can we do? And, um, so, you know, I'm on the phone with AT&T on 2 different occasions. They're nice enough. I start walking around the neighborhood because our whole neighborhood's getting pulled up and I find one guy Who's super nice, who works for the the cable company who cut my cord. He recommends me to another guy. He's like, "Just so you know, we're not allowed to touch the cord even though that we cut it, so we can't fix it. AT&T has to do that, but we can't call AT&T. You have to call AT&T." So again, it was this whole mess of like, "Hey, my bad. Can't help you," type approach to things. And so, you know, as I'm doing all this and as I'm on the phone with AT&T multiple times and trying to get things done and Nothing seems to be helpful or happening. The thing that I'm paying attention to more than anything is like, how am I reacting to this? And I'm frustrated and I'm discouraged, but I'm also noticing, how am I reacting to this? Am I going to let this ruin my day? Am I going to be a jerk to other people who it's really not their fault? Even though— even the people who cut it, like, they didn't try to. So again, I'm paying attention to My thoughts while I'm also trying to be proactive and being annoyed. Kind of is what it is. And so all that to say, just kind of like, you know, letting go. Like, hey, if we can't get done till Wednesday, you know, we can go work at a coffee shop or we can use, you know, our phones as whatever, hotspots, whatever. Just not the biggest deal. Annoying, but not the biggest deal. And sure enough, guy knocks at our door from the other cable company, says, hey man, sorry about this. We're not supposed to touch your cable, but we're gonna try to patch it to get you guys up and running until AT&T can come. He's super nice. They get that done. And even though AT&T hasn't been out yet, we have internet, right? We're able to do what we need to do. But again, all that to say, you know, even, you know, as I was interacting with people, you know, I was just, you know, again, I was trying to be kind, right? Part of my intention is, you know, whenever I talk to someone is that they feel like— Right. That I valued them regardless of who they were. And it's just cool when we can keep our cool that kindness can sort of win over the day. And I was reminded of that yesterday. I had to drive over to Tampa to give a talk over 3 hours and then drive back over 3 hours and there was rain and there was accidents. So I went in to get some food to go and I didn't know it was such a long wait, like a 50-minute wait for some orders. before I got in there. And, but the workers there were so nice and they kept coming out and, you know, asking what they could do to help people. And as a result, everybody, as annoyed as they were, were just like, oh, hey, no big deal, no big deal, it's okay. We're like 50 minutes waiting for like fast food. People are like, it's okay, thanks. You know, so again, a little bit of kindness, that little bit of kindness goes such a long way. I know it's common sense, but it's just not common practice. So, 2 things, right? Pay attention to your own thoughts, that's always the bigger classroom. And on the external, right, that little bit of kindness goes a long way. Be kind, let's take care of one another, take care of the world in the process, and maybe we won't try to overtake each other's countries with a little kindness. Have an awesome day, everyone. Bye.
