After a grueling week traveling between five cities, the speaker asks a stranger at the airport to watch his bag. He reflects on maintaining a "bias of good," trusting that most people are honest, even though you risk being taken advantage of. He argues this choice creates more joy and better treatment of others.
Good morning, everyone. Here is your moment of yes for Monday, March 23rd. Update from last week, I did make it. I did make the drive up to Atlanta last week. I was able to get out of the airport early Tuesday morning in time to get to Vegas about an hour and a half before my talk. I was able to do that. Um, on 2 hours of sleep. And then, uh, I got to Minneapolis the next day and then home in Florida the next day. And then back up. Shepherd, Trinity, and I drove back up to St. Louis yesterday. You know, it should be about 16, 16 and a half, but, uh, busy travel day for a lot of people. So it took about 18 and a half. And so back up here for the next 4 or 5 days. Um, And I was reflecting back on travel this past week. Obviously, it was a lot of travel, but at one point I found myself at the airport with a couple of hours to kill. So I was, you know, sitting in like a part of the airport getting some work done, plugged in, but then I had to use the bathroom, right? And I didn't want to have to pack everything up and go into the bathroom and then bring it back. There's a guy sitting next to me about 2 stations down. And I did the whole like, hey, do you mind like just keeping an eye on my— he's like, yeah, absolutely, I gotcha. Went to the bathroom, came back, right? Thanked him. And it just had me thinking or reminded me about, I would rather go through life with a bias of good. You know, this idea that most people are honest. Right. The majority of the people are going to do the right thing. And if I— not to be naive and stupid, I'm like, well, I'm just going to leave all this cash on the table and come back in an hour and assume it's going to be there. Maybe not that kind of thing. But I think sometimes I get caught up into thinking anything that I'm doing, if I turn my back for a second, someone's going to try to take advantage of me or steal it or whatever. And it's like, No, no. Like, no. Like, I've— most people, the majority of the people are good. They're honest, right? They're gonna do the right thing. And yes, are there other people? But to go through life seeing everyone, seeing every stranger as a possible criminal compared to a possible Good Samaritan, right? How would I rather view my fellow man? And I'm going to choose the Good Samaritan. I'm going to choose to have a bias of good, to have a bias of trust, to have a bias of belief in my fellow man. And sometimes, right, we're going to maybe get taken advantage of or whatever, but I think I'm still going to go back to that because at the end of the day, I think it makes me a better person. Not better than, but makes me a better person as far as how I treat people. And what I expect from people and just my overall sense of joy. So that's my moment of yes for today. How are you choosing to see your fellow man? Have a great day, everyone.
