The Relationship Between Pride and Control (In a Good Way)

Sunday night I had an unexpectedly wonderful experience with USAir at the Albany airport.

C’mon, who has an “it was so good I’ve been raving about it for two days” experience involving air travel these days?!

Ironically (although perhaps not so ironic) it was while on my way home from a weekend workshop, Happier: Positive Psychology and Yoga led by Tal Ben-Shahar, Ph.D. Much of our time was spent on the impact that mindset and behavior has on your happiness and success. And I got to see that modeled to perfection by the USAir reservations agent.

My friend Anne Robie and I had just arrived at the airport and were at the reservations desk to get boarding passes printed. Here’s the conversation we had with the guy behind the counter:

Anne: Is the flight on time?

Agent: It is! Our flights are almost always on time at this airport. It’s something we pride ourselves on.

Sherry and Anne: [Big smiles] We’re very happy to hear that.

Agent: [Seeing our smiles.] I love that I get to give our customers lots of good news!

Sherry and Anne: [More smiles and some happy words.]

Agent: Since you’re not checking luggage, let me see if I can get you into a better boarding zone.

Sherry and Anne: Wow, thank you.

There was more, but you get the gist.

Anyone who says … I take pride in … feels a sense of control over what they do. And that’s mindset and behavior. Because let’s face it, this guy’s a reservation agent for USAir. It’s hard to imagine an industry where you have so many things out of your control.

If he can do it, anyone can.

Choose what you’ll take pride in. It’s a terrific way to create a path to feeling a sense of control.