Most people are winners, some are disguised as losers. Don’t let their disguises fool you, is a reminder from my new book Shortcuts to Success. It’s so important because when we fall back on what we’ve constructed from past experience with people, we lose out on really seeing what they are capable of doing.
As an example, several years ago my daughter and I were in Paris, and I was foolish enough to rent a car on the outskirts of the city. I thought getting out of town would be as simple as pulling onto the highway and driving until we were in the country. Wrong!
We were lost immediately on French roads and no matter how hard my daughter tried to read the map, we could not find the one exit needed to get us heading the right direction. Now I’m crazy about all things French, but this was my first trip to France and we had been told by many people to watch out for Parisians, they were cold and unfriendly. So here we were, lost on a Parisian freeway. In desperation I pulled into a gas station, where I was trying to explain I was lost and needed help. A woman overheard and although she spoke little English, she told us (much in sign language because I didn’t speak much French) to follow her. We got back on the freeway and she pulled over several lanes to where we needed to exit and did wild hand gestures to indicate “this way.” Then she drove across several lanes in the other direction to go her own way.
I’ll never forget her kindness and the realization that just because someone tells us to believe something about an individual or group, we need to pay attention to the real person beneath the potential “disguise.” People are amazing, and almost everyone, given the opportunity, will surprise you with their willingness to help. The more we look for it, the more we begin to see it everywhere. And of course, if we aren’t looking, there’s a good chance it will stay hidden.
