Every outcome from every event today will be dependent on this. This is message 437 and day 91 in the 98-day 8-C Challenge and this message is dedicated to the memory of Viktor Frankl.

What will the outcomes from today’s events in your life be dependent on? Viktor Frankl, as far as I know, was the originator of today’s idea. He was a Psychotherapist and Holocaust survivor. He lost his entire family in the concentration camps, including his pregnant wife. What is your most important responsibility? It is your ability to respond (response dash ability) to life‘s challenges. Frankl wrote, “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.“ Powerful words from a man who had everything taken from him. 

I want you to think of Frankl’s principle as an equation. This is the letter E for our mindset acrostic. 

E + R = O

E = event (whatever is happening)
R = response (how you choose to interpret the event and ultimately react)
O = outcome (what you get)

A great illustration of this is the story of the old farmer on his porch at the edge of town. A family stopped in front of his house as they were headed into town and the husband asked the old man “What kind of people live in this town?” The farmer replied, “Well, what were the folks like from where you came?” The husband replied, “They were the most pleasant, good-natured people we’d ever known and were hoping to find the same in this town.” The farmer answered, “I think you’ll find the same kind in this town as from where you came.” 

Later another family drove by and the husband asked the old man “We are heading into this town up ahead and thinking of settling there. What kind of people will we find there?” The farmer said, “Well, what were the folks like from where you came?” He replied, “They were the most unkind, disagreeable people we’d ever known.” The farmer answered, “I think you’ll find the people in this town just like the people from where you came.” 

The old man knew something about human nature as Victor Frankl: our response to events creates the outcome. It may be appropriate to respond with gratitude. It may be appropriate to respond with ownership. It may be appropriate to respond with silence. There are a million options for your responses. And they are all your choice. The space between stimulus and response is in your power.

E + R = O

Your ability to respond to life’s events is your respons-ability.