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Even with all the social distancing, I managed to connect and make a new friend on the west coast. It turns out there is more than one Michael Buffington on this earth, and I received a message from one of them a few weeks ago. By chance, the other Michael Buffington Jr. found me and read the chapter I authored in the book Desire, Discipline, and Determination. I must admit it was a little strange replying to a message from Michael Buffington, but I am sure glad I did. It turns out he is an extremely talented concept artist in the video game and entertainment industry that is currently a professor at the Academy of Art University in CA. He has been the Concept Art Lead in the School of Game Development since 2012, which now is ranked as the number 1 school in the country.
We ended up connecting by phone after several emails, and it was such a pleasure talking to him. We certainly lead two very different lives, but we also discovered many similarities that quickly made it easy to have a conversation that lasted almost one and a half hours. I found it fascinating to hear his story and learn about his passions in life. It still amazes me we talked for so long. In one of his messages to me, he said the following really resonated with him from my chapter in Desire, Discipline, and Determination.
"None of this matters if you don’t have the right attitude. Attitude is the one thing we have total control over in our lives. No one else controls our attitude. You have a choice of how you are going to react to anything thrown at you in life. The wrong attitude will quickly break any family, business, or organization. We truly are a product of our attitude. I believe life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. You are in charge of your attitude!"
I wrote this way before the current pandemic, but feel it resonates with me more now than ever, and I am glad the other Michael Buffington reminded me. As things are changing so rapidly and many of them seem out of our control, it is so important to remember its not really what happens to us. It is how we react to it. We owe it to our family, friends, employees, customers, partners, and community to take charge of our attitude and react in a way that is beneficial to all concerned.
How are you taking charge of your attitude that is beneficial to all concerned? If you need someone to bounce ideas off of or just chat, feel free to reach out to me. I will help in any way I can!
Stay safe, healthy, and sane!
Mike
PS...
I am honored Michael Buffington Jr. gave me permission to share some of his work with you. As I said before, he is extremely talented. You can see more of his work at https://instagram.com/drawaholic1124?igshid=1pqa1rwhagqp2