(Principles are basic truths that, when applied, cause success to come to you easier and quicker.)


The windshield cracked from a rock thrown up by a passing truck. Two hits, in fact, two cracks. Over the next few days snaking across right in front of the driver. It’s happened before. No problem, get the windshield replaced.

Problem. Due to the newness of the vehicle and screwed up supply chain no replacements were available for a while. A while stretched into weeks. And weeks. Driving around looking through cracked glass.

One day the driver, me, had to change lanes on a highway to avoid a vehicle entering the stream of traffic. Noticing the somewhat beat-up condition of the other car negative thoughts came to mind about the other driver.

Judging others is never clever. Catching my negative thoughts in mid-flight I realized I had let the external condition of the other car morph into a judgement about the driver.

As I looked out through my cracked windshield an ah-ha hit. For weeks others had had the opportunity to judge who I was, driving around in a damaged vehicle. “Sheesh, why doesn’t that guy get his windshield fixed? What kind of a lowlife is he, anyhow?”

And in that moment I let go of judging others based on the condition of their car.

Pretty sure I’ll soon be noticing other judging and opportunities to resolve.


Coaching Point: Any cracked windshields in your life?


Copyright 2022 Steve Straus. All rights reserved.