Attitude Project - Todd Fitzwater

“Hunt The Good Stuff” -Todd Fitzwater

U.S. Army career Soldier. Family man. Community focused. Todd Fitzwater has spent his life in Akron, Ohio and loves all aspects of his life. But as with most of us, his life wasn’t always easy. In this attitude project story, Todd Fitzwater takes us on a journey through overcoming obstacles, large and small, while staying connected with the most important things in life.

Leadership

“The burden of leadership is you don’t always get to pick your team.”

It all starts with attitude and the choice you have each morning. For Todd, it’s either a positive mental attitude or a negative attitude. And to him, if you choose the negative you’ll lose the day and go places you really don’t want to go.  As a leader, your attitude means even more because the attitude you bring to your team will impact your entire team. That applies to your work teams, your family team, and your community teams.

When you get assigned your team and you’re the leader, you have to set the example and encourage the team to follow it. Attitude is a cornerstone of who we are and it’s what sets us, and our teams, up for success. A team with a positive attitude is far easier to lead than one with a negative attitude.

Personal Struggles

Everyday is a struggle for Todd as he lives life with late onset type 1 diabetes. This disease means that his body doesn’t produce insulin anymore and no amount of diet and exercise will cure his condition. The challenges faced with diabetes come in many different fashions, but the same thing is true regardless. It makes choosing a positive attitude hard because the way Todd feels can be deeply influenced by the disease. 

As a 40-something, trying to change your entire way of life to manage the disease is a challenge. A different diet, weight gain, weight loss, insulin, pills, sugar checks, high sugar levels and low sugar levels all create fatigue. It plays into the attitude. 

Todd had to relearn how to choose a positive attitude despite these struggles and he reminds us that all life has its ups and downs. But there comes a point where you have to make a decision. Will I choose resiliency and have the characteristics that are attached to a positive attitude, or not. Todd chooses the positive attitude. Why?

Choices

“Why don’t I let my circumstance define my attitude? Because I can’t do that! It’s not just about me anymore.”

As a leader, a husband, and a father people are replying on you to set the tone every single day. The way you carry yourself shows your attitude and affects those around you. Those who you lead and love. The presence you bring to a room can positively impact the people in that room. It’s about the way you show up. If Eeyore shows up the room will be brought down. But when you show up with a positive attitude you can lift the entire room. 

Hunt The Good Stuff 

One thing Todd learned in Master Resiliency Training is “Hunt The Good Stuff.” That means looking for the good things that happened. For Todd, he writes down 3 good things that happened every day. Things like his son making a double play in baseball, and how he got to the point of making that play. There is far more to a story than the punch line. Todd encourages us to look beyond the moment and to write down the journey to the moment because it reminds us of how far we’ve come and what we had to overcome to accomplish the highlights of our lives. 

Watch Todd’s video to see the full story of how a positive attitude is making Todd’s life better and what else you can do to choose a positive attitude. In the full video Todd also tells us how he sets his day up for success!