Over Easter Weekend, I was able to enjoy a beautiful spring day in New York. The respite desperately needed as the horror of all horrors had happened: Yikes, my internet server had swallowed incoming and outgoing messages without my knowledge! Surely my colleagues and family would leave me for deadyet another road warrior lost somewhere between State College, Pennsylvania and the Holland Tunnel---a pathetic way for a motivational speaker to go.

I welcomed the brief journey on Broadway to see Avenue Q, where the theme song It Sucks to be Me somehow deeply resonated. I had after all, just experienced hours of frustrating computer troubleshooting in a world where I didnt even know the language! Yup, youll all be happy to know I finally discovered that my pop server was not grandpa bringing ice cream.

In Avenue Q, a Broadway hit that I would highly recommend, a cast of talented people and puppets ask the question So Whats your Purpose? all the while experiencing lifes temporary setbacks. Weve all discovered that life is indeed filled with big setbacks as well as little, annoying ones, but lets listen to the puppets on Avenue Q and Take heart this week: Its all temporary!

As we left the Broadway theatre, police were holding back crowds, waiting for Julia Roberts to exit the theatre next door. I was proudly wearing my It Sucks to be Me Button and yes, for just a moment, I thought of waiting for Julia and tossing her my new mantra. Surely even Julia has those less than perfect days. Doesnt she?

Somehow, I was feeling better about my internet woes that while still unresolved for the moment, were indeed only temporary and small issues compared to The bigger Purpose. It was a message I had heard earlier in the week, as a group of professionals in training had shared their personal mantras for dealing with the stress of technology, change and complaining customers.

Whats a Mantra?that little voice in your head that talks you down from the rooftop in times of stress, with a short, soothing, Yoda Like wisdom that has meaning and comfort just for you!
One woman remembered a day when she was terribly upset that she messed up a pizza order as a waitress in college. Her boss, probably should be promoted for his 3 simple words of wisdom, that today still bring the young woman back to her purpose Its only pizza So Whats your mantra for stress survival?

Its only Pizza
It Sucks to be Me, but its temporary
I am doing the best that I can in the place that I am or maybe a simple question
Whats the very next thing I need to do?
Or quite simply But whats my purpose?